Terahertz lasing from intersubband polariton-polariton scattering in asymmetric quantum wells

Electric dipole transitions between different cavity polariton branches or between dressed atomic states with the same excitation number are strictly forbidden in centro-symmetric systems. For doped quantum wells in semiconductor microcavities, the strong coupling between an intersubband transition in the conduction band and a cavity mode produces two branches of intersubband cavity polaritons, whose normal-mode energy splitting is tunable and can be in the terahertz region. Here, we show that, by using asymmetric quantum wells, it is possible to have allowed dipolar transitions between different polaritonic branches, leading to the emission of terahertz photons. We present a quantum field theory for such a system and predict that high-efficiency, widely tunable terahertz lasing can be obtained.