Bookham Technology (BKHM)

[*MARINE 1*]

Bookham Launches New 'Green' VCSEL for Computer Mouse Market
Wednesday January 28, 7:31 am ET


SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bookham, Inc. (Nasdaq: BKHM - News) has launched a new 'green' VCSEL that features the patented Bookham wide oxide aperture design and boasts less than 5mW power consumption - 50 percent less than previous offerings. The VCSEL is targeted at the optical computer mouse market, as well as other consumer, battery powered applications where power consumption is an important factor in product design.
ADVERTISEMENT


The singlemode 850nm VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) is polarization stable, and retains the reliability, robustness and resistance to ESD (electro-static discharge) of previous, higher power consumption devices. The VCSEL is available in a standard TO package interface.

Bookham has now shipped in excess of 13 million polarization stable VCSELs. In January 2008, the company announced the transition of VCSEL manufacturing to its High Power Laser facility in Zurich, Switzerland, to meet increasing volume demand from consumer applications.

"Power consumption is a major consideration for designers of any product that is battery powered, including mobile handsets, mobile sensing devices and, of course, optical navigation systems including computer mice, where we are seeing huge demand for high performance, polarization stable VCSELs," said Karlheinz Gulden, Director VCSEL Business at Bookham. "Through optimization of the laser design, we have successfully reduced power consumption by over 50 percent and retained all the reliability and stability performance benefits of our unique, patented wide oxide aperture design that has been shipping for more than eight years.

"Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility allows us to meet volume demand for VCSELs for optical engines in a wide variety of markets, and we continue to exploit our technical and commercial advantage in this space."

Notes to editors


Photonics West is taking place at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California, 24-29 January, 2009. For further information, visit http://spie.org/photonics-west.xml
Bookham will be exhibiting at the Photonics West exhibition, 27-29 January, at booth #1515
To arrange an interview with representatives of Bookham before or during the show, please contact Howard Jones on [e-mail] or [phone]
About Bookham

Bookham is a leading manufacturer and independent, vertically integrated supplier of high performance, high reliability industrial laser diodes across many markets, including industrial, medical, display, analytical, printing, aerospace and defense.

The company boasts two decades of experience as a leader in laser diode development, continued investment in technology and customer support, and offers scalability for cost efficient, high volume production through the use of advanced automated manufacturing processes in its state of the art facility in Zurich.

Bookham was the first company to offer 120W 9xxnm diode bars and is a leader in the market for single emitter pigtailed laser modules for fiber laser pumping. The company's diversified high power laser diode offering ranges from 10W pigtailed multimode modules to 120W bars and 2.4kW fast axis collimated stacks.

More information on Bookham, Inc. is available at www.bookham.com

Bookham and all other Bookham, Inc. product names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bookham, Inc. in the USA or other countries.