2014/10/08 by Florian Wendler, Ermin Malic, Ermin Malić · 46 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Equidistant #Graphene #Landau quantization #Laser #Magnetic field #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Population inversion #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Realization (probability) #Terahertz radiation #Terahertz technology and applications #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep12646
published in Scientific Reports 5(1), 12646 (Nature Portfolio)
arxiv created 2014/10/08 · openalex publication_date 2015/07/29 · arxiv updated 2015/09/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Terahertz (THz) technology has attracted enormous interest with conceivable applications ranging from basic science to advanced technology. One of the main challenges remains the realization of a well controlled and easily tunable THz source. Here, we predict the occurrence of a long-lived population inversion in Landau-quantized graphene (i.e. graphene in an external magnetic field) suggesting the design of tunable THz Landau level lasers. The unconventional non-equidistant quantization in graphene offers optimal conditions to overcome the counteracting Coulomb- and phonon-assisted scattering channels. In addition to the tunability of the laser frequency, we show that also the polarization of the emitted light can be controlled. Based on our microscopic insights into the underlying many-particle mechanisms, we propose two different experimentally realizable schemes to design tunable graphene-based THz Landau level lasers.