Where to Buy Mid-infrared Laser Sources

Thorlabs manufactures a number of mid-infrared lasers, including the SC4500 mid-IR supercontinuum source and turnkey MIR QCL. These systems are offered alongside a portfolio of bare mid-IR fluoride fibers and patch cables.

The LEUKOS ELECTRO MIR is a new generation supercontinuum laser source optimized for the mid-IR up to ≈10 μm wavelength. It is based on LEUKOS' over 15 years experience in supercontinuum sources.

See our data sheet.

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.

TOPTICA’s continuous wave TOPO generates precise radiation tunable between 1.45 – 4+ µm with very narrow spectral width and extremely fine tuning, rendering it the ideal tool for spectroscopy of gas-phase molecules. The TOPO is a continuous wave optical parametric oscillator (OPO). As in DFG, a pump source and signal photons are mixed in a nonlinear crystal to perform downconversion, but in the TOPO the signal is self-generated by the efficient OPO process.

See us at Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science in Tacoma, Washington, USA, Oct. 08–12 (booth 401)!

Based on our fluoride active fibers, we develop fiber modules that are easy to handle and directly integrable in a final commercial laser system.

Together with COPL Laval University, we develop mid-infrared fiber lasers which are commercialized by our sister company LumIR Lasers. These fibers lasers are, for example, used in medical applications.

Radiantis offers multiple mid-IR laser systems, including

• Titan – a continuous wave (CW) OPO laser system tunable from 1450 – 4000 nm,
• Zenith – a picosecond OPO laser system tunable across 1450 – 4000 nm, and
• MIRage – a femtosecond OPO laser system tunable across 6000 – 7000 nm.

Ti:sapphire-pumped stand-alone OPOs are also available. We develop on-demand customized broadly tunable lasers for specific spectral ranges and pulse durations.

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

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.

See us at Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science in Tacoma, Washington, USA, Oct. 08–12 (booth 321)!

This extension complements the compact 50fs-thulium-doped ultrafast fiber laser system and provides a high-power frequency comb in the mid-IR. The ultrafast mid-IR pulses are achieved through intra-pulse difference-frequency generation, which guarantees passive carrier-envelope-offset stability. The complete frequency-comb nature of the source can be achieved by controlling and stabilizing the fundamental pulse-repetition frequency of the driving laser.

Sacher Lasertechnik offers quantum cascade lasers with emission between 4 μm and 12 μm, suitable for applications like molecular spectroscopy.

ORPHEUS-MIR is an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) optimized for the efficient generation of broad-bandwidth MIR pulses. The laser system provides ultrashort pulses in the tuning range of 2.5 – 10 μm and reaches up to 15 μm with a narrow-bandwidth extension. Due to the novel system design, ORPHEUS-MIR provides < 100 fs pulses directly at the output. Signal and idler outputs are available simultaneously. The system architecture is well suited for high-energy and high‑power PHAROS and CARBIDE femtosecond pump lasers. ORPHEUS-MIR serves as an excellent high-repetition-rate source for spectroscopy, such as two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) and vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. Combined with a narrow-bandwidth output of SHBC, it forms a compact laser system for SFG measurements, covering most of the MIR spectrum in a single shot and providing high spectral resolution. In addition, its high output stability is the key to fast and high-quality SFG imaging. Furthermore, for MIR applications requiring CEP-stable pulses, ORPHEUS-MIR provides unique CEP-stable option in the complete 2500 – 15000 nm range.

LumIR offers mid-IR fiber lasers, based on fluorine glass fibers, with up to 10 W output power and emission wavelength between 2.79 μm and 3.3 μm. They are ideal for medical, material processing and sensing applications.

Eblana’s Discrete-Mode platform is both wavelength and material agnostic, and can be used to manufacture high quality and high performance laser diodes in the mid-IR for a variety of applications, including trace gas sensing and environmental monitoring utilizing fundamental absorption bands for highly sensitive detection performance. Eblana’s EP2327-0-DM Series laser diodes, targeting CO sensing at 2.3 μm, are now available to OEM customers looking to incorporate advanced laser designs into their detection systems.

The Stuttgart Instruments Alpha is an ultrafast and fully wavelength-tunable frequency conversion system in an ultra-compact and completely passively stable system based on revolutionary parametric oscillator design which guarantees outstanding stability, reproducibility and shot-noise limited performance.

The revolutionary design of Stuttgart Instruments Alpha, characterized by outstanding low noise and passive long-term stability, is based on the fiber-feedback optical parametric oscillator (FFOPO) technology and results in outstanding performance and high flexibility at the same time.

The Alpha covers a gap-free rapid tunable spectral range from 700 nm to 20 µm wavelengths, while maintaining high output power up to the Watt-level with femto- or picosecond pulses at several MHz pulse repetition rates. It provides multiple simultaneously tunable outputs with a selectable bandwidth from a few to 100 cm⁻¹. Shot-noise limited performance above 300 kHz, passive spectral stability (< 0.02 % rms) and wavelength-independent stable beam pointing (<30 µrad) enable excellent sensitivity. In addition, each Alpha is equipped with a user-friendly ethernet and Wi-Fi interface and a matching graphical user interface (GUI) as well as easy to access API interfaces for e.g. LabView, Phyton, C++.

Typically, the Alpha is pumped by an ultra-low-noise Primus pump laser, which provides more than 8 W average output power at 1040 nm wavelength and 450 fs pulse duration at 42 MHz repetition rate. In addition, the Alpha can be operated with other pump lasers around 1 µm wavelength and enough power.

Due to our modular platform, the Alpha can be adapted and optimized for various applications and is particularly suited for spectroscopic applications requiring a robust and reliable tunable radiation with low noise.

Alpes Lasers designs and manufactures a wide range of different laser types with wavelengths from 4 to 14 μm and powers up to hundreds of milliwatts. This includes FP, DFB, THz, frequency comb and external cavity lasers in the mid-IR. Additionally, Alpes offers uniquely fast and widely tuneable lasers with our ET and XT product line.

CNI offers lasers with many wavelengths, some being in the mid-infrared. For example, there are a CW DPSS at 3800 nm and tunable lasers at 3590–4940 nm.

DRS Daylight Solutions offers a wide range of quantum cascade lasers:

• with CW or pulsed output
• high beam quality
• fixed-wavelength and tunable versions with very fast tuning

Applications are in areas like mid-IR spectroscopy and infrared countermeasures.

Our mid-IR tunable broadband light source is fully automated and designed to be highly customizable to deliver turn-key solutions meeting your specific needs. It is based on a 1 µm pump laser operating at 76 MHz, which drives an optical parametric oscillator (OPO, Levante IR fs).

The OPO generates Signal and Idler in the range of 1.32 µm to 4.8 µm. Both beams can be mixed in a Difference Frequency Generator (DFG, HarmoniXX DFG), providing access to wavelengths up to 15 µm. Moreover, such a light source can be extended with additional APE devices, such as wavelength converters, pulse pickers or pulse slicers, to further enhance its capabilities in terms of wavelength range, repetition rate adjustment or spectral bandwidth narrowing.