Laser Focus World articles from March 2007

Laser Focus World archives from March 2007

Ubiquitous optics.(editor's desk)
March 1, 2007... Photonics applications have become so commonplace and far reaching that even those of us who work in the field tend to forget how pervasive optics technology has become in our everyday life. From the seemingly mundane--such as car headlight...

Visual infrared mapping spectrometer reveals titanic Titan cloud.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... A cloud half the size of the United States has been imaged on Saturn's moon Titan by the Cassini spacecraft. The cloud may be responsible for the material that fills the lakes discovered last year by Cassini's radar instrument. Cloaked by...

Photonic-crystal fiber achieves 10 Gbit/s transmission in the visible.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... Increasing demand for broadband services is encouraging researchers to improve the performance of photonic-crystal (PC) fibers, which offer the potential for communication systems with a bandwidth of 260 THz or more, relying on a large spectral...

Corning launches projection green laser.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... Following its successful integration of a small green laser prototype into a miniature display and imaging engine developed by Microvision (Redmond, WA) called an Integrated Photonics Module, Corning (Corning, NY) let it be known that it will...

Mid-IR ZBLAN fiber laser approaches 10 W output.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... Although erbium (Er)-doped zirconium barium lanthanide sodium fluoride (ZBLAN) lasers have achieved power levels around 2 W, these levels are not sufficient to enable their use as mid-infrared (IR) Raman lasers, laser scalpels with high...

Evanescent polarization-induced technique enables nanometer-scale imaging.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... Using a solid-immersion lens (SIL), which does not affect or contaminate the sample like liquid-immersion systems and also enables imaging at numerical-aperture (NA) values greater than 2, researchers in the College of Optical Sciences at the...

GaN microdisk lasers achieve room-temperature, low-threshold CW operation.(news breaks)
March 1, 2007... Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Oxford (England) have fabricated gallium nitride (GaN)-based continuous-wave room-temperature microdisk lasers with a lasing threshold of only 300 W/[cm.sup.2]....

Fluid-jet polisher is deterministic.(OPTICAL FABRICATION)
March 1, 2007... A fluid-jet optical-polishing process developed at LightMachinery (Ottawa, Ont., Canada) promises a lower-cost path to deterministic optical polishing. Traditionally, optical elements have been shaped and polished by skilled opticians;...

Lotus-leaf biomimetics create hydrophobic surface.(optoelectronics: world news)
March 1, 2007... A process devised by researchers at the University of Twente (Enschede, The Netherlands) produces a water-repellent surface that mimics the complex surface of a naturally hydrophobic and self-cleaning lotus leaf. The researchers created...

Bose-Einstein condensates enable light revival.(LASER OPTICAL DATA PROCESSING)
March 1, 2007... Researchers at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) have used a quantum-mechanical interference process to extinguish a light pulse in one location and then revive it in a totally separate location. Lene Hau, the Harvard professor who leads the...

Microshutter array to help space telescope peer back in time.(MEMS)
March 1, 2007... The Hubble Space Telescope currently provides the sharpest views of the cosmos, with imagery hearkening back in time to an era shortly after the birth of stars and galaxies. Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST; see...

Silicon-waveguide modulator reaches 20 Gbit/s.(SILICON PHOTONICS)
March 1, 2007... Aiming to create all the building blocks needed for a complete high-speed silicon-photonics data-transmission system, researchers at Intel (Santa Clara, CA) have unveiled a silicon-based optical modulator that operates at 30 Gbit/s. Combined...

IR/NIR imaging dominate annual symposium.(BIOS 2007)
March 1, 2007... The SPIE Biomedical Optics symposium (BiOS; San Jose, CA, Jan. 20-25) has long been known for showcasing cutting-edge applications of lasers, optics, and optoelectronics in medicine. Over the years this meeting has served as a barometer of how...

All-optical image delay uses slow-light medium.(IMAGE PROCESSING)
March 1, 2007... An all-optical image-delay technique that preserves the phase and amplitude of the stored image has great potential in image processing, holography, and quantum-information applications. To date, analog-to-digital electronic conversion of...

