Lead-salt lasers are commercially used for high resolution spectroscopy in the mid-infrared (3 am to 30 am) range. However, their commercial and scientific use is limited due to cryogenic cooling requirements that impose a high price and large physical size. Analysis of diode laser performances indicates that most of the fabricated PbEuSeTe/PbTe diode lasers have a maximum continuous wave (cw) operating temperature somewhat below 195 K. Evaluation of the packaging technology shows that the cold bonding technology presently used is estimated to lower the cw operating temperature by about 30 K due to the insufficient thermal contact formed when the In metal used in the bonding is pressed. The goal of this program is to develop a miniaturized, tunable, diode laser source assembly for molecular spectroscopy applications. It will be capable of emitting in the mid-infrared range of 2 am to 5 am when operation is in the cw mode at temperatures higher than 200 K. Keeping in mind thermoelectric cooling capability for PbEuSeTe/PbTe diode lasers, the design of a miniature new package which will take advantage of new materials and approaches. In addition, a new packaging technique based on hot bonding (soldering) will be developed taking into account the special sensitivity required in handling Pb-salt materials, which are considered the softest semiconductive materials in the industry. With this new technology, many of the fabricated diode lasers will exceed 200 K operating temperature in cw mode.The development of a miniaturized mid-IR diode laser assembly capable of operation with thermoelectric cooling will lead to many applications that have been previously precluded by stringent cryogenic cooling requirements. Commercial applications include low-cost, high-performance systems for industrial and air pollution monitoring, medical diagnostics, and other analytical applications. These include military applications in the area of communications and infrared simulators.lead-salt lasers, miniaturized package, high cw operating temperature, new packaging technique, thermoelectric coolingSTATUS: Phase I Only
