Laser Focus World articles from June 2009

Laser Focus World archives from June 2009

Measuring the 'Sun'.(Photovoltaics)
June 1, 2009... Versatile tools will be needed as the field of photovoltaics research grows. An optical power meter and a thermopile detector both have applications in this field of research. Jay Jeong of Newport www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/361941 ...

Optical trapping opens wide.(Optical Tweezers)
June 1, 2009... Newly available to broad audiences, optical-tweezer technology is becoming easier to implement and operate, and is poised to open new vistas--especially for single-molecule discovery. Kishan Dholakia and Mike Eliot of Elliot Scientific ...

Intel Science Talent Search encourages student excellence and innovation.(Science & Technology Education)
June 1, 2009... Forty finalists in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search competition spent a week in the nation's capitol, where they competed for more than $500,000 in awards and scholarships. Grace Klonoski of the OSA ...

New type of imaging captures 6 million frame/s.(Videos)
June 1, 2009... Researchers at UCLA have developed a novel, continuously running camera that they say captures images roughly a thousand times faster than any existing conventional camera. www.laserfocusworld.com/resourcecenter/video Post your video!...

Stop the madness.(Blog: Working smart in photonics)
June 1, 2009... I have never found any formal training or certification for employees to make sure they are all in compliance with the standard for the optics being used. And "tribal knowledge" runs rampant. No wonder things are out of control. ...

So, how bad is it really?(Blog: Inside the world of venture capital)
June 1, 2009... Despite the temptation of saying, yet again, it's the worst I can remember, I'd really rather focus on the positive. Besides, as is known by anyone who served in the military, the human body fortunately has no long-term memory of pain (or...

Making it with lasers.(editor's desk)
June 1, 2009... Among the many negative numbers of last month's first-quarter financial results from some of the photonics market leaders were glimmers of a slightly brighter outlook for the coming months. While stressing that visibility is still limited,...

Conventional optics can assist adaptive optics for deep imaging.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2009... I was most interested to read the article "Fluorescent microspheres enable adaptive-optics microscopy" (February, p. 53; www. laserfocusworld.com/articles/352181) Although an adaptive optical system may well be an effective way to improve deep...

Anti-speckle technique uses dynamic optics.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... Laser speckle, rather than sensor resolution or an optical system's diffraction limit, can be the limiting condition of performance in applications including metrology, interferometry, microscopy, lithography, tomography, and projection...

Metamaterial with hyperbolic dispersion is 51 [micro]m thick.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... While the idea of a metamaterial-based invisibility cloak is fascinating, transforming the idea into reality is a daunting task. This is especially true at optical frequencies, where the required metamaterial structures have geometries with...

Higher-order modes limit pulse broadening in ultrafast fiber lasers.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... The ytterbium (Yb) and erbium (Er) fibers used in ultrafast fiber lasers are, like any other optical fibers, subject to chromatic dispersion, which results in pulse broadening. To reduce or eliminate dispersion in ultrafast fiber lasers, OFS...

Radio-over-fiber/WDM scheme uses all-optical upconversion.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... To allow optical fibers to transmit both telecom (1550 nm) wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) signals and millimeter-wave radio signals to serve broadband wireless communication systems, the WDM signals can be upconverted to the...

Ultrafast photonic device integrates optical intensity signals.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... The quickest information-processing circuits in the future will be photonic, rather than electronic. Researchers are now figuring out ways of building the components for such circuits. For example, a group at the Institut National de la...

Nanograined [Y.sub.2][O.sub.3] ceramic transmits as well as single crystal.(news breaks)
June 1, 2009... Certain sesquioxides (www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/352180), such as yttrium sequioxide ([Y.sub.2][O.sub.3]), would make excellent high-power laser hosts but for one drawback: their melting point is so high that single laser crystals cannot...

Single-shot technique measures CEP for few-cycle pulses.(ULTRAFAST-PULSE DIAGNOSTICS)
June 1, 2009... Few-cycle-pulse researchers take heed: your experiment could soon benefit from on-the-fly, single-shot measurements of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) as well as pulse width. The CEP is a measure of the lag between the peak of the pulse...

