External cavity quantum cascade laser tunable from 7.6 to 11.4 μm

We present the development of a broad gain quantum cascade active region. By appropriate cascade design and using a symmetric active region arrangement, we engineer a flat gain and increase the total modal gain in the desired spectral range. Grating-coupled external cavity quantum cascade lasers using this symmetric active region are tunable from 7.6 to 11.4 mu m with a peak optical output power of 1 W and an average output power of 15 mW at room-temperature. With a tuning of over 432 cm(-1), this single source covers an emission range of over 39% around the center frequency.