News

5 October 2010

 

Quantum dot laser wins Japan’s Green IT Award

As part of the Green IT Awards 2010 granted by Japan’s Green IT Promotion Council, Tokyo-based QD Laser Inc, Fujitsu Ltd and the University of Tokyo have been awarded the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry Minister Award in the category of ‘Savings in IT-related Energy Consumption’ for their quantum dot semiconductor laser technology. The award recognizes quantum dot laser technology as making a significant contribution to the energy efficiency of IT equipment.

The Green IT Award was established to “honor contributions to the development, expansion and application of IT equipment, services and solutions that reduce society’s energy consumption, with the aim of increasing the prevalence of green IT and bringing about a society that both preserves the environment and achieves economic growth”.

The advantages of QD lasers over other types of semiconductor lasers include lower power consumption, better temperature stability, and higher temperature tolerance. The lasers will make it possible to conserve energy as energy usage increases with the expansion of the Internet and improvements in the capabilities of ICT equipment.

The technology was proposed in 1982 by professor Yasuhiko Arakawa, director of the Institute for Nano Quantum Information Electronics at the University of Tokyo, and was subsequently developed through an industrial–academic collaboration between Fujitsu and the University of Tokyo. QD Laser Inc was founded in 2006 with funding from Fujitsu and Mitsui Ventures to commercialize the technology, and the firm has begun the world's first mass production of QD lasers for use in optical communications.

The Green IT Award recognized the advanced capabilities of the device technology, as well as its wide range of potential medium- to long-term applications. It also praised the creative thinking that led researchers to bring about innovation by leveraging the principles underlying the device, as well as the achievements resulting from the innovation and the 15-year-long industrial–academic collaboration.

See related items:

QD Laser claims first quantum dot pure-green laser source module

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