2014, Pavlov, S.G., Deßmann, N., Shastin, V.N., Zhukavin, R.K., Redlich, B., van der Meer, A.F.G., Mittendorff, M., Winnerl, S., Abrosimov, N.V., Riemann, H., Hübers, H.-W.

Stimulated emission in the terahertz frequency range has been realized from boron acceptor centers in silicon. Population inversion is achieved at resonant optical excitation on the 1Λ8+ → 1Λ7- , 1Λ6-, 1Λ8- intracenter transitions with a midinfrared free-electron laser. Lasing occurs on two intracenter transitions around 1.75 THz. The upper laser levels are the 1Λ7- , 1Λ6- , and 1Λ8- states, and the lower laser level for both emission lines is the 2Λ8+ state. In contrast to n-type intracenter silicon lasers, boron-doped silicon lasers do not involve the excited states with the longest lifetimes. Instead, the absorption cross section for the pump radiation is the dominating factor. The four-level lasing scheme implies that the deepest even-parity boron state is the 2Λ8+ state and not the 1Λ7+ split-off ground state, as indicated by other experiments. This is confirmed by infrared absorption spectroscopy of Si:B.