Laser Focus World articles from December 2004

Laser Focus World archives from December 2004

Imaging shows its colors.(editor's desk)
December 1, 2004... Digital imaging has become a major market driver, affecting almost everything from storage to communications according to Fred Welsh, recently retired from the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA; Washington, D.C.). Speaking...

Photonic A-to-D conversion directly samples multigigahertz signals.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Researchers at HRL Laboratories (Los Angeles, CA) have combined photonic and indium phosphide heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technologies to directly sample multigigahertz signals in analog-to-digital (A-to-D) conversion. Using...

Birefringent crystal measures electric field of mid-IR pulses.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... While most commonly used fast optical photodetectors measure only the intensity of a light pulse, methods exist for sampling the actual electric field of broadband terahertz waves, resulting in knowledge of both the amplitude and phase. Efforts...

First silicon laser is demonstrated.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Crucial to the development of optical computers that process information using light instead of electrons, the first silicon laser has been demonstrated by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the experiment, a...

Multilayer transparent electrode for displays is flexible.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Many are familiar with enthusiastic descriptions of future flexible displays that will roll up as if they were window shades. Whether or not this degree of flexibility is soon achieved in practical form, flexible displays will have their place...

Entangled photon pairs synchronize distant clocks.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Synchronization of geographically distant clocks is necessary to telecommunications and to the accuracy of global-positioning systems. Current methods for synchronization of distant clocks have limitations due to relativistic effects. But now,...

3-D faces are synthesized from single 2-D video frames.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Much hype has surrounded the opening of the movie The Polar Express and its half-animated, half-live look, which is made possible by so-called "performance capture"--in which actors' body motions and facial appearances are separately digitized...

Crystal orientation of lead-salt lasers affects gain.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Although their output powers (typically less than 1 mW even at 77 K) are much less than that of gallium arsenide semiconductor lasers, lead-salt lasers have the advantage of easy and large current tuning, narrow linewidth, and longer...

Ion-trap cavity repeatedly generates single photons.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... Controlled production of single photons is necessary to applications in quantum cryptography and information processing. Previous attempts using fluorescence of single emitters cause spontaneous generation of photons in an irreversible process...

High-power laser-diode bar reaches 71% wallplug efficiency.(newsbreaks)
December 1, 2004... At the Lasers and Electro-Optics Society 2004 Annual Meeting (Nov. 7-11; Rio Grande, Puerto Rico), researchers at Alfalight Inc. (Madison, WI) presented results on 976-nm-emitting laser-diode bars that have reached record power-conversion...

Optoelectronic fibers transmit photons and electrons.(Specialty Fibers)
December 1, 2004... Optoelectronic devices owe their functionality to the combination of conducting, semiconducting, and insulating materials, and are typically manufactured in wafer-based processes and restricted to planar geometries. But a team of researchers...

Carbon coating reduces darkening.(optoelectronics world news)
December 1, 2004... Optical fibers are useful in "down-hole" energy applications (which include oil, gas, and geothermal wells), serving either as data conduits or sensors. For example, point sensors such as fiber Bragg gratings and Fabry-Perot interferometers...

Lasers accelerate electrons in three approaches.(Laser Physics)
December 1, 2004... Research teams in England, the United States, and France have independently achieved breakthroughs in plasma-based particle accelerators that could eventually lead toward realization of a tabletop particle accelerator. Conventional particle...

Near-field optics yield nanoscale motion sensor.(Nanophotonics)
December 1, 2004... A subwavelength grating and variable reflector proposed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM)last year (see Laser Focus World, December 2003, p. 13) has been fabricated and demonstrated as a laterally deformable...

Near-field scanning maps and creates structures.(Optical Microscopy)
December 1, 2004... When the ultrathin metallic needle used in an atomic-force microscope is exposed to a focused beam of light, the radiation acts as a radio wave. The needle interacts with the optical field as if it were an antenna: light polarized parallel to...

ARROW principle yields fluid-core waveguides.(Photonic Integrated Circuits)
December 1, 2004... A desire to optically detect molecules one at one time has led researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), and at Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) to collaboratively develop micron-scale single-mode integrated...

Remotely operated streak camera is self-calibrating.(High-Speed Imaging)
December 1, 2004... Researchers at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE; Rochester, NY) have developed a remotely operated stand-alone streak camera with comprehensive autofocus and self-calibration capabilities. (1) The camera was...

Optical-switching material breaches quantum gap.(Nonlinear Materials)
December 1, 2004... Scientists at the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ont., Canada) and Carleton University (Ottawa, Ont., Canada) have demonstrated the first material that approaches fundamental limits for nonlinear optical response. According to project leader...

