February 2006 Issue 136 PHOTOVOLTAICS INSIDEiopp.fileburst.com/old/old_02_136.pdf · CATIA ®,...
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PHOTOVOLTAICS Silicon quantum dots promise affordable solution Forty years since breakthrough in fibre optics COMMUNICATIONS FIBRE LASERS TAKE INDUSTRY BY STORM MATERIALS PROCESSING February 2006 Issue 136 INSIDE EOS NEWSLETTER The European magazine for photonics professionals Focus on Finland
Transcript of February 2006 Issue 136 PHOTOVOLTAICS INSIDEiopp.fileburst.com/old/old_02_136.pdf · CATIA ®,...
PHOTOVOLTAICS
Silicon quantumdots promiseaffordable solution
Forty years sincebreakthrough in fibre optics
COMMUNICATIONS
FIBRE LASERS TAKEINDUSTRY BY STORM
MATERIALS PROCESSING
February 2006 Issue 136
INSIDEEOS
NEWSLETTER
The European magazine for photonics professionals
Focus on Finland
OLEFebCOVER 6/2/06 9.45 am Page 1
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NEWS5 Business iSuppli talks up backlights
7 Editorial Changing times
8 Analysis Forty years since fibre breakthrough
TECHNOLOGY11 Applications Start-up targets thin-film solar cells • Colour
sensor goes vertical • Nanoparticles reveal brain activity
16 R&D Simple scheme combines beams • Fibres help telescopes see further
17 Patents Grating expert Ibsen Photonics wins patent for WDM device • Nichia settles injunction case with Doshisha over lighting
FEATURES19 Kilowatt fibre lasers drive IPG sales boom
Sales of fibre lasers are soaring, thanks to growing industry approval. Oliver Graydon speaks to IPG Photonics, one of the first firms to commercialize the technology.
22 Shallow etch powers up dilute-nitride VCSELAlight Technologies is tackling the need for powerful long-wavelength, singlemode VCSELs by marrying its photonic-bandgap technology with Infineon’s dilute-nitride platform. DanBirkedal and Dirk Jessen detail the hybrid design and reveal why it will benefit datacom and telecom networks.
25 Optical devices enhance lab-on-a-chip systemsMicrofluidics is a rapidly emerging field with researchers aroundthe globe working on lab-on-a-chip systems for diverse and widespread applications. Rob van den Berg talks to three groups that are trying to shrink optical components to the nanoscale.
27 Doubled diode offers compact blue sourceA new simple design of solid-state blue laser could be an attractive solution for many clinical and industrial applications. Lisa Tsufura and Eric Takeuchi explain.
EOS NEWSLETTER31 The latest news and events from the European Optical Society,
with a focus on optics and photonics in Finland.
PRODUCTS35 Ultrafast mirrors • Video inspection microscopy • Diode laser
REGUL ARS42 People/Sudoku
EDITORIALEditor Oliver GraydonTel: +44 (0)117 930 1015 [email protected]
Technology editor Jacqueline HewettTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
News editor James TyrrellTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
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SUBSCRIPTIONSComplimentary copies are sent to qualifyingindividuals. For readers outside registration requirements: £116/7168 ($208 US and Canada)per year. Single issue £11/715 ($19 US, Canadaand Mexico). CONTACT: IOPP Magazines, WDIS Ltd,Units 12 & 13, Cranleigh Gardens Industrial Estate,Southall, Middlesex UB1 2DB, UK.Tel: +44 (0)208 606 7518. Fax: +44 (0)208 606 7303
© 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd. The contents of OLE donot represent the views or policies of the Institute ofPhysics, its council or its officers unless so identified. Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, UK.
I ssue 136 February 2006 Contents
Ocean Optics donates kit toblue diamond study p12
Israeli scientists combine16 beams into one p16
Alight increases output fromsinglemode VCSEL p22
Finnish optics builds fromthe paper industry p33
PHOTOVOLTAICS
Silicon quantumdots promiseaffordable solution
Forty years sincebreakthrough in fibre optics
COMMUNICATIONS
FIBRE LASERS TAKEINDUSTRY BY STORM
MATERIALS PROCESSING
February 2006 Issue 136
INSIDEEOS
NEWSLETTER
The European magazine for photonics professionals
Focus on Finland
For the latest news on optics and photonics don’t forget to visit optics.org
Cover (Alabama Lasers)Robot-mounted 2 kW fibrelaser cutting mild steel. p19
OLEFebContents3 6/2/06 12.30 pm Page 3
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NEWSBUSINESS 5 EDITORIAL 7 ANALYSIS 8
5OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
The £40 m (758.5 m) Photon Sci-ence Institute (PSI) has beenlaunched in Manchester, UK, withsupport from the NorthwestRegional Development Agency.Said to be the largest research andteaching centre of its kind in theUK, and with a projected annualincome of £5 m, the PSI boastsmore than £15 m worth of state-of-the-art laser equipment.
The PSI’s 30 full-time academicstaff will have access to tunableTi:sapphire sources and ultrafastpicosecond and femtosecond lasersbased on nonlinear crystals, alongwith multiphoton imaging micro-scopy facilities and a range of opti-cal calibration and diagnosticsresources. A full-time postgraduate
MSc in photon science will beoffered by the centre towards theend of 2006.
“Our vision is to position the Pho-ton Science Institute as a world-leading centre for photon scienceresearch and development with anemphasis on knowledge transfer
and innovation within industry,”said Klaus Müller-Dethlefs, directorof the PSI. “It is about using state-of-the-art lasers and methods tofind answers to some of the mostchallenging problems in science.”
Prior to joining the University ofManchester, Müller-Dethlefs estab-lished and managed the York Cen-tre for Laser Spectroscopy andPhotochemistry, UK. He is recog-nized internationally for inventingZEKE photoelectron spectroscopy.
“One of the PSI’s key projects isthe use of a fluorescent single-mole-cule method for monitoring drugdelivery, which is crucial for thedevelopment of new drugs,” Müller-Dethlefs told OLE. “Another methodthat we are pioneering is a Ramantechnique for non-invasive charac-terization of materials.”
QUA N T U M C RY P T O G R A P H Y
MagiQ Technologies, Silicon
Graphics Qucor, Qucor and the
University of Melbourne, Australia,
have formed a joint venture to
develop next-generation quantum
cryptography devices. The group
has been awarded $2.5 m
(A$3.3 m) from the Victorian state
government and will focus its
efforts on commercializing single-
photon sources.
OP T I C S
Thales High Tech Optics, which
specializes in precision visible and
infrared assemblies, durable
coatings and machine vision
technology, has been relaunched
as Qioptiq. Thales High Tech Optics
was purchased for 7220 m by
Candover in December 2005. The
European private equity firm
intends to develop Qioptiq, a
network of seven international
companies, through organic growth
and acquisitions.
OP T I CA L DATA S T O R AG E
InPhase Technologies, a developer
of holographic data storage media
and systems, is shipping its first
batch of holographic-ROM media for
use in consumer devices. The media
can be made in a variety of shapes,
ranging from postage stamp to
credit card size, and are able to
store high-definition content.
OP T I C S
Edmund Optics has received
$2.8 m from the US Department of
Defense to develop the tools
required to manufacture aspheres.
The initial focus will be to create
low-cost tooling methods for low- to
mid-volume lens production.
EUV S O U RC E S
Xtreme Technologies, the joint
venture between Jenoptik and
Ushio, has received an undisclosed
amount of funding from Intel’s
strategic investment arm (Intel
Capital) to accelerate the
development of extreme-ultraviolet
(EUV) light sources.
IN BRIEF
LED backlighting in LCD televi-sions was the focus of attention atPhotonics West’s inaugural dis-play market seminar in San José,US. Kimberly Allen, the director ofdisplay technology and strategy atmarket research and consultancyfirm iSuppli, led the discussion.
“LEDs are certainly in the lime-light right now, with solid-statelighting challenging lamps [forbacklighting],” Allen told the audi-ence. “LEDs have penetrated thesmall LCD backlighting marketand we are just beginning to seeadoption in larger displays.”
Cold cathode fluorescent lamps(CCFLs) remain industry standardin terms of LCD backlighting, buttheir days could be numbered, asAllen revealed. “The colour gamutis only about 72% of the NTSC stan-dard,” she explained. “They sufferfrom poor performance at low tem-perature and, as the display getslarger and more lamps are required,the light gets less uniform.” CCFLsalso contain mercury.
In comparison, mercury-freeLEDs have a wide colour gamut,are temperature insensitive and
offer fast switching. Problems existin terms of efficiency and thermalmanagement, but Allen feels that afew more years of developmentwill address these issues. “Solid-state lighting is not a simple substi-tution in backlights and a systemsintegration approach is needed,”added Allen. “The role of the LEDmaker has also not been deter-mined [and] some may want tomove up the value chain.”
It has been said that OLEDs could
also challenge the CCFL, but Allenhas her doubts. “At the brightnessrequired for a backlight, the life-time of the OLED cannot be guar-anteed beyond 5000 hours,” shecommented. “OLEDs may serve asa backlight for small LCDs, but atthis time, penetration into largerLCDs cannot be foreseen.”
According to iSuppli, the LEDbacklighting market could be worthmore than $800m (7663m) with-in five years.
iSuppli talks up backlightsLEDS
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1000
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Ramping up: the LED backlighting market could approach $1 bn by 2011, accordingto iSuppli’s solid-state lighting for display applications report.
Knowledge transfer: leaders fromacademia, industry and governmentcelebrate the opening of the PhotonScience Institute in Manchester, UK.
PSI launches in UKCENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
iSu
pp
li
OLEFebNews5-8 6/2/06 10.24 am Page 5
NEWSBUSINESS
6 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
ME T RO LO GY
Nanometrics, a supplier of metrology equipment, is
to acquire Accent Optical Technologies, a specialist
in process control. The five million share deal
values Accent at $80.9 m (767 m) and will create
one of the largest metrology and process control
companies in the semiconductor capital
equipment industry. The combined firm will be
based at Nanometrics’ site at Milpitas, CA, US.
OP T I C S
Arima Devices of Taiwan is to purchase Philips’
optical pick-up (OPU) business unit, which
employs 740 people in Asia and 40 in Europe.
Under the terms of the agreement, Philips will take
a 14% share in Arima Devices. No further financial
details were disclosed. According to Philips its
OPU employees will be transferred to Arima
Devices on completion of the deal.
MAT E R I A L S
Williams Advanced Materials (WAM) has acquired
fellow US firm CERAC, a provider of physical vapour
deposition and speciality inorganic materials, for
$20.7 m. Over the past 12 months, WAM, a
subsidiary of Brush Engineered Materials, has also
acquired Thin Film Technology (TFT), US, and Irish
company OMC Scientific Holdings. TFT is a provider
of optical coatings, photolithography and thin-film
hybrid circuits. Based in Limerick, OMC serves the
optical data storage and semiconductor markets
with precision cleaning and reconditioning services.
OP T I C S
Jenoptik of Germany is to acquire US firm MEMS
Optical. The 100% stock deal broadens Jenoptik’s
expertise in the fabrication of complex micro-optics
and is expected to close by the end of March 2006.
With distribution channels in Japan and the US,
MEMS Optical is viewed by Jenoptik as a key
strategic partner. In return, MEMS Optical receives
access to Jenoptik’s European market.
L A S E R S
Emcore, US, has acquired privately held US firm
K2 Optronics for $4 m in outstanding stock. K2
specializes in directly modulated external-cavity
lasers, which Emcore believes could be ideal for
use in cable television and fibre-to-the-premises
applications. Emcore hopes that the acquisition
will generate $7 m in revenue in calendar year
2006 and $14 m in 2007. Founded in 2000, K2
Optronics had already attracted around $45 m in
venture funding prior to Emcore’s initial
investment in the company in February 2005.
IN F R A R E D I M AG I N G
Irvine Sensors, a developer of infrared cameras,
has acquired fellow US firm Optex Systems for
$14 m in cash. Optex manufactures optical
sighting systems and assemblies primarily for
defence applications. Its 2005 revenues were
around $19 m. The deal involves a further $4 m
payable over the next three years if cash-flow
milestones are maintained. “The acquisition of
Optex not only nearly doubles our revenues, it
accelerates our transition toward a product-
dominated business,” said John Carson, CEO of
Irvine Sensors. “Optex delivers high-volume
products profitably under multiyear contracts to
many of the same customers that are central to our
vision systems business strategy.”
ACQUISITIONS
OLEFebNews5-8 6/2/06 9.55 am Page 6
Changing times
NEWSEDITORIAL
OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
It’s hard to believe that 40 years ago the fibre-optic cable that underpins the technologicalheart of modern society around the world waslittle more than a far-fetched idea.
And yet until 1966, when two scientists inthe UK published a seminal paper on the topic,the concept of transmitting data on lightsignals through glass was consideredmadness by many. The crux of the problemwas that the optical loss of glass was manyhundreds of decibels per kilometre at the time.This enormous attenuation meant that a laserbeam would only travel a few metres beforebecoming too weak to be of any use.
In the summer of 1966 this all changed,when Charles Kao and George Hockham,both working at the StandardTelecommunication Laboratories in Harlow,UK, published their research findings.
They were adamant that it should bepossible to reduce the loss of glass and, if itcould reach 20 dB/km (a throughput of 1%),then thin strands of glass fibre would be apractical medium for communication. What’smore, their calculations suggested that thefibre would offer a huge information-carryingcapacity compared to that of copper cable.
The paper caught the attention ofcommunication labs around the world (butnot the media) and progress was rapid. Withina few years, Corning invented a new processfor manufacturing ultrapure glass, the lossplummeted to a few tens of dB/km and thesemiconductor laser was developed.
The rest is history. Today, fibre has a loss ofaround 0.1 dB/km and we feel its benefitsevery day without giving it a second thought.I certainly had been taking the technology forgranted until Nortel rang me to remind me ofthe anniversary. In fact, it’s hard to imaginelife on OLE and optics.org without theInternet, e-mail and digital photography.
However, when I first joined OLE 10 yearsago, life was very different. Press releasescame in envelopes, photos were glossy printsand corrections to articles werepredominantly delivered by fax. Sadly, afterwitnessing all of these changes in technologyover the years, it is now time for me to saygoodbye. This is my last issue as editor as I ammoving on to explore new opportunities inscientific publishing and optics.
Thanks for your loyal support over theyears. And keep reading.
Oliver Graydon, editor
“Thanks foryour loyalsupportover theyears. Andkeepreading .”Oliver Graydon
OLEFebNews5-8 6/2/06 10:34 am Page 7
Forty years since fibre breakthrough
NEWSANALYSIS
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
8 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Four decades ago the concept oftransmitting data on light signalsthrough glass was consideredmadness by many, including themedia. However, given the limitedcapacity of ordinary copper tocarry phone calls, engineers atStandard Telecommunication Lab-oratories (STL) in Harlow, UK, werecommitted to coming up with analternative technology.
