Laser Focus World articles from February 2002

Laser Focus World archives from February 2002

Pushing the limits. (editor's desk).
February 1, 2002... The apparently irresistible desire of the human race to make things go faster can be a risky business. I was reminded of this last year when the remains of world- and water-speed record holder Donald Campbell were recovered from the bottom of...

SiGe quantum-well device lases in the terahertz region. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... An assemblage of European and American researchers is working toward making a silicon germanium (SiGe) laser that emits terahertz radiation. The group includes scientists from the Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of RAS (Moscow,...

Laser diode reliably emits 2 W of 810-nm light. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... A laser diode developed by researchers at Fuji Photo Film (Kanagawa, Japan) emits 2 W of cw 810-nm light from a 50-[micro]m stripe aperture. The laser, which is fabricated of indium gallium arsenide phosphide/indium gallium phosphide/aluminum...

High-absorption QWIP operates at room temperature. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... A group at the National Research Council (Ottawa, Ont., Canada) has fabricated quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) that demonstrate high absorption and room-temperature operation. The researchers enhanced a standard QWIP structure by...

Fiber scattering limit increased inexpensively. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... For nonlinear fiber of lengths more than a few hundred meters, the effects of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) are known to limit optical power. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology (Goteborg, Sweden) and Lucent Technologies...

Pulse-train generator meets flexibility requirements for telecom applications. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at Osaka University (Osaka, Japan) and the Communications ResearchLaboratory (Tokyo, Japan) have generated arbitrarily shaped optical pulse trains for potential application in optical communication based on Fourier spectrum...

Electrically pumped vertical-cavity GaN-based LED shows directional emission. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... A gallium nitride (GaN)-based vertical-cavity light-emitting diode (LED) developed by researchers at Brown University (Providence, Rl), Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM), Agilent Technologies Laboratories (Palo Alto, CA), and...

Membrane BH-DFB laser emits in single mode. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo, Japan) have demonstrated low-threshold-current, single-mode operation of a 1.55-[micro]m gallium indium arsenide phosphide/indium phosphide membrane buried heterostructure (BH)...

Photonic waveform generator eliminates the need for digital-to-analog conversion. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles have developed an optical method of generating wideband RF waveforms with arbitrary amplitude, frequency, and phase modulation based on spectral shaping of a broadband optical source...

Double-clad fiber laser generates femtosecond pulses. (news breaks).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at the Universite de Roeun (Mont-Saint-Aignan, France) and the Universite d'Angers (Angers, France) have developed a high-power, compact fiber laser that generates 670-fs pulses. A diode pump laser with a maximum output power of 3.7...

Optical pulses reach attosecond length. (Time-Resolved Spectroscopy) (Cover Story).
February 1, 2002... In the world of ultrashort optical pulses, the femtosecond (fs) has been superseded by the attosecond (as, or [10.sup.-18] s). An international collaboration of ten scientists claims to have generated and detected isolated soft x-ray pulses of...

Photonic bandgaps seek out Mother's good nature.
February 1, 2002... Now that a team of researchers sponsored by the NEC Research Institute (Princeton, NJ) has successfully tricked Mother Nature, they are attempting to enlist her cooperation. The researchers are hoping photonic bandgap materials will bring the...

Single-photon source is electrically pumped. (Quantum Cryptography).
February 1, 2002... The first device that generates single photons electronically rather than optically has been demonstrated by a team at Toshiba Research Europe Limited (Cambridge, UK) and the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. (1) Their...

Small spectroscopic sensor looks at skin.
February 1, 2002... Biometric identification or verification of an individual requires a close look at and analysis of one or more unique body characteristics. These can include fingerprints, the pattern of an iris, or the geometry of a face. Because such features...

Optical methods boost A-to-D converters over Walden Wall. (Signal Processing).
February 1, 2002... Promising optical alternatives for increasing the performance of analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converters beyond their current electronic limits are under development in several laboratories around the United States, as evidenced by presentations...

