• Blue-output laser diode draws a crowd on the way to 10,000 hours

    Nichia Chemical Industries (Anan, Japan) has exceeded 3000 hours of continuous-wave (CW) operation for its gallium nitride (GaN) blue-emitting laser diodes by using a Peltier cooler to maintain a device case temperature of 20°C. The company expects its devices to surpass a lifetime of 10,000 hours. The 10,000-hour lifetime projected by Nichia represents an order of magnitude improvement over the September Nichia announcement of 1000 hours (see Laser Focus World, November 1997, p. 16). The pr
    Dec. 1, 1997
    2 min read

    Blue-output laser diode draws a crowd on the way to 10,000 hours

    Nichia Chemical Industries (Anan, Japan) has exceeded 3000 hours of continuous-wave (CW) operation for its gallium nitride (GaN) blue-emitting laser diodes by using a Peltier cooler to maintain a device case temperature of 20°C. The company expects its devices to surpass a lifetime of 10,000 hours. The 10,000-hour lifetime projected by Nichia represents an order of magnitude improvement over the September Nichia announcement of 1000 hours (see Laser Focus World, November 1997, p. 16). The projection at a case temperature of 20°C is based on stable operation of the device at 50°C for more than 1000 hours and an observed order-of-magnitude increase in longevity for previous GaN laser diodes when cooled from 50°C to 20°C. During a crowded presentation at the 1997 IEEE/LEOS meeting in San Francisco, CA, Shuji Nakamura of Nichia flourished a blue-output laser-diode pointer and said that the most current Nichia device emits at 404 nm.

    The influence of Nichia`s achievements to date was further evidenced by announcements from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Palo Alto, CA) and Hewlett-Packard Laboratories (Palo Alto, CA) in late October and mid-November, respectively, that they had achieved pulsed operation of GaN laser diodes with wavelengths just above 400 nm.

    Sign up for Laser Focus World Newsletters
    Get the latest news and updates.

    Voice Your Opinion!

    To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!