“The first idea was to have cofo-cal lenses that refocused every100 m or so, and to use servoloops to adjust the focus,” PhilipHargrave, chief scientist at Nor-tel, told OLE. “Then researchersthought about putting light downsteel pipes one inch across, linedwith silver, but found that thetechnique was incredibly temper-ature sensitive.”
Charles Kao and George Hock-ham, working at STL, were the firstto realize that out of all of theoptions the idea of sending lightdown thin bits of glass a fewmicrons across was the mostattractive approach. The duo’slandmark paper, “Dielectric-fibresurface waveguides for optical fre-quencies”, was published by theInstitution of Electrical Engineersin 1966 (see box) and gave thegreen light to the concept of opti-cal fibre communication.
“They essentially showed that itwould be viable if the [transmis-sion] loss could be reduced to lessthan 20 dB/km,” explained Har-grave. “They proved that there wasno fundamental mechanism thatwould stop this loss being achieved,and that was really the crux.”
At that time the attenuation oflight in glass stood at more than1000 dB/km, which meant thatlight would travel just 3 m or sobefore halving in intensity. However,Kao,Hockham and their colleaguesremained confident in their busi-ness analysis that, if the magic fig-
ure of 20dB/km could be met, thenfibre-optic communication wouldtake-off commercially.
Motivated by the news, Corningfound a way of making ultrapureglass within just a few years of theannouncement. “By 1973 theteam at Harlow built a rig over2 km with a loss of 25 dB/km – notquite down to that magic figure,but not far off,” said Hargrave.“The key date was 1977, when theloss was down to 5 dB/km andBritish Telecom decided to install afield trial between the UK towns ofHitching and Stevenage – only amatter of 20 or 30 miles awayfrom the Harlow site.”
The system had gallium arsenide
narrow stripe lasers installed at oneend and silicon avalanche photo-diodes at the other end, with road-side-mounted regenerators placedevery few kilometres. Critically,engineers were able to put realphone calls through the system and,arguably, that was when fibre-opticcommunication really took off.
By 1980 the loss had comedown even further and firms wereexperimenting with putting cablesunder the sea. The first underseacable, to Belgium, was installed inthe early 1980s. “You enter aperiod that goes on until the year2000 where everyone wasincreasing the capacity of fibre,”remembered Hargrave. “In fact,
there was a time when the capa-city of the fibre doubled every ninemonths with no increase in cost.”
Cost remains a pertinent topictoday, with fibre-to-the-homelooming large on the horizon. Inthis case the barrier is proving to benot the price of optical compo-nents but the expense of ducting,installation and civil engineering.“The challenge is getting thatinfrastructure investment andonly accepting a return over a verylong timescale for the civil engi-neering part, while trying to get areasonable return over more real-istic technology timescales forwhat goes down the pipe,” con-cluded Hargrave.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Kao and Hockham’s pivotal research paper on fibre-opticcommunication. OLE talks to Philip Hargrave of Nortel about how fibre won over the sceptics.
Key events1966STL researchers publish the first
paper considering the possibility of
using glass fibres to carry
information.
1967Video transmission is achieved
over 20 m of optical fibre at Harlow
Laboratories in the UK.
1971Digital colour TV signals are sent
along a single fibre at the Harlow
site in Essex, UK.
1977Stevenage Field Experiment: first
field demonstration of live
telephone traffic carried on fibre in
the UK.
1980First undersea fibre cable systems
trial by Nortel Networks.
1986UK–Belgium undersea system
installed.
Flawless performance: Murray Ramsay of Standard Telecommunication Laboratories(now Nortel) demonstrates fibre-optic video communications to HRH QueenElizabeth II in May 1971 at the Institute of Electrical Engineers in London, UK.
Where it all began: the STL site inHarlow as it was in the 1960s.
“Kao andHockhamshowed thatit was viable.”Philip Hargrave, Nortel
OLEFebNews5-8 6/2/06 12.22 pm Page 8
Jim, #3343 Feb, 2006Opto & Laser Europe
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TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS 11 R&D 16 PATENTS 17
11OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
PHOTOVOLTAICS
By Jacqueline HewettInnovaLight of the US is a start-upwith big ambitions when it comesto photovoltaics. As the cost ofsolar cells based on crystalline orbulk silicon continues to increase,InnovaLight says that its siliconnanocrystal technology offers notonly cost savings when it comes tomanufacturing, but also a numberof unique optical advantages.
“We have worked diligently ondeveloping silicon quantum dots[nanocrystals] and have success-fully been able to do that,” companypresident Conrad Burke told OLE.“We can now produce them in vol-ume and solution-process them.”
According to Burke the ability tosolution-process the dots in a so-called silicon ink could lead to farcheaper manufacturing. “You nowhave the potential to produce thin-film photocells, which lends itselfto high-throughput manufactur-ing using existing roll-to-roll print-ing technology,” he commented.“Our modelling indicates that therewill be big improvements in costversus how silicon is used today.”
Solution-processing also means
that InnovaLight can deposit itssilicon nanocrystals onto flexiblesubstrates. This opens up a vastarray of markets from consumerapplications such as clothing, tocharge-up portable electronics,through to flexible battery charg-ers for the military.
Burke says that the companycan produce silicon quantum dotsin uniform sizes of 2–10 nm indiameter. By controlling these sizes
the company can tailor the opticalproperties of the dot, such as itsabsorption spectra.
“You can tune the photovoltaicto capture parts of the spectrumthat have not efficiently been cap-tured before with traditional meth-ods – the red and the infrared, forexample,” said Burke.
While InnovaLight is fully foc-used on offering photovoltaic prod-ucts, and Burke expects this to
happen in 2007, it has alsoexploited its technology to producetunable silicon emitters.
“Silicon in its bulk format, we allknow, is not an efficient emitter but,when you get down to the quan-tum-confined sizes, you get verydifferent effects,” said Burke. “Forthe smaller particles you can getblue emission; for the larger part-icles you can get red emission. Byhaving a film of these devices youcan electrically stimulate them.”
If InnovaLight’s achievementsso far are anything to go by, 2007could be an interesting year for thephotovoltaic arena.● InnovaLight was founded in2001 based on technology beingdeveloped at the University ofTexas at Austin, US. Since then ithas received seed funding and hasalso completed a series-A fundinground, although Burke would notdisclose the sums involved. Thecompany has also been awardedgrants by the US Department ofEnergy and the National ScienceFoundation. It was named a Tech-nology Pioneer for 2006 by theWorld Economic Forum.
Conrad Burke holds light-emitting solution-processed silicon nanocrystals.
Three photons make tiny structuresFABRICATION
Scientists in Greece believe thatthey are the first to fabricate 3Dstructures by three-photon poly-merization (3PP). Having madecomponents with a resolution of500 nm, Maria Farsari and hercolleagues from FORTH in Crete,Greece, are now improving theiroptical set-up and hope to buildpractical devices using the newapproach (Optics Letters 30 3180).
Two-photon polymerization hasbeen widely reported using Ti:sap-phire lasers emitting at around800 nm to create structures withresolutions of 200 nm or lower.Knowing that a three-photon app-roach could lead to even better res-olutions, the Greek researchers
developed a proof-of-principle sys-tem to see if the idea was practical.
The 3PP set-up uses a compactdiode-pumped femtosecond laseroscillator that emits 1028 nm,200 fs pulses at a repetition rate of50 MHz. An x–y galvanometricscanner, which is equipped with ahigh numerical aperture objectivelens, focuses and translates thebeam across the photopolymer at arate of 0.75 mm/s.
Farsari and colleagues GeorgeFilippidis and Costas Fotakis used a UV photocurable organic-inor-ganic hybrid material known asORMOCER. When the pulses arefocused into the ORMOCER, thepolymerization process is initiated
by nonlinear absorption within thefocal volume.
The team fabricated test struc-tures layer by layer from the bot-tom up. Utilizing a 1.25 numeri-cal aperture (NA) objective lensresulted in a beam waist and a cor-responding resolution of 500 nm.
“We have now replaced our1.25 NA microscope objective witha 1.4 NA one,” Farsari told OLE.“This should give us a resolution of340 nm. We do not intend to jointhe resolution race, though. Ourpurpose is to build functionaldevices using 3PP.”
Farsari says that the researchersare now concentrating on twoaspects. “First, we are trying to
dope the photopolymers with act-ive molecules and, second, we aretrying to selectively attach activemolecules to the surface of thedevices,” she said.
The researchers found that 0.8 nJ perpulse was the optimal energy needed topolymerize the ORMOCER material.
Ma
ria
Fa
rsa
ri,
FOR
TH
Da
vid
Wa
ldo
rf
OLEFebTechnology11-17KB 3/2/06 11.36 am Page 11
Colour sensorgoes vertical
TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS
SENSORS
12 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Thetrue measureof laserperformance
www.ophiropt.comLaser Measurement
Super StoreMulti Language
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Scientists in Germany and the USclaim to have made the first large-area colour sensor free of aliasingeffects by stacking red, green andblue imaging elements. The 512×512 pixel prototype could help toincrease the resolution of colourCMOS cameras (Applied PhysicsLetters 88 013509).
Typically, colour optical sensinginvolves placing individual red,green and blue filters over threeseparate pixels to render a singlecolour pixel. However, the lateraldisplacement can lead to aliasingeffects that serve to degrade thefinal image. The employment ofvery small pixels helps to minimizethe effect but, as Dietmar Knipp ofthe International University Bre-men, Germany, explains, the verti-cal alignment of the colour pixelsis an attractive alternative.
“Vertical integration of the sen-sor’s red, green and blue channelsallows us to fit more sensors on achip,” he told OLE. “Sooner or laterthe technology will move to verti-cally integrated sensors becauseit’s getting increasingly difficult toput smaller and smaller colour fil-ter arrays on a sensor chip.”
Made from semiconducting mat-erial, the vertically integrated sen-sor operates by detecting colourinformation as a function of depth.Blue light is absorbed by the topdiode, and green and red wave-lengths pass through to silicon
carbon and amorphous siliconabsorption layers below.
Applications include lab-on-a-chip systems, which could benefitfrom the sensor’s compact design.Knipp and his colleagues fromResearch Center Jülich, Germany,and Palo Alto Research Center, US,are also looking to combine theirvertically integrated array withCMOS technology.
“At the moment we are trying toget in touch with different CMOSmanufacturers to place the verti-cal sensors on top of CMOS read-out electronics,” Knipp revealed.“Such devices would be of particu-lar interest for camera applica-tions.” He feels that prototypescould be rolled out within the next12–18 months.
The vertically integrated colour sensorarray has a resolution of 512×512 pixels and a pixel pitch of100×100μm. The pixels are addressedby amorphous-silicon TFTs. The arraysare fabricated on glass by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition.
Rese
arc
h C
en
ter
Jüli
ch,
Germ
an
y
The US Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL) has used a suite of Ocean
Optics’ kit to study the optical
properties of coloured diamonds.
Having produced synthetic
diamonds for Department of
Defense applications for years, the
NRL hopes that the results of this
study of natural diamonds will help
it to understand the defects found
in synthetic stones.
The NRL was given access to
more than 200 coloured diamonds,
including the 45.52 carat Hope
diamond (the largest-known blue
diamond) and the 30.62 carat Blue
Heart diamond. Blue diamonds are
of particular interest because of
their semiconducting properties.
The team carried out Raman
spectroscopy on the diamonds as
well as absorption, fluorescence
and spectral and temporal analysis
of phosphorescence.
Ocean Optics supplied a
USB2000-FL spectrometer, a
deuterium/quartz light source for
excitation, single and seven-fibre
bundles to illuminate and collect
light, a 732 nm solid-state laser
and an IR512 spectrometer for
Raman studies.
SPECTROSCOPY
Oce
an
Op
tics
/H
alm
a
OLEFebTechnology11-17 6/2/06 12.25 pm Page 12
Nanoparticles reveal brain activity
TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS
IMAGING
13OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
OPTOELECTRONIC MEASUREMENT
Proximity, Light Barrier Laser Alignment, Colour
Non-contact Fibre Thermometer
www.lasercomponents.co.uk
Scientists could be a step closer tounravelling the mysteries of thehuman memory, thanks to a nano-particle-based imaging techniquebeing developed at Bordeaux Uni-versity, France. The team is obser-ving how biomolecules changeposition within a cultured rat syn-apse – the junction between nervecells – by labelling the biomole-cules with tiny gold particles.
“If you shine a laser onto ananoparticle then almost all of theenergy absorbed will be released asheat to the surroundings,” resear-cher Laurent Cognet told OLE.“This photothermal effect modifiesthe refractive index of the adjacentmedia and can be used to pinpointthe nanoparticle.”
The scientists originally cameup with their particle-based imag-ing method simply to overcome the
limitations of fluorescence micro-scopy, which include short obser-vation times as a result ofphotobleaching.
“We are now able to study non-fluorescent nano-objects using ournanoparticle technique,” commen-ted group leader Brahim Lounis.“The resolution is limited by theoptical set-up, but we have the sen-sitivity to detect particles that areas small as 2.5 nm.”
Based on a closed-loop scanningplatform, the Bordeaux techniqueinvolves the use of two lasers. Atime-modulated (100kHz–15MHz)Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) heats thenanoparticle then a HeNe laser(633 nm) coupled to a fast photo-diode detector tracks the position ofthe nano-object by locking on to thecharacteristic beat frequency in thereflected signal.The team’s idea relies on the photothermal imaging of 5 nm gold nanoparticles.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF)in the US, has received a majorboost in its quest to achieve inertialconfinement fusion, according toresearch published in Physical Rev-iew Letters (95 215004). Scientistsfired up four laser beams to showthat NIF’s millimetre-sized hohl-raum target can generate slow-developing plasma with controlledsymmetry necessary for ignition.
“This is a very clear demonstra-tion that NIF is indeed on the pathtowards ignition,” said NIF physi-cist Eduard Dewald. “The data we
were able to acquire proved in realterms that the computer projec-tions are remarkably accurate[and that] NIF is capable of pro-ducing high-quality laser beams.”
Ultimately a total of 192 laserbeams will be used to heat theinterior of the gold-plated hohl-raum and create X-rays that ablatea deuterium-tritium fuel capsuleplaced inside the cylindrical target.NIF will be used to study high-energy phenomena under con-fined experimental conditions andthereby forms an integral part of
the US government’s nuclear stew-ardship programme.
