Princeton Optronics has released its 800nm and near-800nm Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) arrays with output powers from 100mW to more than 10W peak power.
These devices are designed for use in consumer electronic applications such as gesture recognition, natural user interface and 3D content creation, where near-infrared illumination is needed. In 3D image sensing, the VCSEL arrays provide very low speckle, sub-nanosecond rise and fall times, and high electrical-to-optical conversion (>45 per cent) efficiency.
The lasers are suitable for time-of-flight or structured light applications and are preferred to LEDs and edge emitting lasers because of their high efficiency, narrow and circular emission angle, short rise and fall times and flat top intensity profile. They also work at temperatures as high as 80°C.