nLight Photonics Inc., a Vancouver, Wash.-based manufacturer of high-power laser diodes, announced it has been awarded a $5 million research and development contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The work is part of DARPA's Super High-Efficiency Diode Source program, which aims to improve laser diodes and convert 80 percent of their input electrical power into output optical power. The increased efficiency will enable lasers with up to 100 kW of output power to be used in mobile military platforms.   . . .   Innotech Corp. announced it has licensed its voltage modulation image sensors (VMIS) technology to Sharp Corp., which is developing an advanced image sensor that uses VMIS for cell phones, PDAs and other mobile devices. VMIS attempts to match CCD image sensor quality with a resolution of five to 10 million pixels. Innotech says this is because the sensor converts light into electrical data in a more efficient way, making it suitable for the professional market.