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News Article

AOI ANNOUNCES QUANTUM CASCADE LASER BREAKTHROUGH

Source: Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.

Sugar Land, TX. Engineers at Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) today announced a major breakthrough in their quest to field an inexpensive and portable mid-infrared semiconductor laser.

The newest generation quantum cascade laser developed by AOI has demonstrated continuous-wave (cw) operation to a temperature of 210 K (-63 C), approximately 35 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record, held by Lucent Technologies. Engineers achieved this milestone through improved material quality and careful thermal engineering of the laser structure to reduce the temperature rise of the laser s active region during cw operation.

This accomplishment makes the quantum cascade laser an even better tool for sensitive, spectroscopic chemical detection. Applications that require accurate analysis of trace gases, such as non-invasive medical diagnostics, industrial process control and environmental monitoring, stand to benefit from this technology.

"This is perhaps the most important breakthrough in quantum cascade laser technology to emerge in the last few years," commented Dr. James Baillargeon, VP for Telecommunications Technologies at AOI. "By demonstrating the potential for cw operation at elevated temperatures through better thermal management, we have shown that further advances in the technology of these advanced lasers are possible. Commercial applications demand cw operation at near room temperature, and these results indicate that this is an achievable goal."

Current quantum cascade users are faced with a difficult choice between operating the devices in continuous-wave mode, which is preferred by most spectroscopic users but has only been possible by cooling the laser to cryogenic temperatures, or operating the device at close to room temperature in pulsed mode, where the laser is rapidly cycled on and off. This cycling of the laser reduces the active region heating of the device and allows operation at higher temperatures.

"Feedback from our customers indicated that the potential applications of pulsed laser technology are limited, due to concerns about spectral width, noise and system complexity. By increasing the operating temperature we have removed one set of difficult trade-offs for our users, and this should translate into a much more user-friendly system, and one that is suitable for a wider variety of applications," said Dr. Thompson Lin, President and CEO of AOI.

The new laser has demonstrated more than 8 milliwatts of cw power at a temperature of -63 C (-81 F). This temperature is achievable with the use of small, relatively inexpensive, thermoelectric coolers, rather than bulky and expensive cryogenically cooled systems.

The wavelength of the first devices incorporating the new technology is centered at 5.2 microns, but it s believed that the technological advances can be rapidly applied to the company s 4.6 micron emission wavelength devices as well.

"This represents a critical step in the quantum cascade laser s development. We know there is still a lot of room for us to further increase the maximum cw operating temperature," said Dr. Wen-Yen Hwang, AOI s Quantum Cascade Project Leader.

AOI licensed the quantum cascade laser technology from Lucent Technologies in June of 2000, and has been offering prototype pulsed-mode lasers to R&D customers since September.

Further refinements of the design will be undertaken over the next several months to fine-tune its performance, and the first commercial devices incorporating the advances should be available this summer from AOI.

About AOI Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) is a vertically integrated optoelectronics company that designs, grows, processes and packages advanced semiconductor optoelectronic components, including lasers and photodetectors, primarily for the biosensing and telecommunications markets. The company is headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, south of Houston and is privately held.

Contact: Sheldon Smart Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI) smart@ao-inc.com www.ao-inc.com 281/295-1807 voice 281/295-1888 fax

 

Sheldon Smart
Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AOI)
smart@ao-inc.com
www.ao-inc.com
281/295-1807 voice
281/295-1888 fax
 
E-mail: smart@ao-inc.com
Web site: http://www.ao-inc.com
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