Diamond turning extends Cassegrain design to portable cameras.(IMAGING)
March 1, 2007... In lens design, it helps to set aside preconceived ideas. "In starting with a blank slate, sometimes the impossible can become possible," said Joseph Ford, an associate professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of...

Vibrational spectroscopy guides organic-solar-cell material design.(PHOTOVOLTAICS)
March 1, 2007... Researchers at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State; University Park, PA) are using infrared vibrational spectroscopy to guide a material-design process that they hope will eventually lead to a new generation of organic photovoltaic (OPV)...

Fianium leads next-gen fiber-laser consortium.(industry report: laser)
March 1, 2007... A consortium led by fiber-laser manufacturer Fianium (Southampton, England) received a $2.7 million award from the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry to develop next-generation fiber lasers for industrial and imaging applications. The...

IPG and Newport settle patent litigation.(industry report: laser)
March 1, 2007... Although terms of the settlement were not disclosed, IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA) and Newport (Irvine, CA) settled patent-infringement claims made against IPG Photonics by Spectra-Physics, now a division of Newport, as well as IPG Photonics'...

QPC partners with Northrop Grumman.(industry report: laser)
March 1, 2007... For integration of its high-power semiconductor lasers, QPC Lasers (Sylmar, CA)--parent of Quintessence Photonics--has partnered with Northrop Grumman Space Technology Cutting Edge Optronics (St. Charles, MO). The integrated semiconductor laser...

Homeland Security evaluates missile defense.(industry report: laser)
March 1, 2007... As part of Phase III of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-sponsored Counter-Man Portable Air Defense Systems (C-MANPADS) program, a Northrop Grumman-led industry team will complete production of Guardian missile-defense systems for...

Display companies collaborate on OLEDs.(industry report: laser)
March 1, 2007... Idemitsu Kosan (Tokyo, Japan) and Universal Display (Ewing, NJ) have signed a nonexclusive collaboration agreement to accelerate the development of blue phosphorescent organic-light-emitting-diode(OLED) materials. Idemitsu Kosan has been...

Aculight.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Laser manufacturer Aculight (Bothell. WA) moved into new corporate headquarters. increasing its floor space by 60% over its previous facility and consolidating its staff into one building.

Litron Lasers (Rugby, England) has opened Litton Lasers of North America.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Litron Lasers (Rugby, England) has opened Litton Lasers of North America (Bozeman, MT) to serve the U.S. and Canada with its pulsed and continuous-wave Nd:YAG lasers for scientific and industrial applications.

Cambridge Display Technology (Cambridge, England) acquired the assets of Next Sierra (Mountain View. CA).(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Cambridge Display Technology (Cambridge, England) acquired the assets of Next Sierra (Mountain View. CA), a hardware developer that specializes in designing polymer organic light-emitting-diode (P-OLED) and OLED display driver chips.

Luminus Devices.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Luminus Devices (Woburn. MA) launched a new Web site--www.phtatlight.com--to provide information about the advantages of LED illumination technology for high-definition rear-projection televisions.

Spectranetics.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Spectranetics (Colorado Springs. CO) used its excimer laser system for the first time in the U.S. at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City for a neurovascular surgical procedure.

Edmund Optics expands Asian presence.(industry report: optics)
March 1, 2007... With the purchase of a substantial stake in Saito Optics of Akita, Japan, Edmund Industrial Optics (Barrington, NJ) is making significant new investments to expand its manufacturing and customer-support presence in Japan and the Asian markets....

Imagine Optic opens U.S. office.(industry report: optics)
March 1, 2007... Manufacturer of wavefront metrology and adaptive-optics technology, Imagine Optic (Orsay, France, and Boston, MA) opened a new office at the Cambridge Innovation Center in the heart of Boston's optics cluster. In addition to this reinforced...

