Laser Focus World articles from March 2006

Laser Focus World archives from March 2006

Fiber communications turn 40.(editor's desk)
March 1, 2006... Several years after the first laser was demonstrated in 1960 another watershed event occurred in the development of photonics as we know it today. Two young research engineers from the Standard Telecommunications Laboratories in England...

Silica nanowire couples light into chalcogenide PC with 98% efficiency.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... The high refractive index (2.4 to 3.0) of chalcogenide glass makes it ideal for use in 2-D photonic crystals (PCs), which more easily achieve complete band-gaps at higher index (the material also has high non-linearity, desirable for 2-D...

Core-suction technique improves preform quality.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, VA) and Fisk University (Nashville, TN) have developed a simple core-suction technique for the fabrication of high-quality optical-fiber preforms made with highly...

Technology innovators and investors to meet in Boston.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... Science researchers, entrepreneurs and investors will gather next month in Cambridge, Mass., at Photon Forum 2006 to learn how science and finance can benefit each other in the rapidly expanding field of optics. The two-day conference brings...

Upconversion laser produces 0.47 W of green light.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... Based on photon avalanching and other processes, frequency upconversion is a method for creating short-wavelength lasers that does not involve nonlinear frequency conversion and its associated intensity-fluctuation problems. Aiming for...

Holey strain sensor is temperature-independent.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... Holey optical fibers, also known as microstructured or photonic-crystal fibers, are being applied in numerous sensing and related applications (see www.laserfocusworld.com/ articles/229677). Unlike strain sensors made from long-period gratings...

Photonic crystals enable electro-optical modulator in silicon.(newsbreaks)
March 1, 2006... In an invited talk given on Jan. 25 at the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Photonics West conference (San Jose, CA; Jan. 21-26), Ray Chen, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin,...

Spark-plug laser sensor characterizes IC engines as they run.(SPECTROSCOPY)
March 1, 2006... Since the enactment of emission limits for cars and the 1973 oil embargo, much engineering effort has gone into making internal-combustion (IC) engines the marvels of efficiency that they now are. But further advances require IC engineers to...

Fiberoptic radiometer measures near room temperature.(optoelectronics: world news)
March 1, 2006... Researchers in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel-Aviv University (Tel-Aviv, Israel) have developed a noncontact IR multiband fiberoptic radiometer that is capable of measuring the real-time temperature of bodies near room temperature....

Yb:YAG thin-disk laser is single-frequency tunable.(SOLID-STATE LASERS)
March 1, 2006... Thin-disk solid-state lasers typically have an excellent beam quality ([M.sup.2] very close to 1) that is only weakly dependent on pump power. Using Yb: YAG as the laser gain medium in such a laser results in a fairly broad gain range that has...

Microscopy shows corneal laser welding speeds healing.(BIOPHOTONICS)
March 1, 2006... In opthalmic surgery, laser welding of corneal tissue is an alternative to conventional suturing procedures. Although the method has been tested only at the experimental level, preliminary results show that the technique reduces inflammation,...

Nanorods and air make low-index film.(OPTICAL COATINGS)
March 1, 2006... A nanostructured silicon dioxide (Si[O.sub.2]) thin film developed by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI; Troy, NY) may help expand the capabilities of multilayer thin-film anti- and high-reflection optical coatings. The film's...

Ultralong Raman fiber laser is virtually lossless.(FIBER LASERS)
March 1, 2006... Scientists at Aston University (Birmingham, England) have demonstrated what they are calling the longest-ever fiber laser, with a 75-km cavity length. (1) This virtually lossless fiber span--with amplitude variations below the accuracy of their...

Frequency-resolved lidar improves range and vibration measures.(REMOTE SENSING)
March 1, 2006... Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Boulder, CO) have used a broadband femtosecond fiber laser to make frequency-resolved coherent lidar measurements over a fiber length of 1 km of target displacements as...

Noninvasive scanner monitors brain function in premies.(OPTICAL TOMOGRAPHY)
March 1, 2006... An optical-tomography instrument designed for noninvasive monitoring of blood volume and oxygenation could save the lives and brain functions of premature infants. Developed by Adam Gibson and colleagues at the Department of Medical Physics and...

Sixteen laser beams combined with 88% efficiency.(LASER OPTICS)
March 1, 2006... Many techniques have been developed for the coherent addition of several low-power laser beams to produce a high-power laser with improved beam quality. These coherent-addition methods, however, were limited to fewer than eight laser beams....

