Sumitomo ships samples of GaN substrate for violet lasers
Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI: Osaka, Japan) has begun sample shipments of a single-crystal gallium nitride (GaN) substrate that can be used in violet lasers for high-capacity, next-generation optical video recording technology. SEI is currently working to mass-produce the substrates. The new substrate consists of low defect areas of about 500 æm in diameter each. The density per square centimeter of these low dislocation areas is between 10,000 and 100,000, which is 100,000 times less than the dislocation density of conventional GaN epitaxial layers on sapphire substrates. These low dislocation areas are arranged to allow easy device fabrication. SEI expects the production of low-dislocation GaN substrates to reach 300 per month by April 2003.
Coherent wins laser development contract from SEMATECH
Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) has received a multiyear contract from International SEMATECH (ISMT; Austin, TX) for development of continuous-wave laser systems at wavelengths below 200 nm to fabricate advanced photomasks for the sub-70-nm technology nodes. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Coherent expects to provide a first technology demonstration in about a year of a 198-nm source with the intention of eventually reaching the 193-nm range, according to Paul Crosby, vice president of laser material processing at Coherent. He added that the developmental process will focus on modification of existing technology platforms through harmonic generation frequency mixing steps that are not yet available commercially.
Wilson Sibbett wins Quantum Electronics Prize
Wilson Sibbett, Wardlaw Professor of Physics at the University of St Andrews School of Physics and Astronomy (Fife, Scotland), has been awarded the Quantum Electronics Prize by the European Physical Society (EPS) for his major contributions to the development and application of ultrashort light-pulse techniques. In particular, his discovery and subsequent development of self-modelocked lasers has led to the birth of a major area of exploitable applied science and technology that extends from laser-based micromachining (used in corneal surfaces of eyes, for instance) to fluorescence microscopy in biology and ultrahigh-speed data communications. Sibbett was awarded the prize for applied aspects, while Serge Haroche of the College de France in Paris was awarded the prize for fundamental aspects.
TeraView achieves continuous-wave operation of THz lasers
TeraView (Cambridge, England), a spin-out from Toshiba Research Europe (Bristol, England) dedicated to the commercialization of terahertz technology, has demonstrated continuous-wave operation of a quantum-cascade laser emitting at 4.4-THz. The device was grown using the gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide semiconductor growth system at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, and the active region as well as waveguide design was conceived at NEST-INFM Laboratory and Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy). The laser was a modified form of a pulsed device made from the same semiconductor wafer that led to the first demonstration of terahertz lasing with a unipolar device [see Laser Focus World, July 2002, p. 17].
Lambda Physik integrates Optomech
Lambda Physik (Göttingen, Germany) has acquired 98% of the capital stock of Optomech (Göttingen, Germany). The acquisition will be recorded as a fully consolidated majority shareholding of Lambda Physik in the future. Optomech already produces laser tubes for Lambda Physik at its Göttingen site. Integrating Optomech into the group enables Lambda Physik to leverage this technologically important area and achieve additional cost synergies.
Hassaun A. Jones-Bey
Also in the news . . .
Bandwidth9 (Fremont, CA) has announced a reseller agreement with Macnica I&C, (a division company of Macnica) of Yokohama City, for Bandwidth9 products in Japan. . . . Cambridge Lasers Laboratories (Fremont, CA) has expanded its production facilities to meet increasing demand for service and support of Lexel Lasers, following Lexel's filing of Chapter 7 last month. . . . Santur Fremont, CA), a privately held vertically integrated optical components company, today announced the completion of its second round of venture financing, which netted $23 million. . . . The German high-power diode-laser manufacturer Unique-m.o.d.e. has moved into its new production and office facilities with a 250 m2 clean room in Jena. . . . NanoVia (Londonderry, NH) has licensed its hybrid optical technology for laser microvia drilling to Hitachi Via Mechanics (Kanagawa, Japan).