Andre Yoskowitz
23 Jul 2010 1:07
Researchers from the Tohoku University, in conjunction with Sony have announced the active development of a "blue-violet ultrafast pulsed semiconductor laser" that will be used for disc storage.
Say the researchers: "This latest successful development is an all-semiconductor laser picosecond pulse source with a laser wavelength of 405 nanometers (1 nm = one-billionth of a meter) in the blue-violet region. It is capable of generating optical pulses in the ultrafast duration of 3 picoseconds (1 picosecond = one-trillionth of a second), with ultrahigh output peak power of 100 watts and repetition frequency of 1 gigahertz. Advanced control of the newly-developed and proprietarily-constructed GaN-based mode-locked semiconductor laser and semiconductor optical amplifier have enabled peak output power in excess of 100 watts to be achieved, which is more than a hundred times the world’s highest output value for conventional blue-violet pulse semiconductor lasers."
Additionally, "there are high expectations that this newly-developed semiconductor laser system, which incorporates semiconductor diodes, will be able to be used in a much wider range of applications in the future thanks to technology such as this, which enables the size of devices such as the light source box to be drastically reduced."
Sony says they will use the laser in next-generation disc storage devices, as the laser will allow for discs to hold up to 1TB of storage.
I, for one, would love to have full seasons of television shows on one disc.