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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6885
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-5-9
pubmed:abstractText
Semiconductor devices have become indispensable for generating electromagnetic radiation in everyday applications. Visible and infrared diode lasers are at the core of information technology, and at the other end of the spectrum, microwave and radio-frequency emitters enable wireless communications. But the terahertz region (1-10 THz; 1 THz = 10(12) Hz) between these ranges has remained largely underdeveloped, despite the identification of various possible applications--for example, chemical detection, astronomy and medical imaging. Progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of compact, low-consumption, solid-state terahertz sources. Here we report a monolithic terahertz injection laser that is based on interminiband transitions in the conduction band of a semiconductor (GaAs/AlGaAs) heterostructure. The prototype demonstrated emits a single mode at 4.4 THz, and already shows high output powers of more than 2 mW with low threshold current densities of about a few hundred A cm(-2) up to 50 K. These results are very promising for extending the present laser concept to continuous-wave and high-temperature operation, which would lead to implementation in practical photonic systems.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:status
PubMed-not-MEDLINE
pubmed:month
May
pubmed:issn
0028-0836
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
9
pubmed:volume
417
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
156-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2003-11-3
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
Terahertz semiconductor-heterostructure laser.
pubmed:affiliation
NEST-INFM and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa, Italy. koehler@nest.sns.it
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article