Phonon-pumped semiconductor lasers

A phonon-pumped semiconductor interminiband laser produces lasing emissions and uses a temperature gradient and optical phonons to excite carriers from a ground-state miniband of a superlattice to an excited miniband, and which does not utilize optical pumping or electrical pumping, and comprises:

• a means for generating phonons;
• an active superlattice which receives the phonons from the generating means to produce a first set of carriers responsive to phonons at a first optical phonon spectra and being pumped from a populated ground state to a first upper miniband CB1, wherein said active superlattice comprises an active Si Ge/Si superlattice containing the carriers at the populated ground state and which has a quantum well and barrier composition and thickness which produces two minibands of excitation along with Z axis in response to the first and second sets of carriers when stimulated to produce the lasing emissions;
• a heat buffer layer having a Brillouin zone boundary with and place on top the active superlattice and which receives the phonons from the generating means to produce a second set of carriers responsive to phonons at a second optical phonon spectra and reflecting phonons from the first optical phonon spectra back down through the active superlattice to stimulate the lasing emissions in the active superlattice thereby at the Brillouin zone boundary between the active superlattice and the heat buffer layer, said heat buffer layer having properties with respect to optical and acoustic phonons that are thermally adjustable;
• and
• a set of warm and cool hear sinks, that create a temperature gradient across the active superlattice wherein the buffer layer is adjacent to the cool sink so that it reflects optical phonons and transmits acoustic phonons.