Green laser

Karl Guttag posted an interesting article in which he answers several questions people asked - regarding lasers, Syndiant's technology and business, how Microvision's technology and LBS lasers in general compare to Syndiant's LCoS solutions, and more. Well worth a read!

QD Laser is showing a new frequency-doubled 532 nm compact green laser diode. The device is housed in a module of approximately 0.5 cm³ total volume. The prototype module developed green light output of more than 100 mW under continuous wave conditions and high-speed modulation of above 100 Mhz. The linewidth of the output was less than 0.01 nm, and the 100 mW output power was obtained with power dissipation of about 900 mW, equating to a wall-plug efficiency of more than 10 percent.

QD Laser also revealed that they already started shipping samples of a 5 mW version of this module, and will start sample shipments of a module capable of over 50 mW in 2Q 2012. Mass production of the product is planned for 4Q 2012.

Microvision officially announces and unveils the PicoP Gen 2 HD laser pico projector module. The Gen 2 is based on direct green laser diodes, a new MEMS mirror and features 720p resolution. Microvision will demonstrate the PicoP Gen 2 with brightness ranging from 15 to 25 lumens. They expect to begin shipping early samples for testing and evaluation in Q1 2012.

Microvision didn't say when it expects mass production, though. Obviously this depends on the laser diodes production...

C2C Link announced a new high power green DPSS laser module called mGreen which can convert a 808-nm laser into a green one. The module is small (0.063 cc, 2x4.5x7mm , can be mass produced on the cheap and is efficient (~20%) and has high output power (590 mw).

The mGreen module consists a Nd:YVO4 laser crystal and a MgO:PPLN nonlinear crystal, which are aligned precisely with an air gap and assembled on a silicon subcarrier. A metal cover is used on top of the crystals for the purposes of protection and heat dissipation, as seen above. Therefore, mGreen module is a single alignment-free component, which is currently mass produced by C2C's joint venture, China's CQ Laser Technologies. The use of MgO:PPLN enabled C2CLink to achieve large conversion efficiency, and high output green light power, while the use of a plano-parallel cavity enable them to reduce the size of the green laser.

Karl Guttag launched his blogs just 2 weeks ago, and he's already stirring up some troubles (and I mean good troubles - as we all want more information and some good discussions). He posted a post about Direct Green Lasers (DGL) - basically saying that while DGLs may be available in 2012, he doesn't think it's possible that those lasers will have good enough performance, and be produced in large quantities and cheap prices.

Microvision didn't like Karl's comments, and posted an interesting post on their own blog. They say that three companies (Nichia, Osram and Soraa) are planning to release commercial DGLs in 2012. Microvision says that these lasers will be more simple to produce then synthetic green lasers and will be cheaper and made in larger quantities. Microvision also says that they expect Pioneer to be their first OEM customers for the Pico-HD module (which uses a DGL) and they have already shipped samples to them. Other OEMs will get samples starting in Q1 2012. Microvision also plan to write a series of blog posts discussing DGLs.

Microvision announced their 3Q 2011 financial results. The company reported $1.8 million in revenue (up 41% compared to 3Q 2010). Backlog is $5.1 million (including the $3.5 million from ESPlus). Net loss was $7.8 million (it was $11.9 in 3Q 2010). The company had $9.4 million in cash - which means they will soon have to raise more money.

The company is progressing in the development of their next-gen HD PicoP display engine, which is planned for release in the first half of 2012. Early samples of the new engine have been built - using direct green lasers from three different manufacturers.

Microvision says that they have signed an agreement with a "major automotive manufacturer" to develop and incorporate their laser pico-projector heads-up-display technology (PicoHUD) into a test vehicle. This offers a 'clear path' towards commercialization inside a mass production car model targeted for introduction in 2014.

Microvision, its Tier-1 supplier and the auto maker will co-develop the new prototype - which will include the next-gen PicoP engine (based on direct green lasers). The PicoHUD will provide info (such as vehicle monitoring, navigation and radio controls) - projected directly on the windshield of a vehicle. With critical information being displayed within the driver’s direct line of sight, distractions caused by looking down at center console panels or instrument clusters are eliminated.