High-Power, Narrow-Linewidth Distributed-Feedback Quantum-Cascade Laser for Molecular Spectroscopy

Quantum cascade lasers are versatile light sources in the mid-infrared range for molecular spectroscopy which find a wide range of applications from high-resolution studies to sensing. While devices with either high power or narrow spectral linewidth have previously been reported, there is still a lack of sources combining both of these characteristics which are particularly important for precision measurements of weak spectroscopic transitions. In this article, we describe and characterize a novel master-oscillator power-amplifier distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser designed to fill this gap. At an output power of 300 mW, the device features a free-running linewidth of 1.3 MHz, measured with a frequency discriminator technique, at an emission wavenumber of 2185 cm−1. This linewidth is sufficiently narrow to enable a further reduction by a tight lock to a high-Q oscillator.