Exalos is nominated for SPIE Prism Award 2025

The Schlieren-based company Exalos, which specializes in light-emitting diodes and semiconductor light sources, has been nominated as a finalist for the SPIE Prism Award 2025 on 29 January in San Francisco, according to a press release. The Prism Awards, which have been presented since 2008, recognize commercial innovations in photonics and companies that bring transformative products to market. Exalos is the only company from Switzerland among the finalists.

"I always look forward to the Prism Awards," SPIE CEO Kent Rochford is quoted as saying. "These awards give us the opportunity to showcase and recognize the impact of optics and photonics technologies on our lives, as well as the efforts required to bring them to market." SPIE is the International Society for Optics and Photonics, based in Bellingham, Washington, near the Canadian border.

The 14-pin Butterfly (BTF) module from Exalos was nominated for the award. It emits an optical spectrum with a 3dB bandwidth of 33 nanometers around a central wavelength of 1549 nanometers, according to the press release. The output is collimated into three output beams (directed in parallel), which propagate through an optical circulator before being focused into an array of three PM output fibers, according to the technology. The arrangement leads to output powers of around 1.0 megawatts per fiber channel at low drive currents of 150 milliamperes (mA) and can be used from minus 40 degrees Celsius to plus 85 degrees Celsius.

Thanks to the micro-optical integration of the three closed-loop FOGs, the 14-pin BTF module enables the development of products with fewer external components and a significantly reduced footprint, according to the press release. ce/gba