Random laser spectrum responds to temperature. (Tunable Lasers).
February 1, 2002... By combining liquid-crystal technology with light diffusion in random systems, researchers at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS; Florence, Italy) have created a random laser source that changes its color spectrum in...

Crystal slows and stops light. (Nonlinear Optics).
February 1, 2002... When properly manipulated by laser pulses, Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) made of magnetically trapped clouds of atoms cooled to near absolute zero can slow and even stop light (see Laser Focus World, April 1999, p. 16). Such atomic clouds,...

High-gain media leads to potent dendrimer laser. (Dye Lasers).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at the Communications Research Laboratory (Kobe, Japan) have reportedly demonstrated dye lasers with mirrorless cavities and spectral linewidths of less than 0.1 nm using hyper-structured material called dendritic macromolecules, or...

Advanced light source illuminates biological water-transport routes. (X-ray Crystallography).
February 1, 2002... X-ray diffraction crystallography at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL; Berkeley, CA) Advanced Light Source (ALS) has revealed the previously unobserved process of water transport through a cell membrane. The structure of an...

Synchronized mirror arrays have fast response. (Mems).
February 1, 2002... Researchers at Tamkang University (Tamsui, Taiwan) and National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan) are developing a new form of micromirror array that could allow machines such as laser printers to work faster and consume less power. By...

Ultrasound cuts clean holes. (optoelectronics world news).
February 1, 2002... Ultrasonic diamond grinding, a process invented more than 30 years ago by the British Atomic Energy Commission, is becoming ever more useful to the optics field. In the years since its advent, the machining technique migrated to the U.S.; it is...

Spectra-Physics appoints new president and CEO. (laser industry report).
February 1, 2002... Following completion of a cash tender offer for the common stock of Spectra-Physics Inc. (Mountain View, CA) by Thermo Electron Corp. (Waltham, MA), the board of directors (Mountain View, CA) has appointed Guy Broadbent as Spectra-Physics...

Free-space optics offer a broadband solution. (laser industry report).
February 1, 2002... Despite inherent limitations of free-space optics, they remain the only cost-effective means of bridging the access bottleneck with very high bandwidth, according to a report by The Yankee Group (Boston, MA) entitled "Free Space Optics 2001:A...

Nichia enters alliance with Citizen Electronics. (laser industry report).
February 1, 2002... Nichia Corp. (Anan, Japan) and Citizen Electronics Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) have entered into an alliance for packaging and sale of white LEDs. Citizen Electronics will purchase production quantities of Nichia indium gallium nitride (InGaN) die...

Laser Technology reports income growth. (laser industry report).
February 1, 2002... Laser Technology Inc. (Englewood, CO) reported a net income of $409,113 on net sales of $11,472,459 for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, compared with net income of $341,412 and net sales of $12,720,299 in FY 2000. "Despite difficult economic...

Russian Nobel laureate Alexander Prokhorov, one of the inventors of laser technology.
February 1, 2002... Russian Nobel laureate Alexander Prokhorov, one of the inventors of laser technology, died in January at the age of 85.

GSI Lumonics Inc.
February 1, 2002... GSI Lumonics Inc. (Kanata, Ont., Canada) received multiple orders in December for wafer-repair systems with a total value greater than $7 million.

Coherent Inc.
February 1, 2002... Coherent Inc. (Santa Clara) reported that Helene Simonet, currently vice president of finance in the photonics division, will succeed Robert Quillinan as chief financial officer of the laser-product maker when Quillinan steps down from the post...

Foundation Equity invests in Lacent Technologies. (laser industry report).
February 1, 2002... Foundation Equity Corp. has completed an investment of both shares and share purchase warrants in Lacent Technologies Inc. (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Lacent manufactures high-speed, continuous-process laser cutting systems for textile...

Ametek buys IRAS from PerkinElmer. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Ametek Inc. (Paoli, PA) has acquired Instruments for Research and Applied Science (IRAS; Oakridge, TN), a leading developer and manufacturer of analytic instrumentation, from PerkinElmer Inc. (Wellesley, MA). IRAS manufactures and markets...

