Laser Focus World articles from March 2003

Laser Focus World archives from March 2003

Adapting to change. (editor's desk).
March 1, 2003... This year's Photonics West meeting in San Jose, CA, was in stark contrast to a couple of years back when the majority of attendees and exhibitors were focused almost exclusively (or so it seemed) on the telecom marketplace. To the surprise of...

Spectral shaper exploits micromirror array. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... A fiber-coupled spectral-shaping instrument commercially introduced by Newport (Irvine, CA) contains at its heart the digital micromirror array developed by Texas Instruments (TI; Dallas, TX), which is already used widely in projection...

Air-gap filter tunes over a 127-nm range. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... An electrostatically tunable air-gap filter fabricated by researchers at the University of Kassel (Kassel, Germany) and the Royal Institute of Technology (Kista, Sweden) provides a tuning range of 127 nm at a 7.3-V voltage for light in the...

Joined diamond and aluminum nitride emit light. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... Combining diamond and aluminum nitride (AIN)--two wide-bandgap semiconductors--into one device may one day lead to short-wavelength ultraviolet light-emitting diodes and lasers. Joining the two dissimilar materials (AIN has a wurtzite...

Electrically pumped cadmium sulphide nanowires lase. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... Scientists at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) have made individual cadmium sulphide nanowires into electrically pumped lasers. The nanowires must have a diameter of at least 70 nm to support a single transverse mode at a 510-nm wavelength....

Volume hologram is fabricated layer by layer. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... Volume holograms are usually created by exposing a photosensitive medium to interfering light. In a different approach, researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (Huntsville, AL) are building volume holograms a bit at a time by...

Light-emitting diodes on silicon exploit nanoparticles. (newsbreaks).
March 1, 2003... Although the indirect bandgap of silicon (Si) prevents it from being fabricated into light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the ordinary way, research groups around the world are trying to work around this problem, with the goal being Si LEDs and...

Powerful CW laser produces bright guidestar. (Astronomy).
March 1, 2003... Scientists at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL; Albuquerque, NM) have generated 20 W of continuous-wave (CW) laser power in a difffraction-limited and single-frequency yellow beam at 589.159 nm. When projected into the sky, the beam...

VCSEL array senses chemical pull. (optoelectronics world news).
March 1, 2003... The thin-film geometry of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) allows them to be fabricated in large arrays with relative ease. Engineers at Protiveris (Rockville, MD)--a company developing tools for the emerging field of...

Coupled cavities form a PC laser. (Photonic Crystals).
March 1, 2003... If a gain region within a photonic-crystal (PC) cavity is made to emit light, the result can be a PC laser. Previous demonstrations of PC-based lasers report either optically pumped devices or large-area lasers with distributed feedback. For...

Spinning laser triangulator scopes out pipes. (Surface Profiling).
March 1, 2003... Pipes, conduits, tubes, and ducts--the innards of the man-made world--often need monitoring as they age. Although cameras or light-striping systems have been used to examine the insides of pipes, such systems typically do not give precise...

Low-temperature bonding makes cheaper optoelectronic circuits. (Integrated Optoelectronics).
March 1, 2003... Engineers at IESL-FORTH and University of Crete (Heraklion, Greece), the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Halle, Germany), and the Institute of Microelectronics, NCR Demokritos (Athens, Greece) have developed a process that...

Making a hologram from scratch. (Holography).
March 1, 2003... A mechanically generated holographic effect explored by William Beaty, a research engineer at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), can be duplicated by anyone with a compass and some free time. Beaty, who described the effect at the...

Finger vein patterns used for identification. (Biometric Imaging).
March 1, 2003... A group of researchers at Hitachi's Central Research Laboratory (Tokyo, Japan) have demonstrated a personal identification system using near-infrared (NIR) imaging of finger-vein patterns. (1) The group claims its method is more accurate than...

High-power-laser vendors race to develop light-speed bullets. (Solid-State Lasers).
March 1, 2003... Imagine silent and essentially invisible bullets zipping at the speed of light to surgically destroy their intended targets in even the most crowded or fast-moving environments without even disturbing the neighbors. Imagine aircraft, ships, or...

Raman technique enables noninvasive blood test. (Spectroscopy).
March 1, 2003... Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) have developed a five-minute noninvasive blood test that uses 830-nm light from a laser diode to identify the concentration of nine critical components in a blood...

Physicists demonstrate first x-ray Fabry-Perot. (Interferometers).
March 1, 2003... After many years of preliminary studies, researchers have announced the first demonstration of a Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometer for hard x-rays. Visible-wavelength FPs have been used for more than 100 years in the physical and life sciences...

