Some optical properties of a tunnel laser

The cw oscillation of a tunnel laser is demonstrated. The high losses encou ntered in tunneling systems are here compensated for by a high gain amplify ing medium for barrier widths between 0 and lambda /2. For a first particul ar angle of incidence, the TM frequency remains invariant when the total le ngth of the laser is varied. For a higher value of the incidence angle, the frequency associated with the TE polarization increases while the frequenc y associated with the TM polarization undergoes a negative variation when t he total length of the laser is reduced. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences/Edi tions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.