American Institute of Physics, Applied Physics Letters, 9(108), p. 091102, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/1.4942889
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We analyze the peculiar case where the free carrier absorption arising from LO phonon absorption-assisted transitions becomes negative and therefore turns into a gain source for quantum cascade lasers. Such an additional source of gain exists when the ratio between the electronic and the lattice temperatures is larger than one, a condition that is usually fulfilled in quantum cascade lasers. We find a gain of few cm$^{-1}$'s at 200K. We report the development of a terahertz quantum cascade laser operating in the negative free carrier absorption regime.