High power mid-IR fiber combiner

Infrared countermeasure (IRCM) designed to prevent missiles from reaching their target are standard equipment on military aircraft. In recent years, missile guidance systems have become increasingly so-phisticated. In order to counter the increasing threat from infrared missile seekers, multi-wavelength (2 5 m), high power (up to 50 W) mid-infrared lasers will be required in next generation Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) systems. However, current mid-IR lasers, such as quantum cascade lasers, can only provide up to 10 W of output power. A new optical fiber combiner to combine mid-infrared lasers of different wavelengths will be explored. Q-Peak Inc. proposes to develop an innovative, high power, low insertion loss, compact, chalcogenide fiber-based, mid-infrared fiber combiner for the amalgamation of different-wavelength (2-5 m) mid-infrared lasers for next-generation CIRCM applications.