High Power Low Cost Visible Laser Light Sources

15 Nov 2010

Necsel™ lasers are high power, low cost visible laser light sources offering advantages in applications including microdisplay projection, direct scan projection, speciality lighting and illumination. Necsel™ lasers, by Novalux, are extended-cavity surface-emitting lasers available at 465, 532 and 640 nm and as a combined RGB laser.

Necsel™ lasers are electrically pumped gallium indium arsenide (GaInAs) surface-emitting semiconductor lasers with extended cavities to control both wavelength and optical mode. The extended cavity enables Necsel lasers to provide a high power, single mode beam, which couples particularly well into small mode area fibres. The design enables the devices to perform more like solid-state lasers than traditional VCSELs.

A key performance feature of the Necsel lasers is the ability to provide output powers of the order of a watt in single-mode operation and several watts multimode, with beam diameters of hundreds of microns, an order-of-magnitude larger than traditional VCSEL designs.

Coupling efficiencies have been achieved of 90% with single-mode optical fibre and more than 85% with multimode optical fibre. Operating temperatures range from -20°C to +75°C, and Novalux is projecting a reliability figure of 1 million hours mean time before failure.

Available from Pacer, these devices are expected to have a significant impact in telecommunications applications, displays, lighting, digital video, electronic theatre, and medical instrumentation.