High-Power Micro-Optical Bench Terahertz Quantum-Cascade Laser System

We report on compact high-power terahertz quantum-cascade laser systems. By integrating the optical components, namely a lens, a polarization filter and a$\lambda /4$waveplate, on a micro-optical bench, we achieve optical isolation as well as beamforming while maintaining high output power without the need of additional optical elements. In the future such QCL systems might be implemented as local oscillators in heterodyne receivers for space applications.