We report at ITQW 2015 the first demonstration of an external cavity laser based upon an amplifying reflectarray metasurface – a THz VECSEL (vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting-laser). It is published in Applied Physics Letters http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4936887. This demonstration promises to be the first step towards address some of the most pressing problems for THz QC-lasers: output power efficiency, beam quality, and tunability of the output wavelength.
Physics Today coverage: “Search and Discovery: A quantum cascade laser gets a geometric makeover”. Mark Wilson, February 2016, vol. 69, issue 2, page 16.
Laser Focus World coverage: “Terahertz Sources: Terahertz QC metasurface VECSEL has near-Gaussian, low-divergence output”, Gail Overton, 2/1/16
Semiconductor Today coverage:“UCLA develops first terahertz VECSEL laser” 12/31/2015
UCLA Press Release: https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-researchers-develop-metasurface-laser-for-terahertz-range