Lumentum Holdings Inc. announced new high-power and high-efficiency five and six junctions vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays for advanced consumer, automotive LiDAR, and other 3D sensing applications.

The use of LiDAR and 3D sensing is expanding into new applications in the consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial markets. New applications and new functionality are driving the need for higher power and higher efficiency from smaller form factor devices. Lumentum’s innovative five and six-junction VCSEL arrays enable much lower power dissipation, very high slope efficiencies, and record-breaking optical peak powers compared with existing devices. Optical powers exceeding 2 W per individual VCSEL emitter have resulted in over 800 W of peak power from a compact one square millimeter-sized VCSEL array. The peak optical power, low thermal dissipation, and small die size of these new multi-junction VCSELs arrays are important to extending their use to high-performance all-solid-state medium and long-range LiDAR.

Lumentum’s multi-junction VCSEL arrays emit at 940 nm and 905 nm and are manufactured on the same production lines as current high-volume VCSEL array products serving the consumer electronics market. In addition to these new high-power VCSEL array illuminators, Lumentum also offers a wide variety of optical solutions for 3D sensing, automotive, and LiDAR applications. These include VCSEL solutions for vehicle in-cabin monitoring, high-performance Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide edge-emitting laser chips for 3D sensing and LiDAR, and 1550 nm narrow-linewidth DBR diode lasers for long-range frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) coherent LiDAR.