A GaAs/AlAs coupled multilayer cavity structure was grown on a (001) GaAs substrate. The top cavity contains self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) as optical gain materials for two-color emission of cavity-mode light. The bottom cavity layer was grown with lateral thickness variation in the wafer to investigate the effects of the thickness difference between the two cavity layers quantitatively. The frequency difference was minimum, and the intensity ratio of the two-color emission was unity when the optical thicknesses of the two cavity layers were the same. The emission intensity ratio was explained in terms of the electric fields at the top cavity region containing the QDs.

SUMMARYCompact and room-temperature operable terahertz emitting devices have been proposed using a semiconductor coupled multilayer cavity that consists of two functional cavity layers and three distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) multilayers. Two cavity modes with an optical frequency difference in the terahertz region are realized since two cavities are coupled by the intermediate DBR multilayer. In the proposed device, one cavity is used as the active layer for two-color lasing in the near-infrared region by current injection and the other is used as the second-order nonlinear optical medium for difference-frequency generation of the two-color fundamental laser light. The control of the nonlinear polarization by face-to-face bonding of two epitaxial wafers with different orientations is quite effective to achieve bright terahertz emission from the coupled cavity. In this study, two-color emission by optical excitation was measured for the waferbonded GaAs/AlGaAs coupled multilayer cavity containing self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs). We found that optical loss at the bonding interface strongly affects the two-color emission characteristics when the bonding was performed in the middle of the intermediate DBR multilayer. The effect was almost eliminated when the bonding position was carefully chosen by considering electric field distributions of the two modes. We also fabricated the current-injection type devices using the wafer-bonded coupled multilayer cavities. An assemble of self-assembled QDs is considered to be desirable as the optical gain medium because of the discrete nature of the electronic states and the relatively wide gain spectrum due to the inhomogeneous size distribution. The gain was, however, insufficient for two-color lasing even when the nine QD layers were used. Substituting two types of InGaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) for the QDs, we were able to demonstrate two-color lasing of the device when the gain peaks of MQWs were tuned to the cavity modes by lowering the operating temperature.

The effects of growth conditions on the size and density of self-assembled InAlAs/AlGaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were studied, with an emphasis on their use for single QD spectroscopy. The effects of substrate temperature and growth rate on the density and size were found to be quite similar to those of InAs QDs on GaAs.The effect of coverage, however, was different. Although the density was relatively high as compared to that of InAs QDs, it was reduced to 1 × 10 10 cm -2 under an optimized condition. This density is compatible with single QD spectroscopy with the help of a certain nanofabrication technique for areal restriction.

Current-injection two-color lasing has been demonstrated using a GaAs/AlGaAs coupled multilayer cavity that is a good candidate for novel terahertz-emitting devices based on difference-frequency generation (DFG) inside the structure. The coupled cavity structure was fabricated by the direct wafer bonding of (001)- and (113)B-oriented epitaxial wafers for the efficient DFG of two modes in the (113)B side cavity, and two types of InGaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) were introduced only in the (001) side cavity as optical gain materials. The threshold behavior was clearly observed in the current–light output curve even at room temperature. Two-color lasing was successfully observed when the gain peaks of MQWs were considerably tuned to the cavity modes by the operating temperature.

We fabricated a two-color surface emitting device of a coupled cavity structure, which is applicable to terahertz light source. GaAs/AlGaAs vertical multilayer cavity structures were grown on (001) and (113)B GaAs substrates and the coupled multilayer cavity structure was fabricated by wafer bonding them. The top cavity contains self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) as optical gain materials for two-color emission of cavity-mode lights. The bonding position was optimized for the equivalent intensity of two-color emission. We formed a current injection structure, and two-color emission was observed by current injection, although no lasing was observed.

We studied the size distribution and its scaling behavior of self-assembled InAlAs/AlGaAs quantum dots (QDs) grown on GaAs with the Stranski-Krastanov (SK) mode by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), at both 480°C and 510°C, as a function of InAlAs coverage. A scaling function of the volume was found for the first time in ternary alloy QDs. The function was similar to that of InAs/GaAs QDs, which agreed with the scaling function for the two-dimensional submonolayer homoepitaxy simulation with a critical island size of i = 1. However, a character of i = 0 was also found as a tail in the large volume.

Two-color surface-emitting lasers were demonstrated, employing a GaAs/AlGaAs coupled multilayer cavity composed of two cavity layers and three distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) multilayers. InGaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with two different well widths were introduced only in the upper cavity, and sandwiched between p- and n-type DBRs. This current-injection type device exhibited two-color lasing in the near-infrared region under room temperature pulsed conditions. Two-color lasing was achieved when the lower cavity had an optimal thickness relative to the upper cavity thickness and the MQW emission properties.

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