Title :
Development of a ground prototype of a quantum cascade laser heterodyne radiometer operating in the mid infrared
Author :
Weidmann, D. ; Reburn, W.J. ; Smith, K.M.
Author_Institution :
Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot
Abstract :
With the prospect of space deployment of compact heterodyne radiometers based on semiconductor laser sources for Earth observation and astronomy, a ground-based prototype laser heterodyne radiometer (LHR) has been developed using a quantum cascade laser (QCL). The LHR operates in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum and has a distributed-feedback QCL as a frequency tunable local oscillator (LO).
Keywords :
astronomical techniques; distributed feedback lasers; heterodyne detection; laser tuning; quantum cascade lasers; radiometers; Earth observation; astronomy; distributed-feedback QCL; frequency tunable local oscillator; ground prototype; laser heterodyne radiometer; quantum cascade laser; semiconductor laser sources; Atmospheric waves; Frequency; Instruments; Laboratories; Optical feedback; Optical mixing; Prototypes; Quantum cascade lasers; Radiometry; Space technology;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2007 and the International Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEOE-IQEC 2007. European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0931-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0931-0
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2007.4386410
