Sony Shrinks Blu-ray Lasers

Sony has announced that they have successfully developed a read/write Blu-ray laser which is only 3mm thick. The result of joint development with Nichia, the laser can read and write dual-layer media, including those which use organic dyes. Sony expects that the reduced size and complexity of the laser assembly will result in reduced production costs. The first planned application for the laser will be a 9.5mm laptop drive sometime this year.

The support for organic dyes in media will hopefully result in an increased demand for the product. Organic dye Blu-ray media can be manufactured on existing DVD lines, resulting in less expensive media at the consumer level. This combined with the reduced cost of the laser (and reduced costs of devices which use the laser) should put Blu-ray in a good position to challenge DVD in the PC market.