Laser scanner helps Olympic win.(Three-Dimensional Imaging)
December 1, 2004... In the sport of track cycling, medals are often decided by time differences of a small fraction of a second. With margins so tight, technology as well as talent plays a role. It is essential to optimize the aerodynamic performance of the...

LIBS spots cancer in vivo.(Medical Diagnostics)
December 1, 2004... Researchers from Mississippi State University (MSU; Starkville, MS) believe they can diagnose and classify cancer in vivo by determining the intensity ratio of trace elements in normal and cancerous material. Headed by Jagdish Singh of the...

Optics East features nanotechnology and ITCom.(Conference Review)
December 1, 2004... Optics East 2004, sponsored by SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, was held Oct. 25-28 in Philadelphia, PA--a city known for its contributions in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, biomedical optics, and robotics....

Many explosives share the same peak.(Photoluminescence Spectroscopy)
December 1, 2004... Well-known techniques for detecting traces of explosives for security purposes include mass spectrometry and x-ray detection; an active area of research is the use of terahertz radiation (see Laser Focus World, April 2003, p. $10; and November...

Novalux sets sights on new markets.(laser industry report)
December 1, 2004... Contrary to rumors floating around the industry in late October, Novalux (Sunnyvale, CA)--founded in 1998 to develop semiconductor-laser products based on Novalux Extended Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (NECSEL) technology--is still a viable...

Vermont Photonics, Goodrich get $3.5 million for terahertz.(laser industry report)
December 1, 2004... New federal funding will enable Vermont Photonics (Brattleboro, VT) to move its terahertz laser technology out of the laboratory and into the real world. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory will release a $3.15 million contract to Vermont...

Biolase looks forward to more growth under new CEO.(laser industry report)
December 1, 2004... Despite lower-than-expected third-quarter results, dental-laser manufacturer Biolase's (San Clemente, CA) view of the future remains positive. The same day the company reported quarterly losses of $1.2 million on revenues of $12 million, it...

Synrad celebrates 20 years.(laser industry report)
December 1, 2004... When Peter Laakmann founded Synrad (Mukilteo, WA) two decades ago, a "cheap," low-power industrial C[O.sub.2] laser cost around $25,000, was more than 4 ft long, and required an advanced technical degree to operate. He created Synrad to design...

Picarro.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Picarro (Sunnyvale, CA) was awarded a $492,690 Phase II SBIR contract by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop solid-state lasers for bioinstrumentation applications such as flow cytometry, confocat microscopy, DNA sequencing, and...

Cymer.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Cymer (San Diego, CA) has selected a laser-produced plasma source as the most viable solution to achieve the high-volume manufacturing requirements for extreme ultraviolet lithography processes at the 32-nm node and beyond.

Thales Laser.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... The University of Nebraska--Lincoln (UNL; Lincoln, NE) has purchased a $1.8 million, 75-terawatt laser system from Thales Laser (Orsay; France). The laser is expected to be delivered by mid-2005.

StockerYale to acquire Navitar for $25 million.(optics industry report)
December 1, 2004... StockerYale (Salem, NH) reached an agreement in principle to acquire Navitar (Rochester, NY) and its California subsidiary, Navitar Coating Labs, in a transaction valued at approximately $25.5 million. Navitar is a manufacturer and supplier of...

PPGI purchases MRC Precision Metal Optics.(optics industry report)
December 1, 2004... Photonic Products Group (PPGI; Northvale, NJ) has acquired the stock of MRC Precision Metal Optics (Sarasota, FL) in a cash transaction. PPGI has retained the MRC workforce, including its founder and president, Frank Montone. MRC will operate...

Mirrors upgrade terawatt laser performance.(optics industry report)
December 1, 2004... Optical Surfaces (Surrey, England) supplied two ultra-high-precision mirrors to the U.K. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to help upgrade the performance of the HELEN terawatt laser facility (Aldermaston, England). By converting one of the...

NSF funds glass research at Lehigh.(optics industry report)
December 1, 2004... Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish an international research center supporting research into glass. The International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glasses...

Optimum Optical Systems (Camarillo, CA) received a new contract from DRS Optronics (Melbourne, FL).(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Optimum Optical Systems (Camarillo, CA) received a new contract from DRS Optronics (Melbourne, FL) for the Infrared Mast Mounted Sight Dual Field of View Lens Assembly on the U.S. Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters; total contract to date...

Semrock.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Optical-fitter manufacturer Semrock (Rochester, NY) has been awarded U.S. Patent 6,809,859 covering the one-piece construction of its BrightLine fluorescence filters. According to the company, the construction--made possible by advances in...

