Evaluation of Thermal Crosstalk in Quantum Cascade Laser Arrays

The continuous-wave operation, thermal crosstalk measurements, and thermal modeling of a quantum cascade (QC) laser array are presented. Measurements and thermal modeling predict that the thermal crosstalk between array elements can be minimized by improving the heat management when the spacing of neighboring laser elements is greater than 500 mum. The output power of the demonstrated QC laser array significantly exceeds the output power of the individual lasers in the array. This shows the potential of the QC arrays as a candidate for the realization of high-power optical sources in mid-infrared (3-20 mum) spectral range