Decoherence in high barrier quantum cascade structures

High barrier AlxGa1-xAs terahertz quantum cascade structures with AlAs compositions up to 30% are studied. The influence of thermally excited leakage scattering to higher bound energy states and decoherence effects are investigated using a density matrix method where the pure dephasing time is self-consistently solved. The lattice temperature dependence of the light output in diagonal optical transition structures is calculated and shown to be consistent with experiment. Scattering from the upper lasing state to higher bound energy states is found to have minimal effects, and rather the decoherence from the calculated reduction of the pure dephasing time due to the impurity interaction is primarily responsible for the temperature dependence of a recently reported structure. This shows that the effects from an increased impurity interaction due to thinner barriers and different well dimensions can dominate over that from the increased interface roughness interaction due to higher potentials.