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Ge etalon
Ge etalon for QCL (Quantum Cascade Laser) for 9.6 mkm
 

Specification:
Ge etalon has a hard  requirement for parallelism : < 2 sec.
dia 38.1 (-0.1) mm
thickness: 20 (+/-0.1) mm
Flatness: 1 fringe ( Lambda/2 at 633 nm) , delta N = 0.2 fringes
Surface quality: 60-40 s/d
Parallelism: 2 sec
Perpendicularity: 5 min

Quantum Cascade Laser

The quantum cascade laser is based on a fundamentally different principle to normal semiconductor lasers. It was invented and first demonstrated in 1994. It uses only one type of charge carrier, electrons, and is therefore called a unipolar laser.

In essence the quantum cascade laser operates like an electronic waterfall. Electrons cascade down a series of identical energy steps built into the material during crystal growth, emitting a photon at each step. This is unlike diode lasers which emit only one photon over the similar cycle. In practice this means that quantum cascade lasers can outperform diode lasers operating at the same wavelength by factors greater than 1000 in terms of power due to the cascading effect and the ability to carry large currents. The other revolutionary aspect of the quantum cascade laser is that it can be designed to emit at any wavelength over an extremely wide range using the same combination of materials in the active region.

References:

The original works on the theoretical prediction of quantum cascade lasers were published by R. F. Kazarinov  and R. A. Suris in 1971-1973.

Possibility of the amplification of electromagnetic waves in a semiconductor  with a superlattice
R. F. Kazarinov  and R. A. Suris
Sov. Phys. Semicond. v.5, #4, pp.707-709 (1971) [Fiz. Tech. Poluprovodn. v.5, #4, pp.797-800 (1971)]

Theory of electrical properties of semiconductors with superlattices,
R. F. Kazarinov  and R. A. Suris
Sov. Phys. Semicond. v.7, #3, pp.347-352 (1973) [Fiz. Tech. Poluprovodn. v.7, pp.488-498 (1973)]

Electric and electromagnetic properties of semiconductors with a superlattice
R. F. Kazarinov  and R. A. Suris
Sov. Phys. Semicond. v.6, #1, pp.120-131 (1972) [Fiz. Tech. Poluprovodn. v.6, #1, pp.148-162 (1972)]

R F Kazarinov and R A Suris 1971 Amplification of electromagnetic waves in a semiconductor superlattice
Sov. Phys. Semicond. 5 707­709

J Faist et al. 1994 Quantum cascade laser
Science 264 553­555

F Capasso and A Y Cho 1994 Band-gap engineering of semiconductor heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy
Surface Sci. 299/300 878­891

F Capasso et al. 1997 Infrared (4­11 µm) quantum cascade lasers
Solid State Comm. 102 231­236

E Corcoran and G Zorpette 1997 Diminishing dimensions
The Solid-State Century (Special issue of Scientific American) pp25­33

G Scamarcio et al. 1997 High-power infrared (8 µm) superlattice lasers
Science 276 773­776

C Gmachl et al. 1998 Continuous wave and high power pulsed operation of index-coupled distributed-feedback quantum cascade lasers at l~ 8.5 µm
Appl. Phys. Lett. 72 1430­1433

K Namjou et al. 1998 Sensitive absorption spectroscopy with a room temperature distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser
Opt. Lett. 23 219­221

M Rochat et al. 1998 Far-infrared (l = 88 µm) electroluminescence in a quantum cascade structure
Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 3724­3726

L J Olafsen et al. 1998 Near-room-temperature mid-infrared interband cascade laser
Appl. Phys. Lett. 72 2370­2372

S W Sharpe et al. 1998 High-resolution (Doppler limited) spectroscopy using quantum-cascade distributed-feedback lasers
Opt. Lett. 23 1396­1398

C Sirtori et al. 1998 GaAs/AlxGa1­xAs quantum cascade lasers
Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 3486­3488

A Tredicucci et al. 1998 A multiwavelength semiconductor laser
Nature 396 350­353

B A Paldus et al. 1999 Photoacoustic spectroscopy using quantum-cascade lasers
Opt. Lett. 24 178­180

S Slivken et al. 1999 High-temperature continuous-wave operation of l~ 8 µm quantum cascade lasers
Appl. Phys. Lett. 74 173­175

O Gauthier-Lafaye et al. 1999 High-power GaAs/AlGaAs quantum fountain unipolar laser emitting at 14.5 µm with 2.5% tunability
Appl. Phys. Lett. 74 1537­1539
 

The full story of the Cascade Laser from the Bell Labs

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