Corona Optical Systems Inc.
February 1, 2002... Corona Optical Systems Inc. (Lombard, IL) has begun revenue customer shipments of its parallel optical modules.

Elbit Systems Ltd.
February 1, 2002... Under contracts valued at more than $80 million, Elbit Systems Ltd. (Haifa, Israel) will provide an "all-glass" cockpit for the ALX light-attack aircraft to be manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer.

Intense Photonics partners with IQE. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Intense Photonics (High Blantyre, Scotland) has announced a strategic partnership with III-V wafer specialist IQE (Cardiff, Wales). The partnership involves the design, modeling, and growth of complex compound-semiconductor crystal structures,...

LightPath looks toward positive earnings in Q4. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... LightPath Technologies Inc. (Albuquerque, NM) today announced its sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2002 are projected to be approximately $2.4 million as LightPath experienced deferral of some orders into the third quarter. "While our...

Newport breaks even on lower sales revenues. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Newport Corp. (Irvine, CA) expects to just about break even on about $50 million in sales for its fourth quarter of 2001 (ended Dec. 31). Newport had projected break-even earnings on sales in the range of $55 to $58 million, but shipments for...

Microvision delivers helmet-mounted display. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Microvision Inc. (Bothell, WA) has delivered a prototype helmet-mounted display system to The Boeing Company's Phantom Works facility in Seattle. The prototype will be evaluated, along with other emerging technologies, for potential use in...

MKS shareholders approve ENI acquisition. (optics industry report).
February 1, 2002... MKS Instruments Inc. (Andover, MA), a supplier of gas measurement, control, and analysis products used in semiconductor and other advanced thin-film manufacturing processes, has announced shareholder approval of the acquisition of ENI...

eMagin struggles toward OLED production. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... Organic-light-emitting-diode (OLED) microdisplay developer eMagin (Hopewell Junction, NY) has laid off 45 employees (two-thirds of its workforce) as the company struggles to find the capital to continue ramping up production of its...

Eastman Kodak.
February 1, 2002... Patricia Russo, president and chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY), has resigned to become the CEO of Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ).

Palo alto Research Center.
February 1, 2002... Xerox (Stamford, CN) has spun off its Palo alto Research Center, now a wholly owned independent company in search of investors.

SoftRay develops fluorescence-based detector. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... A new fluorescence tool to rapidly identify biological agents in food, water, and air is being developed by SoftRay Inc. (Laramie, WY), and will undergo testing at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center (Natick, MA). This new optical sensor can...

BAE wins $5.6 million contract for U.K. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... BAE Systems (Nashua, NH) has been selected by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence to conduct a technology demonstration program for the U.K.'s Fast Jet Directed Infrared Countermeasures laser system. Under a two-year $5.6 million contract,...

CNI licenses buckytubes to DuPont CR&D. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. (CNI; Houston, TX) has agreed to license CNI's patented laser-oven buckytube production process to DuPont Central Research & Development (CR&D; Wilmington, DE) for use in field-emission flat-panel displays. DuPont...

Philips Analytical opens new facility. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... Philips Analytical (Almelo, The Netherlands) opened a facility in Waterloo, Ont., Canada devoted to the production of compound semiconductors and silicon germanium (SiGe). Compound semiconductors and SiGe can be used in photodetectors and other...

Scipher plc combines two subsidiaries. (imaging & detector industry report).
February 1, 2002... Scipher plc (Hayes, England) has combined its two display technology subsidiaries, CRL Opto (Hayes, England) and MicroPix Technologies Ltd. (Dalgety Bay, Scotland), into one company called CRL Opto Limited. Previously, Scipher plc had placed...

Motorola acquires Synchronous Inc. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Motorola Inc. (Horsham, PA) has finalized its acquisition of Synchronous Inc. (San Jose, CA), a leading provider of fiberoptic transmission systems for video, data, and voice transmission. Motorola acquired all of Synchronous' capital stock in...