UCF gets $1.5 million grant for photonics labs.(imaging & detector industry report)
December 1, 2004... A $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will allow the University of Central Florida (UCF; Orlando, FL) to build more laboratories at the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) and create jobs by...

Lumidigm adds multispectral imaging to fingerprint sensor.(imaging & detector industry report)
December 1, 2004... Lumidigm (Albuquerque, NM) has been awarded a technology research grant to fund further development of a new biometric sensor based on the company's multispectral imaging technology. The multispectral technology is being developed as a sensor...

eMagin awarded thin-film transistor patent.(imaging & detector industry report)
December 1, 2004... eMagin (Hopewell Junction, NY) has received notification of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office regarding patent issuance for the invention of U.S. Patent application 09/957,221, "Method and system for stabilizing thin-film...

Air Force funds dual-spectrum imager.(imaging & detector industry report)
December 1, 2004... Sensors Unlimited (Princeton, NJ), a manufacturer of short-wave infrared cameras, was awarded a new contract from the U.S. Air Force to research and design a communication device that can be added to their proprietary dual-spectrum camera. The...

Philips, RWTH Aachen, and Aixtron (Aachen, Germany) signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop novel large-area white organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) for lighting applications.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Philips, RWTH Aachen, and Aixtron (Aachen, Germany) signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop novel large-area white organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) for lighting applications. The partnership will also focus on establishing new...

Universal Display.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Universal Display (Ewing, NJ) was awarded a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop tight-extraction technology for energy-efficient, solid-state lighting.

Japanese court dismisses lawsuit against Corning.(fiberoptics industry report)
December 1, 2004... A Japanese court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Furukawa Electric Co. (Tokyo, Japan) against Corning Cable Systems International, a subsidiary of Corning (Corning, NY). In this suit, Furukawa had claimed that optical-fiber cables sold by Corning...

Partnership to develop fiberoptic seabed system.(fiberoptics industry report)
December 1, 2004... Research and technology specialist QinetiQ (Malvern, England) and Input/Output (Houston, TX) have formed a Joint Industry Project to develop and deploy what they claim to be the world's first fiberoptic sea-bed seismic acquisition system. The...

Partnership to focus on stabilizing optical signals.(fiberoptics industry report)
December 1, 2004... The Institute of Microelectronics (IME; Singapore), a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), with Bussan Nanotech Research Institute (XNRI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. (Tokyo, Japan), are...

Internet growth slows in USA, Europe.(fiberoptics industry report)
December 1, 2004... According to the latest "Global Internet Geography" research report from TeleGeography (Washington, D.C.), mature Internet markets in the United States and Europe have seen relatively slow growth over the past year--just 30% to 40% (down from...

K2 Optronics.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... K2 Optronics (Sunnyvale, CA), a provider of lasers for the telecommunications, cable television, RF, sensing, and test and measurement industries, secured $6.4 million as part of its first closure of a third round of venture capital financing.

Southampton Photonics.(Also in the news ...)
December 1, 2004... Fiber-laser manufacturer Southampton Photonics (SPI; Southampton, England) appointed John Tinson as vice president of sales to lead SPI's global sales efforts at a time when the company is extending its redPOWER fiber-laser family with a new...

Links in the food chain: vision sorts, inspects, tracks, and speeds food production.(inside imaging)
December 1, 2004... Food production is a natural market for equipment that incorporates imaging technologies because so much depends on the look of the product, from the color of produce to the uniformity of packaging. The rate at which vision is being introduced...

Nanophotonics: a marketing challenge.(market watch)
December 1, 2004... If there ever has been a field to raise confusion and suspicion in the photonics industry, it is nanotechnology, in which marketing may ultimately pose a greater challenge than the technology. The applications are diverse and mostly...

Ray-trace software characterizes radiation transfer in systems.(software & computing)
December 1, 2004... Walk across a parking lot at noon, stand next to a window on a summer day, or sit next to a warm computer while writing an article. We experience radiative heat transfer throughout the day, everyday. Tracking or calculating how much energy...

Photonic integrated circuits alter fundamental design assumptions.(comment)
December 1, 2004... A recent development in photonics--the advent of the largescale photonic integrated circuit (PIC)--will fundamentally alter the assumptions driving telecom system design, and will redefine the way carriers build optical networks. In...

Diode lasers and LEDs make 'lab on a chip' a near reality: microarrays are playing a critical role in genomic, proteomic, and drug-discovery research. Scientists are now integrating the illumination and detection processes on single chips for point-of-care diagnostics.(Optoelectronic applications: optical biochips)
December 1, 2004... Since their introduction nearly years ago, 20 Soptical biochips--or microarrays--have generally been defined as very small sample substrates made of glass, plastic, or silicon that permit the simultaneous execution and evaluation of hundreds or...

