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Feb. 27, 2003 — Maxima Corp., a San Diego-based optical wireless company, is maximizing its chances in an emerging small tech market by exclusively licensing technology from Swiss-based Alpes Lasers for its next-generation products.
The market is in free-space optics (FSO), a wireless technology that uses infrared lasers to beam data across open spaces or through windows at “fiberlike” speeds. According to Gartner analyst Bettina Tratz-Ryan, about $6.5 million worth of FSO equipment was sold to telecommunications operators in 2001. The market could reach $888 million by 2006.
Experts extol the advantages of FSO. “Nobody doubts the huge potential of free-space optical communications,” says Michael Hatcher, technology editor for Opto & Laser Europe, a trade publication. They include ease of installation and low costs compared to fixed-line, fiber-optic links.
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Alpes’ contribution comes in the form of quantum cascade (QC) lasers, which use a small tech process known as molecular beam epitaxy to fabricate crystal layers only a few atoms thick. The materials are the same as those used to make compound semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide and silicon germanium, depending on the frequencies required.
The crystal layers are applied to the surface in alternating degrees of thickness, which forms facets that act as a “light resonator.” As a result of the manufacturing process, some parts of the chamber are charged differently than others, forming wells and barriers. As electrical energy is applied, the cascading structure and the reflective surfaces work together to force the electrons to emit photons at a much higher rate than in a normal laser. Electrons move between sub-bands, multiplying the number of photons produced.
It’s this small tech process that gives the final product an edge over earlier technology. First-generation free-space optics products are a disappointment because of their vulnerability to bad weather. That’s because the infrared lasers are of short wavelength and perform poorly in fog and other weather conditions. Such lasers generate wavelengths of .7 to 1.55 microns, about the same size as a fog particle. The new Alpes laser devices cannot be deflected by fog because they generate wavelengths of 8 to 12 microns each.
Maxima’s exclusive license with the Swiss startup could give it a competitive advantage. “The availability of 10-micron lasers might not necessarily increase the size of the addressable market, but Maxima could certainly gain significant market share with such systems,” said Jim Plante, Maxima’s chief operating officer.
Prototypes have been up and running at the company’s San Diego lab since last December and have “not burned out” yet, Plante said. The startup, which has attracted $7.2 million in venture funding led by Forrest Binkley & Brown and Hamilton Apex Ventures, will put equipment into field trials next year.
Alpes Lasers was co-founded by University of Neuchatel professor Jerome Faist, who has been working on incremental improvements to the QC laser since he made a major breakthrough while working at Bell Labs in 1994.
The industry is excited about QC and other kinds of semiconductor lasers because, unlike traditional laser devices, they can be mass produced. More importantly, QC lasers outperform existing lasers in photonics power and ability to carry large currents. According to experts, the lasers offer a “one-thousand-fold improvement” over basic lasers.
But before QC lasers can begin to displace and outpace the existing market, a few refinements in their capacity will have to be made. “The next milestone will be to achieve continuous wave at room temperature over a very wide ranges of wavelengths, from 4 to 12 microns and with reasonable power output,” said Stefan Curry, director of marketing at Texas-based Applied Optoelectronics Inc. The company sells its QC lasers to universities and industry for R&D. Gas sensors are one of the potential products expected.
Other applications include alternatives to today’s X-ray or radiography equipment. Detlev Grutzmacher, a researcher at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, said his group aims to create a wider (100 micron) beam QC laser for handheld devices that detect cavities in teeth, find skin cancer cells or remotely detect gases and chemicals for industrial applications. The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom is doing similar work.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques in Freiburg, Germany, is also investigating how the technology can be used to make optical analytical instruments that analyze a patient’s breath for evidence of disease.