Widely tunable infrared source system and method

1. A tunable IR source comprising:

a plurality of individually tunable emitters, each emitter emitting a beam having a unique wavelength;

a grating;

a first optical element positioned to receive the beams and cause the beams to converge onto the grating;

a first mirror positioned to receive at least one refracted order of the beams transmitted by the grating and to redirect the refracted order back towards the grating;

a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) device containing a plurality of adjustable micro-mirrors;

a second optical element configured to receive a portion of the beams transmitted by the grating and direct the beams onto at least one micro-mirror of the MEMS device, wherein at least one beam (i) is reflected by the at least one micro-mirror and back towards the grating, thereby forming one or more tuned beams, and (ii) does not propagate to the first optical element after being reflected by the at least one micro-mirror; and

a third optical element configured to collimate transmitted tuned beams from the grating.

2. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the individually tunable emitters are quantum cascade laser sources.

3. The tunable IR source of claim 2 , wherein at least forty quantum cascade laser sources are used.

4. The tunable IR source of claim 2 , wherein the quantum cascade laser sources are single emitter, single traverse mode semiconductor cascade laser sources.

5. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein at least twenty individually tunable emitters are used.

6. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the unique wavelengths of the beams emitted have a gain peak ranging from about 5.9 micrometers to about 10.1 micrometers.

7. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the gain peak of the unique wavelength of one individually tunable emitter is at least 0.2 micrometers different than any adjacent individually tunable emitter.

8. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the individually tunable emitters each have a tuning range of about 100 nanometers to about 200 nanometers.

9. The tunable IR source of claim of claim 1 , wherein each individually tunable emitter is comprised of a gain medium positioned between a reflective back surface and a partially-reflecting front surface.

10. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the micro-electro-mechanical systems device is a digital light processing chip.

11. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the micro-electro-mechanical systems device contains up to 100 adjustable micro-mirrors.

12. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the micro-electro-mechanical systems device has a tuning step time of less than about 125 microseconds.

13. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the micro-electro-mechanical systems device has a tuning step time of less than about 10 microseconds.

14. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the grating has a dispersion of at least 150 lines per millimeter.

15. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the grating is a diffraction grating.

16. The tunable IR source of claim 14 , wherein the grating is a transmission grating.

17. The tunable IR source of claim 1 , wherein the total optical bandwidth of the source is about 4000 nanometers.

18. A method for tuning an IR source, comprising the steps of:

arranging a plurality of individually tunable emitters into an array, each emitter emitting a beam having a unique wavelength;

converging the emitted beam onto a grating using a first optical element positioned to receive at least one beam from the emitters;

transmitting portions of the beam from the grating to both a mirror and a second optical element;

reflecting the portion of the beam from the mirror back towards the grating;

directing the portion of the beam through the second optical element and onto at least one micro-mirror of a micro-electro-mechanical systems device containing a plurality of adjustable micro-mirrors to thereby form one or more tuned beams;

redirecting at least one tuned beam from the micro-mirrors back to the grating, wherein the at least one tuned beam does not propagate to the first optical element after being redirected from the micro-mirrors; and

collimating transmitted tuned beams from the grating using a third optical element.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the micro-electro-mechanical systems device is a digital light processing chip.