High-Power Semiconductor Laser in the 3.0- to 3.5-um Spectral Range Navy STTR FY2012.A Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2012.A Topic No.: N12A-T003 Topic Title: High-Power Semiconductor Laser in the 3.0- to 3.5-um Spectral Range Proposal No.: N12A-003-0339 Firm: Epitaxial Laboratory, Inc. 25 Tiana Place Dix Hills, New York 11746 Contact: Jie Piao Phone: (516) 508-0060 Abstract: This STTR phase I project aims to develop a novel material system for muti-Watt level, Room Temperature 3.0 to 3.5 micron Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) utilizing our state-of-art in house Mod Gen II molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. Due to their bi-polar nature and the exponentially increasing nature of Auger process with wavelength, laser diodes (LDs) has failed to demonstrate high performance short wavelength mid-IR lasing. On the other hand, due to the uni-polar nature, QCLs have shown excellent performance in the range of 4.5 micron and longer wavelength. With the help of InGaAs/AlInAs/InP material system, 3.4 W lasing at 4.8 micron is obtained operating at RT in CW mode. However, due to the conduction band offset (CBO) limitation, this material system cannot offer Watt-level lasers shorter than near 4.5 micron. To make up the vacancy of high performance short wavelength mid-IR semiconductor lasers, We propose an new approach that will enable muti-Watt level, Room Temperature 3.0 to 3.5 micron QCLs. In Phase I, we will demonstrate QCLs operating in pulsed mode. In Phase II, we will optimize the design and parameter to realize Watt-level QCLs operating in the wavelength range of 3.0 to 3.5 micron at RT. Benefits: The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the foreseen potential to fill the high performance lasing wavelength gap (3.0 to 3.5 micron) between laser diodes (LDs) and QCLs based on InGaAs/AlInAs material system, to which there are 17 companies dedicating. High power, room temperature 3.0 to 3.5 micron cw QCLs have many applications in both military and commercial sectors. These applications include but are not limited to space craft, Laser radar (ladar) systems, infrared countermeasures (IRCM), Stand-off chemical detection (such as Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) for environmental monitoring, biomedical surgery, and manufacturing industry. US Government(including DOD, NASA, etc.) and many U.S. companies are interested in high power, room temperature 3.0 to 3.5 micron lasers, including aerospace industries, defense industries, and many others. Return