Vertical subwavelength mode confinement in terahertz and mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

We exploit the modal confinement properties of metal-metal ridge waveguides to investigate the effect of reducing the thickness of the active laser cores in both terahertz and mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. Devices with active regions over 55 times thinner than the free-space emission wavelength are demonstrated. They show only a modest increase in threshold current density compared with conventional-thickness devices. The limited increase in threshold is possibly due to a parasitic current channel in addition to the radiative current channel. These structures could be useful for the development of ultra-low volume lasers.