Research on Mid-Infrared External Cavity Quantum Cascade Lasers and Applications
Yuhang Ma,
Keke Ding,
Long Wei,
Xuan Li,
Junce Shi,
Zaijin Li,
Yi Qu,
Lin Li,
Zhongliang Qiao,
Guojun Liu,
Lina Zeng,
Dongxin Xu
Affiliations
Yuhang Ma
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Keke Ding
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Long Wei
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Xuan Li
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Junce Shi
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Zaijin Li
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Yi Qu
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Lin Li
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Zhongliang Qiao
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Guojun Liu
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Lina Zeng
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
Dongxin Xu
Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Academician Team Innovation Center of Hainan Province, College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
In this paper, we review the progress of the development and application of external cavity quantum cascade lasers (ECQCLs). We concentrated on ECQCLs based on the wide tunable range for multi-component detection and applications. ECQCLs in the mid-infrared band have a series of unique spectral properties, which can be widely used in spectroscopy, gas detection, protein detection, medical diagnosis, free space optical communication, and so on, especially wide tuning range, the tuning range up to hundreds of wavenumbers; therefore, ECQCLs show great applications potential in many fields. In this paper, the main external cavity structures of ECQCLs are reviewed and compared, such as the Littrow structure, the Littman structure, and some new structures. Some new structures include the intra-cavity out-coupling structure, multimode interference (MMI) structure, and acousto-optic modulator (AOM) control structure. At the same time, the application research of ECQCLs in gas detection, protein detection, and industry detection are introduced in detail. The results show that the use of diffraction gratings as optical feedback elements can not only achieve wide tuning, but it also has low cost, which is beneficial to reduce the complexity of the laser structure. Therefore, the use of diffraction gratings as optical feedback elements is still the mainstream direction of ECQCLs, and ECQCLs offer a further new option for multi-component detection.
