Laser Focus World articles from February 2007

Laser Focus World archives from February 2007

Despite changes, research market is alive and kicking.(editor's desk)
February 1, 2007... The scientific market for lasers has been a mainstay of optics and photonics ever since the laser was invented... so much so that if you look back over Laser Focus World's yearly market review, basic research has consistently ranked as the...

Excimer-laser pulses clean carbon nanotubes.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Boulder, CO) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, CO) have demonstrated and verified a simple method of cleaning single-walled carbon nanotubes...

Photonic-crystal fibers become biocompatible.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal (Montreal, QC, Canada) have developed a microstructured optical fiber from biodegradable and water-soluble materials that could ultimately be used for applications such as laser-power delivery to...

Nanophotonic coaxial waveguide channels visible light.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... Physicists at Boston College (BC; Chestnut Hill, MA) have shown that a nanoscale coaxial waveguide can guide visible light. The waveguide propagates light in the TEM mode of a coaxial waveguide, but measures only 300 nm in diameter. The inner...

Bacteriorhodopsin optically switches near-IR light.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a photochromic biological molecule that has promise for use in all-optical switches and other photonic components; however, bR is transparent in the all-important telecom band (1310-1550 nm), which seemingly eliminates...

100 cascaded microrings form on-chip optical buffer.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... All-optical information processing on a chip will require controllable buffering of optical signals. While "slow-light" approaches are natural buffers of light, they are bulky and operate at bandwidths only up to the megahertz range....

Hubble and ground-based telescopes map dark matter.(news breaks)
February 1, 2007... An international team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has created the first three-dimensional map of the large-scale distribution of dark matter. The new map provides the best evidence to date that normal matter, largely in...

Extreme Light Lab installs near-petawatt system.(ULTRAFAST LASERS)
February 1, 2007... Laser science at the 100-terawatt ([10.sup.14] W) peak-power level has entered the commercial realm. An ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser system produced by Thales Laser (Orsay, France) and installed at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL;...

Complementary zinc oxide nanowires may yield cheaper LEDs and solar cells.(optoelectronics: world news)
February 1, 2007... Before the development of gallium nitride (GaN) blue light-emitting-diodes (LEDs) by Shuji Nakamura, zinc oxide (ZnO) was broadly studied as a possible material for blue emitters for LEDs. That interest has returned, and recently reported...

Artificial compound eye applies hyperacuity.(IMAGING OPTICS)
February 1, 2007... Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering (IOF) and at Friedrich Schiller University Jena (both in Jena, Germany), are applying hyperacuity--the natural phenomenon of seeing motion or images with an...

Cooling of Cr atoms by adiabatic demagnetization is loss-free.(LASER COOLING)
February 1, 2007... Laser cooling of atomic and molecular gases has helped scientists explore the boundaries of low-temperature physics--for example, by creating Bose-Einstein condensates (whose uses include the slowing and stopping of light). But minimizing the...

Flexible evanescent coupler eases backplane connections.(OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS)
February 1, 2007... Interconnects for card-to-back-plane connections and motherboards will soon be required to handle multigigahertz speeds as computing power increases; however, electronic interconnects become overwhelmingly complex and expensive at speeds above...

Deformable thermal-lens-correcting mirror has single actuator.(LASER OPTICS)
February 1, 2007... To counter thermal lensing in high-energy-laser rod amplifiers, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM) have developed a deformable mirror that does one thing, and does it well. Incorporating only a single actuator, the...

SiC white LEDs fabricated by laser doping.(LASER MATERIALS PROCESSING)
February 1, 2007... Researchers at The Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL) and at AppliCote Associates (Sanford, FL) have used a laser-doping process to fabricate white-light-emitting...

OLEDs enhance PDT for skin cancer.(MEDICAL PHOTONICS)
February 1, 2007... Organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) have garnered much attention in recent years because of their potential to revolutionize lighting and displays. Now a team of researchers in Scotland has demonstrated in a pilot study that OLEDs may one day...

Small gain yields great control.(PLASMONICS)
February 1, 2007... Optical gain in subwavelength waveguides is generally used for compensating losses. But it may also enable control of dispersion and propagation of electromagnetic pulses at the nanoscale, perhaps even leading to a nanoscale optical transistor....

Laser processing yields solar cells with 22% efficiency.(PHOTOVOLTAICS)
February 1, 2007... Solar cells made from crystalline silicon (Si) dominate the solar photovoltaic market. Typical conversion efficiencies of industrial crystalline Si solar cells are 14% to 16%, but novel laser-processing techniques can improve the...

