The Interband Cascade Laser

Abstract

We review the history, development, design principles, experimental operating characteristics, and specialized architectures of interband cascade lasers for the mid-wave infrared spectral region. We discuss the present understanding of the mechanisms limiting the ICL performance and provide a perspective on the potential for future improvements. Such device properties as the threshold current and power densities, continuous-wave output power, and wall-plug efficiency are compared with those of the quantum cascade laser. Newer device classes such as ICL frequency combs, interband cascade vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, interband cascade LEDs, interband cascade detectors, and integrated ICLs are reviewed for the first time.

Interband Cascade Photonic Integrated Circuits on Native III-V Chip

“…In general, an ICL incorporated into a PIC should perform quite similarly to stand-alone devices (e.g., see [ 18 ]) that are configured and processed similarly. Our simulations indicate that, even when the layer design is modified to make the bottom SCL thicker and the top SCL thinner, to promote efficient out-coupling to a passive waveguide, the effect on laser performance is relatively modest.…”

“…In this work, we lay out a comprehensive and practical framework for combining all the optical elements required to integrate a high-performance mid-IR chemical sensor on a PIC [ 14 ]. The platform is an interband cascade laser (ICL) structure [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ] residing on its native GaSb substrate. The ICL combines a relatively long upper-level lifetime, characteristic of semiconductor interband transitions, with the voltage-efficient cascading scheme originally introduced for the quantum cascade laser (QCL, which employs inter-subband transitions to produce light) [ 19 ].…”

“…Both electrons and holes are present in each stage of the ICL’s cascaded active region, even though the contacts inject and remove only electrons. The ICL has become the leading coherent optical source for many mid-IR applications between 3 and 6 μm [ 18 ]. It operates with drive power as low as 29 mW [ 20 ] and wallplug efficiency as high as 18% [ 21 ] for continuous wave (cw) operation at room temperature.…”

Interband Cascade Active Region with Ultra-Broad Gain in the Mid-Infrared Range

“…An important class of semiconductor lasers operating efficiently in the spectral range of the first atmospheric window (2.9–5.3 μm), coinciding with the strongest absorption lines of many environmentally relevant gasses, utilizes a cascaded scheme of interband transitions in type II quantum well (QW) structures [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Hence, such devices are called interband cascade lasers (ICLs) and they are usually based on a broken gap material system of InAs/GaInSb [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 ]. The usage of such materials, besides the natural band edge alignment which is necessary in ICLs, allows the emission in a broad range of the mid-infrared (MIR) [ 7 ] and the growth on GaSb or InAs substrates to remain in a relatively low strain limit range.…”

“…Thus, the threshold power density increases. In addition, with the increased emission wavelength (decreased optical transition energy) the carrier losses and probability of nonradiative processes as the Auger recombination increase [ 6 , 8 ]. All these problems can be overcome or minimized by employing a cascaded scheme, which was proposed to be used in interband cascade lasers [ 5 , 9 ].…”