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Quantum cascade lasers

A glass half full

Researchers from Princeton and Northwestern Universities have independently demonstrated, through different design strategies, mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with wall-plug efficiencies reaching 50%. The result is a quantum cascade laser so efficient that it generates more light than heat, albeit at low temperatures of operation.

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Figure 1: Key physical process in the Gmachl study2.
Figure 2: Key physical process in the Razeghi study3.

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Liu, H. A glass half full. Nature Photon 4, 69–70 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.274

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