Chaotic Behavior of Quantum Cascade Lasers at Ignition

TL;DR

This paper investigates the chaotic dynamics in quantum cascade lasers during ignition, revealing that these devices can exhibit chaos intrinsically, which is crucial for their design and operation at terahertz frequencies.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis demonstrating intrinsic chaos in quantum cascade lasers without external periodic driving.

Findings

Chaotic behavior characterized by positive Lyapunov exponents.

Chaos occurs during ignition from oscillating field domains.

Implications for device design and stability at terahertz frequencies.

Abstract

The ignition of Quantum Cascade Lasers can occur from a state of oscillating fie ld domains. Here, the interplay between lasing and the kinetics of traveling dom ain boundaries provides complex oscillation scenarios. We analyze our numerical findings in detail for a device operating at terahertz frequencies and manifest chaotic evolution by positive Lyapunov exponents. This shows that these importan t devices can exhibit chaotic behavior even without periodic driving, which need s to be taken into account in their design.