Photon-induced carrier transport in high efficiency midinfrared quantum cascade lasers

TL;DR

This paper uses a self-consistent Monte Carlo simulation to analyze how photon interactions influence carrier transport and electron distributions in high-efficiency midinfrared quantum cascade lasers, validated by experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation approach that includes both carrier and photon dynamics to better understand and optimize quantum cascade laser performance.

Findings

Photon emission and absorption dominate carrier transport at low temperatures.

Photon-induced scattering significantly alters electron distributions.

Simulation results agree with experimental observations.

Abstract

A midinfrared quantum cascade laser with high wall-plug efficiency is analyzed by means of an ensemble Monte Carlo method. Both the carrier transport and the cavity field dynamics are included in the simulation, offering a self-consistent approach for analyzing and optimizing the laser operation. It is shown that at low temperatures, photon emission and absorption can govern the carrier transport in such devices. Furthermore, we find that photon-induced scattering can strongly affect the kinetic electron distributions within the subbands. Our results are validated against available experimental data.