1.3-µm VCSEL Produced for Telecommunications

Nova Crystals Inc., located in San Jose, Calif., has developed a 1-mW, 1.3-µm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) for use in optical data and telecommunications networks. The InP devices are plug-compatible with SONET/SDH modules based on edge-emitting laser diodes, and they demonstrate beam divergence of 18° full width half maximum, enabling them to be coupled to fiber with less expensive optics.

The uncooled lasers, which are reliable to 100 °C, produce continuous-wave output with 2.5-Gb/s bandwidth and operate on less than 2 V. The devices are available in testing and sampling quantities.