Laser Focus World articles from June 2006

Laser Focus World archives from June 2006

Correction.(Correction notice)
June 1, 2006... In the article, "Modular Ti:sapphire systems broaden research applications," on page 91 of the May issues, one of the author's names was misspelled. The correct spelling is Zaza Sartania, vice president of the scientific division at Quantronix...

Solar activity flares up.(editor's desk)
June 1, 2006... Last month the U.S. House of Representatives voted to create the H-Prize, a $50 million program of awards aimed at encouraging hydrogen-based energy innovations. Modeled after the $10 million X Prize for private space-flight, the H Prize still...

Viscosity-mismatched fluid waveguide aimed at biomedical research.(news breaks)
June 1, 2006... Using carefully tailored fluid flow, researchers at the Colorado School of Mines are creating all-fluid optical waveguides (contained on a solid substrate) composed of two liquids with mismatched viscosity. The waveguides are potentially useful...

Laser gain occurs without inversion.(news breaks)
June 1, 2006... Despite the thermodynamic argument that more than half of the atoms in a laser medium need to undergo population inversion for lasing to occur, quantum theory predicts that matter/wave interference effects inside the atoms can allow gain...

Test facilities evaluate short-range 3-D imaging.(news breaks)
June 1, 2006... This summer, a consensus-based standards-development process for 3-D imaging devices will begin. Such devices are becoming important measuring tools in the manufacturing, construction, and transportation sectors; numerous models, capable of...

Excimer-laser light locks tritium into silica for micropower.(news breaks)
June 1, 2006... In the interests of creating on-chip radioisotope micropower sources, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA), the University of Toronto, and Kinectrics (both of Toronto, Ont., Canada) have locked tritium, the gaseous...

10 GHz radiation-hardened photodiode to fly on satellite lidar.(news break)
June 1, 2006... A radiation-hardened indium gallium arsenide photodiode developed by researchers at Discovery Semiconductors (Ewing, NJ) and Tesat Spacecom (Backnang, Germany) for space applications has a bandwidth that exceeds 10 GHz. Mounted on an alumina...

Borders sells Sony Reader with E Ink display.(news break)
June 1, 2006... Sony Electronics (San Diego, CA) and Borders (Ann Arbor, MI) bookstores have agreed to sell the Sony Reader--a reading device for e-books and text documents--through about 200 Borders stores nationwide as well as online at www.sonystyle.com....

Light engine drives nanocar.(news break)
June 1, 2006... In follow-on work to last year's invention of a single-molecule car (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/252650), chemists at Rice University (Houston, TX) have produced the first motorized nanocar. The car's lightpowered motor rotates in one...

Single fluoride-fiber laser produces white laser light.(news break)
June 1, 2006... Sumita Optical Glass claims to have achieved the first continuous-wave white-laser oscillation with a new single fluoride glass fiber by combining three primary colors (red, green, and blue). The white-light laser resulted from the combination...

3-D particle imaging uses wavefront sensing.(news breaks)
June 1, 2006... To eliminate the optical inefficiency and sensitivity to wavefront-slope error and vibration of 3-D particle-imaging techniques such as stereoscopic methods, defocusing digital particle-image velocimetry (PIV), and holographic techniques,...

Optical cooling, trapping extends to erbium.(LASER COOLING)(Cover story)
June 1, 2006... Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, MD) are using 401 nm laser light (see figure) to slow erbium atoms emerging from an oven at 1300[degrees]C, in preparation for trapping and cooling in an...

Sub-38 nm microscope uses 13 nm laser.(LASER COOLING)
June 1, 2006... Cost-effective and compact nanometer-scale-spatial-resolution imaging tools are in great demand for applications in nanotechnology. Although expensive and bulky photon-based microscopy systems that use soft-x-ray illumination from a synchrotron...

Fiberoptic probe measures turbine tip clearance.(LASER DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY)
June 1, 2006... In its simplest form, laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) is a technique to measure the direction and speed of fluids or air by crossing two beams of laser light in the flow of the fluid, analyzing the frequency characteristics of the reflected...

OLED pixel array is transparent.(LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES)
June 1, 2006... If windows and other transparent media could be made to display information, designers would have great latitude to create self-contained head-up displays for vehicles, advertisements appearing in the window glass of boutiques, or interactive...

Photon forum highlights optoelectronic opportunities.
June 1, 2006... The next generation of technology and investment opportunities in the world of optoelectronics was the focus of Photon Forum 2006 (April 25 and 26; Cambridge, MA), cosponsored by Laser Focus World and Breault Research Organization (Tucson, AZ)....