Nonlinear crystal becomes high-deflection beam scanner.(LASER SCANNING)
June 1, 2009... Potassium tantalate niobate (KTN) (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/185766), a nonlinear optical crystal first synthesized in the 1950s, is well known as a crystal with a very large quadratic electro-optic effect (Kerr effect). Researchers...

Ge-on-Si emitter moves silicon photonics ahead.(SILICON PHOTONICS)
June 1, 2009... The last few years have seen a surge in the development of silicon-based photonic components. Despite successful fabrication of silicon touters (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/343738), modulators, waveguides, switches, silicon photodiodes...

Direct-diode lasers combine to form powerful, high-brightness beam.(HIGH-POWER DIODE LASERS)
June 1, 2009... Multikilowatt laser-diode systems typically reach their high output powers through wavelength coupling of a number of individual diode stacks. While workable, this approach is a balance between wall-plug efficiency and beam quality. For...

Ulis launches 17 [micro]m pixel-pitch IR sensor.(DETECTORS)
June 1, 2009... Detector manufacturer Ulis (Veurey-Voroize, France), a subsidiary of Sofradir and GE Equity, launched a fourth-generation IR detector at SPIE's 2009 Defense, Security + Sensing conference; the XGA format (1024 x 768), 17 [micro]m pixel-pitch...

Commercially available analyzer computes distributed PMD.(FIBER-OPTIC TEST EQUIPMENT)
June 1, 2009... Measurement of the distributed polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) along an optical fiber has been actively researched over the past decade or so, and a number of approaches proposed and tested in the laboratory. However, up to very recently, no...

Photonic-crystal LED has high extraction efficiency.(LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES)
June 1, 2009... In a step toward reaching the ultimate light-extraction efficiency for high-power, high-brightness LEDs, researchers at Philips Lumileds Lighting (San Jose, CA) and Philips Research (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) have created a blue-emitting LED...

Fiber-laser-based frequency comb nears vibration immunity.(OPTICAL METROLOGY)
June 1, 2009... With applications in distance metrology, microwave generation, spectroscopy, and optical-waveform measurement, frequency combs have moved well beyond their initial application as a calibration tool for optical clocks (see...

NIR method provides complex, rapid grain analysis.(SPECTROSCOPY)
June 1, 2009... Companies storing or processing grain must rapidly determine its quality before directing an incoming load of wheat, and spectroscopy is often the answer (see laserfocusworld.com/articles/294652). TecnoCientifica (Buenos Aires, Argentina)...

Is engineering development a good business model?(Business Forum)
June 1, 2009... Q The company my friend works for is in need of engineering development resources because of layoffs during the downturn. We are thinking about starting a business that provides this service. Our initial expenses would be covered with the work...

Laser additive manufacturing gains strength.(PHOTONICS APPLIED: MATERIALS PROCESSING)(Cover story)
June 1, 2009... The process of using a laser and donor materials for component prototyping and repair--loosely termed "laser additive manufacturing"--is just now gaining widespread adoption, thanks to decades of research, improved laser systems, and a demand...

Surviving the downturn.(EUROPEAN REPORT)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The significance of photonics technologies in terms of Europe's future economic growth cannot be understated. In fact, Europe's output of photonics products was higher than that of the USA in 2007 and is expected to...

Fluorescence microscopy benefits from advances in single-photon detectors.(SINGLE-PHOTON DETECTORS)
June 1, 2009... Optical detectors used in photon-counting mode provide ideal signal-to-noise characteristics (limited by the shot noise). Recent advances in single-photon-counting detectors can be incorporated in commercial microscope systems to improve...

Extreme-UV lithography struggles to shrink chip features.(PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: EXTREME-UV LITHOGRAPHY)
June 1, 2009... Shorter wavelengths promise higher resolution and smaller features when fabricating semiconductor chips. Taming EUV for lithography has been tough, but developers say they now are in the engineering phase. For decades, smaller has meant...

How to select a beam-profile measurement system.(product focus: LASER-BEAM PROFILERS)
June 1, 2009... When choosing a laser-beam profiling system, you'll need to know a few things about your laser and what you want to measure, A laser-beam profiling system consists of a detector or detector array, and analysis software used to capture,...

