Photonicsspectra201105 Dl

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May / 2011 Ultrafast Imaging • Optical Lithography • Laser Alignment Imaging in the Ultrafast Lane Quantum Dots Set to Enhance Next-Gen Displays Expert Q&A: Trends in Laser Alignment

Transcript of Photonicsspectra201105 Dl

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May / 2011

May/1

1Ultrafast Im

aging • Optical Lithography • Laser Alignment

Imaging in the

Ultrafast LaneQuantum Dots Set to Enhance Next-Gen Displays

Expert Q&A: Trends in Laser Alignment

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May 2011

t TABLE OF CONTENTS

18 | TECH NEWSA game of quantum hot potatoAtoms acting as lasersExtremely fast film processes recordedMimicking photosynthesis for cheap hydrogen fuelUSAF works to improve silicon photonics processesNavy looks to deep-six noisy lightingTerahertz bomb sniffer wins student prizeN-slit laser interferometer developed“Superskin” goes solarMore powerful integrated circuitsManipulating nanowires for single-mode lasers

28 | FASTTRACKBusiness and Markets

Some telecom laser makers produce 1M per monthAttracting top workers is a full-time job in Germany

37 | GREENLIGHTUltrafast laser scribes solar cellsby Laura S. Marshall, Managing Editor

NEWS & ANALYSIS

10 | EDITORIAL12 | LETTERS68 | BRIGHT IDEAS81 | HAPPENINGS83 | ADVERTISER INDEX84 | PEREGRINATIONS

A bun baker’s new best friend

DEPARTMENTS

THE COVERAn x-ray converter developed at JILA takes an ultrafast laser beam and changes it into laserlike beams at much shorter wavelengths and pulse duration. The laseraccelerates electrons within an atom, creating a rainbow of laserlike x-rays.Reprinted from Nature Photonics. Courtesy of Tenio Popmintchev and Brad Baxley, JILA. Cover design by Senior Art Director Lisa N. Comstock.

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Photonics Spectra May 20114

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PHOTONICS: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiantenergy whose quantum unit is the photon. The range of applications of photonics extendsfrom energy generation to detection to communications and information processing.

Volume 45 Issue 5

www.photonics.com

38 | IMAGING IN THE ULTRAFAST LANEby Hank Hogan, Contributing EditorAt wavelengths outside the visible regime, ultrafast imaging offers new possibilities for biological and industrial applications.

45 | PRESERVING MOORE’S LAW PUSHES LITHOGRAPHY TO ITS LIMITS

by Marie Freebody, Contributing EditorCan lithography create integrated circuits with features that are 22 nm or smaller, or will other methods be required?

48 | EXPERT Q&A: TRENDS IN LASER ALIGNMENTby Laura S. Marshall, Managing EditorSteve Bohuczky of Opto-Alignment Technology and Mory Creighton of Pinpoint Laser Systems discuss laser alignment issues and challenges and the current and future markets.

54 | QUANTUM DOTS: SET TO PERMEATE THE NEXT GENERATION OF DISPLAYS

by Lynn Savage, Features EditorLess expensive quantum dots may be a long-lived, power-efficient option for the booming display market.

60 | USING SBIRs AS A PLATFORM FOR SUCCESSby C. David Chaffee, ContributorBrimrose Corp.’s founder and CEO, Dr. Ron Rosemeier, describes his strategy for winning Phase I and II SBIRs and STTRs, along with his experience in building a thriving business.

PHOTONICS SPECTRA ISSN-0731-1230, (USPS 448870) ISPUBLISHED MONTHLY BY Laurin Publishing Co. Inc., BerkshireCommon, PO Box 4949, Pittsfield, MA 01202, +1 (413) 499-0514; fax: +1 (413) 442-3180; e-mail: [email protected] reg. in US Library of Congress. Copyright ® 2011 by Lau-rin Publishing Co. Inc. All rights reserved. Copies of PhotonicsSpectra on microfilm are available from University Microfilm,300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Photonics Spec-tra articles are indexed in the Engineering Index. POSTMASTER:Send form 3579 to Photonics Spectra, Berkshire Common, POBox 4949, Pittsfield, MA 01202. Periodicals postage paid atPittsfield, MA, and at additional mailing offices. CIRCULATIONPOLICY: Photonics Spectra is distributed without charge toqualified scientists, engineers, technicians, and managementpersonnel. Eligibility requests must be returned with your busi-ness card or organization’s letterhead. Rates for others as fol-lows: $122 per year, prepaid. Overseas postage: $28 surfacemail, $108 airmail per year. Inquire for multiyear subscriptionrates. Publisher reserves the right to refuse nonqualified sub-scriptions. ARTICLES FOR PUBLICATION: Scientists, engi-neers, educators, technical executives and technical writers areinvited to contribute articles on the optical, laser, fiber optic,electro-optical, imaging, optoelectronics and related fields.Communications regarding the editorial content of PhotonicsSpectra should be addressed to the managing editor. Con-tributed statements and opinions expressed in Photonics Spec-tra are t hose of the contributors – the publisher assumes noresponsibility for them.

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FEATURES

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What makes

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Contributing Editors Hank HoganKrista D. ZanolliGary BoasMarie Freebody

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e EDITORIAL COMMENT

Machine Vision Sees Rapid Growth

The 50th anniversary of the laser captured our attention last year, and this year we find ourselves observing that golden milestone for the industrial robot. I canwatch robots and production machinery in action all day long, and I got my

chance to do just that in late March when I spent a day at Automate 2011 in Chicago. The show is a production of the Automation Technologies Council, comprising the Robotics Industry Association, the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) and the MotionControl Association. Although the robots were fascinating, my main interest was recentdevelopments in machine vision.

“Advances in machine vision have played an important role in helping companies achieveimproved product quality in industries such as food and beverage, semiconductors, electronics, automotive and pharmaceuticals for decades,” Jeff Burnstein, president ofAIA, the industry’s trade group, said in a statement.

“In recent years, the technology has expanded into a wide variety of nonmanufacturing industries such as security, lab automation, medical imaging, defense and entertainment,which is why we’re seeing rapid growth on a global basis,” he added.

North American machine vision sales are recovering after declining by 29.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 over the same period in 2008, according to reports from AIA. In one titled Quarterly Machine Vision Sales Tracking Report, covering the first quarter of2010, North American machine vision sales increased by 34.4 percent over 2009 and roseagain in the third quarter of 2010, when year-over-year growth hit 68 percent, up from the second quarter 2010 at 60 percent and the first quarter at 34 percent.

On issuing the third-quarter 2010 report, Paul Kellet, AIA’s director of market analysis,said, “These results are very impressive, leaving little doubt that the recovery in the NorthAmerican machine vision market is real and sustainable. Based on industry expectations,we expect the recovery to continue at least another six months.”

Machine vision companies exhibiting at Automate 2011 included Adimec, Advanced Illumination, Basler Vision Technologies, CCS America, Edmund Optics, Flir, The Imaging Source, JAI, Keyence, LMI Technologies, Matrox Imaging, MVTec, National Instruments, PPT Vision, Point Grey, Resonon, Schneider Optics, Spectrum Illumination,Teledyne Dalsa, Toshiba Teli, Vision Components and Z-Laser America.

At a press briefing during the show, Adimec, of Stoneham, Mass., presented an overview of trends in industrial CMOS and explained how its cameras address concernsincluding uniformity, shot noise and interface. On the show floor, Vision Components of Ettingen, Germany, displayed its smart cameras for quality inspection and automation,including one with a sensor modified to increase sensitivity in the near-infrared range,with applications for electroluminescence quality control in the photovoltaics industry. Edmund Optics, of Barrington, N.J., featured ultracompact lenses offering telecentricitywith very low distortion, making them suitable for small-space applications such as circuit boards and semiconductor inspection.

So, the picture is improving for machine vision sales in North America, and I’m lookingforward to checking in on the industry in Europe in person when I attend Vision 2011 in Stuttgart, Germany, in October. A special issue of EuroPhotonics is in the works, with a focus on vision.

In the meantime, I’ll see you at SPIE Optifab, May 9-11 in Rochester, N.Y., and at Laser World of Photonics, May 23-27, in Munich, Germany.

Enjoy the issue.

Editorial Advisory Board

Dr. Robert R. AlfanoCity College of New York

Valerie C. BolhouseConsultant

Walter BurgessPower Technology Inc.

Dr. Timothy DayDaylight Solutions

Dr. Anthony J. DeMariaCoherent-DEOS LLC

Dr. Donal DenvirAndor Technology PLC

Patrick L. EdsellAvanex Corp.

Dr. Stephen D. FantoneOptikos Corp.

Randy HeylerOndax Inc.

Dr. Michael HoukBristol Instruments Inc.

Dr. Kenneth J. KaufmannHamamatsu Corp.

Brian LulaPI (Physik Instrumente) LP

Eliezer ManorShirat Enterprises Ltd., Israel

Shinji NiikuraCoherent Japan Inc.

Dr. Morio Onoeprofessor emeritus, University of Tokyo

Dr. William PlummerWTP Optics

Dr. Richard C. PowellUniversity of Arizona

Dr. Ryszard S. RomaniukWarsaw University of Technology, Poland

Samuel P. SadouletEdmund Optics

Stuart SchoenmannCVI Melles Griot

Dr. Steve ShengTelesis Technologies Inc.

William H. ShinerIPG Photonics Corp.

John M. StackZygo Corp.

Dr. Albert J.P. TheuwissenHarvest Imaging/Delft University

of Technology, Belgium

Kyle VoosenNational Instruments Corp.

10 Photonics Spectra May 2011

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l LETTERS

EMCCD vs. sCMOSAs a manufacturer of both electron-multi-plying CCD (EMCCD) and scientificCMOS (sCMOS) cameras, we feel com-pelled to present an alternative, more balanced perspective to the March 2011Photonics Spectra article titled “EMCCDvs. sCMOS for Microscopic Imaging,”which was written by a manufacturer ofEMCCD cameras that, relevantly, is notcurrently a manufacturer of sCMOS cameras.

In painting the desired picture of unfet-tered EMCCD sensitivity superiorityacross all experimental conditions, the article was highly reliant on modelingpixel size differences between the tech-nologies, underpinning the ability oflarger-pixel EMCCD detectors to collectmore photons per pixel, thus providing a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) underall light conditions.

As such, the article in effect becameless a comparison of different technologies

and more a comparison of different pixelsizes. However, what the authors conve-niently failed to acknowledge is that, as with any other imaging detector tech-nology, an sCMOS camera can be readily operated with pixel binning, creatinglarger “superpixels” for an improved photon collection area when required. In fact, from the perspective of generalcell microscopy, a smaller-pixel sCMOSwith a 5.5-megapixel sensor format can be viewed as an attractive proposition inthat it maintains the flexibility to operateas a small-pixel sensor for superior resolu-tion of intracellular structure and can beoperated with 2 � 2 binning for betterlight collection when photons are scarce.It is worth noting that, under this binning condition, the read noise of sCMOS willdouble, as factored accordingly into theplots shown below.

Figure 1 shows a plot of the SNRagainst the number of photons per squaremicron. The bottom axis is a representa-tion of photon flux incident at the detectorsurface; thus, a measure of signal inten-sity. The 0- to 10-photons-per-μm2-rangeshown is consistent with that representedby the authors of the article, but it is worthpointing out at this stage that it representsa particularly bright signal regime. For example, a value of only 1 photon per μm2

is equal to 169 photons falling within a13-μm pixel.

This is by no means a true test of thelow-light capability of either technology.Nevertheless, for consistency of compari-son, we show here a 13-μm-pixel, back-illuminated EMCCD (similar to the iXon3888 model), a nonbinned sCMOS (6.5-μmpixel) and a 2 � 2 binned (13-μm)sCMOS. The specifications for sCMOSare based on the Andor Neo camera, oper-ated in rolling shutter mode at the maxi-mum readout speed of 560 MHz and fan-cooled to �30 °C.