AMO acquires Wavefront Sciences.(industry report: optics)
March 1, 2007... Advanced Medical Optics (AMO; Santa Ana, CA), a global ophthalmic surgical and eye-care products company, acquired WaveFront Sciences (Albuquerque, NM), a provider of proprietary wavefront diagnostic systems for refractive surgery and medical...

Epson selects SUSS mask aligner.(industry report: optics)
March 1, 2007... Seiko Epson, a manufacturer of printing and imaging products, purchased an MA200Compact Mask Aligner from SUSS MicroTec (Munich, Germany), supplier of precision optical manufacturing and test systems, to support its production of wafer-level...

Rensselaer licenses microscope technology.(industry report: optics)
March 1, 2007... A microscope technology invented by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) has been licensed by Thorlabs (Newton, NJ). The device, called the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), provides the ability to view large...

Meadowlark Optics.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Meadowlark Optics (Frederick. CO) released Transitions, its 2007-08 "Polarization Handbook," with detailed descriptions and specifications for its polarizers, retarders, attenuators, system-level polarimeters, and new tunable optical filters.

CIR.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Industry analyst firm CIR (Glen Allen, VA) issued a new research note concluding that silicon photonics is a technically superior solution that will be a key enabler for next-generation optical components.

RSoft Design Group (Ossining, NY), a leader in photonics design automation, and optical Research Associates (QRA: Pasadena. CA) developed a new interface.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... RSoft Design Group (Ossining, NY), a leader in photonics design automation, and optical Research Associates (QRA: Pasadena. CA) developed a new interface to provide extended modeling capabilities for optical devices that span both macro and...

Optiwave Systems (Bellevue.WA) and ZEMAX (Ottawa, ON, Canada) are collaborating to create a new interface to streamline the exchange of data.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Optiwave Systems (Bellevue.WA) and ZEMAX (Ottawa, ON, Canada) are collaborating to create a new interface to streamline the exchange of data between optical-engineering simulation design tools provided by both companies.

Obzerv to develop camera for Canada's military.(industry report: imaging & detector)
March 1, 2007... Obzerv Technologies (Quebec, QC, Canada) was awarded a nearly $550,000 contract by Defense Research and Development Canada to develop and integrate an active-range-gated camera payload into a multispectral imaging turret. This contract is a...

European consortium pursues 'PillCam'.(industry report: imaging & detector)
March 1, 2007... Given Imaging (Yokneam, Israel) will lead a consortium to develop an integrated imaging-biosensing system to screen for cancer of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, utilizing the company's "PillCam" device. The Nano-based capsule-Endoscopy with...

Machine-vision market to flatten in 2007.(industry report: imaging & detector)
March 1, 2007... According to the most recent Quarterly Machine Vision Report/Newsletter from machine-vision consultancy Vision Systems International (VSI; San Jose, CA), the North American machine-vision market appears to have grown by about 14.4% in...

Sofradir advances Imalogic project.(industry report: imaging & detector)
March 1, 2007... Infrared-detector maker Sofradir (Veurey-Voroize, France) announced a major step forward in a nearly $30 million R&D project, Imalogic: a commitment from the French government to contribute $7.3 million in support of Imalogic. Imalogic brings...

Adept Technology joins solar market.(industry report: imaging & detector)
March 1, 2007... Vision-guided-robotics supplier Adept Technology (Livermore, CA), secured new design wins with four solar-panel manufacturing companies in the rapidly expanding international solar-power market. During the last quarter of 2006, Adept...

New Scale Technologies.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... New Scale Technologies (Victor, NY) announced plans to create a $1 million dollar manufacturing center located near its current headquarters for manufacturing of its patented SQUIGGLE motors used in mobile phone camera modules and other...

PicoQuant.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... PicoQuant awarded a Young Investigator award worth $750 at the 2007 SPIE Photonics West BiOS session on "Ultrasensitive and single-molecule detection technologies" and will deliver the prize next year as well.

