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High Performance Optoelectronic Devices and Superluminescent Light Emitting Diodes (SLEDs)
EXALOS focuses on the design, development and sales of high performance, technology ready semiconductor optoelectronic devices, in particular Superluminescent Light Emitting Diodes (SLEDs). SLEDs are semiconductor light sources that merge the best features of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and semiconductor lasers. The SLEDs provide broadband output optical spectrum and low temporal coherence typical of LEDs, with high output power levels and high spatial coherence typical of semiconductor lasers. Sometimes they are referred as "high-power LEDs" , "super LEDs" or as "laser diodes operating below threshold".
SLED Advantage: Power Density, Optical Bandwidth, Temporal Coherence
SLEDs are a light source, which combines the spatial coherence of a fiber coupled laser diode, with the temporal incoherence of an LED. The spatial coherence translates into small beam divergence, which greatly facilitates the light coupling into a single mode fiber with efficiency similar to that of a laser diode. Typically more than 50% of the chip facet power is coupled into the single mode fiber. The large optical bandwidth or the low temporal coherence is of great advantage for applications where interferences cause problems like speckle or ghost signals. SLEDs are much more powerful than standard LEDs and are particularly advantageous for applications requiring high power density. SLEDs typically have single-mode output powers of the same order of magnitude as single mode laser diodes of several tens of milliWatts (mW) when biased with several hundreds of milliAmperes (mA).
Based on an electrically driven pn-junction, SLEDs generate amplified spontaneous emissions (ASE) over a wide range of wavelengths. The emitted peak wavelength and intensity depend on the compound semiconductor material composition. Short-wavelength SLEDs (750 to 850 nm) are gallium-arsenide (GaAs)-based, while long-wavelength SLEDs (1250 to 1650 1700 nm) operate on indium-phosphide (InP)-based technology.
An SLED typically contains a semiconductor chip which is packaged into a module containing a fiber pigtail serving as optical output, a thermoelectric cooler used to guarantee the device performance for different external temperatures and electrical connections used to supply current which generates the light in the chip. A variety of housings/form factors are available, ranging from butterfly to standard 14-pin Dual-In-Line (DIL) and low-cost TO-56s. EXALOS also offers custom design and manufacturing of housings for one-of-a-kind or custom applications. A diverse portfolio of SLED types offers customers a variety of choices.
Find the optimal high power LED for your application
Products Designed to Meet Industry Needs
Figures 1 and 2 display the broad range of devices available at EXALOS . SLEDs operating in the 750 to 850 nm range are typically used in the fiber optic gyroscopes and medical applications such as optical coherence tomography. Whereas, the use of SLEDs at 1300 and 1550 nm is typically related to datacom and telecom applications such as fiber optic test equipment like optical spectrum analyzers (OSA). 1300nm SLEDs are increasingly being used in medical applications. SLEDS at all wavelengths are being used for fiber optic sensors based on Fiber Bragg Grating technology.
Figure 1
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EXALOS SLEDs are designed with these performance factors:
- Wavelength peaks of 750 to 850 nm and from 1250 to 1700 nm
- High optical output power with up to 30 milliWatts (mW) in single-mode fiber
- Ultra-wide optical bandwidth with record values of 190 nm (full width at half maximum)
- Very low residual spectral modulation (ripple)
Learn more about EXALOS Superluminescent Light Emitting Diode (SLED) performance
Facilities that Exceed Expectations
The EXALOS facilities are fully automated and equipped with burn-in capabilities for both qualification and manufacturing. A responsive supply chain allows EXALOS to scale its manufacturing for both low- and high-volume customer needs. All products are designed and manufactured to ISO 9001:2000 standards and to Telcordia GR-486-CORE requirements.