Terahertz technology detects counterfeit drugs.(3-D MAPPING)
February 1, 2007... Researchers at TeraView (Cambridge, England) are using terahertz technology to help regulatory authorities, law-enforcement agencies, and the pharmaceutical industry screen for counterfeit drugs. The company presented initial results from a...

Osram and Coherent sign agreement.(industry report: laser)
February 1, 2007... Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) signed a licensing agreement with Osram (Munich, Germany) for the use of Coherent's optically pumped semiconductor lasers for projection displays. This license allows Osram to develop and deploy red, green, and blue...

Cascade Technologies gets emissions deal.(laser: industry report)
February 1, 2007... Quantum-cascade-laser designer and manufacturer Cascade Technologies (Stirling, Scotland) signed a distribution agreement with Clyde Bergemann Power Group (East Kilbride, Scotland) to develop and market its emissions-sensing technology. Clyde...

Siemens honors Leibinger.(industry report: laser)
February 1, 2007... The Werner-von-Siemens-Ring Stiftung Foundation awarded entrepreneur Berthold Leibinger Germany's most important technology award. The Werner-vonSiemens Ring is awarded every three years to "pioneers in technology." Leibinger received the award...

Laser-weapon revenue down for Ionatron.(industry report: laser)(Financial report)
February 1, 2007... Ionatron (Tucson, AZ), a specialist in laser-guided-energy (LGE) developing next-generation directed-energy weapons, reported a revenue loss for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. Revenue for the third quarter of 2006 was $1.5 million, compared...

Multiwave Photonics wins venture award.(industry report: laser)
February 1, 2007... Fiber-laser and optical-source manufacturer Multiwave Photonics (Moreira da Maia, Portugal) was awarded second prize in the European Venture Contest 2006. Organized by the European Venture Institute, the contest is the only pan-European...

LBO sees more funding and signs agreement.(industry report: laser)
February 1, 2007... Light Blue Optics (LBO; Cambridge, England), a developer of miniature laser-projection technology, closed a $1 million extension to its seed-funding round, that followed the closure of a $2.5 million seed-funding round in July 2006. Light...

Luna Innovations (Roanoke, VA) entered into a technology transfer and licensing agreement with Coherent.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Luna Innovations (Roanoke, VA) entered into a technology transfer and licensing agreement with Coherent giving Luna the right to manufacture and sell the former Iolon "Apollo" line of swept tunable lasers.

Ferro (Cleveland, OH) and DataLase (Widnes, England) signed a distribution agreement.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Ferro (Cleveland, OH) and DataLase (Widnes, England) signed a distribution agreement to develop and market a special laser-markable aerosol containing the DataLase pigment for applying variable information onto metal parts.

ficonTEC (Bremen, Germany) has acquired the automated fiber-alignment and laser-welding product lines of Newport.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... ficonTEC (Bremen, Germany) has acquired the automated fiber-alignment and laser-welding product lines of Newport (Irvine, CA).

Han's Lasers Technology Co.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Materials-processing laser supplier Han's Lasers Technology Co. (China) has opened a U.S. branch in Houston, TX.

Powerlase.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Laser maker Powerlase (Crawley, England) opened a major service center in Daegu, Korea to support its Korean customer base.

Luminus Devices.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... The Quality Management System of LED maker Luminus Devices (Woburn, MA) is now compliant with the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001:2000 standard.

IMRA America (Ann Arbor, MI) has served suit against IPG Photonics.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... IMRA America (Ann Arbor. MI) has served suit against IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA) to stop misuse of IMRA intellectual property following IPG's alleged refusal to enter into a serious license negotiation.

Lasermet.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) awarded Lasermet (Bournemouth, England)accreditation for laser testing.

Thorlabs acquires OFR.(industry report: optics)
February 1, 2007... Optical components, subsystems, and photonics systems provider OFR (Caldwell, NJ) has been acquired by Thorlabs (Newton, NJ). OFR's products have been adopted by a number of key market segments identified as critical to Thorlabs' future,...

EPIC marks third anniversary.(industry report: optics)
February 1, 2007... The European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) has celebrated its third anniversary. EPIC was founded on Dec. 12, 2003, by five major players in European photonics: Aixtron, Cambridge Display Technology, Osram Opto-Semiconductors, Philips...

DARPA funds Harvard NEMS/MEMS research.(industry report: optics)
February 1, 2007... The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded a new multi-institution research initiative in nano- and microelectromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) in affiliation with Harvard University's (Cambridge, MA) programs in...