'Paint-on' laser could ease silicon interconnects.(QUANTUM-DOT LASERS)
June 1, 2006... Although optical gain in infrared colloidal quantum dots was observed previously, researchers at the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON, Canada) have now developed the first quantum-dot IR laser from solution-processed materials. (1) This...

Antisatellite laser weapons deleted from defense bill.(HIGH-POWER LASERS)
June 1, 2006... In early May, the House Armed Services Committee deleted funding for an ongoing Air Force effort to develop antisatellite laser weapons from the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill. With publicly identified funding of $6.5 million a year,...

CCD scrutinizes Martian happy face.(CCD CAMERAS)
June 1, 2006... Images of Crater Galle on Mars, named after a German astronomer and informally known as the "happy face" crater, were taken in April using CCD detector technology by e2v (Essex, England) in the high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) on board the...

Salmon DNA brightens OLEDs.(LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES)
June 1, 2006... Nature has spent eons perfecting a host of complex and useful biological substances, some of which can be used by researchers for purposes far removed from the original. In one example, scientists at the University of Cincinnati's...

Coherent seeks third-time charm in forensic laser.(OPTICALLY PUMPED LASERS)
June 1, 2006... In April, the third generation of forensic-laser technology at Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) became a contender for handheld applications such as illuminating fingerprints at crime scenes. The first generation, launched 30 years ago, found...

CIPS 2006 shows breadth of MIT research.(PHOTONICS)
June 1, 2006... Photonics research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) has taken many directions; it is the task of the university's Center for Integrated Photonic Systems (CIPS) to draw them together to form a cohesive,...

Blue light screens for oral cancer.(OPTICAL DIAGNOSTICS)
June 1, 2006... A handheld optical tool designed to screen for high-risk oral lesions in real time shows promise for early, noninvasive detection of oral cancer, according to researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research...

Light moves through tiny hoops at IPRA/Nano.(PHOTONIC CRYSTALS)
June 1, 2006... Photonic crystals, silicon photonics, and surface plasmons were all discussed at the OSA topical meetings on Integrated Photonics Research and Applications (IPRA) and Nanophotonics (April 24-28; Uncasville, CT). One exciting item in the section...

Laser spark plug heads to patent office.(FIBER OPTICS)
June 1, 2006... Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU; Fort Collins, Colorado) have filed a patent application for a fiber-guided-laser method of spark delivery in large-bore natural-gas engines. (1) The method could potentially enable multiplexing of...

Fiber lasers will dominate by 2010.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... A new report from Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA; a PennWell company) says that fiber lasers are set to capture a large share of the $2 billion industrial-laser market from conventional laser technologies, even in the prominent...

Cymer sees record Q1.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Shares of excimer-laser vendor Cymer hit a 52-week high in mid-April following the company's announcement of a 283% year-over-year increase in net income for the first quarter of FY2006 (ended March 31). Cymer reported net income of $20.6...

Alfalight gets high-power DARPA funding.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Alfalight (Madison, WI) $4.7 million in funding from the agency's 18-month effort--Architecture for Diode High Energy Laser Systems (ADHELS)--that aims to produce a multikilowatt...

SETI commercializes LEDs.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... A group led by Asif Khan at the University of South Carolina (USC; Columbia, SC) has worked at pushing light-emitting-diode (LED) wavelengths down well into the 200 nm range. Now a nearby company has commercialized the technology after making...

PhlatLight gets Luminus $38 million in funding.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Luminus Devices (Woburn, MA) has closed approximately $38 million in new venture financing to expand capacity and its PhlatLight product line. PhlatLight technology is a new type of light-emitting-diode (LED) source based on photonic-lattice...

OSRAM/DILAS partner to set record.(laser: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Achieved in concert with laser specialists DILAS Diodenlaser (Mainz, Germany), OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (San Jose, CA), developer of infrared laser products and technology, says its laser bars have set a new world efficiency record of 808 nm...

Ciba Specialty Chemicals is collaborating with Novaled.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Ciba Specialty Chemicals is collaborating with Novaled (Dresden, Germany) to produce the Novaled organic dopant and transport materials that will be used in Novaled's proprietary OLED devices to enable high power efficiency.

Fujitsu and Mitsui & Co. (both in Tokyo, Japan) have established a new optical device venture.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Fujitsu and Mitsui & Co. (both in Tokyo, Japan) nave established a new optical device venture, QD Laser, to further develop and commercialize quantum dot laser technology.