Display technology spawns laser camera.(Imaging)
December 1, 2004... An innovative imaging platform has been developed that uses scanned beams of light and is in effect a versatile "laser camera." (1) Leveraging technology originally developed for its scanned-beam displays, Microvision has developed a...

Small catadioptric objectives extend microscopy into the deep-UV.(Biomedical Optics)
December 1, 2004... Many microscopy applications can benefit from broadband deep-UV (DUV) imaging, some of which also require immersion, cover glass correction, or operation over a wide temperature range. To be suitable for general use, however, microscope...

Fiber lasers take off in diverse directions: major trends include high powers, coherent beam combination, ultrafast pulses, Q-switching, Raman lasers, and new materials.(Optical networking: fiber lasers)
December 1, 2004... Fiber lasers have become the hotbed of solid-state laser development. The most publicized advances are in high-power fiber lasers, in which the power in a diffraction-limited beam has jumped severalfold in just two years. But the technology is...

Academia-industry collaboration feeds exponential growth curve.(Silicon Detectors)
December 1, 2004... The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN; Geneva, Switzerland) celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, which also happened to be the 25th anniversary of the first use of silicon strip detectors in high-energy particle tracking...

Irregularly figured plates correct wavefront errors.(Optics For Space)
December 1, 2004... Astronomers have inferred the existence of more than 120 planets outside the solar system by observing Doppler shifts in stellar spectra induced by planets gravitationally perturbing their parent stars. These observations have been made with...

Hyperspectral imagers shed light on pharmaceutical processing methods.(Spectrometers)
December 1, 2004... The combination of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiative promoting process analytical technology (PAT) and sizable financial risks and incentives in the pharmaceutical industry has created an opportunity for hyperspectral imaging...

MEMS-tuned devices take on sensing and testing applications.(Tunable Semiconductor Lasers)
December 1, 2004... Grating-tuned external-cavity semiconductor lasers have served for many years as convenient, widely tunable laboratory laser sources and have found applications as diverse as spectroscopy, biomedical testing, and optical component testing. They...

At the leading edge ...(editor's desk)
December 1, 2004... In the introduction to his Annual Technology Review on page 111 senior editor John Wallace notes that the breadth of subject matter covered by Laser Focus World is so broad that... "just as no one term covers the whole field [of...

Quintessence Photonics Corporation.(Corporate Profile Directory)(Advertisement)
December 1, 2004... High Power Diode Laser Technology Redefined... * Epitaxial Excellence * Reliability by Design * 700 nm-2000 nm Breaking performance barriers through technology innovation. Conduction Cooled Laser Arrays and Multimode...

ILX Lightwave.(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Laser Diode Instrumentation and Test Systems ILX Lightwave offers a full line of laser diode instrumentation, laser diode test systems, optical power meters, fiber optic sources, and accessories. Laser Diode Current and Temperature...

CVI Laser, LLC Optical Components & Assemblies.(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Industry Leading Optical Components Optics Manufacturing--wavelength range from 14.3nm to 14[micro]m Lenses, Waveplates, Beamsplitters, Prisms, Etalons, and Optical Filters Prototype Optics High Damage Threshold UV, VIS, NIR, IR...

Illuminating achievements: advances in manipulating light at nanoscopic levels, pushing the limits of high-power emitters, and imaging at levels beyond the pixel count of the human eye exemplify this year's attainments in optoelectronics.(Technology Review 2004)(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... Because the subject matter covered by Laser Focus World is so broad, it is simply not possible to amass a comprehensive sampling of one year's technical achievements in optoelectronics. One indication of this great quantity and variety of...

Analog Modules, Inc.(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Sensor & Laser Electronics Founded in 1979, Analog Modules, a HEICO company, is located in Longwood (Orlando), Florida. Sixty-five full-time employees are involved in design, development, and manufacturing. AMI produces a wide range of...

PI: serving nanometers.(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Hungry for new ideas? Pl has the technologies and the expertise to feed your appetite for innovation. We begin with a wide selection of nanometer motion control products, and we blend in the perfect mix of specifications for research and...

Custom thin film optical coatings.(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Custom thin films are engineered with the expertise of OptoSigma Coating Engineers and Optical Applications Engineers / PhysicistsUtilizing state-of-the-art computerized chambers; our coating process is precise and repeatable. OptoSigma has...

