overview of commercially available and research grade

Overview of commercially available and research grade

quantum cascade lasers on TE-coolers

Antoine Muller, CEO

Acusticum Budapest 20051-3 Maximilien-de-MeuronCH-2000 NeuchâtelSwitzerland

The company

• Based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland

• Founded in 1998, no VC until now

• 13 employees

• 30 years of cumulated experience in QCL design and manufacture

• Strong Intellectual Property protection • Independent product (bound-to-continuum)• Licensee from Lucent Technologies

• Turnover 1.6 MCHF (2004)

• Growth rate 50-80% per annum since foundation

Dr. Yargo BonettiDr. Stéphane Blaser Sophie Brunner Emmanuel GentilhommeStéphane Goeckeler Sandra Hofmann Sandrine HuinDr. Lubos Hvozdara Dr. Antoine Muller Lim-Vitou Nam Alexandre NetuschillHideaki Page Vanessa Piot Guillaume Vandeputte

The team

Spectroscopy Applications

Gas measurements• Trace gas detection• Environmental monitoring• Process development• Leak detection• Quality control• Remote sensing• Drug/explosive detection• Chemical/biological threat detection

Medical diagnostics• Breath analysis

• Glucose monitoring

Other Applications

Energy deposition• Illumination• Countermeasures

Telecommunications• Line of sight transmissions

Imaging with teraherz radiation• Chemically sensitive Imaging • Parcels tomography

Principle of operation

TEM picture

intersubband:

E

k||

Interband:

k||

E

flexibility in tailoring wavefunctionsand energiesatomic-like joint density of stateshort lifetime (~1ps)

Photon energy limited by gap2D joint density of statelong lifetime (~1ns)

Activities

RT-P-DFB LN2-CW-DFB RT-P-FP please inquire

RT-P-DFB LN2-CW-DFBNew wavelength or High power

RT-CW-DFBLN2/LHe-DFB-THzVery special devices

Standard Production

Special Production

Research Activities

} Check www.alpeslasers.ch

Activities: Standard production

RT-P-DFB Standard Production

Characteristics: P > 1 mW (average)Operating current: 1-4 A / Operating voltage: 8 -10 VOperating temperatures: -30°C to 30°CTypical duty cycle: up to 5%Tuning range: 0.4%Spectral linewidth ~ 1 GHz tested (FTIR resolution)

300MHz optimal (*)

Lifetime: ageing measurements have shown τ > 5 years

Main applications: Chemical sensing / Medical diagnostics / Remote sensing

Available wavelengths

Off-the-shelf: 4.25 to 11.8 µm

www.alpeslasers.ch

* K. Namjou et al., Opt. Lett. 23, p. 219 (1998), D. Nelson et al., Appl. Phys. B 75, p. 343 (2002), E. Normand et al., Opt. Lett. 28, p.16 (2003), T. Beyer et al., J. Appl. Phys. 95, p.4551 (2004)

Room-Temperature Pulsed DFB

Activities: Standard production LN2 continuous-wave DFB

LN2-CW-DFB Standard Production

Characteristics: P typical 2 mW (max up to 100 mW)Operating current: 0.3 - 2 A, typical 0.8 AOperating voltage: 8-10 VOperating temperature: 80K to ~120-160KTuning range: > 0.4%Spectral linewidth ~ 3 MHz / optimal: few Hz (*)Large tuning, but power decreases with increasing temperature

Main applications: Chemical sensing / Medical diagnostics / Remote sensing

Available wavelengths

Off-the-shelf: 4.2 to 10.4 µm

www.alpeslasers.ch

* M. Taubman et al., Opt. Lett. 27, p. 2164 (2002)

Activities: Standard production Room-Temperature Pulsed FP

RT-P-FP Standard Production

Characteristics: P up to 100mWOperating current: 0.5 - 4 AOperating voltage: 8 -10VOperating temperatures: -30°C to 30°CMultiline spectra

Linewidth 0.5µm @ 10µmMode spacing 1 – 2 cm-1

Main applications: Illumination / Energy deposition / Chemical sensing in liquids

Inquire

Activities



Standard Production

Special Production

Research Activities

RT-P-DFB LN2-CW-DFB RT-P-FP

On request from 4.2 to 17µm

Activities: Special production Production line

Activities

RT-P-DFB LN2-CW-DFB RT-P-FP



Production pulsed-DFB

Special pulsed-DFB

Research ActivitiesEU contract

/ On request

CW DFB QCL on TE-cooler at 5.46µm

Max. single-mode operating temperature: T = 27°CT0 = 170K

Threshold current density = 1.26 kA/cm2 (-30°C)

• 1.5mm-long, 18µm-wide laser• no coating

RT-CW-DFB-40-1830

• best device: cw up to 30°C

CW DFB QCL on TE-cooler at 5.46µm RT-CW-DFB-40-1830

Single-mode emission between -30 and 25°C

Tuning range ∆ν = 12 cm-1 at 1830cm-1 (0.65%)



Max. single-mode operating T = -17°CThreshold current density = 2.0 kA/cm2 (-33°C)

• 1.5mm-long, 16µm-wide lasergoal: cw operation at 1900cm-1

CW DFB QCL on TE-cooler at 5.26µm

Max. single-mode operating temperature: T = 15°CT0 = 115K

Threshold current density = 2.1 kA/cm2 (-30°C)


RT-CW-DFB-40-1900

• best device: cw up to 15°C


Single-mode emission between -30 and 15°C

Tuning range ∆ν = 12.7 cm-1 at 1900cm-1 (0.67%)


High-power QCL on TE-cooler at 4.5µm

At -30C:

Peak power = 4.2 Watts (at 1%dc)

Average power = 187mW (at 8.3%dc)

• 4.77 mm-long, 24µm-wide• HR back-facet coating

RT-HP-FP-180-2220

Cryogenic CW THz DFB QCL at 86µm LHe-CW-DFB-1-116

• 1.7mm-long, 200µm-wide laser

cw operation at 116 cm-1

Giacomo Scalari et al.

Conclusions

The technology demonstrates its capacity of tailoring the specifications of the lasers over a vast range of parameters to the application needs.

A large inventory of QCL’s is available on the web.• RT pulsed single or multi mode• LN2 CW single modeBut also research grade • RT CW single mode for NO detection• RT High power • LHe/LN2 THz

References

Pulsed QC laser linewidth:

K. Namjou et al., Opt. Lett. 23, p. 219 (1998)

D. Nelson et al., Appl. Phys. B 75, p. 343 (2002)

E. Normand et al., Opt. Lett. 28, p.16 (2003)

T. Beyer et al., J. Appl. Phys. 95, p.4551 (2004)

Continuous-wave QC laser linewidth:

S. Sharpe et al., Opt. Lett. 23, p. 1396 (1998)

R. Williams et al., Opt. Lett. 24, p. 1844 (1999)

T. Myers et al., Opt. Lett. 27, p. 170 (2002)

M. Taubman et al., Opt. Lett. 27, p. 2164 (2002)

Chemical sensing:

A. Kosterev et al., IEEE J. Quantum Elect. 38, p. 582 (2002)

A. Kosterev et al., Appl. Phys. B 74, p. 95 (2002)

and many others

overview of commercially available and research grade

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