It is evident that the consideration of acurve for a 2 � 2 binned sCMOS providesa new perspective on just how effectivethe pixel size becomes on the overall sensitivity performance. Across the rangeshown, the 2 � 2 binned sCMOS appearsto exhibit a better SNR than the equivalentpixel size of a (nonbinned) back-illumi-nated EMCCD camera. Thus, employingthe signal range shown in Figure 1, andtaking the argument to the natural conclu-sion of including a curve of equal pixelsize, this outlook actually becomes ratherdamaging for EMCCD technology.

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Figure 1: Plot comparing SNR of sCMOS (nonbinned vs. 2 � 2 binned) and larger pixel EMCCD (nonbinned)as a function of incident photons per square micron on the sensor. Note that the range shown represents relatively bright signal.

Figure 2: Plots from Figure 1, expanded across the 0- to 0.5-photons/µm2 intensity range. The low-light regionwhere EMCCD maintains a sensitivity advantage over 2 � 2 binned sCMOS is indicated.

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But in actual fact, in doing so, we arenot considering the truly low-light signalintensities and associated applicationswhereby EMCCD technology will providea meaningful SNR advantage. Figure 2shows the same data, but expanded on the low-light-intensity range between 0- and 0.5-photons/μm2 sensor area. Here we can see that at signal intensities below0.36 photons/μm2, the back-illuminatedEMCCD will indeed offer an improvedSNR compared with the 2 � 2 binnedsCMOS. This, in effect, is the region inwhich the “zero read noise” properties of an EMCCD outweigh the negative influence of multiplicative noise.

Such raw sensitivity performance at extremely low light signal intensitiesmeans that EMCCD technology will stillbe the detector of choice for a number of demanding applications; e.g., the principal microscopy usage of EMCCDsto date has been in the field of single-molecule biophysics, and this is unlikelyto change significantly. Although the majority of live-cell microscopy experi-ments may eventually opt to use sCMOStechnology, particularly to benefit from the 6.5-μm-pixel size combined with alarger field of view of the 5.5-megapixelsensor, there undoubtedly are low-light instances in which a back-illuminatedEMCCD will remain indispensable. Fur-thermore, because sCMOS cameras arenot single-photon-sensitive, EMCCD technology is still required for single-

photon-counting experiments. The more likely scenario with regard

to cell microscopy is that, through offer-ing improved sensitivity, speed, field ofview and dynamic range, sCMOS cameraswill displace the small-pixel-interlineCCD cameras that currently dominate this area.

A second serious issue with the refer-enced article concerns a grossly erroneousassumption of the contribution of sCMOSdark current in global shutter readoutmode. Within the SNR plots presented, the authors appear to have modeled globalshutter dark current as having a value ofseveral electrons/pixel/second. In actualfact, the global shutter dark current duringexposure is the same as that in rollingshutter mode (~0.07 e�/pixels/second with –30 °C cooling).

However, a further constant that mustbe added is attributed to elevated dark current during global shutter readout, butthis is typically only ~0.1 e�. Thus, the resulting dark signal for global shutter exposures of less than 1 s is ~0.2 e�

at �30 °C, minimally affecting the overall SNR.

Dr. Colin CoatesAndor Technology

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Slow lightI enjoyed reading the Photonics Spectraarticle on slow light (February, p. 42), especially on its limitations discussed at

length by the interviewed scientists. Justfor the record, I want to attract readers’ attention to the fact that these limitationsdid not surface just yesterday; it was predicted as early as 2005 that the opticalbuffers would hit the wall because of dispersion and loss in a paper I wrote titled “Optical buffers based on slow lightin electromagnetically induced transparentmedia and coupled resonator structures:comparative analysis” (Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Vol. 22,Issue 5, pp. 1062-1074 (2005); doi:10.1364/JOSAB.22.001062).

Particularly, I would like to cite a rather unambiguous conclusion made inthat paper: “Is there a place for slow-light optical buffers in optical communi-cation-processing, and what type ofmedium best fits the requirements? For the EIT-type buffers notwithstanding their main advantage (ability to vary delaycontinuously), the answer is unequivocallynegative.”

Had that advice been heeded, lots ofscarce resources and public goodwillcould have been spared by actually direct-ing the effort toward the only remotelypractical slow light structures based on integrated optics with photonic crystalsand microresonators.

But this is all water under the bridge,and slow light research has been indeed a fascinating ride!

Jacob B. KhurginJohns Hopkins University

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

LETTERS

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Optofluidics Branches Out Advances will benefit a range of applications, from field monitoring to security screening to point-of-care diagnostics.

Nanolasers Take Lasing to New Lows Scientists are striving to reduce the size and complexity of lasers. One promising solution takes the form of spasers, nanolasers that employ surface plasmons to create a feedback system.

Designing Software Optical design software can be vital to the efficient operation of visual, laser, imaging and nonimaging optical systems such as lithography, telescopes, scanners, interferometers and solar cell concentrators.

Imaging the Hyperspectral Way ASD Inc. describes some of the advances in hyperspectral and multispectral image analysis along with some surprising applications of hyperspectral remote sensing.

Photonics Media’s industry-leading site features the latest industry news and events from around the world.

LIGHT EXCHANGE

Welcome to

Check out a sample of the digital version of Photonics Spectra magazine at www.photonics.com/DigitalSample. It’s a whole new world of informationfor people in the global photonics industry.

In the June issue of

Photonics Spectra …

Photonics Spectra May 201116

“Light Exchange” on Photonics.com provides an easy link to all of our social media sites, includingFacebook, Twitter, blogs, forum and our new pollquestion section. Participate in “Light Exchange” – we want to hear from you.

Light Matters In our weekly newscast, Light Matters editors from Photonics.com, Photonics Spectra and BioPhotonicstalk about the top photonics news of the week.

Visit www.Photonics.com each week to see the latest Light Matters newscast.

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A game of quantum hot potato

BOULDER, Colo. – To simplify information processing for quan-tum computers and simulations, scientists have coaxed two atomsin separate locations to take turns jiggling back and forth whileswapping the smallest measurable units of energy.

For the first time, physicists at NIST (National Institute ofStandards and Technology) have enticed two beryllium ions totake turns vibrating in an electromagnetic trap, exchanging thequanta, or units of energy, that are a hallmark of quantum mechanics. Their experiment yielded as little as one quantum

of energy traded between the ions, signi-fying that the charged particles are linkedtogether. Acting as harmonic oscillators,the ions are similar to a pendulum or tuning fork, which makes a repetitiveback-and-forth motion.

The scientists conducted their experi-ments using a one-layer ion trap cooledto �269 °C with a liquid helium bath.They found that the position of the ions –only 40 μm apart – enabled stronger cou-pling, while the cryogenic temperaturesprevented distortion of ion behavior.

To begin the energy swapping demon-stration, the researchers cooled both ionswith a laser to slow their motion, thencooled them further with two opposingultraviolet laser beams to a motionlessstate. Next, they tuned the voltage of thetrap electrodes to turn on the coupling interaction.

Ion-swapping energy levels weremeasured every 155 μs at the several-quanta level and every 218 μs at the single-quantum level. The investigators

observed two round-trip exchanges at the single-quantum level;they also found that the ions would swap energy indefinitely un-less heating disrupted the process.

A similar experiment in 2009 demonstrated entanglement. Thistime, however, the scientists coupled the oscillators’ motionsmore directly than before. They also observed quantum behaviorbut, in contrast to the earlier experiment, did not verify entangle-ment. The findings appeared online Feb. 23, 2011, in Nature(doi: 10.1038/nature09721).

NEWSTECH

Photonics Spectra May 201118

CANBERRA, Australia – Anatom laser that behaves exactlylike a light laser has opened upnew possibilities in applicationssuch as holograms.

A research team from TheAustralian National UniversityARC Centre of Excellence forQuantum-Atom Optics hasshown that a beam of heliumatoms can be made to haveproperties similar to a coherentlaser light beam. The atomstudy confirms a theory first developed for light nearly

50 years ago by Roy Glauber,winner of the 2005 Nobel Prizein physics.

When scientists measure thetime between the arrivals of thephotons in laser beams, theyfind that the photons are ran-domly spaced, with all arrivaltimes between photons equallyprobable. However, incoherentsources – such as lightbulbs –exhibit photon bunching, whereit is more likely that photonswill arrive within a short timeof each other. The bunching is

manifested by photons arrivingin pairs (second order) or intriplets (third order).

The investigators realizedthat if they made the atoms extremely cold – within one-millionth of a degree of abso -lute zero – they could forcethem to march in step, creatingan atom laser that behaves co-herently exactly as a laser beamcomposed of photons. Thisshowed, for the first time, thatthe same second- and third-order-coherence properties of

lasers also apply to atoms. In addition, the cold atom laserdemonstrated random distribu-tion of arrival times with nobunching, indicating that it was perfectly coherent.

When the atoms werewarmed back up, the groupfound that they no longer behaved coherently and onceagain exhibited bunching inpairs and triplets.

The research appeared in Science, Feb. 25, 2011 (doi:10.1126/science.1198481).

Atoms acting as lasers

Scientists at NIST used this apparatus to coax two beryllium ions into swapping the smallest measurable units of energy back and forth, a technique that could simplify information processing in a quantum computer. Courtesy of Y. Colombe, NIST.

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prisms for Ti:Sapphire or fiber lasers

applications.

KIEL, Germany – Using pulses in the soft x-ray spectral region, scientists havedemonstrated how quickly an intense laser can change the electrical propertiesof solids. The findings may lead to the development of optoelectronic compo-nents with faster data transmission rates or optical switches.

The new technique enabled researchersfrom the universities of Kiel and Kaiser-slautern and from the University of Col-orado in Boulder to take snapshots of theelectronic switching processes that occurwithin a fraction of a second. The imageswere combined in a series to deliver a film depicting the switching process witha level of detail and temporal resolutionnever before achieved.

They recorded films of ultrafast pro -cesses in a much more comprehensivemanner than had been previously possiblewith similar techniques. In doing so, theydirectly tracked phase transitions in solidsor catalytic reactions on surfaces.

“The amount of information gainedfrom our pictures when played back inslow motion is vast,” said Michael Bauer,professor at the Institute of Experimentaland Applied Physics at Kiel. “We will getcompletely new insights into most relevantelectronic properties of solids, which areimportant for a variety of current and future technologies; for example, intelecommunications.”

The research appeared in Nature, March9, 2011 (doi: 10.1038/nature09829).

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Extremely fast film processes recorded

This laser system generated ultrashort x-ray pulses used to measure changes in the electrical properties ofsolids. Courtesy of Rohwer et al, University of Kiel.

These two still frames were recorded using the newly developed imaging method. The time interval betweenthem is only 0.00000000000007 s.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Production ofinexpensive hydrogen for automotive orjet fuel may one day be possible by mim-icking photosynthesis, but a number ofhurdles first must be overcome.

Scientists at Pennsylvania State Univer-sity have developed an artificial systemthat can mimic photosynthesis in the hopeof creating a practical, inexpensive way tomake jet fuel. Using the energy in bluelight, their work has yielded only 2 to 3percent hydrogen. The blue light is muchless efficient than other solar energy con-version technologies, but the investigatorshave hope.

Although some researchers have usedsolar cells to make electricity or used con-centrated solar heat to split water, bothprocesses are energy-intensive. The key todirect conversion, scientists say, is elec-trons. As with the dyes that occur natu-rally in plants, inorganic dyes absorb sun-light, and the energy kicks out an electron.When left on its own, the electron can re-combine to create heat, but if channeled –

molecule to molecule – far enough awayfrom where it originated, it can reach thecatalyst and split the hydrogen from theoxygen in water.

Recombination of electrons is not theonly problem the scientists face. Theyalso must address the oxygen-evolving end of the system,which currently limits thelifetime of the system to afew hours. Even thoughnatural photosynthesishas the same problem,it can repair itself byperiodically replac-ing the oxygen-evolving complex and the protein molecules around it. The researchers have not yet been able to provide a fix to the oxidation process.

Currently, they are using only bluelight, but they would like to expand intothe entire visible spectrum from the sun.In addition, their experiments use only expensive components – titanium oxideand platinum dark electrodes, and an irid-

t TECHNEWS

Mimicking photosynthesis for cheap hydrogen fuel

ium oxide catalyst. Substi-tutions are necessary, and

researchers at other institu-tions have begun working on

an alternative solution. An MITgroup is investigating cobalt and

nickel catalysts, and manganese isunder investigation at Yale and Princetonuniversities.