Micron-sized tools are driven by light. (Optical Trapping).
March 1, 2003... When light is used to manipulate microscopic objects, it is typically applied directly to the object, moving it via radiation pressure. Now, researchers at Nagoya University (Nagoya, Japan) have developed micron-scale tools, such as tweezers...

Correction.
March 1, 2003... We incorrectly credited the photo that appeared in Japanwatch, January 2003, p. 54. The Fig. 2 photo of an oscilloscope testing a 160-Gbit/s photonic network should have been credited to Ando Electric (Tokyo), not Sony Techtronics (which, in...

Oscmar wins Australian contract. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... Oscmar International (Auckland, New Zealand), a subsidiary of Cubic (San Diego, CA), has won a US$46.6 million (AU$79 million) contract to provide the first transportable combat training system for the Australian Armed Forces. Australian...

Aculight wins contract for laser defense systems. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... Aculight (Bothell, WA) announced the award of a three-year, $3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base to develop and demonstrate a new class of semiconductor lasers for future aircraft infrared...

JMAR achieves 130-nm lithography feature sizes. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... JMAR Technologies (San Diego, CA) has achieved a major milestone in its Department of Defense-funded collimated plasma lithography (CPL) technology program, producing 130-nm feature sizes. In the tests that produced these results, JMAR's...

Northrop Grumman to build high-resolution ladar sensor. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... Northrop Grumman's Systems Development and Technology (SD&T) Division (Los Angeles, CA) has been awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to design, build, and conduct a proof-of-concept airborne demonstration...

Surface-emitting laser achieves 6 mW. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... Optical components supplier Photodigm (Richardson, TX) announced today that it has achieved 1310-nm grating-outcoupled surface-emitting (GSE) laser-technology-yielding devices with single-mode output powers up to 6 mW. Photodigm's GSE laser...

Osram achieves 8 W from disk laser. (laser industry report).
March 1, 2003... Osram Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg, Germany) has announced an optical-pumped semiconductor (OPS) disk-laser prototype with an 8-W optical output power with an optical pumping power of 19 W at a wavelength of 980 nm, enabling laser projection...

Cymer. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Cymer (San Diego, CA) announced orders for its new XLA 100 argon fluoride (ArF) light source from all three lithography system suppliers, with delivery of initial systems to all three slated for the first quarter of 2003....

Thermo Electron. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Thermo Electron (Waltham, MA) reported fourth-quarter 2002 revenues of $569 million in 2002, up 2% from $560 million in the same period in 2001....

Ultratech Stepper. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Ultratech Stepper (San Jose, CA), has announced the delivery of two alpha laser-spike anneal systems in the second half of 2002 and the booking of one preproduction system to be delivered at the end of 2003....

Candela. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Candela (Wayland, MA) has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its Smoothbeam diode laser for the noninvasive treatment of atrophic acne scars, as welt as its GentleYAG laser for treatment of facial wrinkles...

Millenium Dental Technologies. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Millenium Dental Technologies (Cerritos, CA) has received FDA clearance for its digital dental laser in the U.S. marketplace and also has received the first ever FDA regulatory clearance for the specific wording and procedure known as "laser...

Advanced Photonics acquires Texas Optoelectronics. (optics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Advanced Photonix (Camarillo, CA) has acquired the outstanding capital stock of Texas Optoelectronics (Garland, TX) for the Purchase Price of 1 million shares of API's Common Stock and retirement of outstanding debt of $1.2 million. Texas...

Matheson Tri-Gas. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... The Matheson Tri-Gas (Parsippany, NJ) Electronics and Specialty Gas Group has completed the expansion of a new facility in LaPorte, TX to produce ultra-high purity Ammonia....

The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) and The Optical Society of Northern California (OSNC). (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) and The Optical Society of Northern California (OSNC) have established a Silicon Valley Optics Education website at www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/scv/k-12/optics.html "to...

Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment (Swavesey, Cambridge, England is completing the installation of a 3 x 2" CCS GaN MOCVD at Harvard University in the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Center for the growth of a broad range of nitride based...

New Focus. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... New Focus (San Jose. CA) announced the expansion of its laser product portfolio to include fixed-wavelength lasers in violet (405 nm), blue (475 nm). green (532 nm), and red (635 nm) wavelengths. The company has also announced it has recently...

Newport. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Newport (Irvine, CA) reported a toss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2002 of $4,3 million compared with income from continuing operations of $I o million in the corresponding prior year period.

