Abstract:We present an experimental and theoretical study of the optical properties of metal-dielectric-metal structures with patterned top metallic surfaces, in the THz frequency range. When the thickness of the dielectric slab is very small with respect to the wavelength, these structures are able to support strongly localized electromagnetic modes, concentrated in the subwavelength metal-metal regions. We provide a detailed analysis of the physical mechanisms which give rise to these photonic modes. Furthermore, our model quantitatively predicts the resonance positions and their coupling to free space photons. We demonstrate that these structures provide an efficient and controllable way to convert the energy of far field propagating waves into near field energy.

Quantum cascade laser (QCL) frequency combs are a promising candidate for chemical sensing and biomedical diagnostics, requiring only milliseconds of acquisition time to record absorption spectra without any moving parts 1,2,3,4 . They are electrically pumped and have a small footprint, making them an ideal platform for on-chip integration 5 . Until now, optical feedback is fatal for frequency comb generation in QCLs and destroys intermodal coherence 6 . This property imposes strict limits on the possible degree of integration. Here, we demonstrate coherent injection locking of the repetition frequency to a stabilized RF oscillator. For the first time, we prove that the spectrum of the injection locked QCL can be phase-locked, resulting in the generation of a frequency comb. We show that injection locking is not only a versatile tool for all-electrical frequency stabilization, but also mitigates the fatal effect of optical feedback on the frequency comb. A prototype self-detected dualcomb setup consisting only of an injection locked dualcomb chip, a lens and a mirror demonstrates the enormous potential for on-chip dual-comb spectroscopy. These results pave the way to miniaturized and all-solid-state midinfrared spectrometers.

We present a bi-functional surface emitting and surface detecting mid-infrared device applicable for gas-sensing. A distributed feedback ring quantum cascade laser is monolithically integrated with a detector structured from a bi-functional material for same frequency lasing and detection. The emitted single mode radiation is collimated, back reflected by a flat mirror and detected by the detector element of the sensor. The surface operation mode combined with the low divergence emission of the ring quantum cascade laser enables for long analyte interaction regions spatially separated from the sample surface. The device enables for sensing of gaseous analytes which requires a relatively long interaction region. Our design is suitable for 2D array integration with multiple emission and detection frequencies. Proof of principle measurements with isobutane (2-methylpropane) and propane as gaseous analytes were conducted. Detectable concentration values of 0–70% for propane and 0–90% for isobutane were reached at a laser operation wavelength of 6.5 μm utilizing a 10 cm gas cell in double pass configuration.

A characteristic feature of quantum cascade lasers is their unipolar carrier transport. We exploit this feature and realize nominally symmetric active regions for terahertz quantum cascade lasers, which should yield equal performance with either bias polarity. However, symmetric devices exhibit a strongly bias polarity dependent performance due to growth direction asymmetries, making them an ideal tool to study the related scattering mechanisms. In the case of an InGaAs/GaAsSb heterostructure, the pronounced interface asymmetry leads to a significantly better performance with negative bias polarity and can even lead to unidirectionally working devices, although the nominal band structure is symmetric. The results are a direct experimental proof that interface roughness scattering has a major impact on transport/lasing performance.

Absorption and transmission spectra of broadband terahertz pulses are measured to probe the intersubband response of an optically excited quantum-well heterostructure. While the terahertz absorption shows the single peak of the resonant intersubband transition, the transmission spectra display strong Fano signatures due to the phase sensitive superposition of ponderomotive and terahertz currents as predicted by our microscopic theory.

This letter reports the achievement of a high-performance, broad-spectral-band infrared detector with the InAs1−xSbx alloy system using a backside-illuminated heterostructure approach. The basic structure of the detector is obtained with InAs1−xSbx grown by a liquid phase epitaxy technique on a GaSb substrate under lattice-matched or nearly lattice-matched conditions. The measured photoresponse covers the spectral range 1.7–4.2 μm with an external quantum efficiency of 65% without antireflective coating. The typical zero-bias resistance area product is in excess of 109 Ω cm2. The typical leakage current desity is less than 10−9 A/cm2 for 100 mV reverse bias. All parameters were measured at 77 K.

We consider an interval coverage problem. Given n intervals of the same length on a line L and a line segment B on L, we want to move the intervals along L such that every point of B is covered by at least one interval and the sum of the moving distances of all intervals is minimized. As a basic geometry problem, it has applications in mobile sensor barrier coverage in wireless sensor networks. The previous work solved the problem in O(n 2 ) time. In this paper, by discovering many interesting observations and developing new algorithmic techniques, we present an O(n log n) time algorithm. We also show an Ω(n log n) time lower bound for this problem, which implies the optimality of our algorithm.

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