Single-photon-counting camera operates at high frame rates.(ADVANCED CAMERAS)
June 1, 2009... A 32 x 32-pixel single-photon-counting camera consists of single-photon avalanche diodes with all electronics incorporated within each pixel. The camera can operate at a rate of 100,000 frames per second. Single-photon avalanche diodes...

Fluorine-doped core boosts radiation resistance of single-mode fiber: reliable fiber-optic communications in high-radiation environments such as linear accelerators and nuclear reactors is made possible by silica fibers with optimized fluorine-doped cores.(FIBERS FOR COMMUNICATION)
June 1, 2009... In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in improving the radiation resistance of optical fibers. Scientists at linear accelerators and particle colliders were early initiators of these activities when they determined the need to...

Laser interferometers.(New products)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PhaseCam IR laser interferometers make surface and wavefront measurements at 3.39 or 10.6 [micro]m. They use Dynamic Interferometry to acquire measurement data in less than I ms, overcoming vibration and air...

Nanopositioning stage.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The PXY 201 CAP XY-plane nanopositioning and microscanning stage offers clearance of 30 x 30 [mm.sup.2] and a motion range of up to 250 [micro]m in open loop and 200 [micro]m in closed loop. It can be equipped with an integrated capacitive...

Thermal imager.(New products)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Mikron MikroSHOT thermal-imaging camera displays radiometric temperature data directly on the visible image. It weighs 10.5 oz. and uses off-the-shelf batteries or an AC adapter. It has a 2.7 in. display and 160...

Red fiber laser.(New products)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A laser produces 300 mW at 642 nm from an all-fiber laser cavity. The laser head measures 130 x 50 x 33 mm and is connected to the controller via an optical cable. The user controls it through a USB or RS232...

Fiber-coupled laser diodes.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The ProLite Xt Corvus lasers have output of 35 to 575 W from fiber diameters from 100 to 400 [micro]m. The ProLite Xt Orion has output up to 25 W at 915, 940 and 976 nm, and 15 W at 808 and 810 nm. The Prolite Xt Prosario has output up to 60 W...

OEM diode laser.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The PhoxX diode-laser series is capable of direct digital modulation over 180 MHz and analog power modulation of more than 1 MHz, requiring no optoacoustic modulation. The beam has a diameter of approximately 1 mm with absolutely circular...

Laser displacement sensors.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The CD5 series laser displacement sensors provide noncontact measurement sensing for surfaces from mirrored reflective silicone wafers to low-reflective black rubber. Standard diffuse types with narrow and wide beam cover distances of 30 and 85...

Pulse compressor.(New products)
June 1, 2009... A femtosecond laser pulse stretcher and compressor based on chirped volume Bragg gratings can manipulate the laser pulse length in a small piece of glass containing a holographic grating in its bulk. The efficiency of stretching and compression...

UV-coating optics.(New products)
June 1, 2009... Rapid prototyping of optics with high ultraviolet transmission, extremely smooth surfaces with low scatter, and high laser-damage-threshold thin-film coatings is available in sizes from 3 to 300 mm. The company specializes in asphere, cylinder,...

Launch condition analyzer.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The OP1021 Launch Condition Analyzer allows users to verify their launch sources via encircled flux measurements, so that the test setup is fully compliant with the latest standards (IEC, TIA, IEEE, etc.). The unit contains built-in LED sources...

Solid-state laser.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The WhisperIT 488 solid-state laser is based on 488 nm GaN diodes for use in biotechnology instrumentation applications and other markets. The diodes are stabilized for continuous-wave operation as well as modulation without the use of a...

Digital wavefront sensors.(New products)
June 1, 2009... DWS digital wavefront sensors for wavefront analysis and laser beam profiling measure wavefronts with resolution limited only by the resolution of CCD sensors. With 600 x 600 measurement points, the sensors yield wavefront measurement with...

High-speed camera.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Fastcam SA5 provides 7,500 frames/s at 1024 x 1000 resolution. The standalone, one-piece system features a 12-bit monochrome (36-bit RGB color) sensor with 20 [micro]m square pixels. It has 1 ms global shuttering and is available in 8, 16,...

Picosecond timing module.(New products)
June 1, 2009... An OEM version of the HRMTime high-resolution timing module handles nanosecond to picosecond timing. It is available in 1, 2, or 4 channels and provides histogram and FIFO time tagging modes of operation. Its USB 2.0 connector makes it...