Dynasil reports improved financial performance for 2002. (optics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Dynasil (West Berlin, NJ), manufacturer and reseller of synthetic fused silica for the semiconductor, laser, space and optical components industries announced revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, of $656,156, an increase of 3% over...

Canon reaps record-breaking sales and profits. (optics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Canon (Tokyo, Japan) reported fiscal year 2002 consolidated net sales of [yen] 2,940.1 billion (US$24.45 billion), which represents a year-over-year increase of 1.1% over fiscal year 2001. The company also reported 2002 net income of [yen]...

Welsh Agency plans optics incubator. (optics industry report).
March 1, 2003... The Welsh Development Agency (WDA; Cardiff, England) has announced plans for a national business incubation and research facility in St. Asaph, North Wales, dedicated to the growth of the optoelectronics industry. Known as OpTIC Technium,...

Intense Photonics expands facilities. (optics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Intense Photonics (High Blantyre, Scotland) has expanded its capability with the addition of 1000 sq ft of clean room at its Scottish semiconductor fabrication facility. The new area provides additional optoelectronic life test, assembly, and...

Micron enters international agreements. (imaging & detector industry report).
March 1, 2003... Micron Semiconductor Products (Boise, ID) and Celetron International (Hamilton, Bermuda) have signed a distribution agreement for Celetron to supply Micron products in India. Micron has also entered into an agreement with Given Imaging...

Mobility Concepts (Naperville, IL), a provider of mobile computing solutions. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Mobility Concepts (Naperville, IL), solutions to Fortune 2000 companies and the operating subsidiary of Active Link Communications (Naperville, IL), has signed an agreement with Microvision (Bothell. WA) to market Microvision's Fiic laser...

Pacific Nanotechnology. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Pacific Nanotechnology (Santa Clara, CA) is offering seminars on atomic-force microscope applications to provide nanotechnologists and nanoresearchers with practical strategies to aid their research and process control applications.

Metrologic restructures bank debt facility. (imaging & detector industry report).
March 1, 2003... Metrologic Instruments (Blackwood, NJ), a manufacturer of imaging systems using laser, holographic, camera and vision-based technologies, high-speed automated data-capture solutions, and barcode scanners has restructured its bank debt facility...

Cranfield University opens optics center. (imaging & detector industry report).
March 1, 2003... Cranfield University (Swindon, England) has announced the opening of the Centre for Photo-Manipulation and Photo-Analysis of Materials. This initiative is funded by Cranfield University under the remit of the Science Research Investment Fund...

Universal Display wins defense contracts. (imaging & detector industry report).
March 1, 2003... Universal Display (Ewing, NJ) has been awarded a two-year, $729,996 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Program contract by the U.S. Department of the Army to further its development of conformable and transparent display...

Virtek to supply projection systems for fighter jets. (imaging & detector industry report).
March 1, 2003... Virtek Vision International (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) has completed the installation of contracts totaling more than CA$1.7 million awarded in 2002 from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (Fort Worth, TX). In this order Virtek LaserEdge laser...

Crinis to provide indoor free-space optics. (fiberoptics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Crinis Networks (Richardson, TX) has announced an agreement with Sanyo Electric (Tokyo, Japan) to manufacture a"laser-wire" transceiver that provides quickly deployable, reusable Fast Ethernet connections. The device is the first of a planned...

Alcatel Optronics. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Alcatel Optronics (Paris, France) reported fourth-quarter sales down sequentially by 18.5% to 10.6 million [euro](US$11.36 million). Loss from operations was 32.4 million [euro] ($34.72 million) with a net loss of (115.5 million (US$123.77...

Transmode Systems (Stockholm, Sweden), a Swedish supplier of fiberoptic transmission equipment, and Walker and Associates (Welcome, NC) have entered into an agreement under which Walker and Associates will market. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Transmode Systems (Stockholm, Sweden), a Swedish supplier of fiberoptic transmission equipment, and Walker and Associates (Welcome, NC) have entered into an agreement under which Walker and Associates will market, resell and support CWDM...

Opto Speed. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Opto Speed (Ruschtikon, Switzerland) has signed a distribution agreement with Mitsui & Co. to sell and support Opto Speed's suite of state-of-the-art high-value-added products in the Japanese market....

Sagitta (Hauppauge, NY) has announced that U-Tech of Taiwan will become its exclusive representative. (Also in the news ...).
March 1, 2003... Sagitta (Hauppauge, NY) has announced that U-Tech of Taiwan will become its exclusive representative in Taiwan for its leading-edge fiberoptic process equipment.