NAC Image Technology (Simi Valley, CA) has appointed Photo-Sonics International.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... NAC Image Technology (Simi Valley, CA) has appointed Photo-Sonics International (Oxfordshire England) as the exclusive distributors of NAC High-Speed Imaging Systems for the United Kingdom and Ireland,

NanoOpto and SMM collaborate.(industry report: fiber optics)
March 1, 2007... NanoOpto (Somerset, NJ), which applies proprietary nanofabrication technology to produce optical components and systems, and Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM; Tokyo, Japan), manufacturer of optical isolators and related components for fiber-optic...

Fox-Tek expands fiber-optic sensing capability.(industry report: fiber optics)
March 1, 2007... Fiber Optic Systems Technology (Fox-Tek; Toronto, ON, Canada), a developer of patented fiber-optic sensing products, announced the acquisition of PinPoint Corrosion Monitoring, a Canadian developer and manufacturer of pipeline wall-thickness...

Telecom tunable-laser agreement signed.(industry report: fiber optics)
March 1, 2007... Syntune (Stockholm, Sweden), a developer of single-chip tunable lasers and transmitters, and CyOptics (Lehigh Valley, PA), developer of indium phosphide optical chip and component technologies, announced a cooperative agreement to introduce a...

Alcatel-Lucent to partner with Agilent on IPTV.(industry report: fiber optics)
March 1, 2007... Alcatel-Lucent has chosen Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA) as a formal test-and-measurement partner for its Internet-protocol-television ecosystem. The partnership is intended to ensure that new IP-based video deployments meet end-to-end...

Avanex revenue signals healthy telecom market.(industry report: fiber optics)
March 1, 2007... For its second quarter of fiscal 2007 ended Dec. 31, 2006, optical networks equipment provider Avanex (Fremont, CA) reported record revenue of $55.6 million, a 9% increase over the prior quarter revenue of $50.9 million and a 54% increase over...

Paul Polishuk, president of the IGI Group (Brighton, MA), announced that IGI Consulting (IGIC) and Frank Murawski, president of FTM Consulting (FTM), have joined forces.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Paul Polishuk, president of the IGI Group (Brighton, MA), announced that IGI Consulting (IGIC) and Frank Murawski, president of FTM Consulting (FTM), have joined forces to develop and market reports for the telecommunications and data...

Agilent Technologies and Xilinx (San Jose, CA) announced a collaborative solution.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... Agilent Technologies and Xilinx (San Jose, CA) announced a collaborative solution for testing and optimizing high-speed serial links implemented with Xilinx Rocket10 multigigabit transceivers.

MRV Communications.(Also in the news ...)
March 1, 2007... MRV Communications (Chatsworth, CA) announced that its OptiSwitch 9000 and its Fiber Driver metro Ethernet systems successfully passed compliance tests of Ethernet in the First Mile Operations, Administration & Maintenance. a part of the...

Multi-CPU architecture speeds ray tracing.(software & computing)
March 1, 2007... Tracing rays is an inherently parallel activity because each ray is a statistically independent entity. In fact, for many years it has been common practice for optical engineers to divide a long ray trace involving a large number of rays into a...

Where the rubber meets the road: 3-D system profiles highway surfaces.(inside imaging)
March 1, 2007... Beyond industrial automation, the machine-vision industry is seeking new markets in areas such as transportation. Highway-safety-related applications often involve automated monitoring and enforcement. Yet another highway-safety application...

How can I deal with a 'glass ceiling'?(business forum)(Interview)
March 1, 2007... Q: How do I deal with something that feels like a "glass ceiling"? A: It is easy to feel like you are being discriminated against when you are passed over for promotion or not getting the anticipated performance recognition. While...

Thin films provide wide-angle correction for waveplate components.(OPTICAL FABRICATION)
March 1, 2007... Over the last several years, complex optical systems have become consumer items, significantly changing the dynamics of price to performance. Examples of this can be found in medical instruments, high-definition television (HDTV), and digital...

Inorganic materials efficiently power flat-panel displays.(QUANTUM DOTS)
March 1, 2007... How will the next generation of displays be powered? Quantum dots have a combination of performance attributes that make them the ideal lumophore for incorporation into light-emitting devices (LEDs) for ultrathin flat-panel displays. They offer...

