Where to Buy Mid-infrared Laser Sources

Menlo Systems mid-infrared lasers based on Menlo figure 9® patented laser technology are targeting the wavelength range from 1 μm to beyond 10 μm. Systems are available from single femtosecond lasers to full mid-infrared optical frequency comb systems. Applications range from sensing to high precision laser spectroscopy.

Frankfurt Laser Company offers infrared laser diodes with emission wavelengths from 730 nm to 12 μm.

The spectral region between optics and electronics lying in the mid-infrared is difficult to access. Nevertheless it is of great spectroscopic interest because it hosts the majority of molecular finger prints: important vibrational modes with energies in the spectral range of 670 cm^-1 to 3400 cm^-1 can be accessed by exciting the sample at wavelengths of 3 μm to 15 μm.

TOPTICA’s ultrafast fiber laser FemtoFiber dichro midIR generates powerful radiation tunable between 3 μm – 15 μm that is ideally suited for spectroscopy and (nearfield) microscopy applications. Based on difference frequency generation (DFG) of two optically synchronized laser pulses at tunable wavelengths of 1 – 2 μm a highly stable broadband emission of approximately 400 cm^-1 is generated. Here, the powerful fundamental output at 1560 nm of an erbium-doped ultrafast fiber laser is superimposed with the long or short wavelength part of a supercontinuum.

IPG's compact, efficient, robust and powerful mid-IR hybrid fiber pumped (fiber-to-bulk hybrid) solid state lasers are the preferred choice for a variety of applications including non-metal processing, non-destructive inspection, non-invasive medical diagnosis, laser scalpel, spectroscopy, remote sensing, imaging and OPO pumping. Defense applications include IR countermeasures, stand-off detection of explosion hazards, eye-safe seekers for smart munitions and covert communications.

For the mid-IR region, APE offers the Carmina, a professional IR light-source for the integration with scattering SNOM and AFM-IR microscopes. Carmina sets new standards in resolution, sensitivity and tuning range due to its OPO/DFG architecture. The unique combination of 300 cm^-1 broadband as well as 20 cm^-1 narrowband emission covers the two complementary nanoscale IR techniques s-SNOM and AFM-IR.

The outstanding high output power between 5 mW and 300 mW in combination with an extremely low noise level is addressing a wider range of applications in the near-field imaging & spectroscopy field.