The First Yellow Semiconductor Laser Chip For Ophthalmic Surgery

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I proposal seeks to develop the world's first commercially viable and most powerful (>1 Watt) electrically-pumped semiconductor lasers in the (yellow) 568 nm wavelength range for treating debilitating human-eye diseases suffered by 500+ million people around the world including over tens of millions of Americans. Today, ophthalmology professionals actively seek a compact, and portable high-power yellow laser operating at a wavelength of 568 nm for treating retinal disorders such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal tears, etc. There are no such laser solutions in the market today. Large scale laboratory bench-top lasers (gas and dye lasers) at 568-nm have not been deployed by practicing ophthalmologists today because of their substantial and hence impractical size. Compound-semiconductor laser chips, which rely on band-to-band emission, would effectively meet ophthalmic needs in that (i) they are finger-size small, thus deployable and maneuverable by the ophthalmologist, and portable, (ii) they are about ten times more power efficient - a cornerstone advantage of the semiconductor laser diode, and (iii) they could cost as much as 20 times less than their laboratory bench-top counterparts. Such chips have been hitherto unavailable due to numerous and fundamental material science related challenges. Group4 Labs herein proposes to commercialize the first 568 nm semiconductor laser for ophthalmic applications using original laser structure and fabrication processes. Two fundamental breakthroughs will be combined for the first time to develop the laser: one is a proprietary bonding technology that enables the first-time joining of relevant semiconductor materials with drastically conflicting materials (e.g. lattice constants), optical (e.g. refractive index), and electronic properties (e.g. energy bandgap); the second is a large telecom-pump-style optical cavity design that is applied to the aforementioned bonded materials to deliver high output power.