Farfield Photonics receives grant. (fiberoptics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Farfield Photonics, based at the University of Durham, England, has received a grant from the County of Durham Development Company to expand its activities. Far field Photonics holds the patents to a new design of a wavelength locker, an...

Inno Micro to market for IP Infusion in Japan. (fiberoptics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Inno Micro (Tokyo, Japan) and IP Infusion (San Jose, CA) have announced that Inno Micro will market IP In fusion's Advanced Routing Suite to communications systems developers in Japan. Inno Micro will focus on marketing IP Infusion's products...

Northlight acquires Ericsson optoelectronics. (fiberoptics industry report).
March 1, 2003... Northlight Optronics (Kista, Sweden) has acquired the optoelectronic component business unit of Ericsson (Stockholm, Sweden). This unit has more than 20 years experience in the design development and manufacture of telecommunication fiberoptic...

Growth in sight for telecom lasers and transponders. (fiberoptics industry report).
March 1, 2003... The telecom laser and transponder market stands to grow more than 30% in 2003, largely due to the continued installation of line cards into existing systems, drawing down inventories. However, with dozens of suppliers competing for a share of...

How do I start a consulting service? (business forum).
March 1, 2003... Q. Do you have any advice for setting up a consulting service? And is there a professional association for consultants? A. Duncan MacVicar, a long-time marketing consultant in the laser/optics/photonics industry, made a surprising statement...

The power in crystals: the efficient production of nonlinear optical effects depends on the details of the structure of the host material. (Back to basics: nonlinear optics).
March 1, 2003... The principal of superposition states that different wavelengths of light do not interact when they occupy the same space. This situation is altered in a dramatic way in nonlinear optics (NLO), which describes the reaction of a material to...

Electrons probe ultrafast dynamics. (Spectrometers).
March 1, 2003... The challenge of consistently generating and measuring 2 very short optical pulses of 5 fs or less has been intensely pursued in ultrafast spectroscopy. The motion of atoms within molecules is on the timescale of 10 fs. Probing with these...

Fiber plays an increasing role in CATV: the spread of broadband access and premium video services together with the introduction of high-definition television is driving network upgrades and gradually reshaping the cable television landscape. (Optical networking: cable television).
March 1, 2003... It's easy to underestimate cable television. Market analysts generally don't put cable TV in the top rank of fiber markets. Yet if you live in an average suburban community, it's likely that the fiber closest to your home belongs to a cable...

Tunable lasers enhance fiber sensors. (Tunable Lasers).
March 1, 2003... Tunable lasers developed for the telecommunications industry will ultimately lead to increased network intelligence, functionality, and efficiency. But the photonics manufacturing expertise, product innovation, and business maturity that...

CWDM breathes life into metro, access, and enterprise applications: simpler optics, uncooled lasers, and zero-water-peak fibers have paved the way for one of the few bright spots in telecom these days. Combining CWDM with DWDM may be the ultimate solution. (Optoelectronic applications: telecommunications).
March 1, 2003... Long considered the less sophisticated cousin to dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM), coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM) is emerging as one of the few revenue opportunities in telecommunications and data communications...

Indium phosphide: MZ chips are suited to long-reach metro: Mach-Zehnder modulators based on indium phosphide deliver chirp, power, drive voltage, size, and integrated features. Spot-size converters further enhance their performance and facilitate copackaging with lasers. (Modulators).
March 1, 2003... External modulators are used in high-performance fiberoptic transmission systems to avoid laser chirp (transient changes in the transmission wavelength), ringing, and limited extinction ratio. Further benefits stemming from modulators are...

IR discrete LEDs. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A new line of LEDs produces IR emissions in the 850-, 880-and 940-nm wavelengths. They are available in T1 (3 mm), T1.75 (5 mm) and SMT (3.4 x 8 mm) sizes. The IR LEDs are designed for use with night vision goggles, surveillance cameras,...

3-D scanning system. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The new PPT861-SH is a high-speed, automated 3-D and 2-D inspection system. It utilizes patented SMI (scanning moire interferometry) 3-D technology to allow 100% production inspection of devices in strip format, including BGA, CSP, and LGA....

Polarizing cube beamsplitters. (new products).
March 1, 2003... Tech Spec high-efficiency polarizing cube beam splitters reflect s-polarized light at a 90 angle while transmitting p-polarized light through the cube. The beamsplitters are designed for laser wavelengths of 850, 780 and 632.8 nm and are...

Wavelength/bandwidth measurement option. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The new OMU-953 polarization-dependent center wavelength (PDCW) and polarization dependent bandwidth (PDBW) measurement options are now available for the CSA-2004 component spectrum analyzer system. This option, incorporating a new proprietary...