Photonics West 2005: showcasing leading-edge technology: this year's conference will offer attendees a close-up view of the best innovations in optoelectronics, biomedical optics, laser applications, and micro- and nanofabrication.(Conference Preview)
December 1, 2004... Photonics West 2005 is expected to once again attract large numbers of industry insiders and newcomers who will meet with their peers, learn about the newest innovations, and see the latest product offerings from the photonics industry. The...

Making waves!(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... Ocean Optics miniature fiber optic spectrometer technology is onboard a wave of application-specific systems for environmental monitoring, elemental analysis, thin film measurement and more. Ocean Optics offers a line of fully integrated,...

PD-LD INC. Focused Into Fiber[TM].(Corporate Profile Directory)
December 1, 2004... World-class innovation, performance, and support: Any laser, any wave-length, any fiber PD-LD is one of the world's leading suppliers of active and passive fiber optics components. Our end-user and OEM customers are leaders in optical...

Polymicro Technologies, LLC.(Corporate Capabilities)(Advertisement)
December 1, 2004... General Company Description Polymicro Technologies was founded in 1984 and has become the leading provider of capillary tubing and specialty optical fibers. Our state of the art manufacturing facility and years of knowledge and experience...

Ti:sapphire laser.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The TIS-SF-07 Ti:sapphire laser can serve as a multifunction source of single-frequency, tunable, CW radiation in applications such as atom cooling and ultra-fine-resolution spectroscopy. It has a radiation linewidth of 3 to 5 MHz, with...

Multiple-camera systems.(new products)
December 1, 2004... A series of performance packs combine different CCD camera models to address specific requirements for particular applications, providing turnkey imaging systems. The systems offer different combinations of sensitivity, resolution, speed, and...

Optical spectrum analyzer.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The AP2040 series optical spectrum analyzer uses an interferometer principle that allows resolution of 0.16 pm or 20 MHz, compared to the maximum resolution of 10 pm in grating-based analyzers. The device has wavelength accuracy of [+ or -] 3...

Optical-manufacturing software.(new products)
December 1, 2004... LOH*CAM software generates NC programs to manufacture prisms. It uses imported 3D-CAS work-piece data and user-defined technology data and can program complex bevels on the cylinder surfaces of prisms. The software performs collision checks and...

SMT LED.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The Cotco LM1-xxx-11 power LED series utilizes InGaAIP and InGaN technologies and is suited for effect lighting, automotive and outdoor applications. The LEDs can handle forward currents from 30 to 50 mA, depending on wavelength. Featuring a...

Piezoelectric deformable mirror.(new products)
December 1, 2004... A new 19-channel, piezoelectric deformable mirror has a clear aperture of 30 mm. The surface deformation reaches [+ or -] 2500 nm, with an interactuator amplitude of [+ or -] 1000 nm. With a mechanical response time less than 0.25 ms, the...

Reference flats.(new products)
December 1, 2004... Precision reference flats from 105- to 600-mm diameter are available with a routine surface accuracy of [lambda]/30 p.v. and surface roughness of 10-[Angstrom] rms. The flats are made from glass, zerodur, and silica, and come with testing...

Video camera.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The Ultima APX-RS high-speed digital video camera features a new slow-motion video imager that captures 3000 frames/s at 1024 x 1024-pixel resolution, up to 10,000 frames/s at 512 x 512-pixel resolution and 250,000 frames/s at reduced...

Piezo scanner.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The PXY 16 OEM is a two-axis, linear piezo scanner. It provides a positioning and scanning range of up to 16 [micro]m. The centrally located free aperture allows moving optical components, such as lenses or other optics. The monolithic guidance...

Laser diodes.(new products)
December 1, 2004... Single-mode diodes feature wavelengths from 730 to 1120 nm and output powers from 10 to 200 mW. DFB laser diodes have wavelengths from 763 to 923 nm, output powers from 50 to 150 mW. DBR diodes have 100-mW output at 1061 and 1063 nm or 80-mW...

Power supply.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The MPU200-1048 AC-DC power supply provides a 4.2-amp, 48-VDC output. The 200-W product has a field MTBF of more than 1,000,000 hours. It is designed to serve as a power source for telecom, datacom, medical, and industrial applications....

Imaging photometer.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The ProMetric PM-1400 Fast series of CCD-based imaging photometers are 2-D light and color measurement instruments that serve as defect inspection tools. Applications include R&D metrology and the manufacture of displays, projectors, and...

UV-curing arc lamp.(new products)
December 1, 2004... The Revo is a compact UV-curing lamp that cures adhesives in seconds. It is designed for integration in industrial, scientific, and automotive applications. The lamp delivers 10,000 mW/ [cm.sup.2] of UV power (5-mm aperture) at 315 nm from a...