Applied Optoelectronics Inc. of Sugar Land, Texas, has signed a licensing agreement under which it will produce and distribute the quantum cascade lasers developed by Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. The company has purchased several molecular beam epitaxy systems and is constructing a 24,000-sq-ft facility to produce the midinfrared devices in volume.

The tunable quantum cascade lasers operate at room temperature and display output as high as 500 mW, making them suitable for use in portable systems for trace-gas measurement. The lasers, which were first demonstrated in 1994, comprise up to 1000 alternating layers of semiconductor materials.

The company plans to commercially release the lasers in September.