中華光電學會 北加州分會 The Electro-Optics Association  The Photonics Society of Chinese-Americans Northern California Chapter

中華光電學會

2019 Seminar

2019年12月14日　

VCSEL in Full Color – Development, Commercialization and Emerging Applications

Abstract:

Given the tremendous success of infrared and red VCSELs, thanks to the increasing demand in datacom and a surge in 3D sensing applications, the road to developing and commercializing blue and green VCSELs seem long and difficult. Since the first demonstration of electrically injected infrared VCSEL by Prof. Iga in 1979, 29 years had passed until the first demonstration of electrically pumped blue VCSEL, with merely no more than 1% power conversion efficiency. Since the breakthrough in blue LED technology by three Japanese Nobel laurates - Nakamura, Akasaki and Amano, three decades has passed with massive efforts, and we are now at the dawn of commercialization in blue and green VCSELs. The journey is not easy, it’s full of hardship, but the destination will be fruitful and fulfilling. In this talk, we will first overview the development of blue and green VCSELs, especially the great success in the most recent 3~4 years, and then outlook their emerging applications in virtual/augmented/mixed reality (VR/AR/MR), pico-projectors, cellphone/PC screens, automobile headlights, just to name a few. In the end of this talk, we will also show the applications of infrared VCSELs in 3D sensing. The VCSEL family is now welcoming new members to join, with the spectrum extending from the infrared and red to the entire visible regime, enabling new and exciting applications.

Bio:

Dr. Cheng Zhang focuses his work on semiconductor lasers and optoelectronic devices. He graduated from Yale University with a Ph.D. degree in Engineering and Applied Science. His graduate research focused on III-Nitride material growth and blue-near ultraviolet VCSELs, which led to the one of the first demonstrations of lasing in blue-near UV VCSELs. Prior to Yale, he obtained B.S. degree in Physics at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He is now a Sr. Chip Design Engineer at Vertilite. Vertilite is a company located in the heart of Silicon Valley – San Jose, California, focusing on optoelectronic device design and manufacturing. Vertilite’s main products include VCSEL chips for sensing and datacom applications and Time of Flight (ToF) modules for 3D sensing, NIR illumination and Lidar. Vertilite is a fast-growing start-up company that is well funded, and on its way to take off.