US Signal adds nearly 200 metro route miles. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... US Signal (Grand Rapids, MI) has expanded its fiberoptic network into the tier-one markets of Chicago, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee. The company has acquired an additional 185 metro route miles of fiber that include 24 central offices (local...

FiberCore receives $20 million commitment. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... FiberCore Inc. (Charlton, MA) has chosen Auburn, AL, for its first U.S. manufacturing plant, which will primarily produce multimode fiber. The operating company, FiberCore U.S., will be a wholly owned subsidiary of FiberCore Inc. FiberCore will...

Alcatel.
February 1, 2002... Alcatel (Paris, France) has announced successful transmission of 125 wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) channels of data at an effective rate of 40 Gbit/s per channel.

China Netcom.
February 1, 2002... China Netcom (Beijing, China) has selected Sonus Networks (Westford, MA) to provide infrastructure solutions for the development of China Netcom's nationwide packet voice network.

Choice One Communications.
February 1, 2002... Choice One Communications (Rochester, NY) has activated its fiber ring in Buffalo, NY. The intracity fiber ring was recently acquired from Fibertech Networks (Rochester, NY).

KVH Industries expects revenue growth in 2002. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... KVH Industries (Middletown, RI) expects that 2001 revenues for its high-bandwidth communication products will be approximately $33 million, a 10% increase over 2000. "KVH achieved steady growth through 2001 while investing heavily in research...

Isonics and Silicon Quest collaborate on wafers. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Isonics Corp. (Golden, CO) has agreed to work with Silicon Quest International Inc. (SQI; Santa Clara, CA) to manufacture, market, and sell silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers under Isonics' brand name that used to manufacture advanced integrated...

Dycom Industries to acquire Arguss. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Dycom Industries Inc. (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Arguss Communications Inc. (Rockville, MD) in a stock-for-stock transaction. Based upon the closing price of Dycom common stock on Jan. 4, the...

Kodeos receives $4 million line of credit. (fiberoptics industry report).
February 1, 2002... Kodeos Communications (South Plainfield, NJ) has received a $4 million line of credit for equipment and working capital from the life sciences division of Comerica Bank, a subsidiary of Comerica Inc. (New York, NY). "Kodeos' technology helps...

Fiber-laser SHG yields broad bandwidth at high power: currently winning acceptance, rare-earth-doped fiber-laser application possibilities include sensing, materials processing, and medicine. (Nonlinear Optics).
February 1, 2002... Historically, most visible lasers have been based on gas, dye, or semi-conductor gain media. The gas-and dye-based lasers are generally bulky, inefficient, and cumbersome to maintain. Consequently, an active research effort is currently geared...

Review and forecast of the laser markets Part II: Diode lasers: the Laser Focus World 2002 Annual Review and Forecast of the Laser Markets is conducted in conjunction with Strategies Unlimited, an optoelectronics market research firm based in Mountain View, CA. Part II covers the diode-laser marketplace. Part I, which reported on the nondiode-laser markets, appeared last month. (Laser Marketplace 2002).
February 1, 2002... As discussed in the "Review and Forecast of the Laser Market, Part I: Nondiode Lasers" (see Laser Focus World, January 2002, p. 81), last year at this time the diode-laser market was projected to grow by 36% in 2001. Despite this optimism, the...

Transmission at 40 Gbit/s requires taming tough technical problems: market analysts forecasted that 40-Gbit/s transmission was the next disruptive fiberoptic technology. Few engineers think 40 Gbit/s is impossible, but higher speed may not be achieved easily or cheaply, and when and if it will become the alternative to adding more channels at 10 Gbit/s remains to be seen. (Optical Networking).
February 1, 2002... In the dizzying days of the fiberoptic boom, marketing managers confidently predicted that 40-Gbit/s data rates were just around the corner. Analysts urged system developers to push ahead to secure vital market share. Yet even before the bubble...

Position sensing with photodiodes: two complementary technologies allow system optimization for optical-beam centering and/or quantitative measurement of lateral beam displacement. (Position-Sensing Detectors).
February 1, 2002... Position-sensing photodiodes provide quantitative information about the position of an incident light beam or spot image. These photodiodes have been in use for many years and as optical technology continues to find increasing application in...

