In this paper we investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, nonequilibrium electron and phonon effects in quantum-cascade devices. In particular, we have developed a Monte Carlo-based global kinetic approach describing the complete interacting electronic subsystem (i.e., the full set of active-region and injector subbands) coupled to out-of-equilibrium longitudinal polar-optical (LO) phonons, which in turn will decay anharmonically into thermalized acoustic modes. Simulated results obtained for a prototypical terahertz emitting device show a very good agreement with measured data, evidencing how the nonequilibrium LO phonon population affects the electro-optical device performances. The latter may be qualitatively reproduced in terms of a global effective temperature of the heated phononic system. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3464977]
Autori interni: | |
Autori: | Iotti R. C.; Rossi F.; Vitiello M. S.; Scamarcio G.; Mahler L.; Tredicucci A. |
Titolo: | Impact of nonequilibrium phonons on the electron dynamics in terahertz quantum cascade lasers |
Anno del prodotto: | 2010 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | 10.1063/1.3464977 |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 1.1 Articolo in rivista |