ORLANDO, Fla. – sdPhotonics is nearing completion of the second phase of a research and development contract to develop a specialized high-powered laser for the U.S. Air Force.
Dr. Sabine Freisem, president of sdPhotonics, said she expects to complete the work in March.
Dr. Dennis Deppe, chief executive officer of the firm, said the contract is worth $850,000.
“The work we are doing represents a major breakthrough in laser technology,” Dr. Deppe said.
Researchers from UCF spin-off sdPhotonics, in collaboration with the College of Optics and Photonics/CREOL at the University of Central Florida, have now demonstrated what may become the most reliable laser diode technology ever developed. Recent laboratory measurements show that the new laser diodes pass unprecedented stress testing, and the new approach provides important insights into why other laser diodes fail. The new technology may ultimately produce the most reliable laser diodes ever developed, with failure times that could reach 10 M hours (1000 years) or more. The new technology could reduce testing and lower the cost for laser diodes.
The new laser diodes represent a sharp departure from past commercial devices in how they are made, especially that they can be made smaller while eliminating the need for non-semiconductor materials around their active light generating part. The most surprising aspect of the new technology is how it responds to high internal temperature and high current stress. The new devices show almost no change in operation under stress conditions that cause commercial devices to rapidly fail. Although the research team was expecting the new laser diodes to be more reliable, actually reaching high reliability can be a tedious process in laser development, requiring extensive optimization of numerous separate fabrication steps. The new laser diodes did not require these steps, and their unique characteristics are now shedding new insights into just why existing commercial laser diodes fail.
The team is currently perfecting other aspects of the new laser technology, including its efficiency and beam properties. They believe that one of the most important applications could be for laser diodes in space. These laser diodes will require very high reliability, and defects caused by space radiation can play a major role in their failure. By reducing the flow of point defects in the crystalline semiconductor of the new technology, these could prove the most resistant laser diode yet to space radiation, making them useful on earth and in space because of their high reliability.
High power laser diode technologies that sdPhotonics is developing provide improved power, efficiency, brightness and reliability, Dr. Deppe said.
Dr. Freisem, a native of Germany, is a graduate of Leiden University in the Netherlands and has more than six years of experience in laser technology. She is currently senior research scientist for the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Deppe, a graduate of University of Illinois has more than 20 years of experience focused on laser physics, semiconductor lasers and materials, nanostructures and quantum optics. He is currently endowed chair / professor of the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida.
sdPhotonics is located at the University of Central Florida Business Incubator-Photonics in the Center for Research & Education in Optics & Lasers (CREOL) on the University’s main Campus in East Orlando.
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For more information contact: Sabine Freisem, President, sdPhotonics 407-929-6675, sfreisem@cfl.rr.com; Dennis Deppe, Chief Executive Officer, sdPhotonics, 407-823-6870. ddeppe@creol.ucf.edu; Gordon Hogan, Director of Operations, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-882-1577, ghogan@mail.ucf.edu
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Business Incubation Program has helped more than 160 emerging companies (including nearly 100 current clients) create over $800 million in annual revenue and more than 1,600 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With eight – and soon nine – facilities opened across the Greater Orlando community, the Business Incubation Program is a collaboration in economic development between the University of Central Florida, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, The City of Sanford, Lake County, the City of Leesburg, Osceola County, the City of Kissimmee, City of St. Cloud, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and will be adding Volusia County. For more information, please visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.
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