LASER COMPONENTS now manufactures Pbs and PbSe detectors in house. This development was announced in January, and the first detectors were introduced at Photonics West in San Francisco.
The production facility is an expansion of the LASER COMPONENTS Detector Group in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to avalanche photodiodes, both InGaAs detectors and IR emitters are developed and manufactured here. Background information can be taken from the following interview.
How did LASER COMPONENTS (LC) end up with such a comprehensive range of IR components?
Patrick Paul: LASER COMPONENTS has been known as a specialist for IR components since its founding in 1982. The collective know-how is enormous. Our customers profit worldwide from our in-house production facilities. We were able to enlist specialists that are much more familiar with the market than many others and incorporate their expertise in development and production.
Why do you offer competing IR technologies?
PP: Because we offer IR detectors based on very different technologies, our customers are almost always able to find an ideal solution. Gas measurements can, for example, be carried out with both PbS/PbSe and pyroelectric detectors. Depending on what exactly needs to be measured, one technology is generally ideal. Very few other manufacturers can offer the advantage of such independent consultation – and we are one of them; in fact, we are even able to manufacture custom products.
Mr. Grubisic, you are managing director of the Detector Group, which has expanded the most in the past few months. You introduced the production of lead selenide and lead sulfide detectors for the first time in January. Are the products already available?
Dragan Grubisic: Yes. Production has already begun; in fact, we introduced the first detectors at Photonics West. Arizona State University. ASU, has paved the way for us to develop this technology and catapult us into the ranks as technology leader. We developed all of the new detectors and state-of-the-art manufacturing processes at ASU. This combination enables us to reproducibly manufacture high-quality PbS and PbSe detectors.
InGaAs PIN and x-InGaAs photodiodes are also produced at your facility.
DG: We developed the first InGaAs PIN photodiodes in 2012. We offer an attractive price/performance ratio and an open ear for customer requests, which are in demand on the market. We are also proud of our production of multiplexed x-InGaAs arrays – only a very few companies have this capability; in fact, we were able to improve this state-of-the-art technology. At the LASER. World of PHOTONICS, we will be introducing these line arrays in a workshop.
