Epitaxial Bragg mirrors for the mid-infrared and their applications

Bragg interference mirrors consisting of stacks of dielectric layers with an optical thickness of a quarter wavelength are of great importance for optoelectronic device applications. For the mid-infrared spectral range mirrors with high reflectivity stop bands are fabricated from combinations of Pb1−xEuxTe/EuTe materials by molecular beam epitaxy on BaF2 substrates. These mirrors designed by the transfer matrix method exhibit reflectivities in excess of 99% by only 3 Bragg mirror layer pairs and very wide stop band regions, reaching a width of up to 60% of the target wavelength. Based on these very efficient mirrors, planar microcavities are demonstrated with an ultra-high effective finesse of up to 1700. Stimulated emission between 3 and 6 μm is obtained by optically pumping a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser containing PbTe quantum wells with Pb1−xEuxTe barriers as active medium embedded between two dielectric Bragg mirrors. Depending on the design of the resonator, pulsed laser operation is observed up to 65°C. The enhancement of light absorption in the cavity is used to study the absorption of superlattices containing correlated self-organized PbSe quantum dots.