High numerical aperture silicon collimating lens for mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers manufactured using wafer-level techniques

We present an aspheric collimating lens for mid-infrared (4-14 µ) quantum cascade lasers. The lenses were etched into silicon by an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching system on wafer level. The high refractive index of silicon reduces the height of the lens prole resulting in a simple element working at high numerical aperture (up to 0.82). Wafer level processes enable the fabrication of about 5000 lenses in parallel. Such cost-eective collimating lens is a step towards the adoption of quantum cascade lasers for all its potential applications.