Patent ID: 8036252

Claim:
A mid-infrared laser beam source comprising: a pump laser to produce a pump signal having a wavelength between 0.8 and 2.5 μm, the pump laser comprising a double-clad fiber with a doped core region coupled to a mode converter and a multiplexer to combine outputs from a plurality of laser diodes to form the pump signal; a cascaded Raman oscillator apparatus coupled to receive the pump signal and having a plurality of stages each to produce a separate output signal at a different mid-infrared wavelength from each other stage and through a Raman wavelength shifting process, wherein each stage is to shift a separate input signal for the stage to a longer wavelength to produce the separate output signal, and wherein each separate output signal corresponds to a different portion of a mid-infrared spectrum; a coupler apparatus to produce a signature spectral profile comprising tapped portions of the separate output signals; and a directional stage to direct the signature spectral profile to an external target.