Abstract
Development of a reliable, real-time, selective, sensitive and suitable technique for atmospheric trace gas spectroscopy is a critical challenge in science and engineering, for sanitary, ecological and industrial issues. Tunable single-frequency lasers in the 2µm to 3.3µm wavelength range, working in continuous regime at room temperature, can be used in absorption spectroscopy to identify and quantify several atmospheric gases. We report here on the design, the technological development and the performances of 1st and 2nd order index-coupled distributed-feedback (DFB) antimonide-lasers diodes in the 2µm to 3.3µm wavelength range. The first part of this document establishes the context of the thesis, introduces the DFB theory and our modelisation. The second part presents the technological fabrication of the two different components: the side wall corrugated DFB lasers and the buried DFB lasers. The third part shows the performances of the components and the first tests on gas measurement.This work has led to the development of two different kinds of single-frequency laser diodes with high optical power and spectral purity. The fabricated prototypes will soon be used on gas spectroscopy set-up.