Spectrograph.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The SD1024FH spectrograph is designed for semiconductor process control applications such as very low exposed area contact etch, ion beam etch, and photomask etch. Its 200 to 800 nm spectral range optical system uses a 1024-element,...

X-ray camera.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The PIXIS-XF: 2048 x-ray camera has 4-million-pixel resolution, operates at 100 kHz and 2 MHz, and supports the company's phosphor replacement design to optimize the camera for different x-ray energies. The fully integrated camera is designed...

Pump diode laser.(New products)
June 1, 2009... A wavelength-stabilized, 0.65 W, 808 nm single-emitter pump diode laser is packaged on a small-form-factor 3 mm Q-mount. Proprietary Wavelength Stabilization Technology (WST) uses an integrated grating on the laser chip, providing a pump...

NIR Raman spectrograph.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Nanuvut long-wavelength NIR Raman spectrograph, designed to replace FT-IR systems, has a dispersive f/2 design with no moving parts. Suited for measuring biological/tissue samples at 1064 nm, the compact system has a spectral resolution of...

Cameras for fault detection in solar cells.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The iKon-M 934 BR-DD delivers approximately 70% QE at 900 nm in a cooled, USB 2.0 CCD camera platform. The LucaEM R electron-multiplying CCD camera has a monochrome megapixel frame-transfer EMCCD sensor. Designed for solar-cell quality control...

480 W recirculating chiller.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The compact KTD recirculating chiller is designed to meet the cooling needs of high-tech instrumentation with a cooling requirement of up to 480 W. The PID temperature controller allows the temperature to be controlled with a precision of +...

Four-megapixel Camera Link camera.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The A406 4-megapixel camera with a Camera Link interface provides 209 frames/s at the full resolution of 2320 x 1726 pixels. It uses a CMOS sensor with a rolling shutter. Available in monochrome and color, it is suited for automated optical...

Mini narrow light sources.(New products)
June 1, 2009... A line of cost-effective fiber lasers at 785 and 1064 nm come in card-mount or rack-mount with adjustable gain control and LCD display. These devices are suitable as Raman excitation sources for biomedical, pharmaceutical/ PAT, or research...

Laser-diode bar.(New products)
June 1, 2009... A 10 mm, 200 W laser-diode bar is designed to enable manufacturers of direct-diode laser systems to compete with fiber lasers and CO2 lasers in multi-kilowatt material-processing applications. The bar provides CW and hard-pulse operation and is...

Laser-spectrum analyzer.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The 721 Series Laser Spectrum Analyzer will work with CW and pulsed infrared lasers that operate from 1.3 to 11 [micro]m. Absolute laser wavelength is measured to an accuracy as high as [+ or -] 0.2 parts per million ([+ or -] 0.001 nm at 5...

CW green laser.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Genesis 532-2000 S is a 2000 mW CW, green (532 nm) laser that provides an alternative to DPSS lasers. Based on optically pumped semiconductor-laser (OPSL) technology, the lasers provide an [M.sup.2] of better than 1.2, no "green noise," and...

Laser-scanning microscope.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The LSM 700/mat laser-scanning microscope allows precise 3-D imaging of surfaces. The combination of fluorescence and reflection techniques enables high-precision examination of semiconductors, metal, glass, and polymers with high information...

Collimators and focusing devices.(New products)
June 1, 2009... Collimators and focusing devices are manufactured from optical glass lenses of BK-7. Three sizes of collimators are available to accommodate fibers from up to 400 and 800 mm, and larger. All have SMA-compatible connectors. Focusing devices are...

Illumination system.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Fiber-Lite MI-30SG is a 30 W quartz halogen unit is a single goose neck model that delivers over 10,000 foot-candles of intense, cold illumination. Designed for laboratory use, the lamp has an average life of more than 200 hours, weighs...

High-power diode lasers.(New products)
June 1, 2009... Wavelength-stabilized fiber-coupled diode lasers are available starting from 25 W output from a 200 [micro]m fiber core diameter, up to 400 W output from a 400 [micro]m fiber core diameter (0.22NA). With a narrow linewidth of less than 0.5 nm...

