Enhancement of quantum cascade laser intersubband transitions via coupling to resonant discrete photonic modes of subwavelength gratings

We present an optical spectroscopic study of InGaAs/AlInAs active region of quantum cascade lasers grown by low pressure metal organic vapor phase epitaxy combined with subwavelength gratings fabricated by reactive ion etching. Fourier-transformed photoluminescence measurements were used to compare the emission properties of structures before and after processing the gratings. Our results demonstrate a significant increase of the photoluminescence intensity related to intersubband transitions in the mid-infrared, which is attributed to coupling with the grating modes via so called photonic Fano resonances. Our findings demonstrate a promising method for enhancing the emission in optoelectronic devices operating in a broad range of application-relevant infrared.