Coherent frequency combs produced by self frequency modulation in quantum cascade lasers.

One salient characteristic of Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) is its very short τ ~ 1 ps gain recovery time that so far thwarted the attempts to achieve self-mode locking of the device into a train of single pulses. We show theoretically that four wave mixing, combined with the short gain recovery time causes QCL to operate in the self-frequency-modulated regime characterized by a constant power in time domain and stable coherent comb in the frequency domain. Coherent frequency comb may enable many potential applications of QCL's in sensing and measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]