Half-ball lenses.
February 1, 2002... A line of uncoated half-ball lenses is designed for use in fiberoptic communications, endoscopy, microscopy, optical pick-up devices, and laser measurement systems. The lenses, made fromBK7, come in diameters from 2 to 10 mm, with diameter...

Adhesive dispenser.
February 1, 2002... The 1500XL adhesive dispenser uses microprocessor circuitry to apply UV-cure adhesives in precise amounts. A time and precision air regulator control the deposit amount. A "teach" function allows the users to determine the correct amount of...

CMOS image sensors.
February 1, 2002... The C7942 and C7943 large-area, single-crystal, x-ray CMOS image sensors have a 12-bit dynamic range, requiring no adjustment of the x-ray source beam current and tube voltage. They have a frame rate of 30 frames/s. A single 8-in. silicon wafer...

Solid-state lasers.
February 1, 2002... The Navigator series of modular solid-state lasers is designed for plastics and semiconductor wafer marking, resistor trimming, thin-film scribing, and micro-machining. Laser heads come in Nd:YAG and Nd:YV[O.sub.4] with output at 1064, 532, and...

High-capacity chiller.
February 1, 2002... The new T Series chiller, Model 6155T, uses a turbine pump to allow the user to adjust both pressure and flow simultaneously. Offering 5200 W of cooling power, the chiller has a flow rate up to 3.5 gpm/13.2 lpm, a self-priming pump, a...

C[O.sub.2] optics.
February 1, 2002... Special Optics offers C[O.sub.2] scanning lenses and beam expanders. Telecentric scanning lenses with spot sizes as small as 50 [micro]m are also available. Special Optics, Wharton, NJ Circle 205 or go to www.onlinecenter.to/lfw

LED ringlight system.
February 1, 2002... The new Modular RingLight (MRL) is a white LED ringlight system designed for microscopy and image-analysis applications. The system includes a white LED ringlight with integrated heat sink and 24-V dc power supply. The standard unit has a...

Erbium-doped waveguide amplifier.
February 1, 2002... Metro EDWA (erbium-doped wave-guide amplifier) is a complete, ultra-compact gain block for metropolitan optical networks. It includes a pump laser (with TEC), pump/signal multiplexer, pump-blocking filter on output, tap coupler with photodiode...

Femtosecond laser.
February 1, 2002... BRIGHT is a new femtosecond laser that uses Ti:sapphire technology to meet industrial requirements in micro-machining and research applications. The laser uses diode-pumping technology and a proprietary computer interface to provide an...

Infrared interferometer.
February 1, 2002... The Interfire 3-5 is used for optical testing in the 3- to 5-[micro]m-wavelength range. It measures wavefront distortion through IR systems and components, optical homogeneity of IR materials, and flatness of optical surfaces. An integral...

FTIR system.
February 1, 2002... The new IR100 FT-IR spectrometer system is designed for teaching and routine testing needs. It uses the new Encompass software system, viewable on a color LCD screen. The IR-100 utilizes a Quadrascan interferometer with CornerCube optics. The...

Flexible borescope.
February 1, 2002... The "VB" Value Series Borescope can be inserted into openings of 1/2-in. diameter and has a battery-powered internal light source, which illuminates a 40 [degrees] field of view. Features include a high-impact ABS plastic handle and...

Excimer laser.
February 1, 2002... The ExciStar S-Industrial is a compact excimer laser operating at 193 nm (ArF) and 248 nm (KrF). The laser has a maximum energy of 12 mJ, dynamic gas lifetime (stabilized at 8 mJ) of 20 million pulses, and a pulse-to-pulse stability of 3%. The...

The father of the Information age. (in my view).
February 1, 2002... How much of our everyday experience has become digital? From the cellular phone to the complex laptop computer, we are surrounded by "bits"--the binary digits that make the accurate generation, transmission, and reception of information...