On the active conductivity of a three-barrier resonant-tunneling structure and optimization of quantum cascade laser operation

Within the context of the model of effective masses and rectangular potentials, the theory of active electronic conductivity is proposed for a three-barrier resonant-tunneling structure in a dc electric field, as the active element of a quantum cascade laser. It is shown that the chosen geometrical parameters of the active regions in the first experimentally fabricated quantum cascade lasers are most optimal and the experimental and theoretical values of the radiation energies correlate with each other with an accuracy of up to a few percent.