The system uses only one photon at atime, but the Penn State researchers antici-pate that a two-photon system, albeit morecomplicated, would be more effective inusing the full spectrum of sunlight. Re-search will continue, and they will focustheir efforts to track all the energy path-ways in the cell to understand the kinetics,with the hope of modeling the cells andadjusting the portions to decrease energyloss and increase efficiency.

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

USAF works to improve silicon photonics processes

A dark-field optical image of a silicon photonic chip is shown in comparison to the size of a penny. Courtesy of Elijah Douglas Christenson.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The US Air Force Office of ScientificResearch announced that it will fund efforts to put siliconphotonics within the grasp of scientists and startup compa-nies. The new program will be called OpSIS, short for Optoelectronic Systems Integration in Silicon, and will behoused at the University of Washington’s NanophotonicsLab in Seattle.

The OpSIS program’s goal is to bring prototyping capabilities within reach of startup companies and re-searchers. It will provide design rules, device-design support and design-flow development to nonexperts sothey can design and integrate photonics and electronics.

Although many research groups are designing, buildingand testing silicon photonic devices or optical chips in-house, the OpSIS researchers will use a shared infra-structure at the foundry at BAE Systems in Manassas, Va.There, they will work toward creating high-end, on-shoremanufacturing capabilities that they hope will be madeavailable to a wider community.

Over the past decade, silicon photonics has broughtabout a digital electronics revolution. But high cost and a lack of standard processes have kept complex photoniccircuitry incorporating silicon chips has been out of reachfor researchers in the past few years. In an effort to makesilicon photonics more accessible, scientists are building a less expensive, next-generation silicon-based electro-optical chip using commercial nanofabrication tools; thenew chips could improve data communications, lasers and detectors.

Silicon optical chips are crucial to the US Air Force because of their size, weight, power, rapid cycle time andprogram risk reduction – and, most importantly, becausethey can move information in computers using light andelectricity.

By harnessing the ability to develop optical chips forcommercial uses and create software tools that will makethe design process easier, the integration of silicon photon-ics into new system capabilities is expected to impact theAir Force, the Department of Defense and commercialavionics.

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ARLINGTON, Va. – The big buzz aboardUS Navy vessels these days is the one com-ing from noisy fluorescent lighting, prompt-ing the rollout of a quieter alternative.

The Solid State Lighting (SSL) project,created by the Office of Naval Research’sTechSolutions program, is one of severalusing recommendations and suggestionsfrom Navy and Marine Corps personnel.The project introduced 33 energy-saving,nonhazardous LED fixtures to the USSNew Hampshire in late January. Installa-tion also is scheduled in July aboard theUSS New Mexico. These submarines willserve as pilot platforms to enable the Navy to measure savings achieved fromthe SSL project.

The LED fixtures also are being installedfor testing on three surface ships: the USSPearl Harbor, USS Preble and USS Chafee.

Although the SSL project is in its earlystages, the LED fixtures may one day replace existing hazardous fluorescentlights aboard submarines and surfaceships. LEDs can reduce fuel use and

maintenance requirementsfleetwide and increase fleetreadiness. They contain no hazardous materials, unlike fluorescents, which must bestored onboard until expensiveand intensive disposal proce-dures are carried out.

TechSolutions worked with Energy Focus to producepatented LED fixtures that aredirect replacements for fluo -rescents. The replacements produce the same light outputbut use half the power. EnergyFocus fixtures have had a goodtrack record on Navy ships, but TechSolutions’ productswere the first to be fully quali-fied by the service. Those components met the most stringent electromagnetic inter-ference standards, requiring innovative manufacturing methods.

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

Navy looks to deep-six noisy lighting

Submarines and surface ships may one day have all their fluorescentlights replaced by solid-state LED fixtures.

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TROY, N.Y. – A new detection method extends the distance from which powerfulterahertz technology can remotely sniffout hidden explosives, chemicals andother materials.

Benjamin Clough, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed a technique that uses soundwaves to boost the effective distance ofterahertz spectroscopy from a few feet to several meters. For the innovation,Clough was named winner of the 2011$30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Stu-dent Prize, which is awarded annually to a Rensselaer senior or graduate studentwho has created or improved a product or process, applied a technology in a new way, redesigned a system or demon-strated remarkable inventiveness in other ways.

Clough’s method circumvents a funda-mental limitation of remote tera hertz spec-troscopy, which is that it works at onlyshort distances, so it has not been suitablefor detecting bombs or hazardous materials.

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

Terahertz bomb sniffer wins student prize

Benjamin Clough, a doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed a method for extendingthe distance from which terahertz technology can detect explosives, chemicals and other hazardous materials.Courtesy of Kris Qua, Rensselaer.

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His method uses sound waves to re-motely “listen” to terahertz signals andidentify a target. First, two laser beamsare focused into the air to create smallbursts of plasma, which in turn create terahertz pulses. Second, another pair oflasers is aimed near the target to create a second plasma, which detects the tera-hertz pulses from the first two laserbeams after they have interacted with the material. The detection plasma pro-duces acoustic waves as it ionizes in the air.

Using a sensitive microphone to listen to the plasma, Clough detected terahertzwave information embedded in the soundwaves. The information was convertedinto digital data and checked against a library of known terahertz fingerprints to determine the target’s chemical com -position.

Using acoustics, Clough has identifiedterahertz fingerprints from several metersaway. Separately, he has demonstratedplasma acoustic detection from 11 m, a distance limited only by available lab space.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Scientists have developed an N-slit laser interferometerthat is suitable for secure terrestrial free-space optical communications overpropagation distances and clear-air turbulence detection.

The device was created by physicists from Interferometric Optics and theUS Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The findings were reported in the Feb. 3, 2011, issue of Journal of Optics (doi: 10.1088/2040-8978/13/3/035710).

Previously, N-slit interferometers were used for industrial metrology applications, including microdensitometry, microscopy and optical modula-tion measurement of thin-film gratings generated from a variety of manufac-turing processes. Advantages of this type of interferometer include a simplearchitecture and the use of low- to medium-power single-transverse-modenarrow-linewidth lasers.

The scientists proved experimentally that the device is a viable interfero-metric tool over long free-space propagation paths under fair atmosphericconditions. In the lab, they demonstrated that very subtle attempts to inter -cept the interferometric characters, using microscopic natural fibers, could be detected by observing the diffraction patterns superimposed over the interferometric signal.

The US Army High Energy Laser Laboratory project was funded through a subcontract to BAE Systems.

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

N-slit laser interferometer developed

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STANFORD, Calif. – A new ultrasensitiveelectronic skin can detect chemicals andbiological molecules in addition to sensingan incredibly light touch. And now, this“superskin” can be powered by stretchablesolar cells, opening up more applicationsin clothing, robots, prosthetic limbs andmore.

Researchers at Stanford University aremaking the skin self-powering, using poly-mer cells to generate electricity. The newcells are not just flexible but also stretch-able. They can be stretched up to 30 per-cent beyond their original length and snapback without any damage or loss of power.

The artificial skin’s foundation is a flex-ible organic transistor made with polymersand carbon-based materials. To allowtouch sensing, the transistor contains athin, highly elastic rubber layer moldedinto a grid of tiny inverted pyramids.When pressed, this layer changes its thick-ness, altering the current flow through thetransistor. The sensors have from severalhundred thousand to 25 million pyramidsper square centimeter, depending upon thedesired level of sensitivity.

To detect a particular biological mole-cule, the surface of the transistor must becoated with a different molecule that binds

to the first one when both come into con-tact. The coating layer has to be only 1 or2 nm thick. The sensor can be adjusted todetect chemical or biological materials.

The team members successfully demon-strated the concept by detecting a certainkind of DNA. They are now working toextend the technique to detect specificprotein biomarkers that could be useful for medical diagnostics. The same ap-proach can also be used to detect chemicalsubstances in either vapor or liquid envi-ronments, they said.

Regardless of what the sensors detect,they transmit their data to the processingcenter, whether a human brain or a com-puter, via electronic signals. Running onsolar power, the sensors are light, mobileand simple to use.

The discovery has opened the door tomany possible applications. Its stretchabil-ity offers the potential to bond solar cellsto curved surfaces such as car exteriors orarchitectural elements without cracking orwrinkling. One day, the innovation couldeven allow robots and other devices toperform functions that human skin cannot.

The research appeared online Feb. 25,2011, in Advanced Materials (doi:10.1002/adma.201004426).

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

“Superskin” goes solar

The foundation for the artificial skin is an organic transistor made with flexible polymers and carbon-basedmaterials. Courtesy of L.A. Cicero.

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Manipulating nanowires for single-mode lasersHANGZHOU, China, and BEIJING – A single-nanowire laser has been devel-oped that, unlike earlier ones, which operated mostly in multiple modes, operatesin a controllable single mode.

Researchers from Zhejiang and Peking universities used a nanowire between50 and 75 μm in length and 200 nm in diameter to develop the breakthroughlaser, which emits a wavelength of about 738 nm.

To produce a nanowire that functions as a single-mode laser, the scientists excited a looped nanowire with a pulsed laser. The looped nanowire doubles as a loop mirror, reducing the lasing threshold and increasing the wire’s reflectivity.Together, the low threshold and high reflectivity create a high-quality lasing cav-ity in the nanowire.

By adjusting the loop size with fiber probes, the team tuned the laser’s wave-length. When the loop size was reduced, the optical path of the smaller lasingcavity caused the wavelength to change.

This single-mode laser could be used as a nanoscale coherent light source foroptical communications, sensing and signal processing applications.

A study of their findings was published online Feb. 15, 2011, in Nano Letters(doi: 10.1021/nl1040308).

tTECHNEWS

Photonics Spectra May 2011

More powerful integrated circuitsSUNNYVALE, Calif. – A record 1 Tb/s on a single integrated indium phosphidechip has been achieved, allowing for more efficient data-handling technologiesand expanding the capacities of opticalnetworks.

Infinera Corp. has manufactured a pho-tonic integrated circuit (PIC) that enablesoptical networks to be more powerful,flexible and reliable – using equipmentthat is significantly smaller and less ex-pensive and that uses less energy than previous systems. At the core of a new 10-channel receiver, with each channel operating at 100-Gb/s data rates, the latestPIC contains more than 150 optical com-ponents on a chip smaller than a finger-nail. The components include frequency-tunable local oscillator (LO) lasers,devices for mixing the LO and incomingsignals, variable optical attenuators for LO power control, a spectral demulti-plexer that separates individual wave-length channels, and 40 balanced photo -detector pairs.

The new technical advance behind thetechnology is its ability to detect incomingdata encoded using a spectrally efficientmodulation technique known as polariza-tion multiplexed quadrature phase-shiftkeying, or PM-QPSK. The technique enables four times more information to

be conveyed each second than possiblewith the previous method of simplyswitching a laser light on and off.

Infinera expects its terabit PICs to becommercially available within the nextfew years. Its 500-Gb/s PIC will be avail-able in 2012, and its 100-Gb/s devices arein use in long-haul and metro networksworldwide.

At a fraction of the cost and power consumption, the PIC optical networksmay soon take on the intelligent featuresof routed networks, with the ability toreroute traffic in the event that a fiberbreaks.

The work was presented at OFC/NFOECon March 7.

Compiled by Photonics Spectra staff

Photonic integrated chips with faster, more powerfulprocessing ability aim to put electronic chips out ofbusiness.

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Some telecom laser makers produce 1M per month

Robust growth is anticipated and, in fact, already occurring in ele-ments of the optical components

market. When compared with past quanti-ties, one area of extraordinary growth islasers, the sources or drivers of any fiberoptic network, and their accompanying receivers. In fact, the fiber optics telecom-munications industry has never seen themass production of these components thatis currently under way. These tiny, grain-of-salt-size devices that pulse billions oftimes per second deliver a binary codethrough optical fiber that enables voicecalls, video transmissions and data messages.

Laurin Publishing (LP) believes that acentral reason for this acceleration is theenormous global market for fiber-to-the-x(FTTx) applications. However, there areother drivers, including data centers andother short-reach applications. Laser man-ufacturers do not always know where thedevices they make end up, especially inthe volumes that are being dispensed.