Photonics goes high profile at Photonics West '06.(CONFERENCE REVIEW)
March 1, 2006... Judging by the number of new products introduced at Photonics West (San Jose, CA; Jan. 21-26) that addressed needs such as health care, communications, industrial efficiency, and security, Ken Kaufmann of Hamamatsu (Bridgewater, NJ) was on the...

EM4 and Bookham target homeland security.(laser industry report)
March 1, 2006... Bookham (San Jose, CA) signed a cooperation agreement with EM4 (Bedford, MA) and its wholly owned subsidiary EM4 Defense. Under the agreement, EM4 will be the primary market channel for the Bookham high-power pump-laser business into the U.S....

International Light merges two divisions.(laser industry report)
March 1, 2006... A newly formed company, International Light Technologies (Peabody, MA), announced that its divisions, Gilway Technical Lamp, a manufacturer and distributor of technical light sources and systems, and International Light, a manufacturer of light...

Veeco group to focus on HB-LED market.(laser industry report)
March 1, 2006... To maximize growth opportunities in the data storage and HB-LED industries, Veeco Instruments (Woodbury, NY) has formed a Process Equipment Group. "Our Process Equipment Group is a $225 million per year world leader in deposition and etch...

Shenzhen Century Epitech builds laser unit.(laser industry report)
March 1, 2006... According to Asia Pulse (Rhodes, Australia), a business news and intelligence service covering 30 Asian countries, Shenzhen Century Epitech (Beijing, China) has been approved to launch a semiconductor laser unit project in Guangming High-tech...

StockerYale realigns operations.(laser industry report)
March 1, 2006... In an effort to accelerate growth in certain key areas and reduce overall costs, StockerYale (Salem, NH) is implementing a realignment of operations into three core growth businesses: lasers, LEDs, and specialty optical fiber. The company says...

Biolase Technology.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Biolase Technology, a manufacturer of laser technologies for applications in dentistry and medicine, is moving its corporate headquarters to Irvine, CA, to increase square footage by 54%.

Quanta Technologies.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Quanta Technologies (Tucson, AZ) launched its new Web site, QuantaWeb.com, a laser technology portal designed to be a gathering place for the aesthetic and medical laser community.

Sherwood Technology (Cheshire, England) has changed its name to DataLase.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Sherwood Technology (Cheshire, England) has changed its name to DataLase, the name of its process that uses a combination of color change chemistry and low-power laser light in marking applications.

Cymer.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Laser manufacturer Cymer (San Diego, CA) celebrated its 20th anniversary by pledging $175,000 to the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

The Firecomms.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... The Firecomms (Cork, Ireland) fiberoptic transceiver (FOT) based on a high-speed resonant-cavity LED (RCLED) is the first to be certified for compliance with the MOST, (Media Oriented Systems Transport) automotive standard.

Jenoptik acquires another U.S. firm.(optics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... Following its purchase of Liebmann Optical Company (Easthampton, MA) in 1999 and Coastal Optical Systems (West Palm Beach, FL) in 2002, the Jenoptik Group (Jena, Germany) is further expanding its micro-optics business with the acquisition of...

OSA applauds Bush administration.(optics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... The Optical Society of America (OSA; Washington, D.C.) praised U.S. president George W. Bush's emphasis on innovation in his annual State of the Union address. The President said he would include $5.9 billion in additional funds for research,...

Schott mirrors aid star formation findings.(optics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... The twin Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, the largest in the world, both of which use Schott (Duryea, PA) Zerodur low-expansion glass ceramic mirrors, played key roles in the DEEP2 (Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe) team's discoveries that stars...

Omega helps bring comet dust home.(optics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... In January, NASA's Stardust satellite returned to earth from a 2.88 billion-mile, seven-year roundtrip journey, with dust from the tail of comet Wild 2 collected with the aid of filters from Omega Optical (Brattleboro, VT). Approximately two...

Ocean Optics studies Hope Diamond.(optics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... When the Smithsonian Institution invited scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to study the optical properties of a suite of colored diamonds, including the famous Hope Diamond, it called in Ocean Optics (Dunedin, FL). Roy...

Melles Griot Optics Group.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Melles Griot Optics Group (Rochester, NY) is making its thin-film coating capability available to customers who need optical coating services for their own substrates.

McPherson.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Spectroscopy instrument specialist McPherson (Chelmsford, MA) provided components that enabled commissioning of the Soft X-ray Analytics Facility at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, Germany) synchrotron radiation storage ring known...

Metastable Instruments.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Metastable Instruments (St. Peters. MO) received its third patent. U.S. Patent 6,992,843 for refractive light-beam steerers used in airborne laser radar applications.

