Wave engineering with THz quantum cascade lasers

Quantum cascade lasers are compact devices based on mature compound semiconductors such as GaAs that take advantage of highly developed optoelectronic fabrication techniques to integrate linear and nonlinear functions. This Review discusses terahertz-wave engineering using quantum cascade lasers with a particular focus on techniques that have been implemented to control their spectral and output beam properties. After briefly introducing the types of active regions and surveying present maximum operating temperatures, we review several photonic structures used for frequency and beam engineering, ranging from distributed feedback lasers to photonic crystals. We then describe techniques that allow the upconversion of terahertz quantum cascade laser radiation in the near-infrared region using nonlinear intracavity mixing. Finally, we review frequency stabilization of terahertz quantum cascade lasers with a special emphasis on phase locking to near-infrared frequency combs.