Coherent.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Coherent (Santa Clara, CA) was named to Business Ethics Magazine's "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for the second consecutive year.

Melles Griot.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Melles Griot (Carlsbad, CA) is now selling its complete line of lasers and laser accessories online at www.mellesgriot.com.

BAE Systems.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... BAE Systems (Nashua, NH) was awarded a $96.1 million contract to provide laser-guided rockets for the U.S. Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) program.

The Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) and Solvay (Brussels, Belgium) signed a three-year, $3 million deal.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... The Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) and Solvay (Brussels, Belgium) signed a three-year, $3 million deal for OLED research.

Powerlase.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Powerlase (Crawley, England) will increase production capacity of its diode-pumped solid-state lasers threefold during 2006.

CVI expands European presence.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... To increase its European manufacturing capacity by more than 25%, add new material processing capabilities such as phosphate disc polishing to the product mix, and provide improved flexibility to serve customers worldwide, CVI Technical Optics...

OSA calls on Congress.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Members of The Optical Society of America (OSA; Washington, D.C.) traveled to Washington, D.C., in late March to meet with Congressional representatives and emphasize the need for increased and balanced federal investment in R&D. OSA members...

AFM grant goes to Infinitesima.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Infinitesima (Oxford, England), developer of the VideoAFM (atomic-force microscope), has been selected by the U.K. Government Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to receive a Grant for R&D. The grant will allow Infinitesima to advance its...

Schott expands optics business in China.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Schott (Mainz, Germany) is strengthening its optics business in China with the opening of Wuxi Unique Schott Optical Co. The new company opened for business in the Wuxi National High Technology Development Zone, which is located about 100 miles...

Thermo Electron sells biosensor business.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Farfield Group (Crewe, England) completed the acquisition of the resonant mirror optical biosensor business (formally known as Affinity Sensors) and related assets from Thermo Electron (Waltham, MA) for an undisclosed sum. According to...

AOA wins Northrop Grumman contract.(optics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... The Advanced Optical Systems Division of Adaptive Optics Associates (AOA; Blackwood, NJ) was awarded a $6.5 million contract from Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems to improve laser designators used to identify battlefield targets. AOA, a...

LightPath Technologies (Orlando, FL) was awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the Naval Air Warfare Center.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... LightPath Technologies (Orlando, FL) was awarded a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the Naval Air Warfare Center to develop molding technologies for infrared optical components to provide lower costs for both government and...

The OSA established its 90th student chapter at Australia National University.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... The OSA established Its 90th student chapter at Australia National University (ANU; Canbrerra Australia) during its 90th anniversary year.

Varioptic.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Varioptic (Lyon, France) secured $20 million in its third round of financing for its liquid-lens technology that provides autofocus and zoom capability for mobile phones and digital cameras.

Machine-vision market growth to continue.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... A new market study shows that 2005 was a good year for the machine-vision and imaging industry and that continued growth is expected in 2006. Entitled Machine Vision Markets: 2005 Results and Forecasts to 2010, the study was published by the...

Daitron expands CCD camera offering.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... To expand its product line and provide additional personnel strength to serve its camera hardware customers, Daitron (Wilsonville, OR) has acquired the Chori America CCD Camera Division. According to Toshi Moritani, CEO and president of...

FLIR awarded military contract.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Officials of FLIR Systems (North Billerica, MA) are set to build high-performance mobility (HPM) forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems. FLIR engineers are doing the work under terms of a $44.9 million U.S. Navy contract option awarded by the...

CMOS sensor company wins financing.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Advasense (Ra'anana, Israel), a privately held fabless semiconductor company, raised $6 million in Series B financing to complete its first product. Advasense is developing next-generation multimegapixel CMOS image sensors for cellular...

DALSA changes organization, sees record sales.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... After undertaking a careful study of the Asia-Pacific markets, DALSA (Waterloo, ON, Canada)--an international semiconductor and dectronics company--is establishing a new business unit, DALSA Asia-Pacific, to manage the sales and marketing of...

Wahl addresses bird flu fears.(imaging & detector: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Amid growing fears of a bird flu pandemic and the threat of the virulent strain spreading through human-to-human transmission, Wahl Instruments (Asheville, NC) announced the Wahl Fever Alert Imaging System designed specifically for mass...