Structured Materials Industries.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Structured Materials Industries (SMI; Piscataway, NJ) received phase It funding from the U.S. Air Force to develop a large-area vapor-deposition tool to produce very-tow-absorption (VLA) optical coatings.

Corning predicts growth in LCD-TV market.(imaging & detector: industry report)
March 1, 2006... In an announcement to investors, Corning (Corning, NY) said it expects the liquid-crystal-display (LCD) glass market to grow more than 40% in 2006. While desktop monitors will continue to account for the majority of demand in 2006, LCD TV is...

UDC awarded patent on OLED displays.(imaging & detector: industry report)
March 1, 2006... Universal Display (UDC; Ewing, NJ), a developer of organic-light-emitting-diode (OLED) technology for flat-panel displays, lighting, and other optoelectronics using its proprietary phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) technology, has been awarded a...

Redlake and Geospatial extend partnership.(imaging & detector: industry report)
March 1, 2006... Redlake (Tucson, AZ) and Geospatial Systems (GSI; Rochester, NY) announced a strategic partnership for exclusive development, distribution and support of Redlake's multispectral line of digital cameras. Under the agreement, GSI will become the...

Dalsa receives camera contracts.(imaging & detector: industry report)
March 1, 2006... Next Instrument, a Korean supplier of inspection equipment for flat-panel displays (FPD), has awarded Dalsa (www.dalsa.com) contracts totaling $1.1 million for Dalsa's next-generation electronic cameras, which are designed to image at very high...

Oak Ridge focuses on radiation detection.(imaging & detector: industry report)
March 1, 2006... A new Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; www.ornl.gov) initiative will consolidate and expand its research and development efforts in radiation detection technologies. The goal of the new Center for Radiation Detection Materials and Systems...

In response to the high demand for its new ZeonorFilm (stretched film) and its use in large LCD televisions.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... In response to the high demand for its new ZeonorFilm (stretched film) and its use in large LCD televisions, Zeon twww.zeon.co.jp] began a production capacity expansion at the Takaoka, Japan, plant of optes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zeon.

Flir Systems.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Flir Systems (Boston, MA], manufacturer of infrared cameras and technology, announced a series of Infrared Open House Events for 2006 throughout North America. designed to inform infrared users about the latest advances in the field.

Elbit Vision Systems (EVS; www.evs.co.il) is acquiring Panoptes (Yoqneam, Israel).(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Elbit Vision Systems (EVS; www.evs.co.il) is acquiring Panoptes (Yoqneam, Israel), a provider of machine-vision systems for surface inspection of textiles.

RedShift Systems.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... RedShift Systems (Waltham, MA), a provider of thermal-imaging systems, closed $12 million in first-round funding.

eMagin.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... eMagin (Bellevue, WA), a provider of personal display systems and OLED microdisplay technology, is extending its markets in Europe and Asia through the use of direct distributors for its Z800 3DVisor.

Powered by Renewables (PBR) of Nevada will partner with SunEdison (Baltimore, MD).(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Powered by Renewables (PBR) of Nevada will partner with SunEdison (Baltimore, MD) to develop the world's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Nevada: the 18-MW project almost doubles what is currently the world's largest PV project (10...

Omron expands networking portfolio.(fiberoptics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... In a move to expand its networking product line, Omron (www.omron.com) reached an agreement to acquire Aduro (Pleasanton, CA), manufacturer of precision high-speed optical subassemblies. Omron's Electronic Components Business unit--the American...

NeoPhotonics ships a million FTTH transceivers.(fiberoptics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... At the January Fiber Optic EXPO (FOE) in Tokyo, Japan, NeoPhotonics announced that it has shipped 1 million bidirectional transceivers for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) applications, primarily for networks in Japan. "Bidirectional transceivers...

ColorChip gets FTTH financing.(fiberoptics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... A manufacturer of glass-based planer-lightwave-circuit (PLC) chips and modules for FTTH networks, ColorChip (Caesarea, Israel) announced that it has closed a $9.5 million financing round. According to Moshe Price, CEO of ColorChip, the...

EMCORE acquires Force.(fiberoptics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... The fiberoptic transport and video broadcast products, technologies, and intellectual property of privately held Force (Christiansburg, VA) have been acquired by Emcore (Somerset, NJ), a semiconductor-based components and subsystems provider...

MIT launches Communications Roadmap II.(fiberoptics: industry report)
March 1, 2006... The Microphotonics Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) has launched CTR II--the second phase of the groundbreaking Communications Technology Roadmap program. The CTR I program was a four-year analysis of the...

