Limiting factors for high temperature operation of THz quantum cascade lasers

We theoretically investigate the temperature performance of GaAs-based resonant phonon depopulation THz quantum cascade lasers, using an ensemble Monte Carlo simulation which includes both carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering. By evaluating the temperature dependence of the different carrier transport paths, we identify the factors restricting high temperature operation. As a major detrimental effect, a strongly increased occupation of the lower laser level is found due to a less efficient depletion at elevated temperatures, which can mainly be attributed to the resonant nature of the depletion process.      «

We theoretically investigate the temperature performance of GaAs-based resonant phonon depopulation THz quantum cascade lasers, using an ensemble Monte Carlo simulation which includes both carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering. By evaluating the temperature dependence of the different carrier transport paths, we identify the factors restricting high temperature operation. As a major detrimental effect, a strongly increased occupation of the lower laser level is found due to a less effici...     »