Lasers & Sources

Alpes Lasers selected to supply QCLs for SILMARILS standoff sensing program

Dec. 13, 2016

Alpes Lasers was selected as a supplier of broadband QCLs for the standoff-detection SILMARILS program.

Alpes Lasers is applying its quantum-cascade laser (QCL) technology to a standoff chemical sensing project called SILMARILS. This chart is just one of their many QCL product offerings.

Quantum-cascade laser (QCL) manufacturer Alpes Lasers (St-Blaise, Switzerland) was selected as a supplier and developer of broadband QCLs by several chemical sensing companies working on the Standoff Illuminator for Measuring Absorbance and Reflectance Infrared Light Signatures (SILMARILS) program. The SILMARILS program is part of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and is managed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Under this project Alpes Lasers will develop new classes of QCLs providing high spectral power density and pulse energy in the fingerprint region of the mid-infrared spectrum that allow for specific identification of a large class of organic and non-organic chemicals such as chemical weapons, explosives, narcotics or biological agents. These lasers will be integrated within portable systems by the prime contractors selected by IARPA.

Antoine Müller, CEO of Alpes Lasers, said, "These contracts leverage Alpes' know-how as a worldwide leader in broad gain and high power QCLs to develop new products. The laser chips developed have the potential to be integrated into devices that will facilitate safety screenings in airports and can be used by law enforcement agencies worldwide."

Phase 1 of the development is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

SOURCE: Alpes Lasers; http://www.alpeslasers.ch/?a=36,154,185

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.