StockerYale.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... StockerYale (Salem, NH) says specialty optical fiber is its fastest growing product line. due to increased demand in the fiberoptic gyroscope and sensor markets: fourth quarter 2005 sales of $5,0 million were led by a 170% increase In revenues...

Tyco Electronics (www.tycoelectronics.com) announced that it is a founding member of the Ethernet Alliance (www.ethernetalliance.org).(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Tyco Electronics (www.tycoelectronics.com) announced that it is a founding member of the Ethernet Alliance (www.ethernetalliance.org), an industry group dedicated to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology.

OE Solutions.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... OE Solutions (Irvine, CA). a supplier of optoelectronic transceiver solutions for optical communications, announced the closing of a $8 million Series B round of funding and corporate financing, bringing their total funding to $12 million.

Movaz Networks.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... Optical-networking solutions provider Movaz Networks (Atlanta, GA) closed a $20 million equity financing round and secured an additional $12 million line of credit.

NTT Leasing (www.nttl.co.jp), the venture investment organization of NTT.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2006... NTT Leasing (www.nttl.co.jp), the venture investment organization of NTT. expanded its investment in Glimmerglass (Hayward, CA), a provider of intelligent optical switches.

Can I use my government work in my startup?(business forum)
March 1, 2006... Q: I am considering starting a company. How can I take advantage of the work I did in a national laboratory, some of which is published? A: This is a dilemma; you want to publish and you also want to keep a secret. Technically, as a...

Laser light shows: U.S. regulations should reflect modern times.(comment)
March 1, 2006... Sometimes a laser is just a laser. Other times, the smallest change to an otherwise ordinary laser turns it into something entirely different, something that quickly brings it to the attention of federal safety regulators. A 10-mW laser...

MTF quickly characterizes the performance of imaging systems.(OPTICS TESTING)(Cover story)
March 1, 2006... Current trends in the optics industry require that every precision optical assembly, even those produced in large volume, be supplied with certifiable modulation-transfer-function (MTF) inline testing. This is especially true in the highly...

Plastic optical fiber builds on MOST success.(AUTOMOTIVE FIBER)
March 1, 2006... In just the past three years, European automotive manufacturers have installed 25 million nodes of plastic optical fiber (POF) in more than 40 vehicle models. The Media Oriented Systems Transport or MOST Cooperation (Karlsruhe, Germany;...

Fly-eye sensor vies with commercial CCDs.(CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICES)
March 1, 2006... Computer vision requires sensitive and accurate imaging sensors, preferably with fast response times. Charge-coupled-device (and CMOS) arrays have dominated the field in recent years because of their reliable performance and relatively...

Large displays rise to the challenge of high-definition TV: LCDs, plasma displays, and rear-projection TVs based on micromirrors are consigning the venerable CRT to the fate of the dinosaurs.(PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: LARGE-SCALE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES)
March 1, 2006... After years of anticipation, the market for large digital displays is finally taking off. The U.S. Congress gave the final push late last year when it set a hard deadline for the shutdown of analog television broadcasts. Digital television does...

Technical hurdles loom on the path to general illumination: development of efficient green and ultraviolet emitters and thermal management of LED sources will be important concerns.(ADVANCED LIGHTING)
March 1, 2006... Advanced lighting based on solid-state technology will eventually replace conventional incandescent and fluorescent sources in many general-illumination applications. It has already achieved success in niche markets like signage and displays,...

Quest continues for solid-state general illumination.(ADVANCED LIGHTING)
March 1, 2006... General illumination is often spoken of as the "holy grail" of solid-state lighting technology, and as with any quest, there are dragons that need slaying. In this case the dragons might be thought of as technical hurdles to overcome, which are...

LEDs lead the way in white-light applications: government and industry leaders have long touted the advantages of solid-state lighting over traditional illumination sources. Is their hard work beginning to pay off?(ADVANCED LIGHTING)
March 1, 2006... We've all heard the promises of solid-state lighting: greater energy efficiency, lower maintenance costs, longer lifetimes, broader design flexibility, increased environmental friendliness, and more. We've also seen the timelines and roadmaps...

Quantum-dot research targets general illumination: holding promise as a potential source for solid-state lighting in general illumination, nano-size light emitters cut scattering losses and enable wavelength tuning, but tend to have low quantum efficiency.(ADVANCED LIGHTING)
March 1, 2006... The ability to generate broad-spectrum white light with good color-rendering qualities is a key step on the road to solid-state lighting for general illumination. One approach, based upon fabricating appropriately distributed combinations of...