Resolve Optics sees revenue increase.(industry report: optics)
February 1, 2007... Specializing in high-performance lens systems, Resolve Optics (Chesham, England) announced a 15% increase in sales for the 12 months to December 2006 compared to the same period the year before. During 2006 the company introduced a new...

NSF awards $2 million to Keck observatory.(industry report: optics)
February 1, 2007... The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the W. M. Keck Observatory (Kamuela, HI) $2 million to improve the sensitivity and resolution of the Keck Interferometer. The improvements will enable the instrument to detect Jupiter-size planets...

ASML (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Brion.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... ASML (Veldhoven, The Netherlands) has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Brion (Santa Clara, CA), a provider of semiconductor design and wafer manufacturing optimization solutions for advanced lithography.

Dynasil.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Dynasil (West Berlin, NJ), a fabricator of optical blanks from synthetic fused silica, fused quartz, and other optical materials for the semiconductor, laser, space and optical components industries, announced revenues for the quarter ended...

Melles Griot Optics Group.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... The Melles Griot Optics Group (Rochester, NY) released additional Fizeau interferometer test optics that allow the user to record and store reference wavefronts for subtraction from interferometric test data, substantially improving their...

Solar IPOs continue.(industry report: imaging & detector)
February 1, 2007... First Solar (Phoenix, AZ) raised $400 million in its initial public offering (IPO) of 20 million shares of common stock at $20 per share. The company will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol FSLR. First Solar has...

Heliatek to license Novaled solar technology.(industry report: imaging & detector)
February 1, 2007... Novaled, manufacturer of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), and Heliatek, which manufactures organic-based photovoltaics (both in Dresden, Germany) have entered into a licensing agreement concerning the use of Novaled OLED technology for...

ISRA acquires Image Automation.(industry report: imaging & detector)
February 1, 2007... Machine-vision-systems supplier ISRA Vision (Darmstadt, Germany) acquired the British optical-inspection-equipment company IAL and is at an advanced stage of negotiations to acquire IAL's sister company in the U.S., Image Automation...

Spectrum detector debuts at Photonics West.(industry report: imaging & detector)
February 1, 2007... Don Dooley, former founder of Scientific Spectrum (sold to ILC Technology) and Molectron Detector (acquired by Coherent in 2003 with continued operations in Portland, OR), has started a new detector company called Spectrum Detector (Lake...

Andor sees healthy imaging revenue.(industry report: imaging & detector)
February 1, 2007... Imaging equipment and sensor maker Andor Technology (Belfast, Northern Ireland) announced preliminary financials for the year ended Sept. 30, 2006, including turnover up 22%, a 57% EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and...

Micron reports imaging revenue increase.(industry report: imaging & detector)(Financial report)
February 1, 2007... For its first quarter of fiscal 2007 ended Nov. 30, 2006, Micron Technology (Boise, ID) reported net sales of $1.58 billion compared to net sales of $1.37 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. The company's revenue for imaging...

Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester, NY) ended a long-time patent dispute with Sony.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester, NY) ended a long-time patent dispute with Sony (Tokyo, Japan) over digital-camera technology--the two companies have entered into a technology cross-license agreement that will allow each company broad access...

e2v.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Imaging sensors designed and manufactured by e2v (Chelmsford, England), were aboard the COROT space telescope, which launched in late December to examine star seismology and to search for extra-solar Earth-like planets.

The Department of Defense has named Rice University (Houston, TX) the recipient of a $3 million award for a five-year program.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... The Department of Defense has named Rice University (Houston, TX) the recipient of a $3 million award for a five-year program to develop miniaturized molecular imaging technologies for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of breast cancer.

Machine-vision software provider MVTec Software (Munich, Germany) opened MVTec in Cambridge, MA.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Machine-vision software provider MVTec Software (Munich, Germany) opened MVTec in Cambridge, MA, to expand its North American presence.

Matrox Imaging (Dorval, QC Canada) appointed CRI Jolanta (Gliwice, Poland) as its official distributor in Poland.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Matrox Imaging (Dorval, QC Canada) appointed CRI Jolanta (Gliwice, Poland) as its official distributor in Poland to sell its hardware and software components for industrial and scientific imaging applications.

Avanex, Bookham agree on market upturn.(industry report: fiber optics)
February 1, 2007... Executives from Avanex (Fremont, CA) and Bookham (San Jose, CA) agree that optical-component suppliers are finally seeing an increase in demand for new technology, rather than cheaper versions of old technology. Giorgio Anania, CEO of Bookham,...

