Lasers microchips pour l’instrumentation optique: du laboratoire au grand public
Compact diode-pumped microchip lasers for optical instrumentation
Published in La Revue de l’électricité et de l’électronique in 2020, this article presents Oxxius’s vision for compact diode-pumped microchip lasers as the next generation of laser sources for optical instrumentation — positioned as the natural complement to laser diodes in applications where coherence, spectral purity, and beam quality matter as much as cost and compactness.
The central argument is straightforward: laser diodes have successfully democratized optical sensing and communications by bringing cost-effective coherent light to mass-market applications. But diodes alone cannot meet every need — their multimode emission, broad linewidth, and sensitivity to back-reflections limit their use in precision instruments. Diode-pumped microchip lasers, by contrast, combine the pump efficiency and compactness of diode technology with the spectral and spatial quality of a solid-state cavity. They represent a manufacturable, scalable path to instrument-grade laser performance at OEM-compatible price points.
From laboratory to production
Oxxius was founded on precisely this premise. The microchip laser architectures described in this article — covering visible wavelengths from UV to red, CW and single-frequency operation, and monolithic cavity designs optimized for thermal stability — are the same architectures that Oxxius has since transitioned into its standard product line. The LBX and LCX series embody this progression: research-grade performance in a format engineered for series production, field deployment, and integration into third-party instruments.
Applications driving microchip laser adoption
The optical instrumentation market that motivates this article spans a wide range of end uses. In life science, compact diode-pumped microchip lasers enable benchtop flow cytometers, portable Raman analyzers, and miniaturized confocal systems that bring laboratory-grade measurements closer to the point of care. In measurement and metrology, they power interferometers, velocimeters, and particle counters that demand single-frequency emission and long coherence length. In each case, the key enabler is the same: a laser source small enough to integrate, stable enough to trust, and affordable enough to deploy at scale.
Oxxius’s current CW & Modulated Laser and Single Frequency Laser product lines are the direct commercial expression of the technology roadmap described in this publication.
Abstract
Pour accompagner le développement de la photonique, il faut développer des sources laser compactes, peu énergivores et peu chères en production de masse. Les diodes laser, dont le développement commercial a débuté moins de 25 ans après l’invention du laser en 1960, répondent bien à une partie de ce besoin. Nous pensons que les lasers à microchips pompés par diodes en seront le complément.
Abstract (translated from French)
To support the development of photonics, compact, energy-efficient, and cost-effective laser sources must be developed for mass production. Laser diodes, whose commercial development began less than 25 years after the invention of the laser in 1960, address part of this need. We believe that diode-pumped microchip lasers will serve as their natural complement.