The vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) market is increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.1% from $501m in 2013 to nearly $2.1bn in 2018, estimates BCC Research in its report ‘Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSEL): Technologies and Global Markets’.
In the report, the VCSEL market is segmented by material type - gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and others (AlGaAs, InGaAsN, etc) – and by color (red, green, blue-violet, infrared and others).
The report also segments the VCSEL market into the following categories by application: optical fiber data transmission; analog broadband signal transmission; absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), laser printers, computer mice, biological tissue analysis, chip-scale atomic clocks and others.
Optical fiber data transmission is the largest segment, at $158.1m in 2013, and is estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 31.2% to about $615.1m by 2018. The use of VCSELs has increased in the optical communications industry over the past 15 years, notes the report, and they are expected to dominate the optical communications sector in the coming years.
In particular, extensive R&D on VCSELs by companies and defense contractors worldwide has resulted in high power conversion efficiency of 63.4% currently, compared with typical power conversion of 20-25% for other types of commercially available laser, the report notes.
The analog broadband signal transmission segment is reckoned to be growing at a CAGR of 37.3% from $60m in 2013 to about $292.8m in 2018.
Growth in the VCSEL market is further being spurred by demand for consumer electronics products and other high-end applications such as gesture recognition and 3D imaging. Technologies such as industrial sensing will also drive demand for VCSELs in the future, it is expected.
