Temperature dependence of a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser with external optical feedback

Abstract : Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) exploit radiative intersubband transitions within the conduction band of semiconductor heterostructures. The wide range of wavelengths achievable with QCLs, from mid-infrared to terahertz range, leads to a large number of applications including absorption spectroscopy, optical countermeasures and free space communications requiring stable single-mode operation with a narrow linewidth, high output power and high modulation bandwidth. Prior work has unveiled the occurrence of temporal chaos in a QCL subjected to optical feedback, with a scenario involving oscillations at the external cavity frequency and low-frequency fluctuations. The purpose of this work is to further investigate the temperature dependence of a mid-infrared QCL with optical feedback. When the semiconductor device is cooled down to 170K, experiments unveil that the laser destabilization appears at a lower feedback ratio and that the chaotic bubble slightly expands owing to a different carrier lifetime dynamics. These results are of paramount importance for new mid-infrared applications such as chaos-encrypted free-space communications or unpredictable countermeasures.