High-power diode-laser bars come of age.(HIGH-POWER SEMICONDUCTOR SOURCES)
March 1, 2006... Over the past 20 years, multimode semiconductor diode-laser bars and individual single-emitter diode-laser devices have achieved higher output powers and higher power-conversion efficiencies, allowing them to transition from specialty...

Raman system.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The Dimension-P1 Raman System is available with a 785-, 632-, or 532-nm laser. It uses an LSI Vector Raman Probe, an internal sample compartment. The customizable External Sampling Module with Raman microscopy adaptors allows the user to take a...

Multiline laser.(new products)
March 1, 2006... Modu-laser has added a 300-mW multiline argon-ion laser to its line of air-cooled argon lasers. Utilizing a single-package design, the Stellar-Pro-L provides polarized [TEM.sub.00] output with amplitude noise of less than 1% rms and a...

Fiberoptic panels.(new products)
March 1, 2006... Patented woven fiberoptic panels enable design-in of a backlight to provide bright, uniform illumination for monochrome LCD displays using a single 5-ram LED. Designed for use in digital pressure test gauges, the technology allows easy data...

Image-intensified modules.(new products)
March 1, 2006... A line of image-intensified modules is built around 18-mm Gen 2 and Gen 3 tubes with a spectral response of 350 to 950 nm. Standard modules feature glass input windows, flat fiberoptic output windows, and manual gain control. This design also...

Internet knowledge base.(new products)
March 1, 2006... An Internet knowledge base, which includes a collection of tutorial, how-to, frequently asked questions and articles is now available at www.zemax. com/kb. The site includes more than 50 articles on classical lens design, creating 3-D...

Optical software.(new products)
March 1, 2006... TraceProBridge is an add-in to the mechanical design software SolidWorks. It allows users to include optical components, light sources, detectors, sensors, and optical effects and properties directly into mechanical models within SolidWorks....

Linear actuators.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The M-2x series of motorized linear actuators provide design resolutions to 4 nm, pushing forces to 120 N and speeds to 50 mm/s. Features include either closed-loop servo motors or stepper motors, nonrotating shaft drives, ball-screws, and...

Frame grabber.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The PC_EYE/ASYNC PCI Express frame-grabber board has four simultaneous asynchronous input channels and a high-speed PCI Express bus interface, and is based on two FPGAs. It has a flexible video input module, allowing simultaneous digitization...

Megapixel camera.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The new CS3960DCL camera utilizes a 1.5-megapixel, 2/3-type progressive-scan CCD that provides pictures of moving objects. It features an all-pixel readout (1392 x 1040 at 30 frames/s), standard Camera Link interface, partial and high speed...

Connector tool kit.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The FAST connector tool kit provides installation tools for preparation of 250- or 900-[micro]m fibers. It includes either a 92208-TB multimode cleaver or the new Universal CT-30A multimode/single-mode cleaver, with a 16-position blade and...

Confocal microscopy.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The Revolution XD is a live-cell 4/D confocal microscopy system that uses up to four solid-state lasers matched to specific fluorophores. An integrated AOTF, controlled through the company's iQ software, works with the laser combiner to control...

CCD camera.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The Sensicam QE is a digital, 12-bit CCD camera system with thermoelectric cooling of the image sensor down to -12[degrees]C, noise down to 4e- rms, and quantum efficiency to 65%. Software-selectable exposure times range from 500 ns to 3600 s....

Optical-power meter.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The Model 4100 optical-power meter takes 100,000 readings each second, and has NIST trace ability and a dynamic range of more than 100 dB. At full speed, dynamic range is more than 65 dB. It provides repeatability of [+ or -] 0.005 dB for most...

Megapixel CCD.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The CCD201 is a megapixel image sensor for low-light scientific applications. It comes in a 1000 x 1000, 13-[micro]m pixel format and has quantum efficiency up to 95%. It is available in front-and back-illuminated formats, with a choice of...

Ti:sapphire laser.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The Trestles femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser comes with oscillator and a compact, 4-W diode-pumped, solid-state pump laser. The modelocked laser is designed for ultrafast applications or for seeding Ti:sapphire amplifier systems. It can deliver...

IR imager.(new products)
March 1, 2006... The HotShot B-View portable thermographic imaging system is an infrared inspection tool for the home and building inspection market. It includes a microbolometer sensor, a joystick control, and a 3.5-in. LCD touch screen with on-screen control...