Eircom to build next-gen Irish network.(industry report: fiber optics)
February 1, 2007... ADVA Optical Networking (Martinsried/Munich, Germany) and Siemens (Munich, Germany) announced a major contract with Eircom (Dublin, Ireland), the Republic of Ireland's largest telecommunications carrier. This contract create a national...

Fiber revenue triples for Sterlite.(industry report: fiber optics)
February 1, 2007... For the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006, Sterlite Optical Technologies (Mumbai, India)--India's only integrated optical-fiber manufacturer and global provider of telecom cables and power transmission conductors--announced a tripling in net...

Casabyte to enhance JDSU's mobile offering.(industry report: fiber optics)
February 1, 2007... JDSU (Milpitas, CA) announced an agreement to purchase Casabyte (Renton, WA), a provider of automated end-to-end service-quality monitoring technology for the wireless industry. Casabyte will be integrated with JDSU's communications test and...

Internet2 selects Infinera.(industry report: fiber optics)
February 1, 2007... The Infinera (Sunnyvale, CA) DTN--the switched wavelength-division-multiplexing or WDM network--has been selected by Internet2 (www.internet2. edu) for metro network extensions to its new national backbone network. This extension will allow...

Fi-ra Photonics Co., a subsidiary of Ignis (Lysaker, Norway), secured another fiber-to-the-home component contract in Korea.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Fi-ra Photonics Co., a subsidiary of Ignis (Lysaker, Norway), secured another fiber-to-the-home component contract in Korea with a value in excess of $4 million dollars.

Photon Control.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Photon Control (Burnaby, BC, Canada) was granted a U.S. patent to protect its interferometric technology developed for sensing physical parameters such as pressure and temperature for the oil and power industry.

Firecomms.(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... Firecomms (Cork, Ireland) introduced a Fast Ethernet fiber-optic transceiver that they say will enable plastic optical fiber to migrate more easily into consumer, industrial, and automotive applications.

CorActive (Quebec City, QC, Canada), a manufacturer of specialty optical-fiber products, entered into an exclusive worldwide partnership agreement with INO (National Optics Institute).(Also in the news ...)
February 1, 2007... CorActive (Quebec City, QC, Canada), a manufacturer of specialty optical-fiber products, entered into an exclusive worldwide partnership agreement with INO (National Optics Institute)--a Canadian center of optics and photonics expertise--in...

Photonics shopping at the click of a mouse.(working the web)
February 1, 2007... As the photonics industry matures and more and more laser, optics, imaging sensor, and fiber-optic companies build their Web presence, manufacturers are supplementing catalog sales and the efforts of their direct sales force and distribution...

OIDA projects 'opto-mism' in optoelectronics markets.(market watch)
February 1, 2007... Optoelectronics is a vibrant and exciting market and this last year has been no exception. At the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA,) we are using a new phrase, "Optomistic," as the industry is showing signs of acceleration...

Vision components face the test: product developers must ensure the performance of CMOS sensors and modules.(inside imaging)
February 1, 2007... CMOS image sensors from vendors such as Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY), Micron Technology (Boise, ID), and Omnivision (Sunnyvale, CA) are being used in products ranging from mobile phones and security cameras to automobile lane-departure warning...

What should I do when I retire?(business forum)
February 1, 2007... Q: I am about to retire from a government lab research position. Do you have any best-practice advice about what people do in retirement? Also, is there a role I can play in a venture investment firm? A: The short answer is to find...

Diode-laser market takes a breather: after three years of steady growth, diode-laser revenues were down in 2006 despite increases in unit sales and some strong segments, particularly telecom and high-power-diode applications.(LASER MARKETPLACE 2007)(Company overview)
February 1, 2007... The diode-laser market was mixed in 2006, with revenues in some categories increasing significantly, and those in other categories showing substantial declines. In particular, the revenue picture for diode lasers used in optical-storage...

Correction.(Correction notice)
February 1, 2007... In the January Market Review and Forecast the unit and sales revenue numbers published in Table 1 and Table 2 for solid-state lamp-pumped lasers were incorrect. The correct numbers can be seen online at www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/282527.

Multiphoton microscopy takes biologists into uncharted territory: confocal microscopy may be the current standard for studying live cells, but multiphoton is the rising star.(OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS: BIOMEDICAL IMAGING)
February 1, 2007... One of the great advantages of optical microscopy is its ability to let scientists peek beneath the skin's surface and study cellular processes at work. In recent years laser scanning confocal microscopy has established itself in the biological...

