The University of Arizona has licensed a new tunable laser technology to startup TPhotonics Inc. While most lasers produce beams of a single or highly limited range of wavelength, the technology allows for devices that can produce a beam and tweak its wavelength on the fly.

The invention is a new kind of VECSEL, or vertical external-cavity surface emitting laser, which can generate spectrally tunable light and multiple wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the far infrared regions of the spectrum.