Ultra-compact injection terahertz laser using the resonant inter-layer radiative transitions in multi-graphene-layer structure

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 24; no. 26; pp. 29603 - 29612
• Main Authors: Dubinov, Alexander A, Bylinkin, Andrey, Aleshkin, Vladimir Ya, Ryzhii, Victor, Otsuji, Taiichi, Svintsov, Dmitry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 26.12.2016
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/oe.24.029603

The optimization of laser resonators represents a crucial issue for the design of tera-hertz semiconductor lasers with high gain and low absorption loss. In this paper, we put forward and optimize the surface plasmonic metal waveguide geometry for the recently proposed tera-hertz injection laser based on resonant radiative transitions between tunnel-coupled graphene layers. We find an optimal number of active graphene layer pairs corresponding to the maximum net modal gain. The maximum gain increases with frequency and can be as large as ∼ 500 cm at 8 THz, while the threshold length of laser resonator can be as small as ∼ 50 μm. Our findings substantiate the possibility of ultra-compact voltage-tunable graphene-based lasers operating at room temperature.