Comparative analysis of resonant phonon THz quantum cascade lasers

TL;DR

This paper compares GaAs-based THz quantum cascade lasers using Monte Carlo simulations to identify factors limiting their efficiency, such as parasitic injection and other detrimental effects, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It provides a detailed simulation-based comparison highlighting the impact of parasitic injection and other effects on laser performance.

Findings

Parasitic injection limits laser efficiency.

Additional detrimental effects are significant.

Simulation agrees with experimental results.

Abstract

We present a comparative analysis of a set of GaAs-based THz quantum cascade lasers, based on longitudinal-optical phonon scattering depopulation, by using an ensemble Monte Carlo simulation, including both carrier-carrier and carrier-phonon scattering. The simulation shows that the parasitic injection into the states below the upper laser level limits the injection efficiency and thus the device performance at the lasing threshold. Additional detrimental effects playing an important role are identified. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental findings.