Tohoku University and Sony Develop Advanced Laser for Disk Storage

Tohoku University and Sony have developed a new, advanced pulsed semiconductor laser for disk storage devices. The semiconductor laser source has a 405 nm laser wavelength in the blue-violet region.

According to Sony and the Tohoku University, the semiconductor laser can generate optical pulses in three picoseconds with a 1 GHz repetition frequency and 100 W output peak power.  The advanced control of the semiconductor optical amplifier and the mode-locked semiconductor laser allows a peak output power greater than 100 W. This output power is 100× greater than the output value for traditional blue-violet semiconductor lasers.

The laser system removes the need for specialist technician and huge light source to operate the device. Both the institutions expect that their new semiconductor laser system will be used in a number of applications in the future.

Preliminary testing indicates that the semiconductor laser can be used in advanced disk storage devices.