In the latest research, the teamfrom US-based Lawrence Liver-more National Laboratory, LosAlamos National Laboratory, Gen-eral Atomics and also the UK’sAtomic Weapons Establishmentirradiated each hohlraum with2 ns laser pulses of ultraviolet radi-ation with an energy of 5–13 kJ.The measured X-ray flux aroundthe target showed filling signaturesthat coincide with hard-X-rayemission from plasma streaming
out of the hohlraum.NIF, which is now more than
80% complete, is currently sched-uled to be fully operational by mid-2009. Further information aboutthe NIF project can be found atwww.llnl.gov/nif.
Breakthrough made on road to ignitionFUSION
NIF researchers Larry Suter (left) andEduard Dewald led the experiments.
LLN
L, U
S
UB
1,
Fra
nce
OLEFebTechnology11-17 3/2/06 11.58 am Page 13
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Simple scheme combines beams
TECHNOLOGYR&D
SOURCES
16 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
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Scientists in Israel have come upwith a simple way of coherentlyrecombining 16 laser beams usinga clever intracavity optical scheme.They say that the combined beamhas both a high output power anda good beam quality, making itideal for applications such as laserrangefinders, materials processingand free-space optical communi-cations(to appear in Optics Letters).
The team’s idea involves insert-ing four specially designed inter-ferometric combiners into a laserresonator. Made from fused-silicaparallel plates, half of the frontsurfaces of the combiners arecoated with a 50% beam-splitterlayer and half of the back surfacesare coated with a highly reflectivelayer. The other two halves areanti-reflection coated.
Nir Davidson, Asher Friesemand colleagues from the Weiz-mann Institute of Science believethat this approach has several dis-tinct advantages over other beam-combining schemes.
“It is stable against mechanicaland thermal vibrations since theentire interferometer is formed ona single substrate via multiplecoatings,” Davidson explained toOLE. “The coherent combining isalso performed outside the gainmedium, so the higher power ofthe combined beam cannot dam-age the more sensitive parts of the
laser cavity. The number of ele-ments required to combine a largenumber of beams is also small.”
Davidson adds that commonlongitudinal modes have to existbetween all of the beams so thatthey can be coherently combined.This problem was solved by placingcommon end mirrors at either endof the resonator.
To test its idea, Davidson’s teamused a resonator containing a
9 mm diameter Nd:YAG rod and apair of common end mirrors to cre-ate 16 Gaussian beams. Withoutthe combiners, the resonator gen-erated 2.6 mJ pulses with a beamquality M2 of 1.3.
After inserting the first pair ofcombiners into the resonator,which merged four beams, theresearchers measured an output of10 mJ per pulse, a combining effi-ciency of 96% and a beam quality
of 1.3. When the remaining twocombiners were used and 16 beamswere combined, the output rose to37 mJ per pulse, the combining effi-ciency fell to 88% and the beamquality stayed constant at 1.3.
“We have demonstrated efficientand robust multichannel coherentcombining both for free-runningpulses with a pulse width of about200 ms and for Q-switched oper-ation where the pulse width is afew tens of nanoseconds.”
The team also says that its intra-cavity combining approach willwork for continuous-wave (CW)sources. “We have already demon-strated it for two and four chan-nels,” said Davidson. “However,since CW lasers usually have asmaller gain, they are more sensi-tive to intracavity losses and there-fore more care must be taken toalign the combiners.”
The team, having successfullydemonstrated the potential of thetechnique, is keen to explore a num-ber of new avenues of research.“We want to add high-order modesand even multimode channels,”concluded Davidson. “We alsowant to apply the technique toother laser systems, in particulardiode and fibre lasers, and to differ-ent wavelength ranges. Finally, wewant to increase the number ofchannels by adding more intracav-ity combiners.”
laser rodback mirror
interferometriccombiners
singleaperture
outputcoupler
ΔL
Ideal combination: the team’s method produces a source with a good beam quality(top) and high output power, thanks to four intracavity elements (bottom).
OLEFebTechnology11-17KB 3/2/06 11.38 am Page 16
Fibres help telescopes see further
TECHNOLOGYR&D/PATENTS
ASTRONOMY
17OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
An international team of astron-omers has linked the two 10 mdiameter Keck telescopes in Hawaiiusing singlemode fibres. Theresulting interferometer is said tobe the first milestone on the way toproducing an array of telescopesthat offers submilliarc secondangular resolution. This level ofperformance will allow resear-chers to study astronomical phe-nomena, such as black holes inother galaxies, in unprecedenteddetail (Science 311 194).
A telescope’s diameter limits itsability to resolve astronomicalobjects. However, a way round thisis to coherently recombine thelight from a number of telescopes.This essentially creates a giantinterferometer with an angularresolution that is superior to anysingle telescope.
The ‘OHANA (Optical HawaiianArray for Nanoradian Astronomy)project hopes to connect the sevenlarge telescopes on the Mauna Kea
summit in Hawaii. The resultingarray will have a diameter of800 m and provide angular resolu-tions below 1 milliarc second atnear-infrared wavelengths.
“The potential of fibres is totransport beams over large dis-tances at minimum loss,” Guy Per-rin from Paris Observatory toldOLE. “Getting down to a milliarcsecond in the near infrared req-
uires propagating beams over largedistances to make them interfere.Classical bulk optics interfero-meters have low transmission andwould have poor sensitivity.”
Perrin and colleagues used two300 m singlemode fluoride glassfibres to combine light from theKeck telescopes at wavelengths of2–2.3 μm. The fibre inputs wereplaced at the adaptive-optics cor-
rected focus of each telescope andthe light was carried to the interfer-ometric laboratory in the basementof the telescope building.
After an initial test observingthe 107 Herculis star, the team isoptimistic. “This first result essen-tially demonstrates that linkingtelescopes with fibres is possible,”said Perrin. “This is importantfrom the perspective of future kilo-metric arrays. Despite cloudy con-ditions we could demonstrate agood transmission, and that makesme optimistic with respect to thepotential sensitivity of fibre-basedinterferometers.”
The team is now looking for-ward to an observing night in May,when it hopes to be able to studyyoung stellar objects.
“The next technical step is tolink the Canada–France–Hawaiiand Gemini North telescopes,”concluded Perrin. “The longer-term goal is to realize the full‘OHANA interferometer.”
LICENSINGKodak and Motorola team up tofurther mobile imaging ideasUS giants Kodak and Motorola have agreed a
10 year global product, cross-licensing and
marketing alliance to further mobile imaging. The
collaboration covers licensing, sourcing, software
integration and marketing, and it extends to the
joint development of image-rich devices.
Kodak, for example, expects to supply Motorola
with its CMOS sensors for use in Motorola’s camera
phones and any other future devices that the
companies co-develop. In keeping with both firms’
policies regarding royalty agreements, financial
and other details were not disclosed.
Display rivals AU Optronics andSamsung agree cross-licenseTaiwan-based LCD specialist AU Optronics (AUO)
has signed a patent cross-licensing deal with its
Korean rival, Samsung Electronics. The
collaborative agreement includes patents covering
both TFT-LCD and OLED technologies.
In a statement announcing the deal, AUO said:
“AUO and Samsung expect the agreement to
bolster the development and deployment of TFT-
LCD technology in the LCD TV, giving a new
catalyst to strengthen the competitiveness of the
two companies. With the sharing of each others
patents, AUO and Samsung believe this to be an
opportunity for further technological and
business co-operation.”
AUO holds more than 1700 patents worldwide
and has more than 3300 patent applications
pending. The firm also ranks as one of the top
companies for the number of patent applications
filed in Taiwan in the last few years.
SETTLEMENTNichia settles injunction casewith Doshisha over lightingNichia of Japan has settled its patent infringement
lawsuit with Doshisha Corporation, which was
pending in Osaka District Court (see OLE October
2005 p17). The dispute was over certain white
LEDs used in Doshisha’s Christmas lighting
products, which Nichia believed infringed its
Japanese patent 3503139.
The settlement includes an undisclosed
payment, and a statement that Doshisha has
agreed to respect Nichia’s intellectual property and
purchase LEDs from the Japanese firm in future.
AWARDGrating expert Ibsen Photonicswins patent for WDM deviceIbsen Photonics of Denmark, a maker of
holographic phase masks and transmission
diffraction gratings, has been awarded US patent
6978062 entitled “Wavelength division
multiplexed device”.
The patent concerns the use of multiple
transmission gratings to provide high dispersion,
while simultaneously taking advantage of the
gratings’ beam-folding properties to create a
compact module.
“Our optical module products are both uniquely
high performance and compact,” said Bjarke
Rose, spectrometer module product manager at
Ibsen. “Our internally produced fused silica
transmission gratings are instrumental as they
exhibit exceptional angular tolerance.”
PATENTS
The goal of the ‘OHANA project is to connect the seven large telescopes on theMauna Kea summit. To give an idea of scale, the two Keck telescopes are 85 m apart.
Sci
en
ce
UKIRT
Gemini North
CFHT
IRTF
Subaru
Keck I & II
OLEFebTechnology11-17KB 3/2/06 11.39 am Page 17
Sales of fibre lasers are soaring, thanks to growing industry approval. Oliver Graydonspoke to IPG Photonics, one of the first firms to commercialize the technology.
Kilowatt fibre lasersdrive IPG sales boom
INTERVIEW
19OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
It may have taken fibre laser technology a longtime to gain the confidence of the materialsprocessing market but, now that it has, itsunique benefits are winning new customersevery day and sales are booming. That’s themessage coming from IPG Photonics, a pio-neer in the field that was founded 15years agoto commercialize the technology. The firm hasseen its sales grow by 60% per year since2002 and last year its revenue hit $95 m(778.5 m). It claims to have shipped around18 000 production units since 1992.
“We now employ more than 750 people andwe have eight facilities worldwide, includingfour manufacturing facilities – in Germany,the US, Russia and Italy. We will also start inBangalore,” the firm’s Russian founder andCEO, Valentin Gapontsev, told OLE. “We alsohave sales/service forces in Tokyo, South Koreaand London and we’ll soon open in France,Beijing, Detroit and other locations.”
After Gapontsev created the firm in 1991,IPG initially focused on the telecoms marketand optical amplifiers rather than lasers andmaterials processing. Gapontsev saw thatlong-haul optical communication systemsstretching under the ocean and over conti-nents would need an ample supply of power-ful erbium-doped fibre amplifiers and fibreRaman amplifiers to boost optical data signalsand prevent them from becoming too weak.
Indeed sales in the telecoms sector werethe cornerstone of the company until thesector collapsed in 2001, leaving many opti-cal firms in dire straits. Fortunately for IPG itwas a relatively simple task to adopt its tech-nology to create high-power fibre lasers. Andthanks to their high efficiency, good beamquality and low maintenance needs, it was-n’t long before fibre lasers were challengingsources like CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers for taskssuch as cutting, welding and marking ofmetals and other materials.
In fact today it is applications such as weld-ing, cutting, drilling and marking in theautomotive, aerospace and semiconductorindustries that make up the bulk (>60%) ofIPG’s business. Firms such as Toyota,
Hyundai, Boeing and Northrop Grummanhave purchased systems from IPG.
“In the metal cutting market the situationis changing very fast as a fibre laser providesa better solution than a CO2 laser – it’s moreefficient, more compact and cheaper,”Gapontsev explained. “It’s a huge marketand fibre lasers now compete very success-fully with CO2 sources.”
According to Gapontsev, fibre lasers cancut up to five times as fast as a CO2 laser.
“[First] With a CO2 laser, where you mayneed a power of 5 kW, you can now use afibre laser operating at 1 or 1.5 kW, which isa huge benefit,” said Gapontsev. “Second,there is less investment cost, and themachines are simpler and smaller, so thereare enormous benefits to the end user.”
IPG offers a variety of fibre lasers that emitpulsed or continuous-wave (CW) output withpowers of up to 50 kW and operate at wave-lengths of 1 and 2 μm. At the heart of the
Taking materials processing by storm: a 2 kW fibre laser mounted to a robotic system cutting mild steel.
Ala
ba
ma
la
ser/
IPG
Ph
oto
nic
s
Founded: 1991 by Valentin Gapontsev (CEOand chairman).Employees: around 750.Headquarters: Oxford, Massachusetts, US.Funding: received $100 m in 2000 from TAAssociates, Merrill Lynch, APAX Partners,Marconi, Robertson Stephens and others. Facilities: manufacturing plants at its HQ inMassachusetts as well as Germany, Russia andItaly. Sales offices in the UK, Japan, Korea andBeijing. Facilities occupy a total area of300 000 ft2. Revenue: 2005 forecast of $95 m.
Products: high-power CW and pulsed fibrelasers up to 50 kW in output power and tunablefrom 1 to 2 μm (based on ytterbium, erbiumand thulium-doped fibres); Raman and Erbium-doped fibre amplifiers for telecoms; high-powerlaser diodes; over 18 000 production unitsshipped since the firm’s creation. Applications: marking, cutting, welding,telecoms, defence and medical. Customers: over 250 including Toyota,Hyundai, Sony, NEC, NASA, Boeing, Siemens,Northrop Grumman and EADS. More info: www.ipgphotonics.com.
IPG Photonics in facts and figures
▲
OLEFebINTERVIEW19-20 3/2/06 1.40 pm Page 19
lasers is a specially designed optical fibre thatis doped with a rare-earth element (ytter-bium, erbium or thulium) and pumped byhigh-power laser diodes. The fibres have amultiple-cladding design to withstand thehigh pump powers passing through themand optimize the interaction with the dopant.
Unlike many fibre laser manufacturers,IPG makes many of the components that itneeds itself to optimize the performance ofthe laser. This includes the pump laserdiodes, doped fibres, couplers and isolators.
“We not only make 300 different kinds offibre, but we also produce fibre-optic compo-nents in house and fibre to bulk components.Most of them do not have any alternatives onthe market, so this protects us from competi-tion better than any patents,” said Gapontsev.
“We also have the best diodes in the worldfrom the point of view of performance,power, brightness, efficiency and cost. Thisyear [2005] we produced 600 000 of them.”
According to Gapontsev, last year the fibrelaser market was worth $135 m, with IPG
taking a 75% share. He also estimates thatfibre lasers took an 18.5% share of the totalnumber of solid-state lasers sold in 2005 andthat this will rise to 26% this year.
Needless to say, IPG is not the only firmattempting to satisfy the growing demand forfibre lasers. “There are more than 20 com-panies claiming to make fibre lasers. Not onlysmall start-ups, but big firms like JDSU andJapanese companies are also making them,”said Gapontsev. “We still have the dominantshare in this market and hope to keep it, butthe market’s growing so fast that there isroom for others.”
However, IPG is the only one that has beenable to scale the output power up to the tensof kilowatts. Its highest power installation todate is a 36 kW model that is being used bythe nuclear industry, but it is now developingversions that operate at the 50 kW level.
