Quantum well laser From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A quantum well laser is a laser diode in which the

active region of the device is so narrow that quantum confinement occurs. The wavelength of the light emitted by a quantum well laser is determined by the width of the active region rather than just the bandgap of the material from which it is constructed. This means that much shorter wavelengths can be obtained from quantum well lasers than from conventional laser diodes using a particular semiconductor material. The efficiency of a quantum well laser is also greater than a conventional laser diode due to the stepwise form of its density of statesfunction. Contents [hide] 1 Origin of the concept of quantum wells 2 Experimental verification of quantum wells 3 Invention of the quantum well laser 4 Early demonstrations 5 References [edit]Origin of the concept of quantum wells In 1972, Charles H. Henry, a physicist and newly-appointed Head of the Semiconductor Electronics Research Department at Bell Laboratories, had a keen interest in the subject of integrated optics, the fabrication of optical circuits in which the light travels in waveguides. In late 1972, while pondering the problems associated with waveguides, he had a sudden insight, a realization that a double heterostructure is a waveguide for electron waves, not just lightwaves. On further reflection, he saw that there is a complete analogy between the confinement of light by a slab waveguide and the confinement of electrons by the potential well that is formed from the difference in bandgaps in a double heterostructure. Henry realized that there should be discrete modes (levels) in the potential well, and a simple estimate showed that if the active layer of the heterostructure is as thin as several tens of nanometres, the electron levels would be split apart by tens of milli-electron volts, which should be observable. This structure is now called a quantum well. Henry then calculated how this quantization would alter the optical absorption edge of the semiconductor. His conclusion was that instead of the optical absorption increasing smoothly, the absorption edge of a thin heterostructure would appear as a series of steps. In addition to Henry's contributions, the quantum well (or double-heterostructure laser, as it was originally known) was actually first proposed in 1963 by Herber Kroemer in Proceedings of the IEEE[1]and simultaneously (in 1963) in the U.S.S.R by Zh. I. Alferov and R.F. Kazarinov [2]. Alferov and Kroemer shared a Nobel Prize in 2000 for their work in semiconductor heterostructures. [edit]Experimental verification of quantum wells In early 1973, Henry proposed to R. Dingle, a physicist in his department, that he look for these predicted steps. The very thin heterostructures were made by W. Wiegmann using molecular beam epitaxy. The dramatic effect of the steps was observed in the ensuing experiment, published in 1974 [3]. [edit]Invention of the quantum well laser After this experiment showed the reality of the predicted quantum well energy levels, Henry tried to think of an application. He realized that the quantum well structure would alter the density of states of the semiconductor, and result in an improved semiconductor laser requiring fewer electrons and electron holes to reach laser threshold. Also, he realized that the laser wavelength could be changed merely by changing the thickness of the thin quantum well layers, whereas in the conventional laser a change in wavelength requires a change in layer composition. Such a laser, he reasoned, would

have superior performance characteristics compared to the standard double heterostructure lasers being made at that time. Dingle and Henry received a patent on this new type of semiconductor laser comprising a pair of wide bandgap layers having an active region sandwiched between them, in which "the active layers are thin enough (e.g., about 1 to 50 nanometres) to separate the quantum levels of electrons confined therein. These lasers exhibit wavelength tunability by changing the thickness of the active layers. Also described is the possibility of threshold reductions resulting from modification of the density of electron states." The patent was issued on September 21, 1976, entitled "Quantum Effects in Heterostructure Lasers," U.S. Patent No. 3,982,297 [4]. Quantum well lasers require fewer electrons and holes to reach threshold than conventional double heterostructure lasers. A well-designed quantum well laser can have an exceedingly low threshold current. Moreover, since quantum efficiency (photons-out per electrons-in) is largely limited by optical absorption by the electrons and holes, very high quantum efficiencies can be achieved with the quantum well laser. To compensate for the reduction in active layer thickness, a small number of identical quantum wells are often used. This is called a multi-quantum well laser. [edit]Early demonstrations The term "quantum well laser" was coined in the late 1970s by Nick Holonyak and his students at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. They demonstrated the first quantum well laser in 1977. W.T. Tsang at Bell Laboratories in the late 1970s and early 1980s showed the promise of quantum well lasers by demonstrating that when the quantum well parameters are optimized, they have exceedingly low threshold current and very high efficiency in converting current-in to light-out, making them ideal for widespread use. The story of the origin of the quantum well concept, its experimental verification, and the invention of the quantum well laser is told by Henry in more detail in the Foreword to "Quantum Well Lasers," ed. by Peter S. Zory, Jr. [5] If the middle layer is made thin enough, it acts as a quantum well. This means that the vertical variation of the electron's wavefunction, and thus a component of its energy, is quantized. The efficiency of a quantum well laser is greater than that of a bulk laser because thedensity of states function of electrons in the quantum well system has an abrupt edge that concentrates electrons in energy states that contribute to laser action. Lasers containing more than one quantum well layer are known as multiple quantum well lasers. Multiple quantum wells improve the overlap of the gain region with the optical waveguide mode. Further improvements in the laser efficiency have also been demonstrated by reducing the quantum well layer to a quantum wire or to a "sea" of quantum dots.