Miniaturized quantum cascade lasers enable fast Mid-IR spectroscopy

Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have been gaining increasing attention as their capabilities are being demonstrated in a range of applications. One recent advance is the development of a miniaturized QCL, which when used as a light source, enables mid-infrared (mid-IR) scanning speeds much faster than those of conventional Fourier transform IR (FT-IR). Ralf Ostendorf of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics in Freiburg, Germany, recently spoke to us about this work.