Ultralow Power Consumption Of A Quantum Cascade Laser Operating In Continuous-Wave Mode At Room Temperature

We report an ultralow power consumption of a quantum cascade laser (QCL) emitting at lambda similar to 4.6 mu m operating in continuous-wave mode at room temperature. The ultralow power consumption is achieved by using a high gain active region and shortening the device size. For the device with a 0.5-mm-long cavity and 3.2-mu m-wide ridge, the threshold power consumption is as low as 0.26 W with an optical output power of 12.6 mW at 10 degrees C in continuous-wave mode, which represents the world's most advanced level. Furthermore, the threshold power consumption varies linearly with the operating temperature, where the linear change rate of 2.3 mW/K from 10 to 40 degrees C is low. As a result, the devices also show low threshold power consumption values of 0.33 W even at 40 degrees C in continuous-wave mode with an optical output power of 6.1 mW. In addition, the lasers can maintain a single-mode operation due to the short cavity length even if no distributed feedback grating is applied. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement