Carrier thermalization versus phonon-assisted relaxation in quantum-cascade lasers: A Monte Carlo approach

In this letter, we present a microscopic analysis of the hot-carrier dynamics governing intersubband light-emitting devices. In particular, a global Monte Carlo simulation scheme is proposed in order to directly access details of the three-dimensional carrier relaxation, without resorting to phenomenological parameters. The competition between intercarrier thermalization and phonon-assisted relaxation in quantum-cascade lasers is investigated and their relative importance on device performance is clearly identified.