Patent ID: 7826509
Filing Date: 2010-11-02
Classification: B82Y,G01N,H01S

Abstract:
1. A continuously tunable single-mode quantum cascade laser source comprising: an array of individually addressed closely-spaced mid-infrared or THz quantum cascade lasers fabricated on the same laser wafer, wherein each laser in said array has a slightly different emission wavelength and that a difference in the emission wavelengths, set by the distributed feedback grating, between two lasers in the array that are adjacent in frequency space, is sufficiently small such that for any desired wavelength in a wavelength range supported by a broadband-gain, or multiple wavelengths, or any other quantum cascade laser material, said controller may set the temperature of a laser in the array in such a way that said laser emits at the desired wavelength and a difference in the target emission wavelengths between two adjacent lasers in the array is smaller than a tuning range available with temperature tuning of each of said lasers, and wherein each laser on a chip can be addressed independently by a compact microelectronic controller; and a compact microelectronic controller, wherein said controller switches each laser in the array on and off, sets current for each said laser, controls and sets a temperature of each individual laser in said array as well as the temperature of the array as a whole to produce a continuously tunable single-mode quantum cascade laser source.