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Efficient coupling of double-metal terahertz quantum cascade lasers to flexible dielectric-lined hollow metallic waveguides.


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Type

Article

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Authors

Wallis, R 
Degl'Iinnocenti, R 
Jessop, DS 
Ren, Y 
Klimont, A 

Abstract

The growth in terahertz frequency applications utilising the quantum cascade laser is hampered by a lack of targeted power delivery solutions over large distances (>100 mm). Here we demonstrate the efficient coupling of double-metal quantum cascade lasers into flexible polystyrene lined hollow metallic waveguides via the use of a hollow copper waveguide integrated into the laser mounting block. Our approach exhibits low divergence, Gaussian-like emission, which is robust to misalignment error, at distances > 550 mm, with a coupling efficiency from the hollow copper waveguide into the flexible waveguide > 90%. We also demonstrate the ability to nitrogen purge the flexible waveguide, increasing the power transmission by up to 20% at 2.85 THz, which paves the way for future fibre based terahertz sensing and spectroscopy applications.

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Keywords

semiconductor lasers, quantum cascade, waveguides, laser beam shaping

Journal Title

Opt Express

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1094-4087
1094-4087

Volume Title

23

Publisher

The Optical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J017671/1)
The authors acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/J017671/1, Coherent Terahertz Systems).