Once, it would have been consideredsubstantial volume if an active compo-nents vendor could make 10,000 transmit-ters in a year, but the industry has reachedthe point where some manufacturers nowmake more than 1 million lasers permonth. The report details the level of pro-duction and the corresponding downwardprice spiral that continues to affect this in-dustry.

These lasers remain relatively sophisti-cated devices despite the massive volumesbeing produced. They transmit at a narrowor fixed wavelength, usually in the C-bandfor distances of up to 20 km, with veryhigh reliability and operating at a versatiletemperature range with an extremely lowmargin of error. Manufacturers say eachone of the sources is tested prior to ship-ment.

BY C. DAVID CHAFFEECONTRIBUTOR

The $10 laser is comingAs the report will show, prices have

dropped precipitously. In fact, severalmanufacturers told us that they now canmanufacture the lasers for about $10. Thisfabled price goal for the laser driver goesback to the first days of fiber optics, sug-gested by founder Charles Kao and otherearly pioneers as being necessary if thetechnology were ever to reach its fullcommercial potential. The fact that we are approaching this level of cost for sucha complex and multifaceted device repre-sents a milestone in the optical transportindustry.

We must mention one caveat. Retailclients for these transceivers, includingsystem vendors and, finally, carriers, arenot paying these prices, but rather closerto $25 or $30 per unit. That includes thecost of the transceiver, plus packaging andshipping.

For the purposes of this article, we willdiscuss three manufacturers who make atleast more than 1 million of these lasers insome months: BinOptics (US), CyOptics(US) and Mitsubishi (Japan). (See table;the report will have a complete listing, in-cluding actual production levels both nowand projected for the next seven years.)

Before we get into the details of theseoperations, it is important to make threeother points:

First, these vendors make this largequantity of lasers and detectors directly forthe telecom market. Other optical compo-nents vendors, such as Finisar and Oclaro,

both based in the US, can make even morelasers – Oclaro has been known to make 1million in a week – but these are vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs).VCSELs are used mainly in data commu-nications and in consumer applicationsand do not have the level of sophisticationof the distributed feedback lasers made inquantity by the aforementioned vendors.

Second, other vendors have large opera-tions that work directly with these suppli-ers. Taiwan-based Delta and US-basedLigent, for example, compile hundreds ofthousands of transceivers (a laser and de-tector packaged in the same unit) everymonth, largely from the lasers and detec-tors that Mitsubishi and other vendorsmake. Delta provides transceivers for Gigabit passive optical network (GPON),Ethernet passive optical network (EPON)and Active Ethernet (AE) and at wave-lengths that include 850, the coarse wave-length division multiplexing slots, and1310, 1490, 1510 and 1577 nm.

Third, despite the current quantities andprice levels, this is an ongoing growthmarket, as is further defined in the report.One new vendor soon to be part of theequation is Onechip Photonics, based inCanada, which formally announced prod-ucts at OFC/NFOEC 2011 in March. Witha highly experienced team of optical com-ponent experts, the company will be mak-ing large quantities of transceivers usingphotonic integrated circuit (PIC) tech-nology.

BinOptics and Mitsubishi have signifi-

28 Photonics Spectra May 2011

TRACKFAST

A new report by the author, titled The Market for Optical Components: A Seven-Year Forecast, will be publishedthis month by Laurin Publishing.

Vendors Currently Making 1 Million or More Telecom Lasers Monthly

Corporate HQ Primary Compound/ Own Fab? ApplicationName Location Wavelength

BinOptics US Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE1310, 1490, 1550 nm

CyOptics US Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE1270 to 1600 nm

Mitsubishi Japan Indium Phosphide Yes GPON, EPON, AE1310, 1490,1550,

600, 800 nm

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cant manufacturing operations in Asia. Cy-Optics, on the other hand, operates the lastUS-based large-scale turnkey commercialInP fabrication facility in Pennsylvania.

Trend areas: PICs, fablessTwo terms you will hear frequently in

coming years when it comes to these laserand components manufacturers are PICsand fabless. These are both trends, how-ever. Currently, the three manufacturerscited all have their own fabs (fabricationfacilities) and, as cited below, there arestill important reasons for that control.

PICs allow vendors to make lasers onwafers, so that literally hundreds can beproduced on one board. This is only oneof numerous examples where advancesfrom the silicon industry have immeasur-ably helped the fiber optics industry.

To make PICs, vendors need fabs tomake the wafers. Why, then, do specificvendors advertise themselves as being fab-less? The reason is that costs can be helddown if the vendor outsources the wafermanufacturing to a fabrication facility thatspecializes in that work. The vendor, then,

does not incur all of the costs associatedwith running its own facility.

The relationship between the vendorand the fab owner is a critical one if ven-dors are going this route, LP has found.Fabs make chips for many types of appli-cations, including consumer products suchas cell phones, CDs, automobiles andcomputers.

We also should point out that some ven-dors, including BinOptics, CyOptics andMitsubishi, do have their own fabs, givingthem greater control over the product andperhaps reducing problems that may occurin facilities that have multiple customers.

In fact, one reason the optical compo-nents industry experienced a slowdown asit was ramping up in the second half of2009 and in 2010 was that these fab facili-ties already were booked with other busi-ness. There are only a finite number ofchip vendors, and the widespread deploy-ments in consumer products have caused aglobal drain in some instances. The reportobserves that some optical transport ven-dors have designed their own chips andcontracted with fabs to make them to their

specifications and timetables.What are some of the specifications that

customers require for these popular lasers?LP found that they require long wave-lengths, generally in the 1310- to 1550-nmrange. The less expensive devices alsomust be able to push signals out to 20 kmwithout the need for a repeater. Two popu-lar materials for making the lasers are in-dium phosphide and gallium arsenide.

Another consideration: Both CyOpticsand Mitsubishi do the epitaxial growth in-ternally, while other vendors do not. Theyagain believe that control over this growthis important for pricing, security and PICintegration.

FTTx lasers: Three typesThere are generally three flavors for

these lower-priced, higher-quantity trans-ceivers that conform to the architectures of the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networksthey serve: GPON, EPON and AE. Theselargely are replacing BPON (broadbandpassive optical networking), which wasthe first popular PON architecture in somemarkets.

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FASTTRACK

Initially, EPON transceivers were theleast expensive of the three to make be-cause they conformed to the looser Ether-net standard. In fact, when Verizon de-cided to adopt the GPON standard for itsFiOS buildout, it was adding cost to itsnetwork – at least at that time. However,GPON is considered to have higher relia-bility.

AE architectures are very exciting tosome people because they use a laser toevery residence (whereas PON trans-ceivers are shared with multiple users).This, of course, will add to the number oflasers that are now being produced, whichmanufacturers view as a positive develop-ment. AE was seen as being more expen-sive than GPON or EPON because moretransceivers were being used; it also wasseen as being more problematic becausethe introduction of additional active de-vices was viewed as causing the networksto be less stable, resulting in higher main-tenance.

However, the report finds that, as thelaser cost comes down, AE is seen asbeing more economical and the cost bar-rier as disappearing, just as it has betweenGPON and EPON. It also finds that, aslaser reliability improves, the need tomaintain AE networks lessens. (Specificbreakouts by technology for the nextseven years are contained in the report.)

LP believes there are two lessons for theoptical components vendor here. First, the

successful vendor will be able to providelasers to all three markets: GPON, EPONand AE. LP believes that not only will allthree continue to thrive as the globalFTTH market continues to explode, butthat a carrier often will require two for the same job. This probably will be eitherGPON or EPON together with AE. To expand on this point, the US has largelyused BPON and then GPON because thatis what Verizon used as part of its FiOSbuildout, which has accounted for thelarge majority of US FTTH connections.However, cable TV companies are startingto bring fiber to the home in America andare committed to an EPON architecture.

The second lesson is that the successfuloptical component vendor will know howto continue to ramp up. AE already isstarting to catch on in Europe, and globalgrowth will continue unabated. If vendorscould make hundreds of thousands oflasers every month five years ago, andmillions of lasers monthly now, it is not asignificant stretch to conclude that theywill need to make 5 million or even 10million per month five years from now.

Not surprisingly, the more sophisticatedthat transceivers become, the more theycost; e.g., transceivers transmitting signalsgreater than 20 km cost more, as do trans-ceivers operating at higher data rates suchas 40 or 100 Gb/s.

As we discuss in another section of thereport, tunable lasers also cost signifi-

cantly more than fixed-wavelength types.What is the main differentiator between

transceivers that cost more and those thatcost less? LP believes it is how well trans-ceiver manufacturers can stay ahead of the China-based manufacturers. Once theChina-based transceiver manufacturers canmake the component in volume, the pricereaches its low point, at least for now. LPtherefore encourages the transceiver man-ufacturer to be innovative, to continue tobuild in the right advances that will pro-vide a uniqueness that customers will findnecessary.

Just as important, LP believes that it iscritical for optical component vendors todevelop relationships throughout the worldas the market evolves.

FTTH transceivers are kind of like tele-phones – or at least the way telephonesused to be. Someday, every residence willhave one. As we point out in the report,our industry literally is looking at the potential for billions of these devices.

Meet the authorC. David Chaffee is the principal author of TheMarket for Optical Components: A Seven-YearForecast.

Laurin Publishing will be takingorders for the report shortly. Please

call +1 (413) 499-0514.

To order:

Attracting top workers is a full-time job in GermanyAHRENSBURG, Germany – Machine vision manufacturer Basler AG is rampingup its hiring once again, reflecting an economic rebound being experienced

throughout most of Germany. The com-pany, which currently has about 250 em-ployees, added five new people last yearas the recent downturn petered out. It ex-

pects to hire about 15 this year, mostlysoftware engineers and technicians.

Along with most of the rest of theworld, Germany fell hard into recession in2008. By 2009, the last full year for whichstats are up to date, the country had an un-employment rate of 7.9 percent, up from7.2 percent the previous year, according tothe federal statistics office (StatistischesBundesamt Deutschland). Compared withother economies, however, the dip wasshallower and shorter. By September2010, the unemployment rate had alreadyfallen to 6.7 percent, much lower than the9.6 percent average throughout the 27members of the European Union.

Poised for new growth, companies likeBasler that are part of the German photon-ics industry are trying to strengthen theirability to attract and keep workers who are

Germany’s employment rate is improving faster than in most other EU nations. Data courtesy of Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland.

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well trained and motivated.Basler strives to keep existing employ-

ees, said Sabine Knüppel, director ofhuman resources and organization, by of-fering work/life balance and similar pro-grams. Throughout the country, she added,there have been both legislated and unleg-islated efforts to encourage people to stayin their careers. For example, unmandatedprograms encourage young adults to startfamilies and to help new mothers maintaintheir careers. Knüppel noted one importantlaw meant to help workers stay focused oncareers: Men or women can work zerohours or part time for up to three years,with a return to their job guaranteed.

Other German photonics companies,such as laser maker Trumpf, managed to escape the downturn without laying off any workers. Instead, the companyadopted the socially accepted model of reducing hours in lieu of letting people go.

Technical educationThe European Commission and other

pan-European organizations have called on members to have well-trained re-searchers who are ready and willing to relocate to where the science and technicaljobs are. Likewise, there are calls for a robust research infrastructure and first-rateinstitutions of higher learning.

According to the 2010 UNESCO(United Nations Educational Scientific andCultural Organization) Science Report,most European universities run on theprinciples of the Humboldt model, whichpresumes that academic training must in-volve a minimum level of involvement inresearch. Unlike traditional European uni-versity systems, this model practicallyguarantees that acquiring an advanced degree can take many years.

Europe spreads its research resourcesthinly compared with the US. Accordingto UNESCO, European nations shouldfoster greater diversity in many areas,funding being one of them. This will re-quire pushing universities to more broadlydefine themselves as the equivalent of lib-eral arts colleges, offering separate bache-lor’s and master’s degrees. In most of Eu-rope, however, students, their families andemployers don’t consider a bachelor’s de-gree to represent a full university educa-tion, forming a cultural roadblock.

