External cavity quantum cascade lasers with ultra rapid acousto-optic tuning

Journal Article · Mon Apr 06 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4917241· OSTI ID:22398838

Barron-Jimenez, R.; Dunayevskiy, I.; Go, R.; Patel, C. Kumar N., ^[1]

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1. Pranalytica, Inc., 1101 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, California 90401 (United States)

We report operation of tunable external cavity quantum cascade lasers with emission wavelength controlled by an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). A long-wave infrared quantum cascade laser wavelength tuned from ∼8.5 μm to ∼9.8 μm when the AOM frequency was changed from ∼41MHz to ∼49 MHz. The laser delivered over 350 mW of average power at the center of the tuning curve in a linewidth of ∼4.7 cm{sup −1}. Measured wavelength switching time between any two wavelengths within the tuning range of the QCL was less than 1 μs. Spectral measurements of infrared absorption features of Freon demonstrated a capability of obtaining complete spectral data in less than 20 μs.

• OSTI ID: 22398838
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 106; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ACOUSTICS
DIAGRAMS
INFRARED RADIATION
LASER CAVITIES
LASERS
MHZ RANGE
OPERATION
OPTICS
PHOTON EMISSION
TUNING
WAVELENGTHS