Semiconductor laser has the characteristics of good direction, high brightness, good monochromatism and high energy density. Semiconductor laser based semiconductor laser industry in the global persistent rapid development, now has been widely used in industrial production, communications, information processing, medical and health, military, culture, education and scientific research, etc.

Because the semiconductor laser has many advantages, the developed countries in order to occupy the world in the global competition environment information technology commanding heights, are tightening of semiconductor laser industry development plan, such as America's "semiconductor laser fusion scheme", Germany "semiconductor laser action plan 2001", "abil plan" in the UK and Japan "the semiconductor laser research five years plan", etc., foreign represented by America, Germany, Japan national semiconductor laser industry rapid development, the development of its large manufacturing industry in the main, For example, automobile, electronics, machinery, aviation, steel and other industries have basically completed the replacement of traditional technology with semiconductor laser processing technology, entering the era of "optical manufacturing".

At present, our country in addition to the semiconductor laser has formed large-scale audio-visual equipment, other semiconductor laser application market compared with abroad is larger gap, semiconductor laser industry in China is faced with larger development space.

Wide range of applications

Semiconductor laser is a mature early, rapid progress of laser, because of its wide wavelength range, easy fabrication, low cost, easy to mass production, and due to the small volume, light weight, long service life, therefore, varieties of fast development, application range is wide, currently has more than 300 kinds.

The application range of the semiconductor laser could cover the whole field of optoelectronics, has become the core of optoelectronic science technology today. Semiconductor laser in the laser rangefinder, laser radar, laser communication, laser simulation, laser warning, laser guidance weapons tracking, ignition detonated, automatic control, instrumentation, etc for a wide range of applications, formed a broad market.

Rapid technical progress

China's semiconductor laser technology developed at the same time with foreign countries at the early stage, but it has been under the influence of the lagging industrial development for a long time and has been lingering in the field of scientific research. Until the new century, with the rapid development of China's economy and the progress of the industry, the semiconductor laser industry as a high-tech industry has also been greatly improved. With the development and maturity of market economy, China has established a complete patent system, and the status of patent can reflect the development level of technology to some extent.

So far, China's semiconductor laser industry has accumulated 27,890 patents, a large number. On the whole, the number of semiconductor laser patents in China is fluctuating. In 2016, 2,692 semiconductor laser patents were published. In 2017, the number of patents related to semiconductor laser in China was 2,545. Overall, the number of public patents has risen since 2011.

So far, from the point of semiconductor laser related patent applicants, patent applications of the top applicants for semiconductor research institute, Chinese academy of sciences (1642), corporation semiconductor energy research institute (802), matsushita electric industrial co., (486), Chinese academy of sciences, Shanghai institute of optical precision machinery (445), sharp corporation (411), the quantity of other applicants are under 400. It can be seen that China's research institutes and foreign enterprises are in the leading position in China's semiconductor laser research.

In terms of the type of patent application, the number of patent applications in the field of electrical components is the largest, which is 15802. Second, in the field of measurement and testing, the number of semiconductor laser-related patent applications is 4,465, and the number of other types of semiconductor laser-related patents is less than 4,000.

Broad prospects for development

In recent years, the Chinese government, technical experts and enterprises, and the joint efforts of the general practitioners, semiconductor laser industry in China has achieved extraordinary development, and the prototype of the semiconductor laser industry in China, early in the domestic part of the laser products on the market, China's semiconductor laser industry dominant again. With the continuous improvement of domestic economy, China's laser industry has achieved rapid development. The semiconductor laser industry has been developing for more than 50 years and has begun to take shape. In recent years, China has increased the development of the laser industry. Under the leadership of the government and the cooperation of laser enterprises, various regions have devoted themselves to scientific research, technology upgrading, market development and the construction of laser industrial parks. China's semiconductor laser industry is expected to reach nearly 30 billion yuan by 2023, according to the forward-looking industry research institute.