Monolithic tunable single source in the Mid-IR for Spectroscopy

We present a scheme for the realization of high performances, large tuning range, fully integrated and possibly low cost mid infrared laser source based on quantum cascade lasers and silicon based integrated optics. It is composed of a laser array and a laser combiner. We show that our metal grating approach gives many advantages for the fabrication yield of those laser arrays. We show the results of such a fabrication at 1350 cm-1 with 60 cm-1 tuning range. The silicon is a low cost option for the size consuming combiner. In the development of the SiGe platform, we present the loss measurement set up and we show losses below 1dB/cm at 4.5 mu m.