SBIR-STTR Award

TransWave Photonics proposes to develop a high reliability, monolithic, low-production-cost quantum cascade laser photonic integrated circuit integrated with a large-area output aperture designed for robust, high-damage threshold, high-power emission. Leveraging our expertise in mid-infrared photonic integrated circuit design, we expect to demonstrate a new type of surface emitting quantum cascade devices capable of producing more than 20W power at wall-plug efficiency of more than 20%, monolithically integrated, via a low-loss waveguide, with a surface emitting outcoupler with dimensions no less than 1 mm x 10 m.

Benefit:
The proposed approach will result in monolithic high continuous-wave power (>20 W) mid-wave infrared laser system using quantum-cascade-laser-based photonic integrated circuit. Successful demonstration of the proposed photonic integrated circuits will be immediately beneficial for various military applications including infrared countermeasures, chemical detection, and light detection and ranging, and commercial applications including health care and sensing. Considering health-care and sensing applications that are one of the biggest markets for quantum cascade laser applications, whose global market is projected to reach from $1.0 billion to $1.3 billion, growing with CAGR of 4.1% for the period 2020-2025. The demand for quantum cascade laser photonic integrated circuits for gas sensing applications is expected to be particularly high from oil and gas industries. Given the fact that quantum cascade lasers are already widely used in gas sensing systems, TransWave Photonics expects multiple commercial opportunities for the development of on-chip quantum-cascade-laser-based gas sensors using our proposed photonic integrated circuit technology.

Keywords:
mid-wave infrared, mid-wave infrared, photonic integrated circuit, Quantum Cascade Laser, Surface emission, optical facet damage