SBIR-STTR Award

Fiber coupled and semiconductor laser products have been widely used in many different applications including communications, material processing, medical surgery, aerospace, etc. Why haven't fiber optic and semiconductor laser use become more widespread given the wide variety of potential applications demonstrated to date? The answer is cost. What is a major cost driver of virtually all the potential applications? It's the tight alignment tolerances required between the micron sized laser sources and the optical components such as lenses and optical fibers which make such lasers useful. In this proposal, SDL, Inc. provides an innovative technology based on a planar fabricated silicon optical bench containing lenses, waveguides, single mode fibers, microchannel coolers and alignment marks. With an innovative optical component design, this new technology not only provides an efficient high brightness laser coupling, but also provides a low cost manufacturing method. Successful completion of this program will lead to the development and commercialization of a family of new low cost efficient fiber coupled laser products for a wide variety of applications. Anticipated Benefits/Potential Applications - This low cost manufacturing technology will provide a competitive edge to U.S. manufacturing of laser diode products. After successfully transferring into new products, it would directly impact the growth of industries such as material processing, communications, aerospace and medical surgery.

The objective of the combined Phase I/Phase II research program is to develop a method of manufacturing low-cost laser diode products in which efficient, high-brightness laser coupling is achieved using integrated optical components formed on a silicon substrate. In Phase I of this program, the first successful application of a new process to fabricate such integrated optical components was demonstrated. These components were used to achieve high brightness coupling of lasers to multimode fibers. High coupling efficiency was also achieved. A laser array was passively aligned and bonded to a common silicon substrate. In Phase II, the development of a single mode fiber coupled laser diode package in which the laser and fiber are bonded to a silicon bench with integrated coupling is proposed. The development of two additional devices is also proposed as an option. Development of microbench technology will offer a significant opportunity to reduce the cost of manufacturing fiber coupled laser diode products for communications, computing, laser printing, optical data storage, and remote sensing.