Kinsler, P., Kelsall, R.W. and Harrison, P. (2002) Nonequilibrium electron heating in inter-subband terahertz lasers. Journal of Applied Physics, 91 (3). pp. 904-910. ISSN 1089-7550
Abstract
Inter-subband laser performance can be critically dependent on the nature of the electron distributions in each subband. In these first Monte Carlo device simulations of optically pumped inter-subband THz lasers, we can see that there are two main causes of electron heating: intersubband decay processes, and inter-subband energy transfer from the "hot" nonequilibrium tails of lower subbands. These processes mean that devices relying on low electron temperatures are disrupted by electron heating, to the extent that slightly populated subbands can have average energies far in excess of the that of either the lattice or other subbands. However, although these heating effects invalidate designs relying on low temperature electron distributions, we see that population inversion is still possible in the high-THz range at 77 K in both stepped and triple-well structures, and that our 11.7 THz triple-well structure even promises inversion at 300 K. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2002 American Institute of Physics. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering (Leeds) > Pollard Institute (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Repository Officer |
Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2006 |
Last Modified: | 28 Oct 2016 05:51 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1428101 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Institute of Physics |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1063/1.1428101 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:1684 |