Broad gain in a bound-to-continuum quantum cascade laser with heterogeneous active region

We demonstrate the operation of heterogeneous terahertz quantum cascade lasers with broadened gain by optimising the sub-stacks to align at the same field. In single plasmon waveguides, we find two-colour operation for nearly the entire dynamic range of the lasers with similar performance to homogeneous lasers. Time domain spectroscopy measurements confirm that a flat gain spectrum is present and the sub-stacks align at the same time. When incorporated into metal-metal waveguides, we find that performance is consistent with the constituent sub-stacks and there is broadband operation over 380 GHz. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3670050]