Multi-heterodyne spectroscopy using Fabry-Perot interband cascade lasers for trace gas detection: a feasibility assessment

Interband cascade lasers (ICLs) have proven to be efficient semiconductor sources of coherent mid -infrared (mid-IR) radiation. Single mode distributed-feedback (DFB) ICLs are excellent high-resolution spectroscopic sources for targeting important molecular species in the mid-IR fingerprint region, but are limited to a narrow spectral tuning range. Recent developments in multi-heterodyne spectroscopy with multi-mode Fabry-Perot (FP) lasers have enabled significant progress towards broadband high-resolution spectroscopic sensing applications in the mid-infrared. Here, we characterize the mode structure and tuning properties of multi-mode FP-ICLs for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of ICL-based multiheterodyne spectroscopy.

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