CCD camera. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The Photometrics Quantix:7899 CCD camera provides over 4 million pixels in a photoactive array measuring 28 x 28 mm. The 12-bit, 5-MHz camera features a scientific grade, front-illuminated device with peak QE spanning from 650 to 800 nm. A...

Optical variable attenuator. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A new MEMS-based OVA component provides a compact, low-cost, electronically adjustable optical attenuator for WDM system integration. The unit is available in 1-, 4-, and 8-channel packages. Individual channels have a 30-dB linear attenuation...

UV polarizers. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A new line of UV Glan Taylor polarizers provide an extinction ratio > 1 x [10.sup.-6] for use in applications ranging down to 200 nm. The components are made with rare natural crystal calcite, a material with high UV transmission and low...

Nd:YV[O.sub.4] lasers. (new products).
March 1, 2003... High-repetition rate Nd:YV[O.sup.4], solid-state lasers have been added to the ACE series of lasers. The MOPA models have laser oscillators utilizing proprietary electro-optical Q-switching and operate from 0 to 50 kHz to provide sub-ns timing...

Fiber-inspection system. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The VF-20 is an interferometric inspection system designed for checking the quality and end angle of cleaved or polished optical fibers. The system, based on a Michelson interferometer, offers a long working distance to eliminate the risk of...

Programmable current source. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The ADN8810 is a fully integrated, single-chip programmable precision current source for tunable lasers in optical networks and instrument applications. The source is able to drive different laser sections by scaling its output current for...

Picosecond pulsed laser diode. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A new 375-nm ps pulsed diode laser is designed for integration into systems for time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC). The laser has pulses Photonic Solutions, Edinburgh, Scotland Write in 210 or go to www.onlinecenter.to/Ifw...

Elliptical LEDs. (new products).
March 1, 2003... New LP476 series LEDs, manufactured by Cotco, are now available. Offered in a P4, piranha-type package, the LEDs feature a unique elliptical lens that produces a viewing angle of 90[degrees] x 35[degrees]. The LED uses AlGalnP and InGaN...

C[O.sub.2] slab laser. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The new DC 050 W is a C[O.sub.2] diffusion-cooled slab laser with an average output power of 5000 W. It has a beam quality of K [greater than or equal to] 0.9 to provide narrow, deep seams with minimal heat distortion. Based on patented...

Thermal-imaging camera. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The DI-5000 Pan & Tilt Thermal Imager for mid-range perimeter and security surveillance, manufactured by Digital Infrared Imaging, are now being offered. The thermal-imaging camera systems are designed to mount on vehicles or buildings. The...

Photoelectric sensors. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The new ELF Series Photoelectric Sensors integrates ASIC technology in a compact package. ELF models include a reflex retroreflective version, a background suppression version with a detection range up to 50 mm and an energetic version with a...

Laser-diode driver. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The Model 7701A high-power OEM laser driver is designed to drive pulsed or CW diode loads for DPSS laser applications. The driver can be configured for output currents up to 300-A peak (10-[micro]s risetime) or 50-A CW into diode loads up to...

Bend-insensitive fiber. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A new line of bend-insensitive fiber is designed for improved bend performance in reduced-radius applications. The fiber uses a moderately higher NA than standard single-mode telecom fibers. It delivers a lower bend loss at 1310 and 1550 nm...

Multifiber systems. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The single-mode OGI multifiber system is a patented, high-density panel-mount and backplane feedthrough system. It includes multifiber cable assemblies, multifiber ruggedized fan-out assemblies, panel-mount couplings, daughter-card couplings,...

Photon counter. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The Rate Meter PRM-400 is a dual-precision counter/timer-rate meter with a pulse rate of >500 MHz. It offers a time base from 10 [micro]s to 10 sec, 2-ns pulse-pair resolution and a GPIB, parallel, RS-232 interface. The counter has TTL, ECL,...

Ti:sapphire laser system. (new products).
March 1, 2003... The Model CPA-2061 chirped-pulse amplified Ti:sapphire laser system produces 1-mJ pulses at 3 kHz and >500 [micro]J at repetition rates between 3 and 6 kHz. This fully integrated system includes a diode-pumped seed laser, pulse stretcher,...

Microscope fiberoptic coupler. (new products).
March 1, 2003... A universal fiberoptic microscope coupler is designed to collect emissions spectra. It connects to any microscope via a C-mount port and then couples the microscope output to a fiberoptic bundle for connection to a spectral analyzer. The...