Mid-infrared tunable quantum cascade lasers for gas-sensing applications

Author

Gmachl, Claire ; Capasso, Federico ; Köhler, Rudeger ; Tredicucci, Alessandro ; Hutchinson, A.L. ; Sivco, Deborah L. ; Baillargeon ; Cho, Alfred Y.

Author_Institution

Bell Labs., Lucent Technol., Murray Hill, NJ, USA

Volume

16

Issue

3

fYear

2000

fDate

5/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

10

Lastpage

18

Abstract

The quantum cascade (QC) laser does not involve the material bandgap for the generation of light. Therefore, InP- and GaAs-based III-V semiconductor materials can now be used for the generation of long-wavelength, mid-infrared light. These materials are also straightforward to process and pattern. This is essential for the more sophisticated device geometries such as distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. DFB lasers provide a very elegant and reliable method to achieve a well-defined single-wavelength emission (called single-mode operation) as opposed to the usually multiple-mode emission of free-running Fabry-Perot resonators. QC-DFB lasers were first demonstrated in 1996. They have evolved very rapidly and have already shown great promise in many different gas-sensing applications

Keywords

distributed feedback lasers; gas sensors; laser beam applications; laser tuning; quantum well lasers; DFB laser; gas sensing; mid-infrared tunable quantum cascade laser; semiconductor laser; single-mode operation; Distributed feedback devices; Gas lasers; III-V semiconductor materials; Laser feedback; Optical materials; Photonic band gap; Quantum cascade lasers; Semiconductor lasers; Semiconductor materials; Tunable circuits and devices;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Circuits and Devices Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

8755-3996

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/101.845908

Filename

845908