Nichia Eyes Volume Production of Violet Laser Diodes

TOKYO, June 20 -- Nichia Corp. said that its NLHV3000 series of high power violet laser diodes are moving into volume production. The NLHV3000 series laser diodes have a 405 nm peak wavelength and a 30 mW maximum optical power output, delivering up to five times the data storage capacity of red lasers commonly used in today's DVD players.
The lasers are manufactured using Nichia's patented indium gallium nitride (InGaN) semiconductor technology. The wavelength of InGaN violet lasers is about two-thirds the 650 nm wavelength of red laser diodes. The shorter wavelength produced by InGaN contributes to the five-fold increase in data storage capacity of the next generation DVD discs. The increased optical power output of the NLHV3000 series enables the violet laser to not only read data but also write data for the next generation of higher density optical discs.