Researchers search for elusive blue/green spectrum
David Bour, Electronic Materials Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
For years, scientists have searched for the secret to cheap, compact blue lasers for high-density optical storage. Blue diode lasers' short wavelength offers a small focused spot size, which would maximize the density and transfer rate of stored data. Further development will probably concentrate on extending the device's operation to higher powers (~ 20 mW), to meet the needs for DVD-RAM systems.