Transmission Properties of Plasmonic Metamaterial Quantum Cascade Lasers

We report the results of transmission experiments performed on hybridized plasmonic metamaterial quantum cascade lasers. This device was formed by etching an array of split ring resonators (SRRs) onto the gold coated facet of a laser. Broadband midinfrared transmission experiments confirm the resonant nature of the SRR structure, in good agreement with finite-difference time-domain calculations and results from structures fabricated on bare GaAs. The long fundamental resonance was observed at lambda ~ 6.3 μm. These devices have potential uses in near-field vibrational microscopy of chemical and biological samples, nonlinear studies, and beam shaping.