Description:
Princeton Docket # 10-2622
Currently
available commercial single-mode QC lasers either employ distributed feedback or
external cavity technique to achieve single-mode emission. Due to the complexity and yield issue of
these techniques, the costs and thus the sale prices for single-mode QC lasers
are very high, which is a crucial barrier to the development of
applications.
This invention permits single-mode operation
of QC lasers with folded Fabry-Perot cavities, which solves the problem that QC
lasers with conventional straight Fabry-Perot cavities generally do not operate
in single mode. It possesses the
advantages of simplicity in fabrication processes and lower cost over other
types of single-mode QC lasers.
Applications
·
Air
quality monitoring, greenhouse gas monitoring
·
Medical
diagnostics
·
Detection
of explosive and hazardous material
·
Industrial
processes monitoring
Advantages
·
Single-mode
operation
·
Simple
fabrication processes
·
Lower
cost of manufacturing
Publication
P. Q. Liu, X.
Wang, J. Fan, and C. Gmachl. ¿Single-Mode Quantum Cascade Lasers with a Folded
Fabry-Perot Cavity¿. Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum
Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS),San Jose, CA. May 2010.
Principal Investigator
Clair
Gmachl, Eugene
Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering
and
Director
of MIRTHE, is the
principle inventor for these QC
laser technologies. Her
research group
is working on the development of new
quantum devices, especially lasers, and their optimization for sensor systems
and their applications in environment and health. Among the numerous
honors Professor Gmachl has received are Election to Austrian Academy of
Sciences as Corresponding Member Abroad (2008), MacArthur Fellow (2005), and
Popular Science Magazine's list of Brilliant 10
(2004).
Intellectual Property
status
Patent protection is pending.