Mid-Infrared Lasers

BROADBAND MID-INFRARED SOLID-STATE LASERS Broadband Mid-Infrared Lasers

A survey of broadband Co2+and Cr2+-based lasers is presented. These mid-IR sources, operating in the very interesting “molecular fingerprint” region between ∼1.6 and 3.5μm offer the broadest bandwidth from all solid-state vibronic lasers. The emphasize is made on Cr2+-doped lasers, which have not only the widest and the highest gain, but also operate at room-temperature and produce the shortest...

Characterization of mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers

Quantum cascade lasers provide some of the highest output powers available for light in the mid-infrared range (from 3 to 8 μm). As many of their applications require portability, designs that have a high wall-plug efficiency are essential, and were designed and grown by others to achieve this goal. However, because a large fraction of these devices did not operate at all, very few of the stand...

Cavity ringdown spectroscopy using mid-infrared quantum-cascade lasers.

Cavity ringdown spectra of ammonia at 10 parts in 10(9) by volume (ppbv) and higher concentrations were recorded by use of a 16-mW continuous-wave quantum-casacde distributed-feedback laser at 8.5 mum whose wavelength was continuously temperature tuned over 15 nm. A sensitivity (noise-equivalent absorbance) of 3.4x10(-9) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2) was achieved for ammonia in nitrogen at standard temperatu...

Reduced auger recombination in mid-infrared semiconductor lasers

Mode-locked pulses from mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers.

In this study, we report the unequivocal demonstration of midinfrared mode-locked pulses from quantum cascade lasers. The train of short pulses was generated by actively modulating the current and hence the gain of an edge-emitting quantum cascade laser (QCL). Pulses with duration of about 3 ps at full-width-at-half-maxima and energy of 0.5 pJ were characterized using a second-order interferome...