Editing Optical mouse (section)

== Light source ==
=== LED mice ===
[[File:VMouseBlueLightSource.jpg|thumb|The blue-LED-based V-Mouse VM-101]]

Optical mice often used [[light-emitting diode]]s (LEDs) for illumination when first popularized. The color of the optical mouse's LEDs can vary, but red is most common, as red diodes are inexpensive and silicon photodetectors are very sensitive to red light. IR LEDs are also widely used.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winn L. Rosch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S90OaKQ-IzMC&q=optical-mouse+light-emitting-diode+red&pg=PA756 |title=Winn L. Rosch hardware bible |publisher=Que Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7897-2859-3 |edition=6th |page=756}}</ref> Other colors are sometimes used, such as the blue LED of the V-Mouse VM-101 illustrated at right.

=== Laser mice ===
[[File:Captured infrared light from a laser mouse.jpg|thumb|Although invisible to the naked eye, the light produced by this laser mouse is captured as the color purple because CCDs are sensitive to a broader light wavelength range than the human eye.]]
A laser mouse uses an [[infrared]] [[laser diode]] instead of an LED to illuminate the surface beneath their sensor. As early as 1998, [[Sun Microsystems]] provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARCstation servers and workstations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://computer-engineering.science-tips.org/computer-organization/input/output-devices/mouse.html |title=Computer Engineering Tips – Mouse |access-date=2006-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505013524/http://computer-engineering.science-tips.org/computer-organization/input/output-devices/mouse.html |archive-date=May 5, 2009}}</ref>
However, laser mice did not enter the mainstream consumer market until 2004, following the development by a team at Agilent Laboratories, Palo Alto, led by Doug Baney of a laser-based mouse based on a 850&nbsp;nm [[Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser|VCSEL]] that offered a 20× improvement in tracking performance. Tong Xie, Marshall T. Depue, and Douglas M. Baney were awarded US patents 7,116,427 and 7,321,359 for their work on low power consumption broad navigability VCSEL-based consumer mice. Paul Machin at [[Logitech]], in partnership with [[Agilent Technologies]] introduced the new technology as the ''MX 1000'' laser mouse. This mouse uses a small infrared laser (VCSEL) instead of an LED and significantly increased the [[image resolution|resolution]] of the image taken by the mouse. The laser illumination enabled superior surface tracking compared to LED-illuminated optical mice.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2004 |title=Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse |url=https://www.cnet.com/products/logitech-mx1000-laser-cordless-mouse/review/ |access-date=July 19, 2018 |website=CNET}}</ref>

In 2008, [[Avago Technologies]] introduced laser navigation sensors whose [[laser diode|emitter]] was integrated into the IC using [[Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser|VCSEL]] technology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 28, 2008 |title=Avago Technologies Announces Miniature Laser Navigation Sensors for Mouse Applications |url=http://www.avagotech.com/pages/en/press/avago_technologies_announces_miniature_laser_navigation_sensors_for_mouse_applications |access-date=2013-03-25}}</ref>

In August 2009, Logitech introduced mice with two lasers, to track on glass and glossy surfaces better; they dubbed them a "[[Dark field microscopy|Darkfield]]" laser sensor.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009 |title=Logitech Darkfield Innovation Brief |url=http://www.logitech.com/images/pdf/briefs/Logitech_Darkfield_Innovation_Brief_2009.pdf |website=Logitech}}</ref>