Quantum Cascade Lasers Optimized for High Power/High Efficiency Operation in the 3.8 – 4.1 µm Band

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), in collaboration with Thorlabs Quantum Electronics (TQE), proposes to develop a state-of-the-art, high power, mid-wave infrared (MWIR) laser to address Navy applications. During Phase I of the program the PSI led team will design and fabricate an improved MWIR quantum cascade laser (QCL) to demonstrate that sufficient performance improvements can be implemented to meet the Navy’s current performance targets.  Subsequent iterations of design, fabrication, and evaluation in Phase II will achieve the 5W per emitter performance level. This successful SBIR effort will result in a reliable and repeatable commercial high power and high wall plug efficiency MWIR QCL product available from TQE, who is currently the primary and most cost competitive, reliable supplier of QCLs to the Department of Defense (DoD).