Pistore, V, Nong, H, Vigneron, P-B et al. (10 more authors) (2021) Millimeter wave photonics with terahertz semiconductor lasers. Nature Communications, 12. 1427. ISSN 2041-1723
Abstract
Millimeter wave (mmWave) generation using photonic techniques has so far been limited to the use of near-infrared lasers that are down-converted to the mmWave region. However, such methodologies do not currently benefit from a monolithic architecture and suffer from the quantum defect i.e. the difference in photon energies between the near-infrared and mmWave region, which can ultimately limit the conversion efficiency. Miniaturized terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have inherent advantages in this respect: their low energy photons, ultrafast gain relaxation and high nonlinearities open up the possibility of innovatively integrating both laser action and mmWave generation in a single device. Here, we demonstrate intracavity mmWave generation within THz QCLs over the unprecedented range of 25 GHz to 500 GHz. Through ultrafast time resolved techniques, we highlight the importance of modal phases and that the process is a result of a giant second-order nonlinearity combined with a phase matched process between the THz and mmWave emission. Importantly, this work opens up the possibility of compact, low noise mmWave generation using modelocked THz frequency combs.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Microwave photonics; Nonlinear optics; Quantum cascade lasers; Terahertz optics |
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: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Mar 2021 10:38 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:36 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Research |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41467-021-21659-6 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:171928 |