UCSB Researchers Produce Blue-Violet Non-Polar GaN Laser

Professor Shuji Nakamura, of the University of California Santa Barbara, has announced the development of a non-polar gallium nitride blue-violet laser diode, according to a report in CompoundSemi. Researchers from the Solid State Lighting and Display Center reported achieving lasing operation in non-polar gallium nitride semiconductors and demonstrated the world’s first non-polar blue-violet laser diodes. When electricity is run through the non-polar orientation of GaN crystals, the electric field and magnetic field have the same direction and orientation. From the beginning, researchers have theorized that non-polar GaN could produce light or achieve lasing operation with much less electro-magnetic resistance. While the researchers at UCSB have made advances, they have not yet achieved the efficiencies that professor Nakamura believes are possible. The goal is to create lasers diodes and LEDs with lower operating power and longer lifetimes.