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Originally published in Science Express on 20 December 2001
Science 11 January 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5553, pp. 301 - 305
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066408
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Reports

Continuous Wave Operation of a Mid-Infrared Semiconductor Laser at Room Temperature

Mattias Beck,1* Daniel Hofstetter,1 Thierry Aellen,1 Jérôme Faist,1 Ursula Oesterle,2 Marc Ilegems,2 Emilio Gini,3 Hans Melchior3

Continuous wave operation of quantum cascade lasers is reported up to a temperature of 312 kelvin. The devices were fabricated as buried heterostructure lasers with high-reflection coatings on both laser facets, resulting in continuous wave operation with optical output power ranging from 17 milliwatts at 292 kelvin to 3 milliwatts at 312 kelvin, at an emission wavelength of 9.1 micrometers. The results demonstrate the potential of quantum cascade lasers as continuous wave mid-infrared light sources for high-resolution spectroscopy, chemical sensing applications, and free-space optical communication systems.

1 Institute of Physics, University of Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
2 Institute of Micro- and Optoelectronics, Department of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
3 Institute for Quantum Electronics, Department of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Mattias.Beck{at}unine.ch

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