Ultrahigh reliability laser diode contract nears completion by sdPhotonics

Orlando, FL--sdPhotonics is nearing completion of the second phase of a research and development contract to develop a specialized high-powered laser diode for the U.S. Air Force. Sabine Freisem, president of sdPhotonics, said she expects to complete the work in March. Dennis Deppe, CEO of the firm, said the contract is worth $850,000.

"The work we are doing represents a major breakthrough in laser technology," Deppe said. Researchers from University of Central Florida (UCF) spin-off sdPhotonics, in collaboration with the College of Optics and Photonics/CREOL at UCF, have now demonstrated what may become the most reliable laser diode technology ever developed. Recent laboratory measurements show that the new laser diodes pass unprecedented stress testing, and the new approach provides important insights into why other laser diodes fail. The new technology may ultimately produce the most reliable laser diodes ever developed, with failure times that could reach 10 M hours (1000 years) or more. The new technology could reduce testing and lower the cost for laser diodes.

The new laser diodes represent a sharp departure from past commercial devices in how they are made, especially that they can be made smaller while eliminating the need for non-semiconductor materials around their active light-generating part. The new devices show almost no change in operation under stress conditions that cause commercial devices to rapidly fail. Although the research team was expecting the new laser diodes to be more reliable, actually reaching high reliability can be a tedious process in laser development, requiring extensive optimization of numerous separate fabrication steps. The new laser diodes did not require these steps.

The team is currently perfecting other aspects of the new laser technology, including its efficiency and beam properties. They believe that one of the most important applications could be for laser diodes in space. By reducing the flow of point defects in the crystalline semiconductor of the new technology, these could prove the most resistant laser diode yet to space radiation, making them useful on earth and in space because of their high reliability.

sdPhotonics is located at the UCF Business Incubator-Photonics in the Center for Research & Education in Optics & Lasers (CREOL) on the University’s main Campus in East Orlando.

SOURCE: Larry Vershel Communications press release