lasers  technology

Output powers in excess of 1W can be produced from an uncooled package (left). A table-top variant has also been produced (above). This version can also drive the laser with pulses exhibiting rise and fall times of less than 5 ns

This complete system, which is hermetically sealed in nitrogen atmosphere, is very compact – its mass is less than 100 g and it has a volume below 50 cm3. An additional appeal of these hermetic packages is that by providing a well-defined electrical and optical system interface, they free system designers from needing to become QCL experts, thereby dramatically reducing the risk and time for developing QCL applications.

Some applications require higher powers, and to meet these needs we have developed specially packaged, cryogenic QCLs that deliver a CW output in excess of 7W at 80K. However, the increase in the output power of this chip has the downside of a more expensive, larger and heavier system.

Any systems integrator requires infrastructure in addition to the laser package, including drive electronics and package thermal management. These tasks for room-temperature, CW QCLs are challenging, because this class of laser requires significantly higher drive voltages (12-16V) than its diode cousin, as well as a more capable form of external thermal management. To reduce the barrier to entry for QCL system integration, we have developed appropriate drivers, heatsinks and controllers that represent the entirety of equipment necessary for operating a QCL in a customer’s system. Such systems, which are now commercially available in several different versions with a CW output power in excess of 2.5W, should help to unlock the door to deployment of lasers for protection of military and civilian aircraft, gas sensing, and a host of other important applications.

Further reading

Jérôme Faist et al., Science 264, 553–556 (1994). Mattias Beck et al., Science 295, 301–305 (2002).

Jérôme Faist et al. IEEE J. Quant. Electron. 38, 533 (2002). Arkadiy Lyakh et al. , Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 141113, (2009). Richard Maulini

et al., Appl.

Phys. Lett. 95, 151112, (2009). Robert Curl et al., Chem Phys. Lett. 487, 1-18 (2010).

Pranalytica manufactures commercial, turn-key, high-power QCL systems that operate off standard AC power and can deliver CW output powers in excess of 2.5W (above). The laser head houses the QCL and its thermal management system, and a controller provides all of the necessary supply, command, control and safety functionality. This version can deliver more than 2W of collimated radiation at 4.6 µm. For applications requiring projection of the QCL beam over several kilometers, the laser head can be coupled to an external objective (right)

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