High-fidelity, broadly-tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are replacing thermal light sources in next-generation infrared chemical imaging and microscopy instrumentation. Their superior spectral brightness, beam quality, and reliability are enabling new applications in biomedical, pharmaceutical, and industrial markets which demand substantially better noise performance, higher throughput, and ease-of-use. In this talk we will discuss the state-of-the-art in QCL source technology and describe our systems approach to leveraging QCL sources in the next-generation of infrared chemical imaging microscopes.
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