Nonetheless, such a shift is under way,and the traditional education system inGermany is changing from master’s/bach-elor’s equivalent (Dipl.) to more US-like

separate degrees, Basler’s Knüppel said.While no national system for evaluating

university research exists in Germany,there is a concerted effort to foster univer-sity-level excellence in science and tech-nology education.

Germany’s Exzellenzinitiative (Excel-lence Initiative) is the result of the coun-try’s federal government working with theindividual states to broaden academic di-

versity. To promote the split degree sys-tem, the program has identified 39 “excel-lent graduate schools” since 2005. Anothercomponent of the initiative creates clusters(37 thus far), including one centered onnanosystems based in Munich.

Germany also employs a dual-educationsystem in which students go to school parttime while serving an apprenticeship forthree to 3.5 years. Companies such as Sill

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Optics GmbH & Co. KG in Wendelsteinemploy one apprentice for every sevenregular staff. “By the time they are fin-ished,” Knüppel said “the students areprimed to stay at the company.”

Basler and Sill are generally happy withthe level of education provided their em-ployees from both the university systemand from Germany’s technical schools. A problem in Germany for technical com-panies, Knüppel said, is finding ways toengage a greater percentage of young students (grade-school age) to aim for science and technology careers.

Basler works closely with local schools,through sponsorship of “technology days,”providing projects and work groups aswell as site visits to the company’s facili-ties. Such school visits often try to engageyoung women specifically.

There also is a Germany-wide “little in-ventors” competition, designed to engageyoung minds. And Basler offers two- tothree-week “little internships” for 12- to17-year-old students.

Other projects geared toward attractingyoung minds to science and technology

exist outside of industry and government.CyberMentor is designed to draw morewomen into technical careers by gettinggirls interested in science at a young age.Primarily an online community and re-source geared toward girls aged 12 to 19,the program provides access to mentors.

Lynn [email protected]

through in ship protection. They demonstratedan injector that can produce the electronsneeded to generate megawatt-class laserbeams for the Navy’s next-generation weaponsystem. They are working to measure the prop-erties of the continuous electron beams andhope to set a world record for the average current of electrons. The FEL is expected to provide future US Naval forces with a near-instantaneous laser ship defense. The laserworks by passing a beam of high-energy elec-trons generated by an injector through a seriesof strong magnetic fields, causing an intenseemission of laser light. The Office of Naval Research hopes to test the FEL in a maritimeenvironment by 2018.

Companies to Advance Military Lasers Alfa-light Inc. of Madison, Wis., a manufacturer ofhigh-power diode laser products and handheldinfrared and visible laser systems, has an-nounced a strategic investment and technologydevelopment agreement with In-Q-Tel of Arlington, Va., an investment firm that providestechnology to support the missions of the US Intelligence Community. The partnership ad-vances Alfalight’s development of portable military laser systems and builds upon its portfo-lio of semiconductor laser technology, which includes high efficiency, high brightness andwavelength stabilization combined with electro-optics and integrated control methodologies.The collaboration also will accelerate the devel-

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High Demand for Crystal Grower ThermalTechnology of Santa Rosa, Calif., has received59 orders for its Model K1 sapphire crystalgrower from customers in Taiwan, Korea andChina. In total, the growers will produce 5.2million two-in-equivalents per year. The ModelK1, weighing 90 kg, outperforms other sapphirecrystal methods, including the HEM and Bridg-man, and has a short cycle time, the companysaid. The sapphire crystals are used as substratewafers for high-brightness blue and white LEDs,which have applications in traffic lights, back-lighting for flat panel displays, and commonlighting, such as streetlights and householdbulbs.

Laser Ship Defense Milestone At Los AlamosNational Laboratory in New Mexico, scientists in the Office of Naval Research’s Free-ElectronLaser (FEL) program have achieved a break-

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opment and availability of its products and tech-nologies in the public and private sectors.

Boston Micromachines Wins Grant BostonMicromachines Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., hasreceived a $100,000 Small Business InnovationResearch Program contract from NASA to sup-port space-based imaging research. The Phase Iproject is for the development of a high-resolu-tion, fault-tolerant microelectromechanical deformable mirror technology that will fill a gap in NASA’s road map for future coronagraphicobservatories. The company plans to implementtwo complementary modifications to the manu-facturing process: It will develop a drive elec-tronics approach to limit actuator electrical cur-rent density generated to prevent permanentfailure when a short-time-frame, single-faultfailure occurs, and it will modify the actuatordesign to mitigate failure resulting from adhe-sion between contacting surfaces of the actuatorflexure and fixed base. The company providesmirror products for commercial adaptive opticssystems.

Company Rebrands Brush Engineered Materi-als Inc. of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, has changedits name to Materion Corp., unifying its busi-nesses under the Materion brand. The companyhas grown through acquisitions and internal initiatives, which continued to operate undertheir original names and brands. It also has introduced a new logo and launched a new

website. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries,it supplies advanced enabling materials toglobal markets. Its portfolio includes preciousand nonprecious specialty metals, inorganicchemicals and powders, specialty coatings,beryllium alloys and composites, and engi-neered clad and plated metal systems.

CEA-Leti Joins III-V Lab In France, in a moveto strengthen the industrial research capabilitiesof the III-V Lab in Marcoussis, CEA-Leti ofGrenoble, a research and technology organiza-tion, will join the center. Established by Alcatel-Lucent of Paris and Thales of Neuilly-sur-Seinein 2004, the center, a public-private partner-ship, will combine III-V semiconductor and silicon technologies, opening up research perspectives and dynamics. The enlarged labwill include more than 130 researchers, techni-cians and doctoral candidates, leveraging thesilicon, microelectronics and heterogeneous integration of the three companies. These include the III-V components on silicon CMOS integrated circuits and the development ofsmarter, smaller components heterogeneouslyintegrating active III-V components with siliconcircuits and microsystems.

Companies Extend LED Deal LED lightingcompany Cree Inc. of Durham, N.C., and Zum-tobel Lighting GmbH of Dornbirn, Austria, willcontinue to provide LED lighting technology inEurope. Cree announced a two-year extension

of the agreement it signed in 2008 with Zumto-bel. The latter provides its customers with LEDlighting based on Cree’s TrueWhite technology.

Molding Technology Developed A high-speed molding technology that can form opticalcomponents from glass taken directly from afurnace – without polishing or grinding – hasbeen developed by Docter Optics of Neustadtan der Orla, Germany. With funding in part bythe European Union, the company said this ini-tial process will be further enhanced to demon-strate that sophisticated optical components can be economically produced using an in-linemolding process. High-volume applications alsoinclude light pipes, which are required in mod-ern concentrated photovoltaic systems, LED illu-mination technology and wherever secondaryoptical elements of glass are called for.

Fiber Lasers for Oil Industry NKT PhotonicsA/S of Birkerød, Denmark, has been awarded avolume contract to supply its low-noise KoherasBasik fiber laser modules to an undisclosedparty for use in a seismic application within theoil industry. The Koheras fiber laser is charac-terized by a very low frequency and noise inten-sity, and inherent single-frequency operation. Ithas been used in the oil industry for explorationand for monitoring the structural integrity ofpipelines, in the defense sector for acoustic detection, and in the wind turbine industry forDoppler sensing.

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GreenLight

Ultrafast laser scribes solar cells

Anew manufacturing method usingan ultrafast pulsing laser couldmake thin-film solar cell arrays a

more efficient and less expensive meansof power generation.

The current method of connecting solarpanels into arrays that generate usableelectricity involves mechanically scribingwith a stylus, but this technique is lessthan ideal: Not only is it slow and expensive, but it also produces imperfect channels.

“The efficiency of solar cells dependslargely on how accurate your scribing of microchannels is,” said Yung Shin, a professor of mechanical engineering anddirector of Purdue University’s Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing. “If they are made as accurately as possible,efficiency goes up.”

Shin and his team are working to in-crease solar cell efficiency using an ultra-short-pulse laser on thin-film solar cells to produce the microchannels, he said.

“Production costs of solar cells havebeen greatly reduced by making them out of thin films instead of wafers, but it is difficult to create high-quality microchannels in these thin films,” Shinsaid. “The mechanical scribing methods in commercial use do not create high-quality, well-defined channels.

“Although laser scribing has been studied extensively, until now we haven’t

been able to precisely control lasers to accurately create the microchannels to theexacting specifications required.”

The group’s research shows that the ultrafast laser pulses formed microchan-nels with sharp boundaries and preciselyspecified depths. The laser pulses last only a matter of picoseconds, so the laser does not cause heat damage to thethin film. It removes material preciselythrough cold ablation.

“It creates very clean microchannels on the surface of each layer,” Shin said. “You can do this at very high speed –meters per second – which is not possiblewith a mechanical scribe.

“This is very tricky because the lasermust be precisely controlled so that it penetrates only one layer of the thin filmat a time, and the layers are extremelythin. You can do that with this kind of

laser because you have a very precise control of the depth, to about 10 to 20nanometers.”

Approximately 20 percent of the globalphotovoltaic market in terms of watts generated is made up of thin-film solarcells, and experts predict that this will riseto 31 percent by 2013.

The research is led by Shin and GaryCheng, an associate professor of industrialengineering. The work is funded through a three-year, $425,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

A paper demonstrating the method’sfeasibility was published in Proceedingsof the 2011 NSF Engineering Researchand Innovation Conference. The paperwas written by Shin, Cheng andgraduate students Wenqian Hu, Martin Yi Zhang and Seunghyun Lee. �

[email protected]

37

BY LAURA S. MARSHALLMANAGING EDITOR

Photonics Spectra May 2011

A scanning electron microscope image shows a microchannel that was created using an ultrafast-pulsing laser.Courtesy of Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering. Image/Yung Shin.

The group’s research shows

that the ultrafast laser pulses

formed microchannels with

sharp boundaries and

precisely specified depths.

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38 Photonics Spectra May 2011

Imaging in the Ultrafast Lane

BY HANK HOGANCONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Observing what happens when atoms interact or proteins fold requires picosecond or faster imaging. Recent innovations promise to allow researchers to capture previously invisible events. That capability couldhave industrial and medical uses, as can be seen with examples of imaging below and above the visible spectrum.

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39Photonics Spectra May 2011

(Opposite) An ultrafast laser frequency upshifted into a rainbow of laserlike x-rays spans the entire soft x-rayregion of the spectrum. This enables any element in asample to be identified chemically, or a movie of any reaction to be made in real time. Courtesy of TenioPopmintchev, JILA.

(Above) An x-ray converter developed at JILA takesan ultrafast laser and converts it into laserlike beamsat much shorter wavelengths and pulse duration. Thelaser accelerates electrons within an atom that thenradiate a rainbow of laserlike x-rays. Reprinted fromNature Photonics. Courtesy of Tenio Popmintchev and Brad Baxley, JILA.

(Left) Combined laser and x-ray beams can excite and probe a molecule to follow how the electron density and atoms move during chemical reactions. Courtesy of Greg Kuebler, JILA.

For ultrafast imaging at wavelengths well below the visible, consider the work being done by a team led byprofessors Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane. Themarried couple holds appointments in physics at the Uni-versity of Colorado at Boulder and JILA, a physical sci-ence research institute jointly operated by the universityand the National Institute of Standards and Technology.Their research focuses on generating and using coherentlaserlike x-rays.

As described in the December 2010 issue of Nature Photonics, they start with a femtosecond laser pulse andsend it into a gas cloud inside a hollow waveguide. The resulting high harmonic generation produces an output that can be thousands of times shorter in wavelength.

The laser and gas determine the output wavelength and its brightness. For instance, a Ti:sapphire beam at 800 nmand argon yield a 29-nm wavelength output, while the use of helium leads to a 13-nm output. Recently, the group has

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figured out how to produce light of nano-meter wavelengths, which somewhat para-doxically will need mid-IR lasers operatingat 1.3 μm and longer, Murnane said.

With shorter wavelengths, the investiga-tors will improve imaging resolution, sincethe classical diffraction limit is about halfthe wavelength. The push down from extreme-ultraviolet, at 13 nm, into x-rays as short as 1 nm should allow an equivalentenhancement in resolving object details.

There’s another effect of this approach,Kapteyn said. “If you do it under the rightconditions, you generate an attosecondpulse.”

