InAs-GaSb laser: Prospects for efficient terahertz emission

We suggest to use InAs/GaSb coupled quantum wells for terahertz lasing. In these heterostructures terahertz lasing is based not on intersubband but on interband transitions. Crucial advantages of this design in comparison with intersubband lasers are (i) a large value of the interband dipole matrix element and (ii) easier maintenance of population inversion. These advantages lead to a gain of two orders of magnitude higher than that for intersubband lasing. Even higher gain can be obtained in special design InAs/GaSb W -structures where a hybridization gap of 1-3 THz is formed and optical density of states is singular.