“For remote welding for automotive, theyclaimed no one needed more than 4 kW, butnow all car companies are asking for 6, 8 or10 kW because they get higher speed andmore efficient cost per weld, so they prefer touse higher power,” said Gapontsev.
As for 2006, Gapontsev is optimistic aboutwhat lies ahead. “Each of the current appli-cations will grow fast as they’re still far awayfrom saturation,” he commented. “Next yearwe’ll have more contribution from the cuttingand medical markets – medical should doubleits share. Telecoms is also growing extremelyfast, and the military market is strong.”
INTERVIEW
20 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
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OLEFebINTERVIEW19-20 3/2/06 1.48 pm Page 20
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22 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Alight Technologies is tackling the need for powerful long-wavelength, singlemode VCSELs by marrying its photonic-bandgap technology with Infineon’s dilute-nitride platform.Dan Birkedal and Dirk Jessen detail the hybrid design andreveal why it will benefit datacom and telecom networks.
Shallow etch powers upLASERS
Multimode VCSELs operating at 850 nm arethe dominant source for today’s short-rangedatacom applications. However, despiteadvantages such as on-chip testing andstraightforward fibre coupling, these sur-face-emitting devices are still to impact the longer-range and higher-speed datacomand telecom applications.
Infineon Technologies, Picolight and Opti-cal Communication Products have all devel-oped 1.3 μm VCSELs, but their singlemodeoutput powers are limited, and this has hin-dered market penetration in more demand-ing applications. Instead, current networksare served with edge-emitting sources –either Fabry–Pérot lasers that are limited inrange by modal dispersion at higher modu-lation frequencies or distributed-feedbacklasers that usually require an additionaloptical isolator.
However, recent efforts at our company,Alight Technologies, have revealed that aVCSEL’s singlemode output power can beincreased to fulfil the requirements of com-munications applications through the addi-tion of a photonic-bandgap (PBG) structure.Our team, which is based in Copenhagen,Denmark, has made the breakthrough bycombining this photonic technology withInfineon’s 1.3 μm dilute-nitride VCSEL de-sign, which we acquired late last year.
The singlemode output of a conventionalVCSEL is primarily limited by the oxide aper-ture that confines the electrical current andthe optical modes. This aperture has to bequite small (<7 μm) to ensure fundamental-mode operation, but this restriction limits theoutput power. It also degrades the laser’s life-time and reliability, while the large electricalresistance causes local heating and hindershigh-speed operation.
However, our colleague Svend Bischoff,who is a senior staff engineer at Alight, hasreported that it is possible to produce high-speed, high-power singlemode VCSELs bycombining a PBG structure for lateral opticalconfinement with a large oxide aperture pro-viding current confinement. The PBG is
formed by etching an array of holes in theVCSEL’s top mirror. The modified structureproduces a wavelength shift in the cavity res-onance that leads to an effective refractive-index change, and this produces the lateraloptical mode confinement that ensures sin-glemode operation.
Etching effectsThe shift in cavity resonance wavelength isvery small for shallow etch depths of a fewhundred nanometres into the VCSEL’s top-mirror surface, so the VCSELs fabricated upuntil now (at the University of Ulm in Ger-many and Korea’s Advanced Institute of Sci-ence and Technology) have featured holeswith a depth of 10–20 mirror periods. Theholes deliver the required shift in cavity reso-nance wavelength but also increase the opti-cal losses and reduce the photon lifetime (theaverage time that photons spend in the cav-ity). This means that these lasers have lowoutput powers and a small modal volumebecause the lateral mode confinement isdetermined by both the photon lifetime andthe shift in cavity resonance wavelength.
At Alight we have circumvented this prob-lem by shallow etching into a layer close to theactive region, before depositing a dielectric topmirror. This approach produces very largecavity resonance wavelength shifts (>10 nm)for etch depths of only a few tens of nano-metres. We have already produced 850 nmVCSELs and are now extending the method to1.3 μm GaInNAs VCSELs (see figure). Theselasers are produced by shallow etching a tri-diagonal array of rods into the semiconductorsurface, just below the dielectric top mirror.The PBG lasing defect is formed by omittingseveral rods in the centre of this lattice (seeSEM image, right).
As well as increasing the cavity wave-length’s sensitivity to the etch depth, ourdesign has additional advantages resultingfrom the close proximity of the PBG layer tothe active region. In particular, the numberof DBR mirror pairs is constant over theentire structure, which means that reflec-
tivity is high and unmodulated. Conse-quently, the VCSEL’s lateral guiding mecha-nisms are determined solely by localvariations in wavelength or effective indexand not by loss/gain guiding. Loss guidingwould increase the internal optical losses,which is highly undesirable due to the lowsaturated gain of the active material. Gainguiding is negligible since the index guide ofthe PBG is much stronger and completelygoverns the cavity’s optical mode. In addi-tion, our shallow etch avoids exposure ofthe aluminum-rich layers to the ambientenvironment during processing, which sim-plifies manufacturing.
Our VCSELs use the dielectric top-mirrorstructure that featured in Infineon’s highlyreliable, qualified lasers produced by Steinleand colleagues. The dielectric mirrors deliverlower optical losses than DBRs do due to theabsence of free-carrier absorption, whichimproves VCSEL performance.
The VCSEL development started with thefabrication of 850 nm lasers. This work wasnever completed, because of a customer-dri-ven switch to longer wavelengths, but sin-glemode VCSELs were produced, delivering3–5 mW. Power levels in these devices werelimited by ohmic heating due to a non-opti-mized contact process. However, researchshowed that it would be possible to construct10 mW singlemode VCSELs.
Incorporating a photonic bandgap structure into a dilute nitride VCScompete with the Fabry–Pérot and distributed-feedback lasers that a
OLEFebALIGHT22-23 3/2/06 1.08 pm Page 22
23OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Switching to longer-wavelength VCSELsrequired a redesign of the PBG structure,with emphasis on low scattering losses. Ini-tial results show that the devices exhibit sin-glemode behaviour up to 3 mW at 20 °C,that they can deliver 1.4 mW single-modepower at 90 °C, and that they produce side-mode suppression ratios exceeding 30 dB.
A foundry approachWe believe that it is essential to minimize theVCSEL’s time to market, so Alight is workingwith a foundry, and in close co-operationwith a customer, to decrease the time takenfrom producing a prototype to manufac-turing a qualified laser. The company under-
stands that it is essential to establish a credibleand reliable supply chain. Although proto-typing is performed in a class 10 cleanroomfacility in Copenhagen, parallel work atfoundry partners validates our volume pro-duction processes at an early stage.
Based on the promising results that havebeen obtained so far, we are planning torelease 2.5 Gbit/s 1.3 μm VCSELs later thisyear, targeting datacom and telecom accessapplications. However, we believe that thetransition to higher-speed datacom appli-cations in local storage-area networks andoptical interconnects, as well as an increasedfocus on fibre in telecom access networks, willdrive the company’s future product portfolio.
The PBG technology is generic and can beapplied to VCSELs operating at variouswavelengths serving many different appli-cations. For example, high single-mode poweris also attractive for sensing applications,printing, passive optical fibre networks andconsumer electronics. Our company’s strat-egy is to pursue these opportunities outsidethe telecom and datacom markets throughpartnerships that will enhance the penet-ration of its proprietary technology.
Dan Birkedal is chief technology officer andfounder of Alight Technologies. Dirk Jessen isAlight’s vice-president of business development. E-mail: [email protected].
Alight’s VCSELs combine Infineon’s dilute-nitride surface-emitting laser structure with its own photonic-bandgap technology. The photonic bandgap, which is used to produce lateral optical mode confinement,is formed by etching an array of holes into the active region.
up dilute-nitride VCSEL
de VCSEL increases its singlemode output power and enables it tos that are serving today’s optical communications networks.
Alight Technologies’ laser-manufacturingprocesses are similar to those used forconventional VCSELs. However, a fewspecialized processes common to other parts ofthe optoelectronics industry are needed,including a high-resolution lithography step todefine the photonic-bandgap array.
Electron-beam lithography is used forprototyping and low-volume production, since itcombines flexibility with control. However, thefeature sizes used are large enough to beconveniently fabricated with a conventional
high-resolution stepper, and in the long run weare considering using novel imprint technologiesfor high-volume, low-cost production.
Lithography is followed by dry etching intothe semiconductor, with an emphasis on highetch-depth control and good uniformity.Maintaining a smooth surface morphology thatcuts scattering losses in a processed device isalso essential. Finally, the dielectric top mirroris deposited. The mirror’s quality is determinedby low stress and good adhesion to thesemiconductor surface, and a low optical loss.
Manufacturing photonic-bandgap VCSELs
dielectrictop mirror
GaInNAsactive region
circularemission
contacts
bottommirror
SEM image: Alight forms the photonic-bandgaplasing defect by omitting several rods in the centralregion of the tri-diagonal lattice.
Ali
gh
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■
OLEFebALIGHT22-23 3/2/06 1.09 pm Page 23
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Microfluidics is a rapidly emerging field with researchers around the globe working onlab-on-a-chip systems for diverse and widespread applications. Rob van den Berg talks
to three groups that are trying to shrink optical components to the nanoscale.
Optical devices enhancelab-on-a-chip systems
MICROFLUIDICS
25OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Microfluidic systems are already beingtouted for applications that include drug dis-covery, DNA analysis and aerosol detection.In order to enhance the device’s functional-ity, lab-on-a-chip inventors are thinking opti-cally and are developing nanoscale versionsof techniques such as spectroscopy.
Fabricating radically scaled-down ver-sions of successful optical techniques is eas-ier said than done, but recently there havebeen considerable successes in integratingdiscrete components.
Ben Eggleton from the University of Syd-ney, Australia, is pioneering ways of shrink-ing optical techniques onto a lab-on-a-chip.“We are developing the devices to do spec-troscopy and sensing on a chip,” he toldOLE. “Unique optical and physical proper-ties allow us to impart photonic control inways that are highly compact and tunable.We may also turn the technology aroundand use photonics to sense fluid properties,which is of increasing importance to med-ical diagnostics.”
In 2002, while still at Bell Labs, US, Eggle-ton used multiple microfluidic plugs to tunethe optical properties of a microstructuredfibre. “By loading some fluid into the interiormicrochannels via capillary action, we wereable to vary the transmission wavelengthand attenuation of the fibre,” he explained.
Using the same approach, he was also ableto tune the transmission of a photonic crys-tal. “With a capillary heater, we managed tomove a microfluidic plug back and forth in aphotonic crystal and measure its response,”he said. “We could clearly show that fea-tures in the optical spectrum became atten-uated due to the lowered index contrastbetween the photonic bandgap (PBG) mat-erial and the surrounding silica. When thePBG structure was made transparent by theright index matching fluid, diffractionceased completely.”
Eggleton and his group have also devel-oped a Mach–Zehnder interferometer basedon a microfluidic channel. Here, the outputfrom a singlemode fibre is sent through the
channel and into another optical fibre. Thiscreates a single-beam interferometerbecause the light is phase-shifted when it
interacts with the fluid. By moving the fluid back and forth into the
interaction zone, Eggleton varies the degreeof interference and attenuation. “This is avery efficient way to modulate the intensity,”he explained. “If you wanted to do the samewith, for instance, an electro-optic polymer,you would need an interaction length of sev-eral centimetres. Our technique may not beas fast as those based on MEMS, which canmodulate at kilohertz rates, but I am confi-dent we can reach that.”
The latest development from the Eggletonlab, which will be published in Applied PhysicsLetters, is an optofluidic refractometer. Thedevice is based on a singlemode fibre wave-guide, which is split in two and sits either sideof a microfluidic channel. Fibre Bragg grat-ings in each waveguide form a Fabry–Perotresonator, with a resonance wavelength thatdepends on the refractive index of the fluid inthe channel. According to Eggleton, thedevice is capable of detecting 0.2% changesin refractive index of the fluid in real time.
The next goal for the team is to find opticalmethods to move the fluid in the microflu-idic channels. “Our goal is to have full opticalcontrol of all components in a singleoptofluidic chip, without any electrical wiresor electric power at the point where youmanipulate,” he said.
Eggleton’s first idea was to use opticaltweezers to move the fluid “particle” directly,but this required too much energy. Anotherapproach is to optically trap and displace asilica microsphere, which refracts a laserbeam and provides variable attenuation andbeam steering.
Zhu Lin and colleagues from the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology in Pasadena, US,have also constructed a microfluidic variableattenuator and say that they have adopted adifferent approach from that of Eggleton.
“We aligned the microfluidic channel onan opening in the cladding layer in the wave-guide,” explained Lin. “The fluid in the chan-nel acts as a segment of upper cladding andcreates a hybrid fluid–solid state structure.
The output from the on-chip dye laser developed atthe Technical University of Denmark can be variedbetween 573 and 583 nm by changing theconcentration of fluid in the laser resonator.
An
ders
Kri
sten
sen
An
ders
Kri
sten
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“Our goal is tohave full opticalcontrol of a singleoptofluidic chipwithout anyelectrical power.”Ben Eggleton
OLEFebRVBFEATURE25-26 6/2/06 12.19 pm Page 25
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This design keeps the waveguide core intactand confines the interaction between thefluid and the optical waveguide within thecladding layer.”
Lin claims that, fabricated using a multi-step (soft) photolithography process, it is pos-sible to tune the optical confinement of thewaveguide by passing different fluidsthrough the microfluidic channel.
If the refractive index of the fluid is thesame as that of the cladding, the light is con-fined, and the maximum output power isreached. However, fluids with a higherrefractive index can attenuate this output upto 28 dB. “We are now trying to integrate agrating into the fluid in order to be able tochange the wavelength by changing thefluid’s refractive index,” said Zhu “Thisshould offer a really wide tuning range.”
Another essential component for a lab-on-a-chip is a light source, and Anders Kris-tensen and his group at the TechnicalUniversity of Denmark have come up with asolution: a liquid dye laser on a chip.
Manufactured in a single microlitho-graphic step, the laser is confined to an 8 μmthick polymer layer on top of a glass sub-strate. The optical resonator consists of aBragg grating formed by an array of chan-nels interleaved by sections of polymer, each
approximately 20 μm wide.“It may sound like a complicated struc-
ture, but if you are making a lab-on-a-chip,the price of adding more optical devices iszero,” Kristensen told OLE. “The laser struc-ture is just another microfluidic channel.”
The on-chip laser, which is pumped by afrequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser with anenergy fluence of 0.02 mJ/mm2, has a sin-glemode output power of 1.2 mJ. Kristensensays that he can also tune the laser’s outputwavelength. “Diluting a solution of the laserdye Rhodamine 6G in ethanol enables con-centration tuning and refractive index tun-ing within the laser resonator,” heexplained. “The output can be varied con-tinuously between 573 and 583 nm. Youcould even mix in a different solvent, likeethylene glycol.” This research will be pub-lished in the Journal of Applied Physics.
