A strain-balanced, AlInAs/InGaAs/InP quantum cascade laser structure, designed for light emission near 9μm, was grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Laser devices were processed in buried heterostructure geometry. Maximum pulsed and continuous wave room temperature optical power of 4.5 and 2W and wallplug efficiency of 16% and 10%, respectively, were demonstrated for a 3mm by 10μm laser mounted epi-side down on an AlN/SiC composite submount. Pulsed laser characteristics were shown to be self-consistently described by a simple model based on rate equations using measured 70% injection efficiency for the upper laser level.
QCLs represent an important advance in MWIR and LWIR laser technology. With the demonstration of
CW/RT QCLs, large number applications for QCLs have opened up, some of which represent replacement of
currently used laser sources such as OPOs and OPSELs, and others being new uses which were not
possible using earlier MWIR/LWIR laser sources, namely OPOs, OPSELs and CO2 lasers.
Pranalytica has made significant advances in CW/RT power and WPE of QCLs and through its invention of a
new QCL structure design, the non-resonant extraction, has demonstrated single emitter power of >4.7 W
and WPE of >17% in the 4.4μm-5.0μm region. Pranalytica has also been commercially supplying the highest
power MWIR QCLs with high WPEs. The NRE design concept now has been extended to the shorter
wavelengths (3.8μm-4.2μm) with multiwatt power outputs and to longer wavelengths (7μm-10μm) with >1 W
output powers. The high WPE of the QCLs permits RT operation of QCLs without using TECs in quasi-CW
mode where multiwatt average powers are obtained even in ambient T>70°C. The QCW uncooled operation
is particularly attractive for handheld, battery-operated applications where electrical power is limited.
This paper describes the advances in QCL technology and applications of the high power MWIR and LWIR
QCLs for defense applications, including protection of aircraft from MANPADS, standoff detection of IEDs, insitu
detection of CWAs and explosives, infrared IFF beacons and target designators. We see that the SWaP
advantages of QCLs are game changers.
KEYWORDS: Quantum cascade lasers, Missiles, High power lasers, Reliability, Heatsinks, Defense and security, Laser systems engineering, Mid-IR, Laser applications, Lasers
Quantum cascade lasers are finding rapid acceptance in many defense and security applications. Our new multispectral
laser platform providing watt-level outputs near 2.0 μm, 4.0 μm and 4.6 μm in continuous wave regime at room
temperature. Individual lasers are spectrally beam combined into a single output beam with excellent quality. Our
rugged, compact (11 × 10 × 6.5 inches), and highly reliable, air-cooled multispectral laser platform is already finding
acceptance at system level. Our uncooled devices produce > 2W at 4.6 μm and >1.5W at 4.0 μm at room temperature,
and maintain watt-level output at 67°C with real wallplug efficiencies >10%. Finally, all of our QCLs undergo 100-hour
pre-delivery burn-in and pass shock, vibration, and temperature testing according to MIL-STD-810G.
A strain-balanced, AlInAs/InGaAs/InP quantum cascade laser structure, designed for light emission at 4.0 μm using nonresonant
extraction design approach, was grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Laser devices were processed in buried
heterostructure geometry. An air-cooled laser system incorporating a 10 mm by 11.5 μm laser with antireflection coated
front facet and high reflection coated back facet delivered over 2 W of single-ended optical power in a collimated beam.
Maximum continuous wave room temperature wallplug efficiency of 5.0% was demonstrated for a high reflection coated
3.65 mm by 8.7 μm laser mounted on an aluminum nitride submount. Lasers processed from a 3.5μm structure with a
similar design delivered 50 mW in CW mode and 300 mW of average power in high duty cycle mode at 265K. The low
performance of the 3.5 μm structure is attributed to the fact that the bottom of indirect profile is located below the upper
laser level for this design.
Because of their compact size, reliability, tunability, and convenience of direct electrical pumping, quantum cascade lasers have found a number of important civilian and defense applications in the midwave infrared and long-wave-infrared spectral range. Most of these applications would benefit from higher laser optical power and higher wall-plug efficiency. We describe some of the most important features of high-efficiency quantum cascade laser design and realization of high-power quantum cascade laser systems. Specifically, optimization of the active region and waveguide, thermal management on the chip level, and impact of the laser facet coating on laser efficiency and scaling of optical power with cavity length are discussed. Also, we present experimental results demonstrating multiwatt operation with reliability of at least several thousands of hours on a system level.
