Patent ID: 7873094

Claim:
A mid-IR (MIR) laser device comprising: a housing; a heat spreader coupled to 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 0.6, a diameter of less than 5 millimeters, and a focal length of less than 5 millimeters; wherein the optical lens is 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 and also serves as an optical platform to fixedly position the quantum cascade laser and the optical lens relative to one another.