High Performance Interband Cascade Lasers for Infrared Countermeasures

The overall technical goal of this Phase II project is to develop single, broad area, interband cascade (IC) semiconductor diode lasers emitting in infrared countermeasure (IRCM) Bands II and IV (near 3.8 and 4.3 microns, respectively) that individuallydemonstrate sufficient power and brightness for inclusion into an all semiconductor-diode-laser-based IRCM source module. The performance objectives are intended to enable these single devices to be mounted on a Stirling cooler and deliver 2 Watts of peakoutput power at 25% duty cycle. Epi-side-down-mounted, Fabry-Perot IC lasers emitting in these IRCM bands should deliver an output beam characterized by a fast axis far-field divergence of less than 20¿ FWHM and a slow axis far-filed divergence of lessthan 6¿ FWHM.The successful development of Band II and Band IV IC lasers will enable an all-semiconductor-diode-laser-based IRCM source module. IC lasers operating at thermoelectric cooler temperatures under cw conditions will enable a wide range ofcommercial products in several other application areas. These include sources for free-space communications (for both civilian and military applications) and sources for local and remote chemical sensing systems serving the needs of several industries(e.g., industrial process controls, pollution monitoring, medical diagnostics, explosives detection, etc.).