Dalsa.(Also in the news...)
June 1, 2006... Dalsa (Waterloo. ON. Canada) received a contract valued at $1.3 million to develop and supply CMOS image-sensor chips over the next 12 months for a Leading manufacturer of dental x-ray equipment.

e2v technologies.(Also in the news...)
June 1, 2006... e2v technologies (Essex, England) was recognized with its 12th United Kingdom Queen's Award for Enterprise, granted in the Innovation category for the design and manufacture of imaging sensors and cameras.

DisplaySearch.(Also in the news...)
June 1, 2006... Global shipments of large flat panels for use In public displays and digital signs jumped a surprising 44% in the fourth quarter of 2005 reports market research firm DisplaySearch (Austin. TX) in its recent Quarterly FPD Public Display Shipment...

Orion Solar Solutions.(Also in the news...)
June 1, 2006... Solar-powered LED lights from Orion Solar Solution (Mudgeeraba. Queensland, Australia) were installed at Southport Flying Club on Australia's Gold Coast to replace unreliable hard-wired lights.

IPTV market soars.(fiberoptics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... According to a report by Infonetics Research (Campbell, CA), Internet-protocol television (IPTV) is more than just hype. The report notes that equipment sales, service revenue, subscribers, and service-provider capital-equipment expenditures...

Optocap allies with Palomar Technologies.(fiberoptics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... Optocap (Livingston, Scotland) has formed a strategic alliance with Palomar Technologies (Erlangen, Germany) to enhance its development of optoelectronics packaging solutions for customers in the communications, medical, and automotive markets....

Avensys and ITF move forward.(fiberoptics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... The acquisition of most of the assets of ITF Optical Technologies by Avensys (both in Montreal, QC, Canada) will provide Avensys' fiber component production division, Avensys Technologies, with access to ITF's 10,000 sq ft clean room, providing...

Networking company joins JDSU family.(fiberoptics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... JDS Uniphase (JDSU; Milpitas, CA) announced an agreement to acquire Test-Um (Camarillo, CA), a provider of home-networking test instruments for the FTTx and digital cable markets. The acquisition creates new sales channels for Test-Um's home...

Ireland invests in new Photonics Centre.(fiberoptics: industry report)
June 1, 2006... A new Photonics Systems Research and Development Centre at the Tyndall National Institute in University College Cork (UCC; Cork, Ireland) has opened. Reportedly costing $11 million, the new center was completed by Tyndall and UCC with...

Olympus (Tokyo, Japan) and Movaz Networks (San Jose. CA) have created a joint venture company named Olympus Microsystems America.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Olympus (Tokyo, Japan) and Movaz Networks (San Jose. CA) have created a joint venture company named Olympuz Microsystems America to provide microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based technologies and products for optical equipment suppliers......

M2 Optics.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... M2 Optics (Holly Springs, NC) launched a new Web site (www.m2optics.com) featuring a line of field simulation and test instruments for optical fiber communications companies.

Laserscope (San Jose. CA) acquired InnovaQuartz (Phoenix. AZ).(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Laserscope (San Jose. CA) acquired acquired InnovaQuartz (phoenix. AZ), a privately held company founded in t991 that develops and manufactures fiberoptics, sterile fiberoptic delivery devices, and optical components, and subassemblies, for...

Infinera (Sunnyvale, CA) joined the Ethernet Alliance.(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... Infinera (Sunnyvale, CA) joined the Ethernet Alliance to further the development and acceptance of Ethernet transport technologies for carriers and service providers.

LxSix Photonics (Montreal, QC, Canada) completed a $4.0 million investment in the corporation by the Quorum Group of Companies (Toronto. ON. Canada).(Also in the news ...)
June 1, 2006... LxSix Photonics (Montreal, QC, Canada) completed a $4.0 million investment in the corporation by the Quorum Group of Companies (Toronto. ON. Canada) to accelerate the development, marketing, and sales of LxSix's fiberoptic sensing solutions for...

China meets machine vision: an emerging industry supports demand for automation and inspection.(inside imaging)
June 1, 2006... Globalization is a trend affecting every industry and, depending on where you stand, is a force to be feared or embraced. To its advantage, the machine-vision industry has embraced this trend. Its network of company offices, distribution...

High-brightness LED market cools after three years of stellar growth.(market watch)
June 1, 2006... The high-brightness LED (HB LED) market has had a history of remarkable growth since its beginnings in the mid-1990s, when high-performance LEDs based on indium gallium aluminum phosphide (InGaAlP) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN) were first...

Are you webcasting or podcasting?(working the web)
June 1, 2006... Most Internet users have probably watched and listened to a Webcast or possibly even hosted one. But an emerging form of audio transmission is the portable and downloadable version of a webcast: the podcast. Unlike webcasts--which are usually...

