Accelerated Burn-In Process for High Power Quantum Cascade Lasers to Reduce Total Cost of Ownership

The development of a burn-in process for high power MWIR and LWIR Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) is proposed. The new burn-in process will be rooted in extensive statistical experimental data to be collected in Phase I and Phase II of this program. This will allow us to extract all the critical empirical parameters required for mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) projections for high power MWIR and LWIR devices subjected to different operational conditions. The collected statistical burn-in data will be subsequently analyzed against material quality data collected for devices with different run time. Finally, a slow degradation model reconciling the experimental laser performance and material quality data will be developed. The model will be used to determine optimal accelerated burn-in parameters for weeding out defected QCLs with poor projected short-term reliability, to project MTTF for “good” lasers under specific operational conditions, and to guide us in the development of high power devices with improved long term reliability.