Noncascaded intersubband injection lasers at lambda approximate to 7.7 mu m

The realization of the first noncascaded intersubband injection lasers based on a single optical transition is reported. The unipolar lasers are based on an active region consisting of three InGaAs quantum wells closely coupled by thin AlInAs barriers. The lasers emit at lambda approximate to 7.7 mu m wavelength and operate in pulsed mode up to 110 K. Peak power levels of 20 mW at 10 K and 4 mW at 110 K are obtained. The low-temperature threshold current density is 25.6 kA cm(-2) in good agreement with calculations. Several advantages arise from this novel type of intersubband laser. First, only few layers are necessary to build the active region, simplifying sample preparation. Second, low operating voltages can be achieved, which is essential for many applications. Finally, the noncascaded intersubband laser allows studying fundamental properties of quantum cascade lasers without possible artifacts introduced by the sequential stacking of many active regions. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)04952-3].