Distributing aspheric surfaces brings down cost.(ASPHERIC OPTICS)
February 1, 2007... Robert Smith's A Compleat System of Opticks (Cambridge, England, 1738) has a chapter on ideas for the fabrication of aspheric optical surfaces "without the assistance of a fortune which could well bear the disappointment." In fact, it is 350...

Piezoelectric positioners address broad range of tasks.(POSITIONING SYSTEMS)
February 1, 2007... Piezoelectric devices have the unique property of generating a voltage when a pressure is applied, as well as the inverse property, expanding when a voltage is applied. Laser and photonics applications generally rely upon the latter: converting...

Next-generation 3-D detector improves single-molecule imaging: a high-throughput three-dimensional detector combines the advantages of wide-field detectors and high-temporal-resolution point detectors, proving instrumental for single-molecule imaging and the study of biomolecular interactions.(DETECTORS FOR MICROSCOPY)
February 1, 2007... The exquisite sensitivity of light detectors used in wide-field fluorescence microscopy or scanning confocal microscopy has recently allowed the detection, tracking, and spectroscopic analysis of the fluorescence emission of single molecules....

Optical-analysis microscope.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The UVM-1 microscope operates in the UV through the near-IR, from 200 to 2500 nm. It can image either narrow bands of over a wide spectral range, depending on requirements. It is capable of transmittance, reflectance, polarization, and...

Patterned dichroic filters.(new products)
February 1, 2007... Patterned dichroic filters made with the latest photolithography equipment and precision deposition technology can contain multiple coatings on a single substrate with dimensions as small at 100 pro, with accuracy of [+ or -] 1 [micro]m and...

White-LED modules.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The new OTLA-0130 broad-band white-LED light engine is designed for applications requiring the full UV-to-red spectrum. The module integrates a white LED with additional monochromatic LED die to expand the unit's spectral output. It has a...

Vacuum furnace.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The CVF 1000 ultra-high-clean vacuum furnace is designed for degassing and conditioning components for use inside a vacuum environment. It has a 24 x 30 x 24 in. stainless-steel, water-cooled chamber with hinged front door; thermocouple control...

Positioning stage.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The V-106 Quick Scan series of PCI-card-driven, high-speed voice coil positioning stages provide up to 20 mm of travel and resolution to 100 nm. The closed-loop stages are designed for motion-control applications in biotechnology, laser beam...

Differential-interference-contrast module.(new products)
February 1, 2007... A differential-interference-contrast module has been designed specifically for video imaging. When used with the company's high magnification lenses, the DIC allows users to image a microscopy sample to a video monitor, as opposed to using a...

Smart camera.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The VC4458 smart camera is an integrated 1 GHz (8,000 MIPS) DSP. Suited for high-speed applications, such as controlling register marks in the printing industry, its 1/3 in. CCD sensor provides a 640 x 480-pixel resolution. Standard equipment...

Enhanced range for 3-D laser scanner.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The enhanced-range option for the ILRIS-3D laser scanner increases the range by up to 40% over its normal range. The scanner is used in mining, monitoring, and large-infrastructure surveying. The new option improves accuracy and signal return...

Polarized ring light.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The RL-9 LED ring light has a polarizing option that diminishes glare from reflective objects. Designed for use with inspection microscopes, light from the ring light passes through a polarizing film before arriving at the operator's eye or the...

Optical-design software.(new products)
February 1, 2007... CODE V 9.7 Optical Design Software has a new 2-D image-simulation function that models how an object would appear when imaged by the optical system. Using fast-Fourier-transform calculation, it takes into account diffraction, lens aberrations,...

Compact C-mount lenses.(new products)
February 1, 2007... Xenoplan and Cinegon compact C-mount lenses now include built-in accessory threads for simplified filter mounting. Focal lengths range from 4.8 to 50 mm, featuring image circles with 2/3 of 1 in. formats and up to 22 mm diagonal. An...

YAG laser-rod transport package.(new products)
February 1, 2007... A spring-clip package is designed for the transport of YAG laser rods. It prevents the transported rod surfaces from incurring shipping damage due to slippage, contact with packaging materials, and container surfaces, or surface damage from the...

Resolution target.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The QA-77 enhanced digital-camera resolution chart is based on ISO 12233 specifications but has extended resolution ranges. The range is from 100 to 4000 line widths per picture height on the central hyperbolic wedges and up to 2000 on the...

Dispersion-compensation module.(new products)
February 1, 2007... The DCMX, a new platform in the ClearSpectrum product line, is an extended-reach, fixed chromatic-dispersion-compensation module (DCM). It was designed for 10 Gbit/s or 40 Gbit/s metro and long-haul DWDM networks, for spans up to 200 km. The...