Measurement of gain and losses of a midinfrared quantum cascade laser by wavelength chirping spectroscopy
23 February 2009
We present an optimized technique for the measurement of gain and losses of semiconductor lasers. We optically inject the beam of a distributed feedback laser (DFB) inside the cavity of the lasers under study. The DFB laser operates in a pulsed mode and shifts its emission wavelength as a function of time. This frequency chirp creates the Fabry-Perot fringes of the transmitted intensity that contains all the information on the cavity losses. The setup has been validated by a quantitative study of the losses as a function of the injected current, for a quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.6 mu m.