High-Power Quantum Cascade Laser Works, Chilled, in the IR

Researchers at the University of Houston's Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center and Sandia National Laboratories have developed high-power infrared semiconductor lasers that combine standard diode laser and quantum cascade laser technologies. The research team demonstrated one device that emits 1-kHz pulses at a wavelength of 4-µm when chilled to 2100 °C. A second device, a 4.2-µm light-emitting diode, works at room temperature and produces an average output power of 140 µW at 50 percent duty cycle and a 1-kHz repetition rate. The second device's power is considerably higher than LEDs that are now commercially available at that wavelength, the team said.