Can the telescope project be saved?(business forum)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... Q: A Washington Post article about NASA canceling the telescope project is attached. I have been working on this and am wondering how the technical community can pressure Congress to restore the project. A: I can't be too helpful here since...

Daylight Solutions wins first Innovation Award.(INNOVATION AWARDS)
June 1, 2006... The 2006 PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Awards program is designed to honor the most timely, groundbreaking products in the field of laser science. The awards are sponsored by Laser Focus World magazine and PhAST--the Photonic Applications,...

It's hard to get just one photon: a key challenge for quantum information systems is a light source that can generate single, indistinguishable photons.(PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: SINGLE-PHOTON LIGHT SOURCES)
June 1, 2006... Quantum information systems promise a wonderland of opportunities. The best publicized is quantum cryptography, in which the laws of quantum mechanics promise the ultimate in data security. Send a single photon between two points, and any...

New generation of applications raises performance bar for scanning mirrors.(CUSTOM OPTICS)
June 1, 2006... Early galvanometer scanning applications, including barcode scanning and a variety of reprographic tasks, relied primarily on low-power visible or near-infrared lasers. Typically using metal-coated mirrors, these applications weren't...

Distributed Raman amplification speeds communication.(RAMAN AMPLLIFIERS)
June 1, 2006... During the 19th and most of the 20th century, science and technology were dominated by linear mathematical models and linear physical phenomena. Today, the growing understanding of the importance of physical systems in which nonlinearity...

Terahertz methods show promise for breast cancer.(TERAHERTZ IMAGING)
June 1, 2006... The introduction of stable, turnkey ultrafast lasers and improvements in the generation and detection of terahertz radiation have led to an explosion of interest in a variety of applications from pharmaceutical science, security screening, and...

'Design for manufacturing' moves farther upstream: as shrinking feature sizes push the physical limits of optical lithography to the extreme, DFM process tools are bridging critical gaps between chip designers and manufacturing.(OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS: MICROPROCESSING)
June 1, 2006... For many years the consensus in semiconductor chip manufacturing was that once the feature-writing capabilities of 193 nm optical lithography were exhausted, the next step would be deep-UV 157 nm lithography. And then came Intel's announcement...

Spectroscopic ellipsometer becomes industrial thin-film tool.(THIN-FILM METROLOGY)
June 1, 2006... The last decade has seen increasing interest in the properties of thin films with nanometer-scale dimensions. Shrinking the thickness of a film to below 100 nm induces a strong correlation between the material's optical properties and its...

Gigahertz-range detector enables improved experiments: application-specific integrated circuits and microchannel plates were used to develop a high-speed detector with 768 channels and an overall count rate in the gigahertz range that greatly enhances spectroscope performance.(HIGH-SPEED DETECTORS)
June 1, 2006... During the last 20 years, synchrotron radiation sources of vacuum ultraviolet radiation and soft and hard x-rays in the 20 to 10 keV range have achieved dramatic improvements in the photon brightness that can be delivered to a sample. With...

Framework Programmes fund EU technology R&D: launched recently in anticipation of the new FP7, the [Photonics.sup.21] technology platform is designed to ensure Europe remains competitive within the global photonics community.(EUROPEAN REPORT)
June 1, 2006... The European Commission's Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is Europe's main instrument for funding research. The current Framework Programme (FP6) covers a five-year period from 2002 until 2006, with a total budget...

World's largest laser to generate powerful ultraviolet beams.(UV SOURCES)
June 1, 2006... The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, CA) will begin ignition experiments in 2010, ushering in a new era of high-energy-density physics research. (1) The primary missions of NIF...

Research targets more-efficient photovoltaics.(PHOTOVOLTAICS)
June 1, 2006... Photovoltaic cells have existed since the late 19th century, but they still generate only a minuscule amount of energy around the world because--with a few exceptions--it is far more expensive to generate electricity with photovoltaic (PV)...

Demultiplexers harness photonic-crystal dispersion properties.(PHOTONIC CRYSTALS)
June 1, 2006... The idea of photonic crystals (PCs) as synthetic optical materials with "controllable" properties has been advanced by progress in photonic-crystal fabrication technologies and improvements in the conceptual understanding of their properties....

High power pump source for fiber lasers and material processing.(ADVANCED DIODE LASER TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2006... Material processing DPSSL pumping Fiber lasers Printing, Medicine Measurement A series of high power, high brightness, fiber-coupled laser diode devices are now available for industrial and medical applications from Apollo...