High-performance InP-based midinfrared quantum cascade lasers at Northwestern University

We present recent performance highlights of midinfrared quan- tum cascade lasers (QCLs) based on an InP material system. At a repre- sentative wavelength around 4.7 μm, a number of breakthroughs have been achieved with concentrated effort. These breakthroughs include watt-level continuous wave operation at room temperature, greater than 50% peak wall plug efficiency at low temperatures, 100-W-level pulsed mode operation at room temperature, and 10-W-level pulsed mode oper- ation of photonic crystal distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers at room temperature. Since the QCL technology is wavelength adaptive in nature, these demonstrations promise significant room for improvement across a wide range of mid-IR wavelengths. C 2010 Society of Photo-Optical

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