Simulating terahertz quantum cascade lasers: Trends from samples from different labs

We present a systematic comparison of the results from our non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism with a large number of AlGaAs-GaAs terahertz quantum cascade lasers previously published in the literature. Employing identical material and simulation parameters for all samples, we observe that discrepancies between measured and calculated peak currents are similar for samples from a given group. This suggests that the differences between experiment and theory are partly due to a lacking reproducibility for devices fabricated at different laboratories. Varying the interface roughness height for different devices, we find that the peak current under lasing operation hardly changes, so that differences in interface quality appear not to be the sole reason for the lacking reproducibility.