Low-cost 560nm light source[2005.05.18] Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., Ltd. (SOC hereinafter, Yasuyuki Odagiri CEO) and its affiliated company: Oyokoden Lab Co., Ltd (Yoichi Totani CEO) have developed a low-cost, high quality, and practical light source at 560nm wavelength band (nano = 1/1,000,000,000). The product will be placed on the market this summer. 1. Background of development With the significant advancement of biotechnology in recent years, fluorescence microscopy using fluorescent dyes is performed by using biomedical laser microscopes for structural analysis of protein or DNA content tests. A laser microscope for biomedical use consists of several light sources, and the light source which generates 560nm wavelength band (yellow-green) is especially expensive; therefore, a high-quality and low-cost light source has been desired. 2. Features of developed techniques -1 Upgrading an existing light source 1,120nm laser diode for material processing which is inexpensive and high- power is used as the light source in this new development. The weakness of the existing laser diode is that it does not have a good coherence: wavelength and intensity are unstable. Therefore, by using SOC's external resonator system, its wavelength is improved to high-quality. By connecting the modified 1,120nm light source to a wavelength conversion component, the wavelength is converted to half, and 560nm light source is generated. -2 Reducing the cost The conventional 560nm light source was generated by solid lasers or combinations of multiple laser diodes; thus, it was very expensive. The newly developed technique modifies an existing inexpensive light source with a simple system; therefore, its manufacturing process is simplified, and mass production of the product will significantly reduce the cost, compared to the conventional products. 3. Further development Applying this technique, practical laser light source at 350~560nm wavelength is now under development. In addition, this research development will be reported at "CLEO 2005" (conference and exhibition on optical communications) in Baltimore, USA on May 24.