Kristensen sees two potential applicationsfor the on-chip dye lasers. “One could cou-ple the light from several dye lasers emittingat different wavelengths into several dis-crete waveguides,” he said. “Bringing thislight to various locations along a microflu-idic channel allows you to make absorbancemeasurements.”
The second application involves turningthe laser cavity into an evanescent wave sen-
sor by putting molecules on the surface ofthe waveguide. This changes the propagat-ing field in the cavity and induces a phase orfrequency shift, which is a very sensitivedetection technique.
Kristensen has also set his sights on fur-ther miniaturization of these devices. “Inorder to have a polymer film with just a sin-gle propagating mode, the height of the filmmust be in the submicron range and we dothis by thermal nano-imprint lithography,”he explained. “Using this approach, weintend to make cavities with a higher Q thatare less lossy and have a lower lasing thresh-old. This might ultimately allow us toreplace the YAG pump laser with a flashlamp or a small diode laser and make a morecompact hand-held cartridge.”
This, however, is easier said than done,because fabricating polymer nanostructureswith a high aspect ratio is a demanding task.The sidewalls also need to be opticallysmooth and absolutely vertical.
To overcome these difficulties, Kristensenis working with several research groups on aEuropean project on emerging nanopattern-ing methods.
Rob van den Berg is a freelance science journalistbased in the Netherlands.
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A new simple design of solid-state blue laser could be an attractive solution for manyclinical and industrial applications. Lisa Tsufura and Eric Takeuchi explain.
Doubled diode offerscompact blue source
PRODUCT GUIDE
27OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
When it comes to laser technology and cre-ating sources that operate at new wave-lengths, sometimes the best approaches arethe simplest ones. While numerous compa-nies have developed solid-state lasers thatemit in the blue, most are complex designsthat are not ideal in terms of manufactur-ability and performance.
An elegant solution for many applicationsthat require a low to moderate power bluesource at 488 nm is the doubled diode laser(DDL). This simple design takes light from aninfrared diode and passes it through a non-linear optical crystal to convert it to the blueregion. Attractions of the device includeimproved thermal management and outputstability combined with a small footprint andease of mounting.
In comparison with other solid-state488 nm laser technologies, the DDL isunique. Developed specifically with low-cost,volume manufacturability in mind, the mod-ule uses far fewer parts, surfaces and coat-ings than competing solid-state designs. Infact, the DDL relies on just two main compo-nents. The first is a Telcordia-qualified976 nm telecom diode. This well provendevice exhibits lifetimes in the order of hun-dreds of thousands of hours and around onemillion units have been deployed to date inthe fibre-optics industry.
The second component is a second har-monic generator (SHG). It has a history ofmore than 15 years and was originally devel-oped for use in optical storage applications. Itis also qualified for use at significantly higherpowers (1 MW/cm2) than it is exposed to inthe DDL technology.
Combining these two devices yields anelegant and high-performance source ofblue light. In essence, the 976 nm diodeoutput is frequency-doubled to create a488 nm beam with a power of up to 40mWand a wavelength variation in the order ofjust ± 0.25 nm.
The low number of optical surfaces in thedesign serves to minimize losses and increasesystem efficiency and reliability. As a result,
the diode pump power can be reduced for agiven output power and the laser is able torun at lower drive current levels – optimumfor high reliability. The output power capabil-ity of the DDL is illustrated on p28.
Superior thermal efficiencyOne of the key advantages of the DDL tech-nology is its ability to deliver high outputpower while keeping the system’s totalpower consumption and heat generation toa minimum. The benefit to the OEM systemdesigner is a significant reduction in the size
of heat sink required to manage the laser’sthermal load.
There is no longer a need for forced convec-tion cooling (which adds vibration and bulkto the system) or large passive heat sinksrequired by less-efficient systems. This makesthe DDL footprint truly compact andmechanical, and thermal design require-ments simple. As shown on p29, the DDL typ-ically dissipates less than 10 W, even whenoperated at extreme baseplate temperatures(e.g. 55ºC) compared with the 30–50W gen-erated by other blue solid-state devices.
Inside the box: the doubled diode laser uses a nonlinear crystal to frequency-double the infrared outputfrom a 976 nm diode to 488 nm. This approach is said to generate output powers of up to 40 mW.
solid-stategain chip
spectralfilter
fundamentalradiation
~976 nm
Braggreflector
fundamentalradiation
~976 nm
pump diode nonlinearcrystal
SHG output
~488 nm
▲
OLEFebBUYERSGUIDE27-29 3/2/06 2.26 pm Page 27
PRODUCT GUIDE
28 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Long-term pointing and stabilitySince the DDL has few parts, there is littleopportunity for movement-induced mis-alignment within the laser block. This meansthat the laser is relatively robust to tempera-ture changes, and able to maintain excellentoptical output performance and pointingstability over long periods of time. This isimportant because any beam movement dur-ing operation can result in power variationsat the end of the optical beam train or at thesample, or cause clipping at modulators andother apertures.
The simple design and efficiency of the DDLtechnology minimizes the beam-pointing tem-perature dependence to values in the order of5 rad/°C. This makes the DDL ideal for use ininstruments in clinical or production environ-ments and over large temperature ranges.
Beam pointing is of particular importancein systems relying on the fibre delivery of con-stant power or in scanning and imaging appli-cations where focused spot or sample locationis critically important. In other more complex,free-space optical trains, pointing stability isparticularly critical due to the amount of timeand energy required to perform alignmentduring installation. Beam pointing can alsoultimately impact instrument accuracy andrepeatability and should therefore be a con-
sideration when consistency of measure-ments and repeatability are important.
NoiseA laser’s optical noise is a critical considera-tion for many scanning and measurementapplications because it can impact accuracy,especially when the signal levels beingdetected are low. The nature of the noise, itsmagnitude and the frequencies at which itoccurs are of interest to system designers
350 400300250200150100500
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“DDL technologykeeps heatgeneration to aminimum.”Lisa Tsufura and Eric Takeuchi
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OLEFebBUYERSGUIDE27-29 3/2/06 2.26 pm Page 28
who are concerned with the interactionbetween the laser and the system’s associatedoptical detectors, scan-heads, CCDs or otherrecording devices.
The noise characteristic of the DDL technol-ogy differs from that of the traditional solid-state laser. In place of discrete noise peaks, theoptical noise from the DDL appears as a broad-band, “white” noise, which does not produceartefacts like banding on images. In manyapplications, white noise can be averaged outof the measurement or image altogether.
Circular and Gaussian beam qualityThe DDL output is designed to achieve ionlaser-like beam diameter and divergencecharacteristics and a circular Gaussian beamprofile with an M2 of less than 1.1 and mini-mal astigmatism is achievable. Due to thelow number of optical components andreduced opportunities for thermal andstress-related issues, the DDL can achievepolarization extinction ratios exceeding250:1, which can be advantageous in cellu-lar imaging or separation techniques thatutilize scatter or contrast enhancement.
Wavelength accuracyThe DDL approach provides wavelengthaccuracy that is superior to that of manyother optically pumped solid-state lasers. Thedevice’s emission wavelength is specifiedwith a spectral width of 20 pm and a wave-length tolerance of ±0.50 nm, although thetypical performance is ±0.25 nm. The tighttolerance virtually eliminates the need to cal-ibrate each instrument, shortens assemblytime and can improve resolution in wave-length-sensitive measurements.
ApplicationsMost of the interest in the blue-laser arenacontinues to be driven by the demands of thebiotech and analytical instrumentation mar-
kets, fuelled by drug discovery, genomics,clinical applications, process control, andmolecular and cell research needs. Many ofthe applications were originally launchedusing argon-ion laser technology at the488 nm excitation wavelength. Today, withsolid-state technology, 488 nm is still one ofthe most popular wavelengths used to excitefluorophores (FITC, Alexa Fluor 488, PE[phycoerythrin], Cy5) used in microscopy,cytometry, microarray scanning and gene-sequencing applications.
Simple yet sophisticatedThere are several options when it comes toblue solid-state laser technology. On the sur-face, many may look alike and few providethe right balance of performance, cost andmanufacturability to meet the OEM’s needs.The DDL provides the OEM with a simple,truly compact option that is affordable andeasily manufactured, along with sophisti-cated performance characteristics to meetvolume desktop device demands.
With its insusceptibility to movement withtemperature, the DDL promotes system sta-bility and measurement repeatability. Its highefficiency also ensures minimal heat dissipa-tion, giving the OEM much more design flexi-bility and smaller footprints to work with.
By exploiting proven diode and SHG tech-nologies, the DDL supports the long-term reli-ability expected of demanding instrumentapplications. When you can have optimumwavelength, excellent optical performanceand the best balance of performance, cost andmanufacturability, the choice is simple.
Lisa M Tsufura is marketing manager and EricTakeuchi is principal engineer, solid-state lasers, atMelles Griot Laser Group in Carlsbad, California,US, a worldwide manufacturer of DPSS, diode andion lasers. For more information, visit www.mellesgriot.com.
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NEWSLETTERT H E O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E E U R O P E A N O P T I C A L S O C I E T Y
The 2006 EOS annualmeeting will host sixtopical meetingscovering the latestexciting research inoptics and photonics.
The 2006 annual meeting of the EOS will takeplace in Paris, France, on 16–19 October andwill be collocated with the OPTO conferenceand trade show at the Porte de Versaille. It willfeature a total of six topical meetings, two ofwhich are jointly organized with the QuantumElectronics and Optics Division of the EuropeanPhysical Society. The topical meetings are dedi-cated to the following areas:● biophotonics/biomedical optics;● extreme optics; ● nanophotonics, metamaterials and optical
microcavities;● micro-optics, diffractive optics and opticalMEMS;● photonic devices in space;● nonlinear optics: from sources to guided waves.
A call for papers has now been issued and thedeadline for the submission of abstracts is31 May 2006. Contributions should be sent toSilke Kramprich at the EOS office in Hanover,Germany (e-mail: [email protected]). For moreinformation visit the EOS homepage at www.myeos.org.
Annual meeting comes to Paris in October
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6
Biophotonics/biomedical opticsOptical and photonic technologies continue to drive
progress in biological research and clinical diagnostics.
The emerging field of biophotonics, which is developing
rapidly in industrial and clinical sectors as well as in the
academic field, offers new opportunities for
biomedicine. These are arising through the development
of new tools and technologies for imaging, manipulating
and analysing biological samples and processes.
Extreme optics (QEOD/EPS and EOS)In many of today’s applications of optics, extremes are
being explored. In optical communication and
information sciences, the extremes are being sought in
ultrafast, ultra-low-power and ultra-compact, as well as
in single-photon and photon entanglement. In
metrology, the extremes are in the accuracies of time
and frequency measurements and standards. This
topical meeting will provide a forum for scientists who
are actively exploring the extremes in optics in light of
new applications and technology development.
Nanophotonics, metamaterials and opticalmicrocavities (QEOD/EPS and EOS) Nanophotonics, metamaterials and optical
microcavities include a family of nanoscale photonic
structures and devices, where light-matter interaction
takes place at the wavelength and subwavelength scale.
The physical, chemical and structural nature of
artificially or naturally nanostructured matter determines
these interactions. This conference will address various
aspects of basic science, design, fabrication and
applications of the nanoscale photonics.
Micro-optics, diffractive optics and optical MEMSMicro-optics and diffractive optics include a family of
optical components and systems that are fabricated
using modern micromachining, such as optical
lithography, direct laser and e-beam writing, reactive
ion-etching, nanoimprint lithography and soft
embossing. Micro-optics has emerged as a powerful tool
to realize various optical functions that have not
previously been possible using conventional optical
elements. Elements utilizing either refractive or
diffractive surfaces are now found in applications
ranging from laser-beam shaping for laser material
processing to optical interconnects in telecom
applications. Further progress in fabrication will lead to
novel subwavelength nanostructures.
Photonic devices in spacePhotonics provides many advantages for applications in
space through the combination of micro-, nano-,
integrated-optic and fibre-optic technologies. The
benefits of photonic systems for space include reduced
susceptibility of systems to EMI, reduction in the weight
of signal harnesses, higher information transmission
capacity, reduced weight and volume, opto-isolation of
critical spacecraft subsystems, high-speed optical
processing of radio frequency and microwave signals
and low propagation loss.
Nonlinear optics: from sources to guided wavesNonlinear optics extends from the generation of new
frequencies and ultrashort pulses up to novel resonator
structures, such as optical parametric oscillators. Strong
nonlinear effects also create structures such as soliton-
induced waveguides and optically induced photonic
lattices. Nonlinear optics is also strongly connected to
the world of materials science, and organic materials
are now a field of growing interest due to their potential
easy fabrication and wide variety of applications,
ranging from optical data storage to waveguiding. This
meeting will address various aspects of the basics and
applications in modern nonlinear optics.
A brief description of the focus of each meeting
OLEFebEOS31 3/2/06 12.35 pm Page 1
In excess of 200 opticsprofessionalsgather to launchPhotonics21.
Photonics21, a new European Technology Plat-form (ETP) dedicated to the field of optics, opto-electronics and lasers, has launched. More than200 experts from 16 European member statesand 120 companies and R&D institutes cele-brated the event in Brussels on 2 December.
The launch was attended by the Europeancommissioner for information society andmedia, Viviane Reding, who opened a workshopon the new platform where the participants laidthe foundations for a common strategic researchagenda.
“Photonics is one of the most importantfuture industries for Europe. The benefit of pho-tonics can only be fully exploited by interna-tional and European co-operation. Photonics21is a first very important step towards a Europeanleadership,” stated Commissioner Reding.“With the technology platforms the EuropeanCommission establishes a close co-operation,especially with industry, to ensure that researchand development contribute effectively to animproved competitiveness of Europe.”
Photonics21 is the result of a long process ofconsultations between the European Commis-sion (Vivian Reding and the commissioner forresearch, Janez Potocnik) and high-level repre-sentatives of the European photonics industryand academia. The ETP is based on the visiondocument Photonics for the 21st Century, whichwas published in 2005 and which proposes acoordinated action plan at the European level toreap the expected benefits in terms of creatingboth jobs and wealth.
Through a shared vision between industry andthe public sector, Photonics21 will create theenvironment necessary for visionary and indus-trially relevant R&D in photonics components,systems and applications. The platform aims toestablish Europe as leader in the developmentand deployment of photonics in five areas (infor-mation and communication, lighting and dis-plays, manufacturing, life science and security),as well as in research, education and training.
