SDL, Inc., San Jose, California, is a leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of semiconductor lasers, optoelectronic integrated circuits, and system and fiber optic-related products.
High power gives the laser unprecedented attributes.
Tapping more than a half watt of power, the SDL TC40 laser operates in the mid-infrared spectral regions. With frequency doubling, laser light in the UV and visible regions can be generated. It has several advantages over other mid-infrared lasers, including high reliability, lower power consumption, room temperature operation, and compact size. The NASA connection to the laser's creation is part geological, part biological, and part atmospheric. Mid-infrared laser sources are of interest because many geologically and biologically important gases have strong absorption lines in this spectral region.