Like the wavelength, the pulse durationis thousands of times smaller than the ori -ginal. Results indicate that pulses of about5 as can be generated. At 10−18 seconds, anattosecond is so short that light travels onlyone-third of a nanometer. These brief burstsof light should allow the capture of electrondynamics in materials and molecules.

For imaging, the researchers illuminatean object with a coherent beam and collectthe scattered light. Visually, this looks likea mess, but it contains information fromwhich spatial data can be extracted.

What’s more, light below 4 nm is absorbed by elements such as carbon and nitrogen and so can provide elemen -tal information. In particular, water is relatively transparent in this region, but carbon is strongly absorbing, leading to an interesting possibility.

“You can image carbon content in an x-ray image with 10-nm resolution for afield of view that’s about the size of a single cell,” Kapteyn said.

Nonbiological uses of the techniquecould include tracking the dynamics ofsemiconductors by following transistor heatdissipation. For hard disks, changes in databit magnetization could be measured, animportant topic as the industry strives tomake higher-capacity disks.

Imaging is done by having the energeticphotons directly strike a CCD sensor,which causes some chip damage. The tech-nique is also limited to imaging depths ofonly a few microns, and the beam itself hasto travel in vacuum. The sample being imaged can sit in atmosphere, pressed upagainst a transparent window.

The key to the latest advance has been abetter understanding of the nonlinear optics

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Although researchers have been focusing on sources, detectors have alsobeen improving. One example comes from Teledyne Dalsa, the Waterloo,Ontario, Canada-based camera maker. In December 2010, the company announced a CMOS line-scan camera with 1146-megapixel-per-secondthroughput. The data rate is high enough that the camera requires a new interface. Dubbed HSLink, it forms the foundation for Camera Link HS, a proposed successor to the interface standard Camera Link.

Another example comes from Fairchild Imaging, a Milpitas, Calif.-basedcompany – currently being acquired by British defense contractor BAE Sys-tems – that makes both CMOS- and CCD-based imaging systems. The com-pany realized a few years ago, said Colin Earle, vice president of sales and marketing for Fairchild Imaging, that the scientific community could use a faster, higher sensitivity sensor with more dynamic range than CCDs offer. The company therefore developed its scientific CMOS sensors.Fairchild Imaging partnered with both Andor Technology plc of Belfast, UK,and Kelheim, Germany-based PCO in bringing to market systems that arebased on the technology.

Earle said that the sensors and imaging systems based on them have beenwell received. They offer capture rates of up to 100 fps, about five timesfaster than comparable CCD sensors, but do so without sacrificing what’s important to the target market.

In particular, researchers want a low-noise sensor, Earle said. “A scientistcares about low noise because he wants to be able to measure faint signals,and he’s got to ensure that his noise floor is below what he’s trying to measure without resorting to multiplicative gain techniques that introducefurther uncertainty.”

Not ultrafast,but faster

ULTRAFAST IMAGING

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that transform an infrared beam into x-rays.Decades ago, the first x-ray lasers werepowered by stadium-size sources, but with this breakthrough, that situation haschanged.

“We can generate very useful amounts ofx-ray light, and it’s on a tabletop,” Kapteynsaid.

So far, the group has done extreme-ultra-violet imaging in three dimensions in spaceand in one dimension with time resolution.The investigators plan to combine theseand lower the wavelength, thereby enablingnanoscale imaging with subfemtosecondresolution. Kapteyn and Murnane formed a company more than a decade ago to com-mercialize their research and innovations.

In addition to ultrafast imaging belowthe visible, there’s work under way to dothe same at wavelengths that are much

longer. Take, for example, research beingdone at Imperial College London byphysics professor Chris Phillips. His groupdemonstrated ultrafast infrared chemicalimaging of live cells, reporting on thework in the January 2011 issue of Chemical Science.

They were able to capture an image inabout 100 ps, roughly 100 billion timesfaster than current mid-IR spectroscopicimaging techniques can. They achieved this through two innovations. The first was a new source, and the second was anew detector.

Of the two, the source was the more important, Phillips said. “Other than largescientific installations like synchrotrons andfree-electron lasers, there’s really nothing inthat part of the spectrum that tunes acrossthe wavelength range of interest and gives

Photonics Spectra May 2011

A mid-infrared image of a single live SK-OV-3 human ovarian cancer cell undergoing mitosis. Visible image(a) and IR transmission image (b) at 4.1 µm, along with false-color IR image (c). Dividing nuclei of the cell areclearly visible. The image was acquired in 100 ps at a 1.9-µm pixel size. Reprinted from Chemical Science.

Courtesy of Chris Phillips, Imperial College London.

ULTRAFAST IMAGING

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anything like the time resolution we canmanage.”

Using a custom-built optical parametricamplifier, the source can deliver peakpower of 100 W to the sample, startingwith a 2.78-μm beam generated from adoped yttrium scandium gallium garnet rod. This pulsed beam passes through azinc germanium phosphide crystal, shiftingthe wavelength of the pulse. By altering thecrystal angle, the output can be tuned overthe range from 3 to more than 10 μm.

The detector is a commercial mercury-cadmium-telluride focal plane, modified byremoving thermal background-suppressingfilters. That allows the system to imageacross the entire biologically important 2- to 9.7-μm range. Those wavelengths aresensitive to chemical bonds and so high-light the dynamic chemistry of a sample.

The researchers have started to use thesetup to study cancer biopsy specimens,with the hope that the chemical maps thusproduced will allow rapid differentiation of diseased from healthy tissue.

Aside from possible diagnostic applica-tions, Phillips noted that other uses will include tracking the way chemicals movearound in a cell. Of particular interest willbe how cells respond to external triggers,such as necrosis factors and drugs.

Recent source advances also promise to make ultrafast imaging a reality at evenlonger wavelengths, said Daniel Mittleman,

a professor of electrical and computer engi-neering at Rice University in Houston. He is involved in terahertz imaging, whichcovers wavelengths from 100 μm to 1 mm.

Ironically, although femtosecond lasershave long been a preferred method for generating and detecting terahertz radia-tion, the field has not employed ultrafastimaging. In fact, there has been virtuallyno time-resolved imaging at all, Mittle -man said.

The issue has been a lack of high-inten-sity ultrafast terahertz pulses. The situationhas changed in the past year or so, and Mittleman expects that terahertz ultrafastimaging is on the horizon. When it does arrive, the long wavelengths will allow thetracking of phonons, the quantized vibra-tions found in a crystal lattice, or the fold-ing of a protein.

However, those long wavelengths alsopose a challenge. They’re much bigger than a cell or other items of interest, whichrenders conventional imaging impossible. Researchers are working to overcome thislimitation, turning to near-field imaging andother techniques to resolve small objects.

They’ve had some success, and thatcould bode well for future ultrafast tera-hertz imaging. As Mittleman said, “Peoplehave been able to image hundred-nanome-ter objects with terahertz radiation that ishundreds of microns in wavelength.”

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

Fluorescent-labeled BPAE cells, captured with a Fairchild Imaging SciMOS camera. Courtesy of Fairchild Imaging.

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Preserving Moore’s Law Pushes Lithography to its Limits

Optical lithography equipmentIt is time to consider some of the other

optical elements in a lithographic system.In the quest to create smaller chips, manu-facturers have developed phase shiftmasks, improved the chemistry of photo-resists and fabricated lenses with veryhigh numerical apertures (NAs) and near-diffraction-limited performance.

The technique employed by most mod-ern optical lithography equipment isknown as projec-tion printing. Inthe setup, laserlight shinesthrough a mask,which containsthe pattern to beimaged onto thewafer. But thelarge gap be-tween the maskand the wafer re-sults in diffrac-tion, effectivelyspreading out thelaser light.

A well-de-signed objectivelens is used togather the dif-fracted light fromthe mask beforeit is projected onto the wafer, whereby theability of the lens to collect diffracted lightis measured by its NA.

Although using a lens with a higher NAresults in better resolution of the image,there is a price: As the NA increases, thedepth of focus decreases. Poor depth offocus could cause some points of thewafer to be out of focus; increased NAalso requires the wafer to be positionedextremely precisely.

“Optical lithography is the art of print-ing as close to the Rayleigh limit as possi-ble while maintaining a high level of uni-formity and stability for high-volume

manufacturing. Maintaining fidelity of the pattern to be printed is also extremelydifficult, and it deteriorates the closer oneprints to the Rayleigh limit,” said SamSivakumar, Intel fellow and director of thelithography technology and manufacturinggroup there.

One of the ways Intel tackled thedilemma involved the introduction ofphase shift masks, which began with its45-nm node to increase the effective con-

trast. Intel pioneeredthe use of alternatingphase shift masks(starting at 90 nm)and attenuating phaseshift masks (startingat 130 nm). The com-pany also introducedextensive optical tai-loring of substratematerials to deliverspecific optical per-formance in aid ofthe patterningneeded.

“Today’s lithogra-phy process is ahighly optimized andfine-tuned mixture oftechniques to enableMoore’s Law scal-ing,” Sivakumar said.

“Phase shift masks have become ubiqui-tous. Source optimization has becomehighly sophisticated with the advent of diffractive optical element sources. Finally, photoresist chemistry has becomeincreasingly sophisticated, enabling muchhigher resolution and fidelity.”

Another trick of the trade makes use ofthe refraction caused by water. Theprocess, known as immersion lithography,is used by the industry today for state-of-the-art processes. It effectively reduces the wavelength by about 30 percent. Intelstarted using this technique at 32 nm, andothers followed at 45 nm.

45Photonics Spectra May 2011

A scanning electron micrograph image of a 56-nmpitch pattern in resist, exposed on an EUV Alpha Demo Tool using a Globalfoundries mask.

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The race is on to develop the nexttechnology that will enable manu-facturers to continue scaling downtheir chip sizes. Will optics provide

the answer everyone is looking for?The brisk march of optical lithography

has set the pace for the shrinking size of semiconductor devices and integratedcircuits (ICs) that we see today. Optical lithography – the technology of pattern-ing – enables intricate circuits to be cre-ated in wafers at dimensions smaller thanthe light wavelength used in the process.

As ever shorter wavelength sources aredeveloped, the resolution of patterningcontinues to improve, and circuit featurescan shrink. But some believe this progressis starting to slow, threatening the perpetu-ation of Moore’s Law.

Moore’s Law was formulated by the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, in 1965,when he predicted that the number of tran-sistors that can be placed on an IC woulddouble every year. He later revised this toapproximately every two years.

Keeping up with Moore’s Law over thepast four decades has seen lithographywavelengths drop from the 436 and 365 nm produced by mercury arc lamps to 248 nm by the krypton fluoride excimerlaser. In 1998, a group at MIT’s LincolnLaboratory developed a 193-nm sourcewith the argon fluoride laser, which isused to produce today’s 45- and 32-nm IC technologies.

Despite the trend in reducing exposurewavelengths, today’s aggressive featuresizes are still falling farther and fartherbelow the available exposure sources,complicating the imaging challenges.

But the biggest question in the fieldtoday is this: What imaging method willbe used to pattern features that are 22 nmand below? Will shorter wavelengthssuch as the long-awaited extreme-ultra-violet (EUV) be the answer, or canMoore’s Law be extended by othermeans?

BY MARIE FREEBODY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

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Progression, but not at any priceBut Moore’s Law isn’t just about get-

ting more transistors on each chip; it’s alsoabout bringing down the cost of transis-tors. Optical lithography equipment has sofar met industry demands, but to preservethe law, a new advance is needed soon.

EUV lithography has been the much anticipated solution; however, its develop-ment has proved to be far from smooth,causing some in the industry to lose faith.Developing a source in this regime that ispowerful, robust and stable enough for amodern semiconductor fab is a huge chal-lenge, and there has been disappoint-ment over its progress.

According to Dr. MichaelFritze, director of DisruptiveElectronics at the Univer-sity of Southern CaliforniaInformation Sciences Institute in Marina delRey, a process known asdouble patterning is nowbeing considered as acandidate for featuresizes below 32 nm. Thetechnique is a compli-cated and expensivemethod of doubling up thelayers of printing, but Fritzebelieves that this will be the

most likely solution until EUV is finallyready.

