Near-infrared induced optical quenching effects on mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

In space communications, atmospheric absorption and Rayleigh scattering are the dominant channel impairments. Transmission using mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths offers the benefits of lower loss and less scintillation effects. In this work, we report the telecom wavelengths (1.55 μm and 1.3 μm) induced optical quenching effects on MIR quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), when QCLs are operated well above their thresholds. The QCL output power can be near 100% quenched using 20 mW of near-infrared (NIR) power, and the quenching effect depends on the input NIR intensity as well as wavelength. Time resolved measurement was conducted to explore the quenching mechanism. The measured recovery time is around 14 ns, which indicates that NIR generated electron-hole pairs may play a key role in the quenching process. The photocarrier created local field and band bending can effectively deteriorate the dipole transition matrix element and quench the QCL. As a result, MIR QCLs can be used as an optical modulator and switch controlled by NIR lasers. They can also be used as “converters” to convert telecom optical signals into MIR optical signals.