Triple V-shaped type-II quantum wells for long wavelength interband cascade lasers

TL;DR

This paper designs triple V-shaped type-II quantum wells for 6-9 μm emission, optimizing wavefunction overlap and VISA, potentially extending room temperature emission limits of GaSb-based lasers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel triple V-shaped quantum well design with improved wavefunction overlap and reduced VISA for longer wavelength interband cascade lasers.

Findings

Wavefunction overlap increased by ~19% compared to W-shaped wells.

VISA significantly reduced in V-shaped wells, enhancing laser performance.

Designs enable potential extension of room temperature emission wavelength.

Abstract

We investigate triple V-shaped type-II quantum wells designed to emit at 6-9 {\mu}m wavelength range, consisting of three InAs(Sb) electron quantum wells and two Ga0.6In0.4Sb hole quantum wells. The wells' composition and thicknesses are optimized in terms of wavefunction overlap and valence intersubband absorption (VISA) by using kp calculation. The triple V-shaped type-II quantum well designed for emission at 6.2 {\mu}m, 7.5 {\mu}m and 9.0 {\mu}m, show 18.8 %, 18.9 % and 19.2 % higher wavefunction overlap respectively, compared to the corresponding W-shaped designs of InAs/Ga0.6In0.4Sb/InAs wells commonly employed in active regions of interband cascade lasers. In addition, the calculated VISA in V-shaped quantum wells for the designed wavelength is significantly smaller than in W-shaped wells. These enhancements might extend the wavelength limit of room temperature emission of GaSb-based interband cascade lasers.