The problem with both EUV and doublepatterning lithography solutions is thecost, and the semiconductor industry has not been keen to implement the tech-niques. For most fabrication facilities, ittakes billions of dollars to create the faband then substantial amounts of money tomaintain the capability.

This is where DARPA believes it can fitin with its three-year GRATE (Gratings of

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Optical lithography enables Intel to build state-of-the art chips with feature sizes as small as 32 nm and below.As lithography systems progress, integrated circuits can be made with more performance and more features,better power efficiency and lower cost per transistor. Images courtesy of Intel Corp.

Lithography

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Despite its problems, EUV lithographyis still being pursued and heavily investedin by many R&D departments, includingGlobalfoundries of Milpitas, Calif., whichwas the first company to produce workingmemory cells using EUV lithography.

“We were leaders in the initial develop-ment phases of EUV, and we plan to ex-tend this leadership position as the tech-nology approaches maturity, includingbeing one of the first customers for a production-level EUV tool,” said HarryLevinson, senior fellow and manager ofstrategic lithography technology there.

Lithography systems maker ASML ofVeldhoven, the Netherlands, continues toship its preproduction EUV machine,NXE:3100, with the aim of refining thetechnology in time for high-volume chipproduction starting in 2013.

Meanwhile, Intel is hedging its bets,working on a variety of techniques to ex-tend 193-nm lithography and to developEUV lithography.

[email protected]

Regular Arrays and Trim Exposures) pro-gram, which kicked off at the end of 2010.The goal of GRATE is to develop method-ologies enabling simplified circuit designsusing high-resolution grating patterns thatcan be fabricated using either mask-basedor maskless interference lithography.

Previously headed up by Fritze while he was program manager at DARPA, theprogram is now led by Dr. Carl McCants,who explained that the vision is to makelow-volume fabrication at advanced nodesaffordable for the US Department of Defense (DoD).

“If it becomes cost-ineffective to imple-ment in a given technology, people willstop,” McCants said. “Large companies canabsorb the cost of development, but theDoD is looking for advanced technologyaccess for low-volume manufacturing.”

While this program is set to benefitlow-volume fabrication, specifically ofcustom silicon-based application-specificintegrated circuits, high-volume manufac-turers must look elsewhere.

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Lithography

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Expert Q&A: Trends in Laser AlignmentBY LAURA S. MARSHALLMANAGING EDITOR

L aser alignment affords manufacturersgreat precision and efficiency in as-sessment of their equipment, allowing

them to take minute measurements andcorrect tiny errors that otherwise couldmean big problems down the line, includ-ing materials wasted or time lost.

To get a picture of current activity inlaser alignment, Photonics Spectra turnedto experts from two companies in the thickof things: Opto-Alignment TechnologyInc. in Indian Trail, N.C., and Pinpoint

Laser Systems Inc. in Peabody, Mass.Steve Bohuczky is the executive direc-

tor of business development for Opto-Alignment Technology, also known asOAT. Opto-Alignment produces alignmentand assembly equipment for ultraprecisionand precision optical systems. It “special-izes in narrow confocal laser reflection-based measurements of lens centration andlens tilt to submicron level,” Bohuczkysaid. One new OAT product is the LaserAlignment Station (LAS), which enables

Photonics Spectra May 201148

Opto-Alignment assembly cleanroomwith alignment stations. Courtesy of Opto-Alignment.

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measurement and correction of even “atiny 2-arc-second tilt.” Additional modulesalso allow it to measure lens thickness andair space in lens systems.

Mory Creighton is the general managerat Pinpoint Laser Systems. Pinpoint pro-vides laser measuring and machineryalignment equipment for manufacturing.The company is introducing two laser re-ceivers based on customer feedback, the4D Microgage and the Microgage 2DTransparent. These will allow precisionmeasurements on machine tools and as-sembly equipment.

Q: What do you see as the “next bigthing” in laser alignment in general?Are you seeing any new and excitinglaser alignment advances coming out of R&D and/or university labs?

Creighton: Fixturing, software and manu-facturers taking on their own alignment.

As machinery configurations change,the fixturing for alignment systems andtechniques needs to change as well. Railsand slides become longer, CNC [computernumerical control] machine tools have dif-ferent work enclosures driven by safety,and working considerations and alignmentfixturing has to adapt to these changingneeds. Many of our customers come to uslooking for adapters and new fixtures fortheir alignment systems as they take onnew tasks that they were not consideringtwo or three years ago but that have be-come important now.

Software – what do the measuring andalignment numbers mean and how do theyrelate to corrective action taken on theproduction line? Software that allows peo-ple to quickly see the alignment conditionof their production machinery is a greatasset in reducing their downtime and pro-ducing better finished products.

We see a steady trend in manufacturersbringing their alignment capabilities insidetheir organization. Companies need to re-main competitive in the global environ-ment – thinner materials, faster throughputand more complex manufacturingprocesses require precise machinery oper-ation. For years, there has been a strongreliance on outside, third-party alignmentvendors, and these services have becomevery costly, and often there are long wait-ing periods in scheduling, which has a sig-nificant manufacturing impact on machin-ery downtime, rising production costs andscheduling.

Our observations show that produc-tion workers and plant engineers arevery familiar with their own productionequipment and – given a good, precisemeasuring and alignment tool – they doa much better job in maintaining align-ment on their production equipment, re-ducing downtime and ultimately improv-ing their own manufacturing profits.

The development of new laser technology, detectors and optics movessteadily along in both industrial R&D as well as government and universityresearch settings. Pinpoint is actively in-volved with this process as well and reg-ularly introducing new products such asthe Microgage 4 Axis Receiver and the2D Transparent Receiver – both unique

products driven by requests from our large customer base. Methods toapply alignment data and findings to automated equipment is a growing area,particularly as CNC machinery runsfaster and faster under automated control, and manufacturing tolerancesbecome tighter.

Bohuczky: There are too many R&Dprojects out there with very promising results. I read about around-the-corner 3-D imaging of objects that are out of thestraight line of sight, by measuring thetime of multiple reflections, almost likelaser echo. OAT is preparing to build mid- and long-IR LAS devices as soon as a specific need and budget are there.

49Photonics Spectra May 2011

One of Opto-Alignment’s newer products is the Laser Alignment Station. Courtesy of Opto-Alignment.

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Q: Which application areas would yousay are currently thriving – and why?

Creighton: We see a lot of growth andbusiness activity in the continuous processside of the manufacturing industry. For ex-ample, paper mills, converting lines, steeland metal production, electronic compo-nent manufacturing and others cannot af-ford unexpected downtime. Competition is tight, and profit margins are small and,consequently, manufacturing planning andmaintenance need to be right on track. Weare seeing a lot of customer needs in thisarea now, particularly for equipment thatsupports preventive maintenance.

New technology manufacturing is alsoa driving force in our industry. Helicop-ters, aircraft, ships and automobiles aremade out of new materials, such as ad-vanced composites that influence themanufacturing and assembly process. In the past, large dedicated tooling wascreated for single product fabrication and assembly. Over the past five to 10 years,the move has been toward flexible tool-ing, and measuring and alignment equipment that can adapt to many different products being produced. We see strong growth potential for companiesthat can work in this arena.

Bohuczky: I noticed that there is a fastgrowing arsenal of medical laser instru-ments on the market, and I think more willbe widely available to the noncash patientbase soon. Obviously, the aging popula-tion in the Western world is a majordriver. Some of the scientific applicationsare a little harder to pinpoint, partly be-cause there are too many.

As far as military applications, I hopethat the global powers will or already haveagreed not to integrate laser-based smallarms into their military arsenals. Eventu-ally, these would become available to anyone and establish an “invisible, unde-tectable” threat.

Q: How would you say the market has been in the past few yearsfor laser alignment?

Bohuczky: Laser alignment and measure-ment is now in every corner of technologyand industry. The expansion was fast andlogical, and it will continue.

Creighton: The economic climate overthe past couple of years has been challeng-ing, particularly for manufacturing indus-tries. Reductions in production activity,

50 Photonics Spectra May 2011

Laser alignment offers a quick, efficient way for manufacturing companies to run preventive mainte-nance checks and make sure that equipment is properly set up. Courtesy of Pinpoint Laser Systems.

Checking the angular orientation and deflection of the arm on an inspection robot. Courtesy of Pinpoint Laser Systems.

Laser Alignment

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cost-cutting measures and turnover in theworkforce have influenced the market forall machinery alignment, including laseralignment equipment.

However, we have recently seen a sig-nificant increase in manufacturing activityin certain industrial sectors and an aggres-sive approach to bringing machinery backon line and performing the needed align-ments to keep this equipment runningsmoothly and efficiently. Our business activity is increasing steadily, and we hope that this progress will continue.

Q: Where do you think the market for laser alignment is going?

Bohuczky: Measuring the presence anddistance of objects relating to safety in industry and everyday life will be one ofthe most important new markets.

Creighton: One trend, mentioned earlier,is the movement toward companies takingcare of their own machinery and equip-ment alignment. A lot of customers are replacing traditional methods with laseralignment products. This is often seen nowas a necessity rather than a luxury. Themeasuring and alignment products avail-able today have become so easy to learnand use that manufacturing companies areequipping their workforce with thesetools. Their motivation is to reduce outsidealignment costs and delays and to bettertap into the knowledge and expertise oftheir own workforce.

Stronger focus on preventive mainte-nance is pulling the laser alignment mar-ket in new directions. Manufacturing isembracing preventive maintenance withnew techniques, data and schedulingtools, and other resources in an effort to improve profitability. Here at Pinpoint,we have seen a stronger focus on manu-facturers using precision equipment totake quick snapshots of their machineryalignment and condition monitoring formore organized equipment maintenanceand improvements. Tight manufacturingschedules, JIT [just in time] productionand growing foreign competition leave little room for unexpected productiondowntime events.

A slow and steady movement awayfrom optical alignment scopes towardlaser equipment that is easier to use, moreprecise and repeatable from user to user.As seasoned manufacturing people leavethe workforce, the knowledge base forusing optical alignment equipment is leav-ing with them. Employees, more than

ever, move from job to job, and the laseralignment equipment available on the market today is easier and faster to learn,while at the same time it improves thespeed and precision for routine and com-plex machinery alignment.

Q: What are the biggest challenges to new advances in laser alignment?

Bohuczky: One of the challenges is increasing sensor resolution to increasemeasurement accuracy.

Creighton: The growing variety of man-ufacturing needs and production systemsposes a challenge for manufacturers ofmachinery alignment equipment. Cus-tomers want turnkey products that areright out of the case, ready to go on theirspecific production equipment. Align-ment needs for manufacturing companiesare becoming more demanding and di-verse. Companies that sell “standard”alignment products and are unwilling to deviate from their particular productofferings are facing pressure from theircustomers for new alignment needs andopportunities. We have had strong suc-cess over the years working with individ-ual customers, understanding their partic-ular needs and adapting products to meetthese needs and requirements.

Workforce turnover and short-termthinking. As employees change their jobsand roles within industry, manufacturingcompanies often feel the pressure of los-ing manufacturing continuity and theirlong-term perspective. New people aretrying to learn new jobs, and while on thislearning curve, it is easy to lose sight oflong-term objectives and planning. Wesometimes see that, when this long-termplanning and viewpoint are set aside, pro-duction efficiency suffers through moredowntime events and slower recoveryfrom addressing unexpected problems.The adage “Rome was not built in a day”holds very true for manufacturing knowl-edge and technology.

The complexity of an efficient and profitable manufacturing operation canmake it difficult to change people,processes, techniques and equipment on arapid basis and still remain efficient andprofitable. Better production tools, such aslaser alignment equipment, are a greatasset for the manufacturing industry, butthe long-term thinking and planning needto be in place in addition to the ability toreact and fix equipment rapidly.

[email protected]

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Laser Alignment

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Set to Permeate the Next Generation of Displays

Averitable explosion of display-cen-tric devices – new cell phones,handheld games, tablet computers

and televisions in a multitude of sizes anddimensionality (2-D, 3-D … n-D!) is com-ing. Spurred on by eco logically mindedconsumers – and those wanting long livesfrom their batteries – manufacturers arelooking to replace power-hungry displayswith less ravenous new tech nologies.Now, displays enhanced by quantum dotsare getting an opportunity to grab theirshare of the limelight.

