Lumentum Announces Industry-First 10W Flood Illuminator
Modules for next-generation 3D sensing applications
Lumentum has announced an industry first, 10 W flood illuminator module that incorporates a high-performance three-junction vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array for consumer and industrial 3D sensing applications.
VCSEL illuminators are increasingly being used in a variety of high-performance 3D sensing applications ranging from biometric security in mobile phones to emerging industrial and consumer AIoT (artificial intelligence of things). AIoT, the convergence of artificial intelligence and the internet of things, benefits from 3D sensing since it is dependent on capturing vast amounts of high-quality data to enable efficient artificial intelligence processing.
To meet the needs of these growing numbers of applications, Lumentum’s new 10 W flood illuminator provides customers with a high power, high efficiency, integrated solution in an easy to incorporate industry-standard package that can be paired seamlessly with time-of-flight sensors and infrared cameras.
“Lumentum’s three-junction VCSEL arrays provide customers with highly differentiated performance in an embeddable flood illuminator module,” said Ken Huang, Lumentum director of Product Line Management, 3D Sensing. “Compared to single-junction array modules currently in the market, Lumentum’s multi-junction design achieves high peak optical powers and densities with increased efficiency and eye safety functionality, all of which are critical for many emerging 3D sensing applications.”
Lumentum’s flood illuminator is available in a compact standard surface-mount package with a built-in eye safety function. It integrates a three-junction VCSEL array, an optical diffuser, a ceramic substrate, and a photodiode, which enables closed loop control. Customers can select three different fields of illumination, including 60°x45°, 72°x58°, and a wider 110°x85° to attain more depth of information.
Lumentum partners with driver integrated circuit providers to offer illumination solutions for different sensing applications. Lumentum also provides reference designs for custom driver circuits for its VCSEL arrays for special applications that may require higher powers and narrower pulse widths.
