Continuous wavelength tunable laser source with optimum orientation of grating and gain medium

1. An external cavity laser assembly for generating a light beam, the laser assembly comprising:

a gain medium having a growth direction, a fast axis, a first facet, and a second facet that is spaced apart from the first facet, the gain medium generating the light beam when electrical current is directed through gain medium, the gain medium emitting from both facets, wherein a beam polarization of the light beam emitting from the second facet is perpendicular to the growth direction and the fast axis; and

a diffraction grating positioned in the path of the laser beam that emits from the second facet, the grating including a plurality of grating ridges that are oriented substantially parallel to the beam polarization.

2. The laser assembly of claim 1 wherein the gain medium is a laser diode.

3. The laser assembly of claim 1 wherein the gain medium is an Interband Cascade gain medium.

4. The laser assembly of claim 1 further comprising a grating mover that moves the diffraction grating relative to the gain medium about a grating pivot axis to tune the lasing frequency of the external cavity, wherein the grating pivot axis is approximately parallel to the beam polarization.

5. The laser assembly of claim 4 wherein the grating mover moves the diffraction grating so that the light beam continuously tunes to different center wavelengths.

6. The laser assembly of claim 1 further comprising a half waveplate positioned between the gain medium and the grating, and wherein at least one of the grating ridges has a substantially triangular shaped cross-sectional profile.

7. The laser assembly of claim 1 wherein at least one of the grating ridges has a substantially rectangular shaped cross-sectional profile.

8. The laser assembly of claim 1 further comprising (i) an output coupler which reflects at least of a portion of the light back to the gain medium, the output coupler cooperating with the grating to form the external cavity; (ii) a cavity collimator positioned between the gain medium and the diffraction grating, the cavity collimator having a collimator apex located on a collimator surface that faces the grating; wherein light exiting the collimator is collimated and travels along an optical axis, and wherein light between the collimator apex and the output coupler travels an apex/coupler group optical length which is equal to the effective distance that a ray of light propagates during movement from the collimator apex to the optical output coupler; and (iii) a beam attacher that retains the grating and allows the grating to effectively pivot about a grating pivot axis that is located approximately in a pivot plane, the pivot plane being normal to the optical axis, the pivot plane being spaced apart from the collimator apex a distance along the optical axis that is equal to the apex/coupler group optical length.

9. An imaging system for imaging an emitting gas, the imaging system comprising an imager that is adapted to capture an image of light in the mid-infrared range, and the laser assembly of claim 1 generating the laser beam directed at the emitting gas.

10. An external cavity laser assembly for generating a light beam, the laser assembly comprising:

a gain medium having a growth direction, a fast axis, a first facet, and a second facet that is spaced apart from the first facet, the gain medium generating the light beam when power is directed to the gain medium, the gain medium emitting from both facets, wherein a beam polarization of the light beam emitting from the second facet is perpendicular to the growth direction and the fast axis;

a diffraction grating positioned in the path of the laser beam that emits from the second facet, the grating including a plurality of grating ridges that are substantially parallel to the beam polarization, wherein each of the grating ridges has a substantially rectangular shaped cross-sectional profile; and

a grating mover that moves the diffraction grating relative to the gain medium about a grating pivot axis to tune the lasing frequency of the external cavity, wherein the grating pivot axis is approximately parallel to the beam polarization.

11. The laser assembly of claim 10 wherein the gain medium is a laser diode.

12. The laser assembly of claim 10 wherein the gain medium is an Interband Cascade gain medium.

13. The laser assembly of claim 10 wherein the grating mover moves the diffraction grating so that the light beam includes continuously tunable different center wavelengths.

14. The laser assembly of claim 10 further comprising (i) an output coupler which reflects at least of a portion of the light back to the gain medium, the output coupler cooperating with the grating to form the external cavity; (ii) a cavity collimator positioned between the gain medium and the diffraction grating, the cavity collimator having a collimator apex located on a collimator surface that faces the grating; wherein light exiting the collimator is collimated and travels along an optical axis, and wherein light between the collimator apex and the output coupler travels an apex/coupler group optical length which is equal to the effective distance that a ray of light propagates during movement from the collimator apex to the optical output coupler; and (iii) a beam attacher that retains the grating and allows the grating to effectively pivot about the grating pivot axis, the grating pivot axis being located approximately in a pivot plane, the pivot plane being normal to the optical axis, the pivot plane being spaced apart from the collimator apex a distance along the optical axis that is equal to the apex/coupler group optical length.

15. An imaging system for imaging an emitting gas, the imaging system comprising an imager that is adapted to capture an image of light in the mid-infrared range, and the laser assembly of claim 10 generating the laser beam directed at the emitting gas.

16. A method for generating a light beam, the method comprising the steps of:

directing power to a gain medium to generate the light beam, the gain medium having a growth direction, a fast axis, a first facet, and a second facet that is spaced apart from the first facet, the gain medium emitting from both facets, wherein a beam polarization of the light beam emitting from the second facet is perpendicular to the growth direction and the fast axis; and

positioning a diffraction grating in the path of the laser beam that emits from the second facet, the grating including a plurality of grating ridges that are approximately parallel to the beam polarization.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of moving the grating with a grating mover relative to the gain medium about a grating pivot axis to tune the lasing frequency, wherein the grating pivot axis is approximately parallel to the beam polarization.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of moving includes moving the diffraction grating so that the light beam includes a plurality of sequential pulses of light that have different center wavelengths.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of positioning includes at least one of the grating ridges having a substantially rectangular shaped cross-sectional profile.

20. A method for imaging an emitting gas, the method comprising the steps of (i) generating the laser beam by the method of claim 16 , (ii) directing the laser beam at the emitting gas, and (iii) capturing an image of the emitting gas with an infrared camera.