Tunable Lasers

External Cavity Quantum Cascade Laser Technology

Our tunable external cavity quantum cascade lasers (ECQCL) are available for mid IR wavelengths (3-12µm), with tuning ranges extending up to 350cm-1. Most of the tunable lasers are available for use either in pulsed mode, or in continuous wave (CW) mode. All of these tunable lasers offer superb wavelength accuracy and stability, throughout their tuning range.

Designed by the world’s leading experts in tunable lasers, these laser sources are small, robust, and utilise specially designed miniature lenses to optimise system performance. Each tunable laser system integrates TEC technology, for behind the scenes temperature control. The CW tunable laser versions need only a small water chiller, whilst the pulsed tunable lasers operate at room temperature. This means that you no longer need kilowatts of power or cryogenic cooling to have mid-infrared light at high power levels.

To round off the turnkey system, each tunable laser is shipped with an intuitive, easy to use multifunction controller. The laser controller is accessible to a PC through a number of ports, including USB, GPIB, and RS-232. This allows external control of the tunable laser for a variety of applications. The controller is manually controllable via a user-friendly front panel interface.

These tunable lasers enable research in the fields of spectroscopy, molecular detection and imaging. This includes applications such as industrial process controls, the detection of biomarkers in the breath, cellular imaging, and the detection of chemical and biological agents.

External Cavity Tunable Laser Diode Systems

The Laser 2000 tunable laser diode range uses external cavity designs to harness the broad gain of semiconductor laser diodes. With a high efficiency external grating, the laser diode output wavelength can tune across the entire gain bandwidth of the laser. Coarse and fine tuning is provided via a combination of manual, motorised and piezo actuators. Two standard tunable cavity layouts are offered, Littrow and Littman-Metcalf.

The Littrow configuration offers higher output power, up to 1000mW, at the expense of a broader linewidth, whereas the Littman-Metcalf cavity delivers typically the narrowest of linewidths, <300 kHz at 1ms.

The anti-reflection coating on the laser diodes increases the total tuning range up to a factor of two, narrows the linewidth and gives excellent side mode suppression in comparison to standard diode lasers. The laser diode AR coating also ensures that the highest gain is provided in the preferred laser mode. The piezo actuator allows fine-tuning with a resolution better than 10MHz. Both formats have a large mode-hop free tuning range – up to 30GHz for Littrow, 100GHz for Littman/Metcalf.

Plug and play, the tunable external cavity diode lasers have a modular laser system design, automated piezo tuning with power read-out and remote control via GPIB, RS232 and USB. These lasers can also be fibre pigtailed, with high coupling efficiency.