Diode laser market pauses to regroup

摘要

The diode laser business is poised at a crossroads in its development. Already two clear paths have emerged. In the past half-decade the small signal processing market has been joined by products which exploit the technology's potential as a compact energy source. However, the prospective business upturn is showing all the signs of continuing to favour the former rather than the latter. Everyone in the business is looking forward to a return to the better times of the late 1990s. Memories of the downturn are fresher and these will continue to colour any judgements for quite some time to come. Hopefully, the causes of the downturn will not be forgotten because the industry owes itself to avoid a repetition of the worst time in its history. Sadly it has parallels with the cyclic behaviour of the silicon IC industry. That sector follows boom-boost cycles driven by logic devices such as microprocessors. It is hoped the diode laser market will not be the arbiter of similar cycles in optoelectronics.