I'd be cautious about saying that SDL's blue laser puts them in competition with Nichia. SDL is using second harmonic generation to convert emission from a red semiconductor laser into blue light, whereas Nichia hopes to produce a true blue semiconductor laser.
SDL's product has interesting niche applications and should be a nice little earner, but the package is too big (cigarette pack) and the price is too high ($5,000 - $10,000) to allow it to reach the mass market that should be available for "real" blue diodes (size of a thumb tack, $10 -$25 each) in things like disk drives.
Of course, one very good thing that SDL has going for it is that their product is available now, whereas this Nichia laser we are talking about doesn't exisit, and probably won't for two years. But ultimately, I think that the SDL product competes with big benchtop gas and solid state lasers, not laser diodes.
Incidentally, I once asked SDL CEO Scifres if their SHG blue laser is a potential long term competitor to blue diodes, and he said "no". But James, I'd be interested in knowing if you have heard a different story from someone at SDL. |
