Energy and Emission Characteristics of Superlattice Quantum-Cascade Structures

Abstract

Energy levels, wave functions, and matrix elements of optical dipole transitions have been numerically calculated for superlattice quantum-cascade structures. An expression for the gain has been obtained with regard to the complete set of energy levels in different models of spectral-line broadening. A universal relation between the gain and emission spectra for unipolar laser structures has been proposed. The effect of spectral broadening on the shape of emission spectra is estimated. The electroluminescence spectra are compared with the calculated spontaneous recombination spectra and good agreement between the results is shown.