May 19 2010
Pranalytica, Inc. today announces the introduction of the two-watt, fully packaged, continuous wave, room temperature quantum cascade laser (QCL) system, Model 1101-40, emitting at a wavelength of 4.0 microns.
The product marks a breakthrough advancement in the development of Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) systems for commercial and military aircraft.
Pranalytica previously announced a two-watt version of its Model 1101-46 QCL system operating at a wavelength of 4.6 microns. Now, with the availability of the shorter wavelength mid-infrared QCL system, Pranalytica is the only commercial supplier able to provide a complete solution for the 3.8 to 4.8 micron band laser sources based on semiconductor lasers needed for the protection of aircraft from MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems, also referred to as shoulder fired missiles).
“Pranalytica continues its technical leadership through development of a second key component of highly effective, reliable and affordable countermeasures systems for military and commercial aircraft defense applications,” stated Dr. C. Kumar N. Patel, president and CEO of Pranalytica at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) held in San Jose, California. “This rapid technological advancement represents a significant leap forward in meeting the needs of our aerospace, defense and homeland security customers and puts Pranalytica in the unique position as the only supplier of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) semiconductor laser-based solutions for affordable countermeasures against MANPADS. Our customers now have a complete MWIR solution that provides primary, electrically pumped semiconductor lasers operating at room temperature without the need of cryogenic or even water cooling, covering the 3.8 to 4.8 micron spectral band.”
According to the U.S. Department of State, MANPADS have been manufactured in more than 20 countries. Unfortunately, a substantial number of these missile systems have found their way into the hands of insurgents and terrorists and have been used to attack more than 40 civilian aircraft, resulting in more than 400 casualties. According to a recent report by the Federation of American Scientists, possession of MANPADS continues to be a threat in many parts of the world.
For several years, the U.S. Department of Defense has supported a large effort to develop a new generation of laser-based DIRCM systems to dramatically improve the level of protection available to aircraft against heat-seeking missiles. Since 2004, the Department of Homeland Security also conducted an extensive analysis, demonstration and testing of technologies to counter the threat to commercial aircraft during take-off and landing from shoulder-fired missiles.
The Homeland Security Counter-MANPADS program is looking at adapting DIRCM technology systems used on select military aircraft for commercial use, which are expected to provide unprecedented improvement in protection against MANPADS in the event of a terrorist action and potentially save lives and reduce economic disruption caused by a successful attack.
Pranalytica has already supplied a number of two-watt versions of its QCL system, operating in the “red” (longer wavelength) sub-band of the 3.8-4.8 micron spectrum, since June 2009 to the majority of tier-one aerospace and defense contractors. However, until today’s advancement, application engineers were forced to use laser sources other than primary semiconductor lasers for covering the critical region of the spectrum between 3.8 and 4.2 microns “blue” for infrared countermeasures.
The new two-watt, 4.0 micron version of the room temperature operation QCL system maintains the same output beam quality of earlier Pranalytica systems in the “red” band, and offers significantly lower cost per watt. The two-watt system is a turnkey solution and fully lab tested with several thousand hours of in-house testing time. As before, the laser package is hermetically sealed for reliable operation in adverse environments and the laser output is collimated using an internal lens system. In addition to DIRCM, Pranalytica’s two-watt QCL systems in the blue and the red bands of the 3.8 to 4.8 micron spectrum may be used to enhance various other applications such as LIDAR (light detection and ranging) and free-space optical communications.
Even though QCL systems were first demonstrated more than 16 years ago at Bell Labs, it is only through Pranalytica’s recent offerings that high–power, continuous wave, room temperature turnkey QCLs have become commercially available for the first time. These systems are enablers for many of critical defense and homeland security applications. Driven by the needs of DARPA-funded contracts to detect chemical warfare agents and explosives and to increase the wallplug efficiency of QCLs, Pranalytica has become a leader in the science and technology of high-power QCLs. The reliable high-power operation of the QCL has been made possible through key advances in the fundamental design of the QCL structure, which are patent protected by Pranalytica.
In addition, Pranalytica has led the way in industrial-grade processing of these lasers, including the development of high-reliability facet coatings and fully integrated hermetic laser packages for high reliability practical applications. High-power QCLs offer game-changing capabilities for DIRCM systems due to their small size, low weight, low power consumption, high reliability, and potentially lower cost. Unlike the situation just a year ago, application engineers no longer need to be experts in QCL technology to incorporate these lasers into defense and homeland security systems.