High power, high wall-plug efficiency, high reliability, continuous-wave operation quantum cascade lasers at Center for Quantum Devices

Since the demonstration of the first quantum cascade laser (QCL) in 1997, QCLs have undergone considerable developments in output power, wall plug efficiency (WPE), beam quality, wavelength coverage and tunability. Among them, many world-class breakthroughs were achieved at the Center for Quantum Device at Northwestern University. In this paper, we will discuss the recent progress of our research and present the main contributions of the Center for Quantum Devices to the QCL family on high power, high wall-plug efficiency (WPE), continuous-wave (CW) and room temperature operation lasers.