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Australian semiconductor technology company, BluGlass Limited, has received a US government-funded subaward contract from Yale University to assist the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop novel laser diode technology. BluGlass and Yale University will conduct paid research and development under DARPA’s Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (LUMOS) initiative which seeks to combine efficient integrated optical systems and complete photonics functionality onto a single substrate.

Part of the U.S. Department of Defense, DARPA pursues opportunities for transformational change rather than incremental advances. It does so collaboratively as part of a robust innovation ecosystem that includes academic, corporate, and governmental partners. To fulfill its mission, the Agency relies on diverse performers from throughout this ecosystem to apply multi-disciplinary approaches to both advance knowledge through basic research and create innovative technologies that address current and predicted practical problems through applied research.

Lasers are essential for optical communications, remote sensing, manufacturing, and medical applications. Photonic integrated circuits have allowed unprecedented advances in optical systems for a wide range of applications, including LiDAR, signal processing, chip-scale optical clocks, gyros, and data transmission. However, these two technologies are currently limited by the incompatibility of the materials used to create them – silicon photonics are easy to manufacture but are poor light emitters while compound semiconductors enable efficient emitters but are difficult to scale for use in complex integrated circuits.

Together, Yale and BluGlass research teams are aiming to combine for the first time, these two technologies to enable high performance lasers and amplifiers with photonic integrated circuits in a single device for applications such as compact optical phased array LiDAR and neuromorphic optical computing. BluGlass’ unique technology capabilities provide increased design and manufacturability options to combine nitrides and photonic integrated circuits.

BluGlass Executive Vice President, Brad Siskavich, said today “We are very excited to be part of the team selected to contribute to the DARPA LUMOS program; and to integrate BluGlass’ novel laser diode technology into the Yale design for new and important laser applications. This opportunity allows BluGlass to showcase our capabilities in GaN Laser epitaxial growth technology, while demonstrating the integration of our technology into next generation laser applications such as Photonic Integrated Circuits, that could lead to further commercial opportunities.”