Semiconductor disk lasers for generation of mid-infrared radiation

NCN PRELUDIUM 2014/15/N/ST7/05290

In spite of intense efforts of many research centres, efficient and compact sources emitting high-power radiation with high‑quality output beams and operating in the mid-infrared range (3-5 μm) have not yet been demonstrated. Semiconductor disk lasers, also known as vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers, seems to be an interesting solution to this problem. Currently available mid-infrared sources suffers from various disadvantages, such as: large size, need of cryogenic cooling, low output powers, low quality of output beams or weak tunability, and their performance is not satisfactory from the point of view of the potential customer. The 3-5 μm range is important for optoelectronics applications, since it corresponds to the atmospheric window, which can be use for example for free-space optical communication. The main goal of this project is to develop new sources of 3-5 μm radiation based on semiconductor disk lasers which can fulfil the criteria of: high output power, high quality of output beams, reliability and low price. Since the sources will be composed of semiconductor materials, they would also have compact sizes and would be adapted to the emission at different wavelengths from the wide mid-infrared spectral range thanks to so called band-gap engineering.