Intermix and match

Ultra-broadband light sources for biomedical imaging are a step closer to reality with the demonstration of a new type of controlled intermixed superluminescent diode. The first broadband high-power quantum dot superluminsecent diodes (QD-SLDs) to have been intermixed to have a significant blue-shift in their operating wavelength have been demonstrated by researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK. This result could open the door to high bandwidth active devices comprising regions of different wavelengths that could meet the demands of, for example, optical imaging of the eye and other skin tissue.