Its strategic research agenda will include acoordinated approach for R&D investment atthe European, the national and the regional lev-els. The European Commission and the stake-holders will work closely to make sure thatphotonics plays an important role in the upcom-ing 7th Framework Programme. Photonics21 isheaded by the chairmen of internationally lead-ing companies like Jenoptik, Bookham,TRUMPF Lasertechnology, Carl Zeiss, PhilipsLighting and SAGEM, together with ChrisDainty from the European Optical Society.
“We need to join forces at the European levelto make full use of the potential photonics offersfor Europe’s economy. Only a coordinated
approach enables us to further improve the com-petitive advantage Europe has today and willneed more then ever in the future,” explainedAlexander von Witzleben, president of Photon-ics21 and CEO of Jenoptik AG. “We are confi-dent that our close dialogue and co-operationwith the European Commission, and especiallywith Commissioner Viviane Reding, will lead toa strong focus on photonics in the upcoming 7thFramework Programme.”
E O S N E W S L E T T E RF E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6
NEWS FROM BRUSSELS
Photonics21 launch in Brussels
WG information and communicationGiorgio Anania, CEO Bookham
WG industrial production/manufacturing and qualityPeter Leibinger, CEO Trumpf Lasertechnik
WG life sciences and healthMichael Kaschke, CTO Carl Zeiss
WG lighting and displaysPeter Stormberg, CTO Philips Lighting
WG metrology and sensorsJean-Francois Coutris, vice-president, SAGEM
WG design and manufacturing of optical componentsand systems Lars Thylen, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
WG photonics research, education and trainingChris Dainty, EOS
The working groups may decide to establish
subgroups. For further information, see
www.photonics21.org or contact Klaus Nowitzki,
executive director, European Optical Society,
Hollerithallee 8, 30419 Hannover, Germany
(tel: +49 511 2788 115; fax: +49 511 2788 100;
e-mail: [email protected]).
Working group chairs
Leading figures in industry head Photonics21 and werepresent for the launch in Brussels in December 2005.
“Photonics is one ofthe most importantfuture industries forEurope.”
OLEFebEOS32 3/2/06 12.21 pm Page 2
Optical researchin Finlandflourishes fromthe paperindustry.
Today, optics and optoelectronics are two of themost successful and fast-growing areas in Fin-land’s scientific community and high-techindustry. They are also a key technology areawithin the national electronics miniaturizationR&D programme funded by the TechnologyDevelopment Agency (Tekes). A total of 21optics-related research projects have takenplace between 2002 and 2005 on topics such asfibre lasers, photonic components and modules,diffractive optics and printable optics. The pro-gramme has also provided Finland with a futureroadmap for photonics.
Historically, Finland’s strength in optoelec-tronics comes from the development of opticalinstrumentation for the paper industry, which hasresulted in a range of successful products foronline paper and pulp measurements andautomation. Over the years an R&D and manu-facturing network consisting of SME companiesand research partners has been established in thearea. Research efforts are now focusing on newapplication areas. For example, the pharmaceuti-cal giant GlaxoSmithKline has started a jointprogramme together with VTT Electronics(Technical Research Centre of Finland in Oulu)to develop process analytical technologies for usewith pharmaceuticals production.
The country has also made great progress indeveloping semiconductor and fibre lasers aswell as new technologies, such as biophotonicsand nanophotonics. For example, researchefforts in printable optics and electronics arehelping to build links between two strongFinnish industries, namely information technol-ogy and paper. The Tekes FinNano programme,which runs from 2005 to 2009, is supportingprojects to develop and exploit both nanotech-nology- and photonics-based innovations.
Below are three case-studies to illustrate thecurrent activities of Finnish optics.
Laser Competence Centre FinlandLaser Competence Centre (LCC) Finlandlaunched on 7 June 2005. The centre’s activitiesare based on laser technology developed by theOptoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), insti-tutes of Tampere University of Technology(TUT) and training activities offered by Tech-nology Centre Hermia.
LCC Finland brings together entrepreneursand researchers in the field of lasers. Its activitiescover laser research and development, integra-tion with production equipment, laser testingand end-user training. It currently has the sup-port of 25 organizations, companies and univer-sity institutes, and this number is expected todouble by the end of the year.
Optics River “Optics River” is a useful catchword for describ-ing the optical activities in the Joensuu area. Atthe University of Joensuu, Prof. Jari Turunen’sgroup is well known for its work in the design andfabrication of micro- and nanostructured diffrac-tive optical elements.
Some of the topics being studied are polariza-tion optics, the mass-replication of micro-opticalcomponents in plastic-type materials bymicroinjection moulding, and the developmentof diffractive optics for mobile applications. Thedepartment has all of the necessary tools tomanufacture complicated diffractive structuresfor both academia and industry. The university’sphysics department also has a spin-off calledNanocomp Ltd, which focuses on the design andmanufacture of diffractive optical elements.
Joensuu is also strong in colour research. InFo-tonics Center Joensuu is a research and businessservice centre at the University of Joensuu thatspecializes in wave-optical engineering and spec-tral colour research. The organization plays animportant role in co-operating with industrialR&D, especially with firms involved in paperand plastic manufacture.
Avantone Avantone Oy was established in 2004 todevelop and commercialize high-tech opticalsolutions for use in consumer packaging andprinted media. Its shareholders include Nokia,Metso and Hansaprint, a Finnish print house.
The aim is to improve the visual appeal andinformation content of packaging and printedproducts. Avantone’s first commercial product isthe Diftone optical effects system. Based on theintegration of diffractive optics and holography,this gives printed material a new dynamic layer,which not only looks stunning but is also infor-mation rich.
Optics in FinlandFOCUS ON FINLAND
E O S N E W S L E T T E R F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6
Avantone’s Diftone optical effects system uses holographic and diffractive optics technology to improvethe visual appearance of packaging.
OLEFebEOS33 3/2/06 12.49 pm Page 33
Are you a member of EOS?
E O S N E W S L E T T E RF E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6
For more information about any of these events, visit www.myeos.org.
To contact the EOS board:Executive director Klaus [email protected] Joseph Braat [email protected] Peter Török [email protected] Daniel Dolfi [email protected]
To learn more about your nationalEOS branch, please contact:Belgium Yvon Renotte [email protected] and Slovak republicsPavel Tomanek [email protected] Steen Grüner Hanson [email protected] Harri [email protected] Francoise [email protected] Cornelia Denz [email protected] Aladar [email protected] Anna Consortini [email protected] NetherlandsBernhard [email protected] Aasmund Sudbo [email protected] Katarzyna Macukow [email protected] Laurentiu [email protected] Ivan [email protected] Concepcion Domingo [email protected] Fredrik Laurell [email protected] Peter Seitz [email protected] Peter [email protected]
EOS Newsletter is produced forthe European Optical Society by Institute of PhysicsPublishing.
Acting editor Jacqueline [email protected]: +44 (0)117 930 1194
Individual members are eligible for:● a regular EOS Newsletter e-mail;● reduced conference fees;● reduced prices for the EOS journal;● free subscription to Optics & Laser Europe;● and, for those living outside Germany, a 50% discount ona subscription to the German-language journal Photonik,published by AT-Fachverlag.
Additional benefits for corporate members:● a company profile in the EOS directory;● a presence on the EOS website;● free advertisements for jobs in the EOS market;● reduced conference fees for all employees.
Look at the benefits
EOS 2006 membership feesIndividual members (who do not belong to a branch or affiliated society of the EOS): 740Students (who do not belong to a branch or affiliated society of the EOS): 710Corporate members (regardless of the number of employees of the company or members of the institute): 7200
Individual members of the branches DgaO (Germany), SFO (France), SSOM (Switzerland), SOS (Sweden) and SIOF (Italy) are
automatically full individual members of the EOS. Individual members of the affiliated societies Promoptica and CBO-BCO
(Belgium), CSSF (Czech and Slovak Republic), DOPS (Denmark), FOS (Finland), the Optics Division of the Norwegian Physical
Society (Norway), the Optics Division of the Polish Physical Society (Poland), ROS (Romania), SEDO (Spain), LAS (Russia)
and the Optical Group of the Institute of Physics (UK) are automatically associate members of the EOS.
Membership informationTo find out more about joining EOS, contact Klaus Nowitzki, executive director, Hollerithallee 8, D-30419 Hannover,
Germany (tel: +49 (0)511 2788 115; e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.myeos.org).
Calendar ContactD A T E E V E N T L O C A T I O N
3–7 April Photonics Europe Strasbourg, France
16–19 May LAMP 2006 International Congress on Laser Kyoto, JapanAdvanced Materials Processing
5–7 June WIO 06 Fifth International Workshop on Toledo, SpainInformation Optics
19–22 June CGIV 2006 Third European Conference on Leeds, UKColour in Graphics, Imaging and Vision
10–14 July 7th National Symposium on Display Holography St Asaph, UK
28–31 August ROMOPTO 2006 Micro- to Nano-Photonics Sibiu, Romania
13–15 September Speckle 2006 Nimes, France
16–19 October EOS Annual Meeting and Topical Meetings Paris, France
6–8 December ODF 06 Fifth International Conference on Nara, JapanOptics-Photonics Design and Fabrication
OLEFebEOS34 3/2/06 11.59 am Page 34
Ultrafast mirrorsNewport
Two-inch diameterbroadband mirrors forultrafast lasers are nowavailable from Newport.The company says thatthese standard, off-the-
shelf components are ideal for customerslooking to expand a beam and spread its energyover a wide surface.
The mirrors feature a 45° angle of incidence,minimum pulse dispersion, a reflectivity greaterthan 99% and a high-damage threshold.According to Newport, the mirrors can withstandup to 1 TW/cm2 from 100 fs pulses at 5 Hz and800 nm as well as support a bandwidth of700–930 nm. Additional specifications includea λ/10 surface flatness and a 15-5 scratch-digsurface quality.www.newport.com
Thermal imaging cameraBFi OPTiLAS
The Thermal-Eye4500AS high-resolutionthermal imaging camerafrom L3-Communicationis now available from BFiOPTiLAS. Supplied with
either a 50° or a 12° FOV lens, the device is saidto suit applications within the machine vision,process monitoring, military and security sectors.
The camera is based on an amorphoussilicon microbolometer detector with a pitch of30 μm and a 320× 240 pixel array. Otherfeatures include a frame rate of 30 Hz, an NETDof less than 50 mK and image processingtechnology that allows OEMs to associate adisplay colour with any scene temperate in the–40–650 °C range.www.bfioptilas.com
Optical coating servicesMelles Griot
Melles Griot’s OpticsGroup is now offering athin-film coating servicefor customers with theirown substrates. Thecompany says that itwill offer rapiddevelopment andproduction of precise
thin-film coatings through the use of its designexpertise and multiple coating chambers, suchas a Leybold SYRUSpro 1100.
“Our customers expect us to expand andoptimize our ability to provide high-performancetransmissive, reflective and polarizing multilayer
coatings for their optics,” said Bruce Capronfrom the Optics Group. “Consequently, we investin the latest coating equipment, analyticalinstrumentation and clean facilities.”www.mellesgriot.com
Deformable MEMS mirrorBoston Micromachines
Boston Micromachineshas launched a MEMS-based deformablemirror for use inadaptive opticssystems. According to
the US firm, the Mini-DM is a cost-effectivedevice for controlling wavefronts and improvingthe resolution of microscopes, telescopes andophthalmic instruments. Each of the mirrorarray’s 32 elements is individually deflected byan electrostatic actuator to give variousdeformation patterns.
The company claims that, unlike piezoelectricmirrors, electrostatic actuation gives mirrordeformation without hysteresis. The active mirrorcan reach frame rates of up to 1000 Hz with afully integrated controller and a user-friendlyinterface. The turnkey system comes complete
with a USB controller, software and a gimbalmount for easy installation. Prices start at$7500 (76119).www.bostonmicromachines.com
Mobile thermal cameraArmstrong Optical
The MobIR M4 thermalcamera from ArmstrongOptical of the UK is ahand-held instrument ofsimilar size and shapeto that of a mobile
phone with a weight of less than 300 g. Theproduct comes with a thermal-imaging camera,a visible camera, a laser locator and thermal-and visible-channel displays.
Onboard software accessed via thumb-operated keys allows electronic zoom andmeasurements such as object emissivity, single-and multiple-point temperatures, isotherms andmaximum/minimum temperatures. Thesensitivity is 0.1 °C. The standard lens on theMobIR M4 has a 25×19° field of view (FOV),and Armstong says that a new 40 mm lens with9×6° FOV will increase the viewing range.www.armstrongoptical.co.uk
PRODUCTSIf you would like your company’s products to be featured in this section,
please send press releases and images to James Tyrrell ([email protected]).
35OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
t : +44 (0)161 975 5300f : +44 (0)161 975 5309www.laserquantum.com
Cool, pure&quiet.The Finesse from Laser Quantum. Ultra low noise >4W CW @532nmFibre fed (no chiller), compact, high stability, power feedback (rigorously maintains set power).Noise <0.5% rms (1Hz - 6 MHz) M2 <1.1
The Finesse is designed for:Femto Ti:S pumping, ophthalmology, optical pumping, low-noise apps, PIV and similar applications.
OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 10.31 am Page 35
Single-photon detectorsid Quantique
id Quantique haslaunched two single-photon detectors for thevisible range: the id100-OEM and the id100-
OEM-MMF50. Designed for large-volume OEMapplications, the id100-OEM features a free-space input while the MMF50 comes with a10 cm long multimode fibre terminated by anFC/PC connector.
According to the firm, both products consistof a standard TO5 – 8-pin optoelectronicpackage and include a single-photon avalanchediode and a fast active-quenching circuitmounted on a thermoelectric cooler. Operatingin the 350–900 nm wavelength range of bothsystems feature a timing resolution of 40 ps anda dark count rate of typically 50 Hz.www.idquantique.com
Line and cross opticsPhotonic Products
A range of red laserdiode modules thatgenerate a uniformintensity line or a crossat 635 and 650 nmhave been developed
by Photonic Products. The modules measure29 mm in length and have a diameter of 8 mm.
Photonic Products states that the modulesgenerate either a 70° full-angle cross or a 58°or a 88° full-angle line with a factory-set focusat 1000 mm. It adds that the focus can be set atother distances on request and that themodules offer output powers of 0.9 or 4 mW witha power stability of less than 5%.www.photonic-products.com
Mirrors and singlet lensesCVI
Two new ranges ofoptical componentsare now available fromCVI: QuantaGlassinglet lenses forimaging applications,and JouleOptik lasergrade mirrors and
output couplers.Offered with one of three standard
antireflection coatings, the singlets are suppliedin plano-concave, bi-concave and bi-convexconfigurations in either UV-grade fused silica orBK7 glass.
