Specific Growth Features of Nanostructures for Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers and Their Physical Properties

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INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM “NANOPHYSICS AND NANOELECTRONICS”, NIZHNY NOVGOROD, MARCH 10–13, 2020

Specific Growth Features of Nanostructures for Terahertz Quantum Cascade Lasers and Their Physical Properties G. E. Cirlina,b,c,d,*, R. R. Reznikd, A. E. Zhukova, R. A. Khabibulline, K. V. Maremyaninf,g, V. I. Gavrilenkof,g, and S. V. Morozovf,g a St.

Petersburg Academic University, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 194021 Russia b St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI, St. Petersburg, 197376 Russia c St. Petersburg Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 199034 Russia d ITMO University, St. Petersburg, 197101 Russia e Institute of Ultrahigh Frequency Semiconductor Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117105 Russia f Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950 Russia g Lobachevsky State University, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received April 15, 2020; revised April 21, 2020; accepted April 21, 2020

Abstract—Data on the synthesis of structures for a quantum cascade terahertz laser in the AlGaAs/GaAs material system on GaAs substrates using the molecular-beam-epitaxy method and their characterization are presented. The specific features necessary for the implementation of such structures are considered. It is shown that, for this configuration, almost single-mode lasing is observed at a frequency of ~3 THz up to a temperature of ~60 K. Keywords: quantum-cascade laser, molecular-beam epitaxy, terahertz radiation, semiconductor nanostructures DOI: 10.1134/S1063782620090298

1. INTRODUCTION Sources for the terahertz (THz) frequency range are of interest for both commercial and special purposes, including the determination of trace amounts of various substances, the development of systems for the imaging of objects concealed from ordinary optical systems, wide-bandwidth communication systems, etc. One of the main problems is the lack of compact sufficiently high-power monochromatic emission sources for this spectral range. The most promising candidate for the development of THz systems for various purposes is presently the quantum-cascade laser (QCL) [1, 2]. Despite the apparent scientific and applied importance of QCLs, the development of this technology in Russia commenced only a few years ago. Therefore, one of the goals of the study is to examine the possibility of synthesis by molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) of high-quality multiple-period multilayer heterostructures intended for the fabrication of QCLs for the THz frequency range and to analyze their physical properties. Previously, we have studied structures of this kind by the photoluminescence method and also analyzed their current–voltage and spectral characteristics [3–5]. It was shown that

the energy-level positions in these complex structures can be estimated by various proximate optical diagnostic procedures in the near-IR spectral range and the pulsed QCL operation mode was implemented at liquid-helium temperature. In the pres