SCD to Lead Israeli National Consortium on the Development of Novel VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) Devices

    MISGAV, ISRAEL, March 09, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- SCD ‒ a global leader in the development and manufacture of a wide range of cooled and uncooled infrared detectors and high-power laser diodes ‒ will lead an Israeli National Consortium for the development of next generation Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSEL). The consortium is supported by the Israeli Innovation Authority through its MAGNET Consortium program.

The VCSEL consortium has been formed by leading high-tech companies and academic institutions, including Nvidia, Civan Advanced Technologies, Galil Microwaves, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The focus will be to develop technologies for three main applications: high power lasers, high speed telecommunication, and atomic clocks.

Since being industrialized in the 1990s, VCSELs have become important building blocks in various applications, such as fiber-optic data transmission and, recently, facial recognition for smartphones. When it comes to manufacturability, VCSELs offer significant advantages over traditional edge-emitting laser technologies, including the ability to process large quantities of diodes on a single wafer, enabling testing at the wafer level, and more.

With the establishment of this consortium, SCD, together with leading academic scientists in the field, intends to develop an innovative, high-power VCSEL that will enable a new paradigm in optical laser pumping for many commercial and defense applications. SCD will leverage its semiconductor expertise and long-standing history of developing and manufacturing of high-power laser diodes to develop this next generation VCSEL solution.

"We have identified VCSELs as a potential game changer in the ever-growing world of high-power lasers, for many different applications," says Dan Slasky, CEO of SCD. "SCD, with its strong tradition of technological innovation in the IR and laser domain, is once again pioneering an innovative technology which, if successful, will result in a significant impact on the laser industry."

About Semi Conductor Devices (SCD)
Semi Conductor Devices (SCD) develops and manufactures a full spectrum of cooled and uncooled infrared detectors and laser diodes. The company's advanced concepts and cutting-edge technologies have positioned it as one of the world's leading sources of IR detectors. The close relationship between SCD and well-established systems houses around the world ensures that SCD's detectors are produced in accordance with the latest requirements. SCD offers a complete range of off-the-shelf and custom-designed detectors and laser diodes in various configurations. These are typically applied in IR seekers, thermal imagers, smart munitions, night vision systems, machine vision systems, medical applications, laser rangefinders and laser designators. SCD's detectors are designed for the entire IR spectrum – NIR, SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR.

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