We present our latest results on the development of high power, high efficiency room temperature quantum
cascade lasers. Strain-balanced, InP-based quantum cascade structures, designed for light emission at 4.6 μm using a
new non-resonant extraction design approach, were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and processed as buried
heterostructure lasers. Maximum single-ended continuous-wave optical power of 3 W was obtained at 293 K for
devices with stripe dimensions of 5 mm by 11.6 μm mounted on diamond submounts. Corresponding maximum
wallplug efficiency and threshold current density were measured to be 12.7% and 0.86 kA/cm2. 7 mm-long, 8.5 μm-wide
devices mounted on aluminum nitride submounts with optimized reflectivity coatings on the output facet emitted
2.9 W under the same conditions and 1.2 W in uncooled pulsed operation. Leveraging this research, we developed
fully packaged, air-cooled, table-top turn-key laser systems delivering in excess of 2 W of collimated continuous-wave
radiation. The high performance and level of device integration make these quantum cascade lasers the primary choice
for various defense and security applications, including directional infrared countermeasures, mid-wave infrared
illuminators and free space optical communications.
Strain-balanced, InP-based quantum cascade laser structures, designed for light emission at 4.6 μm
using a new non-resonant extraction design approach, were grown by molecular beam epitaxy.
Removal of the restrictive two-phonon resonance condition, currently used in most structure designs,
allows simultaneous optimization of several structure parameters influencing laser performance.
Following the growth, the structure was processed to yield buried heterostructure lasers. Maximum
single-ended continuous-wave optical power of 3 W was obtained at 293 K for devices with stripe
dimensions of 5 mm by 11.6 μ;m. Corresponding maximum wallplug efficiency and threshold current
density were measured to be 12.7% and 0.86 kA/cm2. Fully packaged, air-cooled lasers with the same
active region/waveguide design and increased laser core doping delivered approximately 2.2 W in
collimated beam. The high performance and level of device integration make these quantum cascade
lasers the primary choice for various defense applications, including directional infrared
countermeasures, infrared beacons/target designators and free space optical communications.
Early detection of explosive substances is the first and most difficult step in defeating explosive
devices. Many currently available methods suffer from fundamental failure modes limiting their realworld
suitability. Infrared spectroscopy is ideal for reliable identification of explosives since it probes
the chemical composition of molecules. Quantum cascade lasers rapidly became the light source of
choice of IR spectroscopy due to their wavelength agility, relatively high output power, and small size
and weight. Our compact, rapid, and rugged multi-explosives sensor based on external grating cavity
QCLs simultaneously detects TNT, TATP, and acetone while being immune to ammonium nitrate
interference. The instrument features low false alarm rate, and low probability of false negatives.
Receiver operation characteristics curves are presented.
KEYWORDS: Quantum cascade lasers, Laser systems engineering, Defense and security, Packaging, Fiber optic illuminators, Reliability, High power lasers, Quantum efficiency, Collimation, Defense systems
Leveraging Pranalytica's fundamental research into high power and high wallplug efficiency QCL devices and high
performance/reliability QCL packaging technologies, we developed several models of turn-key QCL systems for
security-related applications. Our tabletop high power system produces, at room temperature, more than 2W of
nominally collimated continuous wave radiation at 4.6 μm. Our flashlight-size portable illuminator at 4.6 μm produces
over 100 mW average power portable illuminator at 9.6 μm produces more than 20 mW, both with runtime of ~10 hrs.
These systems are opening the window of QCL acceptance into
real-world security and defense applications. At chip
level, we have demonstrated 3W of CW power at room temperature from a single, high reflectivity coated chip.
We have analyzed light absorption in a quantum cascade laser structure under forward and reverse bias. Strong
absorption modulation at the laser frequency is predicted and observed experimentally for the voltage variation
within the high differential resistance voltage range. We propose to use this mechanism for monolithically
integrated intracavity modulation of quantum cascade lasers, promising suppressed thermal chirp and fast modulation
capability. In addition, the described method allows for extraction of the intersubband absorption from
the total waveguide losses.
We report substantially improved performance of high power quantum cascade lasers by utilizing epi-side down mounting that provides superior heat dissipation properties. We have obtained CW power output of 450 mW at 20°C from mid-IR QCLs. The improved thermal management achieved with epi-side down mounting has also permitted us to carry out initial lifetime tests on the mid-IR QCLs. No degradation of power output is seen even after over 300 hours of CW operation at 25°C with power output in excess of 300 mW. We believe these improvements should permit incorporation of mid-IR QCLs in reliable instrumentation.
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