CVI says that its laser grade productscomprise 10-5 scratch-dig surface quality aftercoating, λ/10 surface figure after coating andgreater than 20 J/cm2, 20 ns and 20 Hz at1064 nm laser damage threshold performance.www.cvilaser.com
Avalanche photodiodeGoodrich
Goodrich, US, is nowselling an indiumgallium arsenide/indium phosphide near-infrared avalanchephotodiode (APD)designed for single-photon counting atwavelengths of
0.9–1.6 μm. According to the firm, the SU055-GM-APD-FO offers an extremely low dark currentwith high responsivity, making it ideal for Geigermode single-photon counting. It is also said tobe capable of high-gain linear mode single-photon counting with a quantum efficiency ofgreater than 70%.
With low-noise analogue optical detection atup to 1 GHz, Goodrich’s device incorporates ahigh-performance APD chip, a thermoelectriccooler, a thermistor and optical fibre-couplingoptics into a compact hermetic package.www.oss.goodrich.com
Illumination design softwareLambda Research
Lambda Research saysthat the latest releaseof its TraceProillumination designsoftware, version 3.3.5,
includes 67 additions and improvements. Forexample, the new version gives designers theability to handle anisotropic grating structuresand determine flux levels for each diffractedorder for varying angles of incidence.
The macro interpreter has also been upgradedand can now handle larger macro files. Otherenhanced features include importance sampling,surface and material properties, design analysisoutputs and plots, and optical design translatorand measurement tool outputs.www.lambdares.com
Aspheric lensesMoritexMoritex says that its range of aspheric lensesgive high coupling efficiencies as well as lowlosses and, thanks to a unique glass-to-metalsoldering technique, can be housed in virtuallyany type of holder. Offering a throughput ofabout 98% at 1550 nm, the lenses suit opticaldevice packaging applications.
According to the firm, the aspherical lensescan collimate light from a source or focus lightinto a fibre or waveguide. Available in a choiceof antireflection-coated optical glasses, thelenses can be optimized for a designatedwavelength range. Diameters of 1.0–2.5 mmand focal lengths of 0.8–5.0 mm are availableon short delivery for volume orders.www.moritex.com
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OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 10.35 am Page 36
Thin-disk laserELS
The VersaDisk-1030Yb:YAG thin-disk laserfrom ELS of Germanyemits up to 100 W at1030 nm in a TEM00
mode and a linewidth of a few gigahertz. Whenan etalon is used, ELS says that the linewidth isreduced to a few megahertz and the outputpower is up to 50 W. The company claims thatits tunable etalon also stabilizes the longitudinalmode. According to ELS, the VersaDisk is idealfor interferometric measurement as well as atomand molecule trapping when an etalon is used.www.els.de
Fibre laserAculight
US firm Aculight hasexpanded its “Picasso”line of pulsed fibrelasers to include a
polarized eye-safe laser and a 1 μm laser.Dubbed PF1550PM-30 and PF1060-40, theformer produces 4–6 ns pulses of 1.54 μmdiffraction-limited output at repetition rates of50–200 kHz with 1 W average power. The1 μm version (PF1060-40) delivers 3–5 nspulses at repetition rates of 100 kHz–1 MHz. Itproduces up to 10 W of average power at arepetition rate of 1 MHz and maximum peakpowers of 30 kW.
Described by Aculight as rugged sources, theunits are said to be ideal for LIDAR, range-gatedimaging, sensing and micromachiningapplications. Both versions measure3.5× 11× 13 inches and weigh 7.3 kg or less.www.aculight.com
Video inspection microscopeOC White
Microscope userslooking to avoid eyefatigue and back painmay be interested in thehigh-resolution, display-based inspection unit
from industrial lighting specialist OC White. The SuperScope set-up features a 14 inch
medical grade, self-contained LCD videosystem combined with a high-sensitivity0.5 inch camera to give a standardmagnification of 4–45× and up to 90× with anoptional 2× lens. Images can be captured,have voice annotation added and thentransferred via e-mail or over the Internet. Aframe grabber and microphone are availableseparately from the firm. Images can be viewedeasily by more than one person, so the devicesuits a training environment as well as generalinspection and medical applications.www.ocwhite.com
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OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 12.10 pm Page 37
Argon laserLaser Physics
Modu-Laser has addeda 300 mW multilinelaser to its range of air-cooled argon lasersources. Available
through Laser Physics of the UK, the Stellar-Pro-L has a TEM00 output, an amplitude noise ofless than1% rms and features a universalintegrated power supply, all within a single,small package. Laser Physics adds that atunable version is also available. Contact LaserPhysics for UK sales and service, and details ofother European distributors.www.laserphysics.co.uk
Simulation softwareOptiwaveOptiwave Systems has released OptiFDTD MAX,a software package for the design andsimulation of advanced passive and nonlinearphotonics components. The software performscomplex finite-difference, time-domainsimulations and is said to offer an affordabledesktop alternative to expensive FDTD clusteredcomputing networks.
The OptiFDTD MAX software uses EMPhotonics’ Celerity acceleration technology,which claims to yield the computing power of a
25–50 node PC cluster. Optiwave says that itssoftware creates the only commercially availabledesktop solution for running FDTD simulations athigh speeds. “Simulations that normally took aweek to complete will be finished in hours,” saidRichard Zhang, the product manager ofOptiFDTD MAX.www.optiwave.com
Photon counting SensL
SensL of Ireland hasintroduced thePCMPlusX USB photon-detection system. Aderivative of the firm’s
PCMPlus, the new X system features UBS 2.0compatibility, 2.5 ns time binning (with onboardmicroprocessor and memory), data correlationand photon-counting algorithms.
The platform is currently available with up tofour sensing channels with a maximum of 16available on request. SensL says that thisresults in significant space savings andefficiencies for OEMs that require multiplesensors in their equipment. The PCMPlusX iscontrolled through a modular, Java-based USBinterface to enable the user to configure andmanage the multiple sensors easily.www.sensl.com
Laser diode driverAnalog Modules
Analog Modules saysthat its model 772pulsed laser diode driveris a highly efficient
(>70%), compact (4.3×2.7×1.5 inch) andlightweight (<298g) polyphase unit designed tosupply high- current pulses for laser diode stackloads. The 772 delivers 70–140A current pulses(50–400μs) with <10μs risetime into diodestacks of 15–24V at an average power of up to20W. It is also said to provide power and triggersignals for AMI’s Pockels cell drivers. In additionthe unit can be cooled with natural convectionand offers open circuit, short-circuit andthermal-overload protection.www.analogmodules.com
Optical simulation softwareLiekki
Liekki, a Finnishsupplier of highly dopedoptical fibres andmodules, has updatedits application designersoftware. Leikki
Application Designer (LAD) v3.1 can model fibreamplifiers and lasers based on conventionalfibres as well as fibres with radial doping profilesand unique refractive index profiles.
The software’s multimode propagation featureallows users to calculate optical powerpropagation along the doped fibre for eachmode to determine the quality of the opticaloutput. LAD v3.1 also includes bending effectsin its calculations, such as mode-field distortionand power loss. According to the firm, thepackage suits most standard PCs runningMicrosoft Windows.www.liekki.com
Infrared LEDsAvago Technologies
Avago Technologies hasreleased a range ofhigh-power infrared (IR)LED emitters operatingat 870, 875 and
940 nm. Made using the firm’s aluminiumgallium arsenide technology, the devices areoptimized for high radiant intensity, speed andlow forward voltage. For example, the HSDL-4250 and HSDL-4251 (870 nm peakwavelength) operate with a forward voltage of1.4 V at 20 mA and with optical rise and falltimes of 40 ns. The devices’ 5 mm packagingfeatures an iron lead frame that is said todissipate power efficiently over a wide range ofoperating currents. Applications listed by thecompany include IR local-area networktransceivers, smoke detectors and optical mice.www.avagotech.com
PRODUCTS
We supply a comprehensive range of leading edge photonics products. Latest additions include:
� 100W 808nm diode bars now shipping in volume� 15W visible diode bars available� Ultra high power, high brightness diode lasers � Unique dual wavelength 491/532nm DPSS lasers� Lowest noise 532nm DPSS laser available
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photonics products
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38 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 10.45 am Page 38
Diffuse reflectance toolThermo Electron
Thermo Electron haslaunched a diffusereflectance accessory(DRA) for use with itsEvolution 600 UV-VISspectrophotometer.
Thanks to the DRA’s horizontal mountingconfiguration, Thermo says that delicatesamples of any size can be measured easily,such as reflectance and colour measurementsof a butterfly wing.
According to Thermo, the DRA features theonly upward viewing, horizontally mountedreflectance port in the industry. In addition,because the reflectance port is located outsidethe sample compartment, customers are able tomeasure large samples held in place by gravity.www.thermo.com
CCD cameraJAI Pulnix
JAI Pulnix has addedthe CV-A1 to its seriesof CCD machine visioncameras. The CV-A1measures 29×66 mm,
features a 0.5 inch progressive scan Sony CCDand operates at 16 frames per second. Thecamera also has an analogue output and can becontrolled via an RS-232C interface.
JAI says that the camera’s analogue outputplaces fewer restrictions on cable length andallows small-diameter cable to be used. Inaddition the RS-232C interface provides remoteaccess, which is essential if the camera islocated deep inside a system.www.jaipulnix.com
Fibre polarization controllerPhoenix Photonics
Phoenix Photonics ofthe UK has launched an eight-channelpolarization controllerfor test and
measurement applications. The device is basedon the firm’s electronically variable all-fibrewaveplates. Control knobs on the front panelprovide simultaneous manual control of thestate of polarization in eight optical fibres.Alternatively, the 19 inch rack-mountedinstrument can be addressed using analoguevoltage inputs via a back-plate connector. www.phoenixphotonics.com
Polarization analysersAdaptif PhotonicsThe A1000 polarization analyser and the A2000component analyser are now available fromAdaptif Photonics. According to the Germancompany, its new analysers perform
measurements that have until now beenunavailable in commercial test instruments inthe 850–1100 nm wavelength range.
Applications include high-speed and highlyaccurate PMD/DGD measurements on opticalcomponents and real-time polarizationextinction ratio tests on polarization-maintainingfibres to levels beyond 50 dB. Both instrumentsare available in compact benchtop and 19 inchrack-mount housings. www.adaptif.de
Scan-headNutfield Technology
Nutfield Technology, aprovider ofgalvanometer-basedoptical scanners, hasreleased a two-axis
scan-head. According to the US firm, the XLR8-15 is the fastest 15 mm head in its class. Unitscan be configured for a variety of laserwavelengths and are available with digital andanalogue electrical interface options.
The company can also provide software andUSB-compatible scan cards. Devices featureceramic rotor technology and long-lifetimebearings to give typical marking speeds ofaround 400 characters per second. www.nutfieldtech.com
Diode laserOmicron LaserageOmicron Laserage has developed a laser diodemodule emitting at 375 nm to suit HD-DVDproduction. According to the German firm, themobile-phone-sized device can replace bulkygas lasers to create structures in photoresistmaterial with a resolution of less than 200 nm.What’s more, the company says that theexpected lifetime of its diode laser is five to tentimes as long as that of a gas laser. In addition,it does not require a costly acousto-opticalmodulator and can instead be modulateddirectly up to 350 MHz.www.lasersystem.de
Machine vision cameraFramos
European digitalimaging specialistFramos is distributingplug-and-play Ethernetcameras from Lumenera
of Canada. The devices are based on a10/100BaseT network interface and have a48 MB onboard frame buffer. Image readout andcontrol can be password protected. Units areMicrosoft Windows and Linux compatible, andthey operate over cable lengths of up to 100 m. www.framos.de
PRODUCTS
Centurion100Hz DPSSL
[email protected] - +33 1 69 29 17 00 / [email protected](406) 586 0131
Quantel & Big Sky Laser
The new Centurion diode pumped pulsed, Q-switchedNd:YAG laser is designed for systems integrators andend users requiring a small, efficient and long-lived lasersource for industrial or airborne applications.• 100Hz, 45mJ at 1064nm• Extremely Compact Package• Completely Air-cooled• Choice of User Interfaces• All Harmonics and Eye-safe OPO Available• Long Maintenance Intervals
39OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 10.49 am Page 39
Nanopositioning stagePI
The P-542 XYnanopositioning stagefrom PI is designed forbiotechnology andnanotechnology
applications. With an aperture of 80×80 mm,the P-542’s frictionless flexure-guided designprovides a travel range of 200×200 μm andsubnanometre resolution.
High-performance piezo drives allow fast multi-axis motion with response times in the millisecondrange. Capacitive feedback is integrated forclosed-loop operation and PI specifies a motionlinearity with an error of less than 0.03%. Theproduct is available in aluminium, invar andvacuum-compatible versions.www.pi.ws
Glass asphereIMM Messtechnologie
IMM Messtechnologieof Germany is offering anumber of precision-moulded glassaspheres for focusingvisible and infrared
light. Models include the G63 with a focaldistance of 8.87 mm for a wavelength of635 nm and the IML-163 with a focal distanceof 15 mm for a wavelength of 780 nm.
In addition, the firm supplies a 4.5 mmdiameter collimator lens (IML-AC067) with afocal distance of 9.4 mm and a NA of 0.20. TheIML-AC067 is supplied with either anantireflective broadband (600–900 nm) or acentral point (650 nm) coating.www.imm-laser.de
Airbourne infrared imagerPolytech
Polytech, a CedipInfrared Systemscompany, has launcheda thermal and opticalimaging unit designedfor airborne
surveillance, search, research and law-enforcement missions. The COBOLT 350 isequipped with 3.5 μm thermal image sensorsand a high-performance colour zoom camera.
According to the Swedish firm, the devicecaptures uncompromised image qualityirrespective of daylight conditions. Additionalsensors including a laser-range finder and laser-illuminator are available as options. The imagingunit is designed around a highly reliable six-axiselectro-optical gimbal and operated using anergonomic hand-held controller. All systemsignals and parameters can be accessed andmonitored in real time over a TCP–IP connection.www.polytech.se
PRODUCTS
Europe: Paul Höß KGP.O. Box 950240, 81518 München, GermanyTel.: +49 (0)89 652029Fax: +49 (0)89 654817E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.stanfordcomputeroptics.com
U.S.A.: Stanford Computer Optics, Inc.780 Cragmont Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708, USAPhone: +1 (510) 527-3516Fax: +1 (510) 558-9582
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OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 10.51 am Page 40
Thin-film equipment and materialsPI-KEM
PI-KEM of the UK offersa range of equipment,materials andsubstrates for opticalthin film and sol–gel
coating materials and substrates. The new G3series of spin-coaters allows low-cost, precisionmanual or programmable deposition control ofsingle or multiple thin films. Available opticalcoating materials include high-purity oxides andfluorides. The firm also supplies standard andcustomized sapphire, quartz, silicon and othersubstrates as well as metal, ceramic and alloysputter targets.business.virgin.net/pikem.rouse
Beam switching moduleJPSA
JPSA has introduced aswitching module thatallows engineers todivert a beam quicklyfrom one path toanother. The large
format design features a 50×50 mm clearaperture to avoid beam-corner clipping. Changingbeam direction is as simple as flipping a toggleswitch and the module’s accurate switchingmechanism is said to maintain micron positioningprecision between two different beams.www.jpsalaser.com
LEDOsram Opto Semiconductors
Osram has come upwith a range ofsurfacemounttechnology-compatibleLEDs that feature aside-emitting lens
system. Its low profile, 4 mm high GoldenDragon Argus LEDs are available in one blue,one red and two green versions, and can becombined to give uniform white backlighting.