Enhancements enable solar simulators to shed light on new photovoltaic designs: advances to Class A solar simulators allow measurement of parameters, including current voltage, quantum efficiency, and efficiency of conversion from incident photon to charge carrier, during photovoltaic-cell design validation and certification testing.(PHOTOVOLTAICS)
March 1, 2007... Although solar simulators are used to test many products, from sunscreen to UV degradation in plastics, their most important role is the testing and certification of photovoltaic (PV) cell and module designs, either as part of validating a new...

Photonics streamline next-generation battlewear: optics, fibers, and optoelectronics are turning field-based soldiers into network-centric 'systems.'.(OPTOELECTRONIC APPLICATIONS: DEFENSE & SECURITY)
March 1, 2007... Smart fabrics that integrate optical components into the weave of the material to facilitate the dissemination of critical or creative data are attracting much attention these days. The Lumalive technology developed by Philips Research...

Law-enforcement needs create demand for image fusion: intelligent systems automatically combine outputs of different sensors for more efficient and accurate image analysis.(IMAGE FUSION)
March 1, 2007... In recent years, image fusion has attracted increasing attention in a wide variety of applications such as concealed-weapon detection, remote sensing, intelligent robots, medical diagnosis, defect inspection, and military surveillance. Image...

Understanding noise at the nanometer scale: position noise in a nanopositioner as a function of frequency is quantified with the help of a known sine-wave reference signal, allowing scaling to reflect the peak-to-peak noise-power spectrum of the nanopositioner.(NANOPOSITIONING EQUIPMENT)
March 1, 2007... Nanopositioning is basic to research in virtually all areas of nanotechnology and, because it implies very small movement controlled with a high degree of accuracy, it seems intuitive to seek a specification of a nanopositioner's resolution....

Tunable ps pulsed light source.(new products)
March 1, 2007... A tunable picosecond pulsed laser source includes a picoTRAIN Green modelocked laser synchronously pumping a Levante Emerald OPO (optical parametrical oscillator). Designed for ultrafast spectroscopy and multiphoton imaging, the system delivers...

Optical-design software.(new products)
March 1, 2007... LightTools Version 5.4 includes a new surface feature that allows the user to create an arbitrary geometrical object and then produce surfaces in which the object is positioned repeatedly in a variable pattern. Other new features include two...

Fizeau-interferometer test optics.(new products)
March 1, 2007... Additional Fizeau-interferometer test optics have been released for the Absolute Fizeau [lambda]/40 transmission sphere product line. Absolute Fizeau [lambda]/50 concave and convex reference spheres will allow the user to record and store...

Objective scanner systems.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The PIFOC piezo z-drive system is suited for high-speed z-stack image acquisition, to generate 3-D views of samples in optical microscopes. Available as individual components or complete systems, the 100-[micro]m-travel-range model provides a...

Dual-wavelength lens.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The 633/1060 nm dual-wavelength lens corrects for chromatic aberrations that can be a problem when one wavelength is much larger than the other. It is shaped like a regular piano/ convex lens, but a diffractive pattern is added to the planar...

Raman software.(new products)
March 1, 2007... LabSphere 5 software for Raman spectroscopy is built on a kernel-based modular structure and operates with all the company's Raman devices. It incorporates custom accessories such as FT-IR, mapping, temperature controlled stages, and additional...

Optical profiler.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The HS200A NanoScale optical profiler acquires and displays three-dimensional images with better than then 50 nm resolution in seconds. It includes all the capabilities of a research-grade binocular optical microscope. Applications include 3-D...

Photon counters.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The id100 series of single-photon-counting modules for visible wavelengths has a dark-count rate of better than 1 Hz for 20-[micro]m-diameter devices, or 20 Hz for 50-[micro]m-diameter devices. They have timing resolution of 40 ps, dead time of...

Mixer.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The Thinky ARE-250 benchtop planetary mixer mixes, disperses, and de gasses down to a micron level without a vacuum in a sealed or lid-less container such as a jar, beaker, syringe barrel, or cartridge. It can formulate compounds in quantities...

