Patent ID: 7492806

Claim:
A mid-IR (MIR) laser device comprising: a housing; a thermo electric cooling (TEC) device contained within the housing; a heat spreader coupled to the TEC within the housing; a quantum cascade laser contained within the housing and fixedly coupled to the heat spreader, the quantum cascade laser generating light output; and an optical lens contained within the housing and fixedly coupled to the heat spreader, the optical lens collimating the light output from the quantum cascade laser, wherein the optical lens has numerical aperture that is greater than approximately 0.6, a diameter of less than approximately 5 millimeters, and a focal length of less than approximately 5 millimeters, the optical lens being made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ge, ZnSe, ZnS Si, CaF, BaF, and chalcogenide glass; wherein the heat spreader serves to distribute heat to the TEC and also serves as an optical platform to fixedly position the quantum cascade laser and the optical lens relative to one another.