Scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK have built a high-gain terahertz amplifier by adapting a 2.9 THz quantum cascade laser (QCL). An antireflective coating was deposited on the QCL's facet, which supressed optical feedback and lasing action, so that the device acted as a single-pass amplifier. The device was pumped with a separate QCL to achieve gains as large as 30 dB from a 1.33-mm-long Fabry–Pérot ridge cavity held at a temperature of 4.5 K.
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Graydon, O. Quantum cascade amplifier. Nature Photon 8, 812 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.275
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.275
