ECE Departmental Seminar

Fast, widely tunable MEMS-VCSELs for imaging, metrology, and spectroscopy

Dr. Vijaysekhar Jayaraman
Praevium Research

Wednesday, 5/4/22, 11:00am
Light Engineering 250 

Abstract:In recent years, widely tunable micro-electro-mechanical systems vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (MEMS-VCSELs) have found commercial application in swept source optical coherence tomography medical imaging and also show considerable promise in metrology and spectroscopy. These devices exhibit fractional tuning ranges of >11% of the center wavelength, wavelength tuning repetition rates over full tuning range of >1MHz, and continuously tunable single-mode operation. These properties, in conjunction with small size and wafer scale fabrication and testing, promise an economical optical source that can impact sensing applications from the visible to the mid-infrared.

Bio: Dr. Vijaysekhar Jayaraman received the BS/MS degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985, and the PhD in electrical engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 1994.  His doctoral dissertation at UCSB produced the first widely tunable sampled grating distributed bragg reflector (SGDBR) lasers, which have since been commercialized, with millions of devices deployed worldwide in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiber optic communication systems. In 2001, Dr. Jayaraman founded Praevium Research, where he currently serves as CTO, Board Chairman, and Principal Investigator on many of the company’s R&D efforts. Since 2011, Dr. Jayaraman’s primary focus has been on developing widely tunable micro-electromechanical systems vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (MEMS-VCSELs) from 850nm-3300nm. These devices have produced some of the widest tuning ranges and fastest tuning speeds of any monolithic semiconductor lasers in this wavelength range and are currently used in clinical medical imaging systems.