Alpes Lasers now offers Broad Gain Interband Cascade Laser (ICL) chips for use in External cavity systems. ICLs allow emission at shorter wavelengths than traditional QCLs, many of which are particularly interesting for hydrocarbon detection. The initially offered chip covers the range 3.2-3.6 um (2820-3070 cm-1) which contains strong absorption lines for CH4, C2H6, HCl and CH2O (formaldehyde).

In 2021 the Photonics West exhibition is virtual only but as always we will be present! Come to our booth to chat or discuss via video anytime from March 8th to 11th!

Using the lightweigth and small size intrinsic to QCL systems, researchers at EMPA have demonstrated a new Compact and lightweight mid-infrared laser spectrometer for balloon-borne water vapor measurements. This comes on top of their previous achievement of mounting a QCL on a drone!

A group at the TU Wien and Friedrich-Alexander University, who are partners with Alpes Lasers through the Hydroptics and WaterSpy project, have recently published a paper titled "Polarimetric Balanced Detection: Background-Free Mid-IR Evanescent Field Laser Spectroscopy for Low-Noise, Long-term Stable Chemical Sensing" which uses a QC-XT laser from Alpes Lasers to measure water quality in situ at the Prato water treatment plant in Genova, Italy.