LED substrate.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The Anotherm substrate conducts heat away from LEDs to increase their lifespan and light output. An insulation systems consists of a thin layer of anodized aluminum oxide chemically grown on the aluminum core for a dielectric layer 35 [micro]m...

Ray-tracing software.(new products)
March 1, 2007... A nonlinear optimization module for TracePro ray-tracing software is based on the program's macro language, Scheme. A program manages the request to optimize a set of parameters and macros perform and analyze changes in the model. The module...

Alexandrite filter.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The P1205 pink filter blocks alexandrite and diode lasers from 730 to 855 nm with a peak at 755-840 nm, where it provides I L7 for pulsed lasers and D L5 for CW lasers. It also includes UV protection from 190 to 375 nm. It is available in three...

Pulsed fiber laser.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The LU1065F005 pulsed fiber laser has an average optical output power of 5 W at 1060 to 1080 nm with 0.5 mJ pulse energy. It is a ytterbium laser in master-oscillator power-amplifier configuration. It is programmable through a conventional USB...

Low-viscosity adhesive.(new products)
March 1, 2007... Polymer System EP30-1 is a low-viscosity, two-component epoxy designed for high-performance fiberoptic bonding, coating, potting, and encapsulation. It cures at room temperature or more rapidly at elevated temperatures, with a 4:1 mix ratio by...

Vibration isolation.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The MK26 Series vibration-control workstation is designed for ultralow natural-frequency applications and negative-stiffness vibration isolators. The isolators achieve 93% isolation at 2 Hz, 99% at 5 Hz, and 99.7% at 10 Hz. It has a maximum...

Digital encoder.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The Mercury II digital encoder for motion-control applications comes in models with resolutions from 5 [micro]m to 1.2 mm, linear or 20k CPR to 268M CPR rotary. It has glass scales with accuracy of [+ or -] 25 nm. Operating speed at 50 nm...

Orientation sensor.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The SFH 7710 SMT orientation sensor detects whether a photo has been taken in portrait or landscape format and forwards the information to software that automatically displays the photo in correct orientation. It measures 4.4 x 4.4 x 1.8 mm and...

Aerosol spectrometer.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The LAS-X 11 aerosol research spectrometer counts particles from 0.09 to 2 [micro]m and has a size resolution of better than 5%. Users can select particle sizes for up to 100 channels, with any flow rate from 10 to 100 seem. The device contains...

NIR APDs.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The VDA series 200 [micro]m InGaAs avalanche photodiodes have noise of [k.sub.eff] less than 0.18 over the near-IR spectral response range of 900 to 1700 nm, which includes eye-safe wavelengths greater than 1300 nm. The low noise enables longer...

Photon-counting system.(new products)
March 1, 2007... Version 2.0 of the programmer's library for the PicoHarp 300 time-correlated single-photon-counting systems adds support for several devices operated simultaneously. It also provides device drivers for 64-bit versions of Windows for the AMD x64...

Red fiber lasers.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The WhisperIT line now includes fiber-coupled versions of miniature red-laser modules. They are available with regular single-mode fiber, PM single-mode fiber, or multimode fiber. An FC/PC connector is the standard termination, but other common...

Surface profiler.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The Dektak 150 surface profiler for research and industrial metrology applications accommodates samples up to 100 mm thick, performs scans of 55 mm, and provides a larger x-y translation stage. It has 0.5 mm vertical ranges with a 1 mm...

Machine-vision system.(new products)
March 1, 2007... The Eyespector 1.4 series machine vision system includes a 2048-pixel line-scan camera with a maximum clock rate of 1 GHz, with four digital PLC inputs and four outputs, plus a trigger input for jitter-free image recording. Black-and-white or...

Lidar software.(new products)
March 1, 2007... DASHMap data-processing software is designed for use with the company's airborne laser terrain-mapper line. It includes a simplified user interface with embedded 3-D visualization and fully incorporated geodetic transformation. Optech,...