Japanese Nichia Corp. has developed a blue-violet semiconductor laser diode, featuring a power high enough for burning Blu-Ray and HD DVD media at high speeds. Nichia's new laser diode is able to emit pulsed light at 320mW, while it offers a stable operation of 1,000 hours, according to the company. The diode could be used for optical discs including Blu-ray and HD DVD, allowing 10X speed recording with a double-layer disc and 2X speed recording with a four-layer disc. Currently blue-violet semiconductor laser diodes offer a pulsed output of 130 mW.

The high output was achieved with 260 mA and 5 V at a temperature of 80 degrees. Nichia gave the diode an estimated life of more than 1,000 hours under the stable conditions. Pulse oscillation's threshold current is 35 mA and threshold voltage is 3.7 V. The company explained it achieved the high power by improving the laser chip.

Nichia aims to start this product's mass-production in the first half of 2008.

Although the new diode could boost the recording speeds of the next generation optical storage media, high-speed recording also requires significant improvements in the materials and the developments of the optical discs.