Photodiode arrays.(New products)
June 1, 2009... Four-element Quad InGaAs Photodiode Arrays are designed for 40 and 100 Gbits optical communications. With four photodiodes monolithically integrated on a common InP substrate, the array consists of 10-, 30-, 40-, or 50-[micro]m-diameter...

Detector for low-level-light measurement.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The VL-6000 photometric detector has a large-area, low-noise Si photodiode with a precise photometric correction filter and front barrel housing a 50-mm-diameter achromatic corrected lens. In combination with a single- or multichannel...

VNIR sensor.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Hyperspec Extended VNIR Sensor is a hyperspectral imaging instrument covering the spectral region from 600 to 1600 nm. Sensor performance has been optimized for process inspection applications such as semiconductor manufacturing, and...

Motorized linear actuator.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The LSMA160-300 motorized linear actuator provides travel up to 300 mm. Driven by a brushless servo or stepper motor with a precision ground screw, this stage offers resolution up to 0.1 [micro]m. Features include a load capacity of 10 kg,...

1550 nm laser diode.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The CVLM57 series is a broad-area 1550 nm laser diode that incorporates three epitaxially grown junctions in a single chip. An InGaAsP/InP-based MOCVD-grown laser structure utilizes a custom facet-passivation process. The multimode laser...

Laser edge-deletion system.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The SolarX Edge laser edge-deletion system is designed for thin-film solar-panel manufacturing. The system uses high-power, pulsed lasers to remove amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium-telluride (CdTe), copper-indium-diselenide (CIS), or...

Phase scanner.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The HDS6100 high-speed phase scanner provides a scan speed of up to 508,000 pts/s and a full field-of-view (360[degrees] x 310[degrees]) design. It utilizes the company's High-Definition Surveying (HDS) technology. Features include an operating...

DPSS laser system.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The Power PEAK compact laser is an air-cooled, high-pulse-energy, short-pulse, DPSS laser that produces 50 mJ, operating at up to 100 Hz at 1064 nm. The standard system comes with a 19 in., 2 HU rack-mountable power supply and is RS-232...

Vacuum x-ray CCD camera.(New products)
June 1, 2009... The vacuum-compatible x-ray CCD camera is capable of operating completely in a vacuum. With flexible binning and ROI readouts, the camera is suited for applications such as plasma physics, deep UV lithography, x-ray microscopy, and x-ray...

Long-wave-pass filters.(New products)
June 1, 2009... Laser fluorescence filter sets are designed for laser-based imaging applications. Part of the BrightLine laser fluorescence filter family, these filters offer wavelengths keyed to important excitation laser lines (for example, 405,488 and 561...

BlueMode laser--50 mW at 405 nm with coherence length > 25 m!(Manufacturers' Product Showcase)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than 50 mW of output power and over 25 meters coherence length (

CompactPowerMonitor up to 20 kW.(Manufacturers' Product Showcase)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Laser power is a main figure characterizing the laser beam and impacts the performance of material processing directly. With the CompactPowerMonitor (CPM) PRIMES transferred the precise and well established...

CLPT InGaAs FPA enables you to reach NIR Vision Frontiers!(Manufacturers Product Showcase)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Features * Spectral range in 900-1700 nm, 1, 2 and 3mm diameter * High operability, High responsitivity, High shunt resistance * 640x512 with 25um...

Eliminate toxic acrylic mode burns.(Manufacturers Product Showcase)
June 1, 2009... Ophir-Spiricon, the world's leading provider of laser measuring equipment, introduces ModeCheck[TM], the affordable C[O.sub.2] laser beam profiler. ModeCheck helps industrial parts manufacturers be more competitive. Compare day-to-day...

Green benchtop optical meter.(Manufacturers Product Showcase)
June 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The new 1928-C benchtop optical meter delivers incomparable performance at a competitive price. It can measure pulse, peak-to-peak and DC source measurements in units of W, dBm, dB, J, A, V, Sun, and relative units....

Great ideas and digital barbarism.(IN MY VIEW)
June 1, 2009... By and large, we ink-stained wretches are a pretty docile lot. We are content to pound away at our computers churning out words, sentences, and paragraphs that are read carefully by some and maybe barely appreciated by others--our readers. We...