The LEDs can be individually controlled tochange colour tone and have switching times ofless than 100 ns. According to Osram, thedevices provide an increase of more than 50%in colour triangle coverage compared withconventional cold cathode fluorescence lamps. www.osram.com
Polymer LED displayOne Stop Displays
One Stop Displays hasdeveloped a 20 character×4 rowpolymer LED displaymodule that is said to
have a contrast ratio of more than 100:1 andvirtually no viewing angle limitations. Otherbenefits include low power consumption and atemperature-stable output of up to 100 nits.Prices start at $16 (713). www.onestopdisplays.net
PRODUCTS
41OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
Avantes www.avantes.com 40BFI Optilas International www.bfioptilas.com 20
Breault Research Organizationwww.breault.com IFC
Cobolt www.cobolt.se 29CVI Technical Optics www.CVILASER.com OBC
Edmund Optics www.edmundoptics.co.uk 30
euroLED 2006 www.euroled.org 36Fuji Magnetics www.polymer-optics.com 6Hilger Crystals www.hilger-crystals.co.uk 21Jenoptik Laserdiode www.jold.com 37Kentek Corporation www.kentek.com 7Laser Components (UK) Ltdwww.lasercomponents.co.uk 13
Laser Lines www.laserlines.co.uk 38Laser Quantum www.laserquantum.com 35LASOS Lasertechnik www.lasos.com 30Matrox Electronic Systemswww.matrox.com 21
Melles Griot www.mellesgriot.com 9Newport Spectra-Physics www.newport.com 4, 37
Ophir Optronics
www.ophiropt.com 12, 42, IBCoptics.org www.optics.org 14, 15Optometrics LLCwww.optometrics.com 30
PCO AG www.pco.de 41Photon Energy AWL GmbHwww.photon-energy.de 28
Physik Instrumente www.pi.ws 16POG Präzisionsoptik G www.precisionoptic.com 26
Pro-Lite Technology www.pro-lite.uk.com 21, 30
Quantel www.quantel.fr 39Quintessence www.QPClasers.com 18Scitec Instruments Ltdwww.scitec.uk.com 28
Stanford Computer Opticswww.stanfordcomputeroptics.com 40
Stanford Research Systemswww.thinkSRS.com 24
StockerYale Canada www.stockeryale.com 26
StockerYale Ireland www.stockeryale.com 30
Texas Instruments www.dmddiscovery.com 10
ADVERTISERS’ INDEX
The index is provided as a service and, while every effort is made to ensure its accuracy, Optics&Laser
Europe accepts no liability for error.
OLEFebProducts35-41 6/2/06 11.15 am Page 41
PEOPLETo advertise your job vacancies, contact Cadi Jones (tel: +44 (0)117 930 1090; e-mail: [email protected]).
42 OLE • February 2006 • optics.org/ole
SUDOKU PUZZLE
We hope you enjoyed January’s Sudoku puzzle.
You can check your answers against last month’s
solution on the left.
If you are new to Sudoku, this is how it works:
each puzzle consists of a 9×9 grid that is
subdivided into 9 smaller grids of 3×3 squares.
To complete the puzzle, you must ensure that
each row, column and 3×3 square contains the
numbers 1–9. All it takes is logic so try not to
guess at the numbers.
GERMANY
Rofin-Sinar promotesMittelstädt to CFO
Rofin Sinar, adeveloper of high-power laser systems,has promoted IngridMittelstädt fromhead of corporatecontrolling to chieffinancial officer.Mittelstädt has been
with the German firm since 1997 and holdsa masters’ degree in economic sciences fromthe University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
US
Clough is looking to takeJanos to the next level
Janos Technology, aspecialist in infraredoptics, has appointedHarvey Clough aspresident. Clough’srole will be to guideJanos as it attemptsto continue its rapidgrowth in the
commercial and defence sectors. The UScompany expanded to a 40 000 ft2 facility inJune of last year.
Before joining Janos, Clough was presidentand chief operating officer of EnergySciences Inc, a US manufacturer of electronbeam systems. Previously he held a numberof manufacturing, quality and engineeringmanagement positions at GE Lighting.
US
ESDI hires optical expertto give customer training
ESDI, a developer ofmetrologyinstruments, hasrecruited MaryTurner as chieftechnical supportengineer. Turner wastechnical salesmanager with
Breault Research Organization for two yearsand before that was senior scientist at ZemaxDevelopment Corporation. She has a PhDfrom the University of Arizona, US.
UK
TeraView strengthens itssenior management teamPaddy O’Kelly will join TeraView as chiefoperating officer this month. His role willinclude ensuring that the UK developer ofterahertz technology both executes and
delivers its contracts with majorpharmaceutical customers and medicalimaging partners on time.
Previously, Kelly was managing director ofUK-based Applied Imaging International, asubsidiary of Applied Imaging, US, and hebrings more than 20 years of experience inoperations and product development toTeraView.
US
Industry veteran opensdoors at US laser firm
Aculight haswelcomed ThomasHartwick to its boardof directors.Hartwick has spentalmost 50 years inhi-tech businessmanagement andresearch anddevelopment. His
expertise spans lasers, electro-optics,electronic and microwave devices, andsatellite systems.
“Tom has decades of experience and astrong general management background,”commented Don Rich, Aculight’s presidentand CEO. “He brings a lifetime ofconnections in industry and governmentthat will open a lot of doors for us.”
Clough: strong leader.
Turner: technical ace.
SPONSORED BY
LAST MONTH’SSOLUTION
Co
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igh
t ©
Mic
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Mittelstädt: talented.
Hartwick: broad view.
OLEFebPeople/Sudoku42 3/2/06 2.44 pm Page 42
b r i n g i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l s o l u t i o n s t o l i g h t
0 1 2 3 4 4 3 6 1 1 0
F O C U S O N
LasersWinter 2005/6 update on innovative lasers& equipment for laser test & measurement
Extreme Brightness Laser DiodesQPC’s BrightLase™ laser diodes are a new generation of IR emitters.• 5W from a 50μm stripe• 10W (100μm); 20W (200μm)• Wavelengths: 795 – 976nm…STOP PRESS…QPC have demonstrated an output power of>125mW/μm at 808nm…
BrightLase™ fibre-coupled,conduction-cooled laserdiode module gives >35Wfrom a 100 or 200μm corefibre at 795, 808, 915, 940or 976nm
• Extreme brightness &
high power laser
diodes, bars & modules
• Short pulse & long
coherence length
DPSS lasers
• Measure laser power
AND energy with one
meter
• USB laser beam profiler
Powerful Diode Bars & ModulesQPC offers a range of high power laser diodes packaged as
mounted bars and modules for industrial, medical and scientific applications, from 795 to 1470nm. Range highlights include:
• 50W CW bar on conduction-cooled CS mount• Fast axis collimators, packaged collimated modules
& fibre coupled options
The Long and the Short of DPSS Laserslong as in coherence length, short as in pulse length….
From Elforlight – two new and innovative DPSS lasers. The SPOT is a shortpulse DPSS laser perfect for use in micromachining and marking as well as inbiomedical time-resolved fluorescence studies. Pulse energies are up to 25μJ with pulse lengths of 1.5-2.0nS at repetition rates up to 50kHz. The output is a high quality beam (M2 < 1.2) at 1064, 532 & 355nm.
Elforlight’s LP532 is a Q-switched, frequency doubled, 532nm DPSS laser which has demonstrated a long coherence length (> 80cm) and has been chosen for new research in underwater holography. See www.eholocam.com for details of the E-Holocam programme.
Tel+44 (0) 1234 [email protected]
In assoc iat ion with
Pro-Lite TechnologyCranfield Innovation CentreUniversity WayCranfield, MK43 0BTUnited Kingdom
Tel +44 (0) 1234 436110Fax +44 (0) 1234 436111Email [email protected] www.pro-lite.uk.com
Pro-Lite is a member of the following organisations.
w w w . p r o - l i t e . u k . c o m
Get a Better Measure of the Power & Energy of Your LaserThe new Coherent FieldMax II makes the job of testing and verifying the performance of almost any laser much simpler and easier. The FieldMax II is quite simply the most powerful & versatile laser meter in its price range.
Featuring LabVIEW drivers, USB interface, ActiveX DLL server components and a new Windows™ software application which logs laser beam data to a file and plots live charts whilst displaying statistical information. In addition, FieldMax II features one of the largest and clearestbacklit LCD displays which combines digital accuracy with a simulated analogue needle for laser tuning.
FieldMax II is available with optical, thermal and pyroelectric sensors for testing UV, visible, and IR laseroutputs from nW to kW and pulsed laser energies up to 20J at up to 300Hz. FieldMax is part of a complete range of laboratory and portable laser power & energy meters from Coherent.
USB-Compatible Laser Beam Profiler is Quick & Easy to UseThe new Coherent LaserCam HR laser beam profiler combines the speed and ease of use of a USB 2.0 computer interface with the power of the acclaimed BeamView Analyser PC beam diagnostic software.
Featuring a 1.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor with 1000:1 dynamic range, the LaserCam HR can measure focussed as well as collimated beams from 270μm to 6mm diameter,and still pick up detail that less sensitive profilers would miss. A single USBinterface cable connects camera to PC – making measurements quick andsimple to perform. LaserCam measures the beam diameter, divergence,focussed spot size, fit-to-Gaussian (and many other parameters) of almostany laser in the 300-1100nm range, both pulsed and CW.
NEW! Our Smart
Sensor Adaptor is now
available - permits LM-
series Coherent detector
heads to be used with
the new FieldMax II
Winter 2005/6 Laser Update
D o w n l o a d f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n o n a n y p r o d u c t f e a t u r e d
b r i n g i n g p r o f e s s i o n a l s o l u t i o n s t o l i g h t
0 1 2 3 4 4 3 6 1 1 0
F O C U S O N
LaserSafety
Winter 2005/6 update on advancedpersonal protective equipment for the safe use of lasers
Working with Ultrafast Lasers?Introducing the first light-weight polymer filter to deliver protectionagainst pico- and femtosecond laser pulses. Glendale’s filters withstand the ‘bleaching’ effects of ultrashort pulses for 10 secondsdirect laser exposure – as verified by independent tests conductedin accordance with EN 207. The filter protects against Ti:Sapphireand 532nm Nd:YAG lasers.
A Clear View at 532nm?Yes, it’s true! The answer to laser users’ dreams – at last, a clear,colourless filter that blocks 1064 & 532nm. Glendale has usedadvanced dielectric coating technology to give unsurpassed colourvisibility – perfect for medical applications, as well as for all otherlaser users fed up with looking through dark glass.
Available in the Encore frame style which fits over most prescription glasses.
Prescribe Your Own Eyewear!Glendale’s new XC Spectacle Frame features a removable insert that accepts prescription-corrected glasses. This allows multiple users to share the same laser eyewear – realising a significant cost saving compared with individually-specified, prescription laser glasses. The XC frame is currently available with the following filters: Argon/KTP YAG;Nd:YAG/CO2; and NdGa:YAG. Additional filters will become availableas they complete the EN207 approval process.
Introducing the
latest laser safety
products from
LaserVision &
Glendale
Tel+44 (0) 1234 [email protected]
In assoc iat ion with
Working in partnership withUvex for workplace safety
Pro-Lite TechnologyCranfield Innovation CentreUniversity WayCranfield, MK43 0BTUnited Kingdom
Tel +44 (0) 1234 436110Fax +44 (0) 1234 436111Email [email protected] www.pro-lite.uk.com
Pro-Lite is a member of the following organisations.
w w w . p r o - l i t e . u k . c o m
Latest High-Tech FrameLaserVision’s Split Shield spectacle represents the state-of-the-art in laser protection. A light-weight yet extremely strong frame, Split Shield can be wornover prescription glasses and is available with Nanospec dielectricglass filters for the very highest protection with a clear view.
Flexible ComfortGlendale’s new FlexSeal is a light-weight and comfortablegoggle. FlexSeal fits over prescription eyewear and offers awide field-of-view. A new-style soft silicone goggle bodyand an adjustable headband assure the wearer of a comfortable and secure fit. Currently available in these filters: Argon/KTP; Alexandrite; Nd:YAG/CO2; and
NdGa:YAG.
EyePro Software Helps Select the Right EyewearLaserVision’s updated EYEPRO software is a Windows™ application which allows the laser user to input their laserparameters and the software will determine the required protection levels in accordance with EN 207 and EN 208. As abonus, EyePro will also suggest suitable models from theLaserVision range, simplifying the selection process. Call to orderyour FREE EyePro CD.
Diode Laser SolutionsLaserVision’s P1001 blocks diode lasers from600-820nm – a cost-effective solution for thoseusing a variety of diode wavelengths.LaserVision’s P1002 combines protectionagainst diode and Nd:YAG lasers in the range770-1100nm. This filter also offers high visibility and a protection of IR L7 at 980nm –1065nm, an industry-first for a polycarbonatefilter. The P1001 & P1002 are available in theLAMBDA-ONE curved spectacle & SKYLINE
frame style which fits over most ordinary glasses.
Flexible Laser Curtainsfor Workplace ScreeningLaserVision offers a complete solution for flexible laserscreening in the workplace. The rugged new Lamella curtainis the first to be certified to DIN/EN 12254 and providesscreening against lasers from 180-10600nm. Lamella curtainscan be assembled to suit changing needs and the user can cut the screens to specific lengths.
Each curtain is designed to be hung from a steel pipe or curtain hooks. Also available is a mobile frame (pictured) which can be wheeled into position, as and when required.
Winter 2005/6 Laser Safety Update
D o w n l o a d f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n o n a n y p r o d u c t f e a t u r e d
IPL add 250106.fh9 26/1/06 8:51 Page 1
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● Aperture: 65mm for diverse sources● Measures Broad Band light sources● Accurate measurement of energy or J/cm2
● Can Measure single shot energies
