27 January 2003 -- Aculight Corp, which is based in Bothell, Washington state, and Zia Laser Inc, which is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have announced a collaborative demonstration of a broadly tunable quantum dot (QD) external cavity laser (ECL) at Photonics West in the San Jose Convention Center, 28-30 January.
The ECL is based on Zia Laser's QD gallium arsenide 1300nm gain chip combined with Aculight's external cavity design. Zia's "DWELL" Dots-In-A-Well technology enables broad tunability through engineered quantum dot nanostructures grown within the active region of the laser. The quantum dot external cavity laser is capable of tuning over a 100nm range with a maximum output power of 3mW continuous wave.
Aculight's and Zia's combined technologies enable spectroscopic measurements over broader tuning ranges than are possible with more conventional quantum well devices. Enhancements include access to several wavelength regions, rapid tuning capability, coupling to single-mode or multi-mode fibres, and generation of a broadband output.
Applications include medical diagnostics (spectroscopic and imaging modalities), test and measurement, and spectroscopy.