Not long ago, quantum dots were ararely seen and very expensive means ofenhancing biological imaging. A painstak-ing blending of the right semiconductingmaterials resulted in a small handful ofvery bright, regularly emitting particlesthat could help track cell components orchemicals under the microscope. After afew years of experimentation and develop-ment, quantum dot costs have come downenough that their use is now growing.

Cost was a hurdle, but no one would betrying to incorporate them into displaytechnology if it weren’t for the benefits.Quantum dots, when excited by electronsor photons, emit bright, steady light at anarrow wavelength band and do so whiledrawing very little power. In comparison,organic LEDs are even brighter and moreefficient, but more expensive than quan-tum dot-based displays project to be, especially at large sizes. Quantum dot displays promise to have longer lifetimesas well.

Visionaries create futureOne of the first private companies to

dive into the field of quantum dots wasWatertown, Mass.-based QD Vision Inc.Over the past several years, the company

has been developing quantum dot tech-nologies for use in novel low-power-con-sumption displays. Achievements in thisarea resulted late last year in an agreementto help LG Display of Seoul, South Korea,create direct-view active-matrix displaysin which quantum dots will help improvecolor brightness and saturation as well asenergy usage.

High-end LCD displays with integratedquantum dots will deliver a 100 percentcolor gamut (versus the more typical 70 percent available today), while main-taining lifetime, efficiency and other de-sired specifications of LCDs, said SethCoe-Sullivan, co-founder and chief tech-nology officer of QD Vision (See Q&A on page 58).

“It is a little too early to put a specifica-tion on quantum dot LED when itlaunches, but I expect the value proposi-

tion will be similar,” he said. The ultimategoal is to “blow competing technologiesaway in terms of color, make a markedimprovement in power consumption andmeet or exceed every other spec.”

In January, QD Vision revealed that ithad demonstrated a quantum dot-based ac-tive matrix display that has an array of800 � 600 pixels on a 15.6-mm-diagonalscreen. Designed under contract for theUS Army, the tiny display will be a component of video headsets, helmet-mounted devices and other instrumentswhere the display will be mounted nearthe eye. The demonstration model was anamber monochrome version, but the com-pany also is developing a full-color version.

A month later, in February, SamsungElectronics’ Advanced Institute of Technology in Yongin, South Korea,

Photonics Spectra May 201154

Quantum Dots

BY LYNN SAVAGE, FEATURES EDITOR

Using quantum dots (QDs) in conjunction with LCDs produces more favorable color than unenhancedwhite LEDs, while using about one-third less energy. BLU = backlight unit. Courtesy of QD Vision.

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JuneLasers: The Next 50 Years

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56

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Photonics Spectra May 2011

announced that it had developed a large-area full-color display that incorporatesquantum dots. The display measures 4 in.diagonally and comprises a 320 � 240-pixel array.

In a paper published in the Feb. 20,

2011, issue of Nature Photonics, Tae-HoKim and his colleagues first note that, although the availability of quantum dotsno longer is an issue, efficiently depositingthem onto a glass or plastic substrate hasremained problematic.

A new spin on depositionTypically, quantum dots of various sizes

– and thus colors – are sprayed onto thewaiting surface in a process known as spincoating. It’s a good technique for putting alot of particles down fast – and speed is animportant factor for keeping product costsdown at the factory. Unfortunately, spincoating is a random deposition technique,leading to cross-contamination of red,green and blue particles, to reduction oftheir quantum efficiencies, and to overalldegradation of the resulting images, espe-cially at larger display sizes.

To reduce these problems, more regulardistribution is required, leading Kim’sgroup to develop a transfer process quitelike using an ink stamp.

First, a substrate made of silicon, glassor other material is coated with a mono-layer of ODTS (octadecyltrichlorosilane)and then with a layer of one color of quan-tum dot. This “donor” substrate is analo-gous to an ink pad; the ODTS facilitatesquick removal of the quantum dot “ink.”

Next, a “stamp” made of PDMS (poly-dimethylsiloxane), molded with raisedstructures conforming to the desired finalpattern, is brought into contact with the

Researchers at Samsung have developed the largest QD-based display yet, a 4-in.-diagonal screen with 320 � 240 pixels.

Courtesy of Samsung Electronics.

Quantum Dots

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quantum dots on the donor substrate, gen-tly lifting them away. Separate PDMSstamps then deliver the red, green andblue quantum dots to the waiting receptorsubstrate. The stamp delivers each set ofquantum dots with even pressure onto thereceptor, leaving the particles to rearrangethemselves into a densely packed layer,according to the researchers.

Kim and his colleagues reported thattheir transfer process resulted in an all-redquantum dot LED that was 71 percentmore power efficient than a spin-coateddevice. It also exhibited higher maximumbrightness and luminous efficiency, andhad fewer cracks after cross-linking andlower current leakage.

Besides a rigid silicon substrate, theteam demonstrated that the transfer tech-nique could deliver a well-structured arrayof quantum dots onto a flexible substratecomposed of indium tin oxide and poly-ethylene naphthalate.

Creating QDs in placeIn Boulder, Colo., Verun B. Verma isn’t

really thinking about displays, but he doesthink a lot about quantum dots. A NationalResearch Council postdoc working at the

57Photonics Spectra May 2011

Using electron-beam lithography and wet etching techniques, scientists at NIST carve quantum dots directly out of a semiconductor substrate.

Courtesy of Verun B. Verma, NIST.

Quantum Dots

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National Institute of Standards and Tech-nology (NIST), Verma is developing quan-tum dots for use in edge-emitting lasersand as single-photon emitters. But in apair of recently published papers, he andhis colleagues have described a newmethod of creating quantum dots exactlywhere they are needed – a technique thatmay simplify display manufacturing.

Typically, quantum dots such as theones used in industry today are grown in abottom-up approach in which the core andshell materials are combined to form crys-tals within a solution. This process can befast enough for production volumes, but itresults in particles of varying shapes andsizes, necessitating a sorting step.

Verma and his colleagues at NIST andat the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign looked at the problem a littledifferently – from the top down.

Using a combination of electron-beamlithography and wet etching, they carve

quantum dots from layers of semiconduc-tor material. The result is a finely alignedarray of quantum dots set at a pitch of 500nm to 5 μm. They have formed quantumdots with diameters ranging from about 10to 80 nm.

Being able to change the size and pitchof these quantum dots might be useful fordisplays because the emission wavelengthproduced by the particles is tunable bysize, Verma said. “With the etching tech-nique, this can be done in a deterministicway, with different regions of the samesemiconductor chip producing differentcolors of light.”

Currently, the NIST researchers areworking with infrared outputs, but Vermasaid that visible light might be possible.

Verma’s team reported its findings inthe December 2010 issue of IEEE Journalof Quantum Electronics and in the Feb.28, 2011, issue of Optics Express.

[email protected]

58 Photonics Spectra May 2011

Interview with Seth Coe-Sullivan, QD Vision Inc.What are the latest advances in quantum dot displays?I’d say that we’ve been pleasantly surprised at the market’s reaction toquantum dot display demonstrators that we’ve made, from handhelds totablets to TVs which, if anything, has accelerated our anticipated pace of product adoption. This is for quantumdots as down-converters in LED-basedLCD backlight units.

What are the short- and long-termgoals for QD display technology – ingeneral and at QD Vision in particular?We want to put QDs as down-convertersinto displays in 2012. The quantum dotLED (QLED) electroluminescent displayswill follow a couple of years after that,and I think that having QDs in display applications already will be a big credibil-ity boost to the technology.

Are deposition techniques a hurdle,something to refine, or is it “solved”?I wouldn’t call it solved. We have beengetting very nice results with our patentedcontact printing method, and we believethis will scale well to large areas. How-ever, we have yet to demonstrate it atsizes truly relevant for TV manufacturing,so that remains a milestone.

Is QD-as-LED the only path to success?No, we believe that the QDs in lightingapplications, and QDs in display as appli-

cations, both in simple down-conversionmode, can be an independent path tosuccess for the company and the tech-nology. QLED still has greater promisefor power efficiency and design freedom.

A couple of years ago, quantum dot-based displays were expected toreach efficiency levels 10 times that of LCDs. Has that happened?I’d say 10× LCD is still within reach.We’ve pushed the efficiency of our devices up to the point that they are competitive with all other light-emittingtechnologies, but we still feel that we can reach even higher – for example, trying to reach that 10× milestone.

What stability or lifetime issues remain? Do you expect further tweaking of core/shell materials?Yes, further refinement of core/shell materials will continue and is key to ourprogress in stability and lifetime. In down-conversion applications, lifetime is already sufficient, even for solid-statelighting specifications, but more improvement is necessary for QLED to be commercial.

What do you expect the market for quantum dot displays to be this year and beyond?This year it will be quite small, but I expect that, in 2012, there will be multipleproduct launches, with explosive growthcontinuing in 2013.

Quantum Dots

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healthy company over time should do,Brimrose has weaned itself to the pointwhere 80 percent of its revenues nowcome from commercial and other non-SBIR funding sources.

Broad range of applicationsBrimrose’s near-IR acousto-optic tun-

able filters came out of SBIRs, but thecompany recognized that the technology’sability to precisely and instantaneouslycharacterize the ingredients in a substancewould have enormous consequences invarious fields, from pharmaceuticals toagriculture and more. “This is a good replacement for standard spectroscopy,where they have mechanical grating,”

Using SBIRsas a Platform for Success

Perseverance is the most important factor in garnering a Small BusinessInnovation Research (SBIR) award,

according to Brimrose Corp.’s founder and CEO. And he should know.

In 1984, Dr. Ron Rosemeier found himself at the end of his postdoc with theUniversity of Maryland and nothing toshow for it. His SBIR applications hadbeen rejected 20 times. He had maxed out his credit cards, piling up $100,000 indebt. He had been unemployed for threemonths. The dream of this self-describedtechnology geek to start his own photonicscompany appeared to be over before it had begun.

But then his willingness to stick it outbegan paying dividends: He and the littlecompany he had started, Baltimore-basedBrimrose Corp., scored four SBIRs in sixmonths. Three of those went on to becomePhase II SBIRs, a conversion percentagemuch higher than the norm. From less

BY C. DAVID CHAFFEECONTRIBUTOR

A Baltimore company shares lessons learned in growing its business with help from Small Business Innovation Research funding.

than zero, he now had $2 million in thebank. And he never looked back.

The power of the SBIR had taken Brimrose from early near-bankruptcy to,27 years later, employing 60 full-time employees and supplying staple productsfor the largest pharmaceutical companiesin the world, including AstraZeneca andBristol-Myers Squibb. A small company, it now finds itself competing with hugeconglomerates Foss and Bruker.

In all, Brimrose has been granted 65Phase I and 28 Phase II SBIR awards to-taling more than $60 million. Yet Rose-meier is confident enough to say that if the SBIR program went away tomorrow,Brimrose would be fine. In fact, as any

Photonics Spectra May 201160

Brimrose Corp. founder and CEO Ron Rosemeierwould be the first to say that SBIRs have been critical to the company’s success. Images courtesy of Brimrose Corp.

One of Brimrose’s mostsuccessful deliverables isits infrared acousto-optictunable filter.

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Lessons learned

Rosemeier said. “The acousto-optic tun-able filter was the perfect device to beable to introduce all of these mechanicaltechnologies in optical spectroscopy.”

And now pharmaceutical companies can measure elements to the parts-per-tril-lion level. Agriculturalists can measure theamount of oil in a seed of corn. Tobaccocompanies can measure nicotine, tar orwhatever they want almost instanta-neously. The Munich Airport uses the devices to analyze jet fuel. Acousto-optictunable filters have been selected for useon Mars by NASA to measure the poten-tial for water content in soil and rocks.They are used in university labs and geo-logical labs. They are used by robots intoxic environments.

Another winning characteristic of suc-cessful SBIR bidders is the ability to learnfrom mistakes. Dr. Sudhir Trivedi, who di-rects R&D, says the company learns fromthe constructive criticism provided afterevery unsuccessful effort. “After every rejection, you fine-tune your proposal –you learn from your mistakes,” he said.

Most recently, the company has linkedup with Rutgers University to win an STTRto study the potential applications of cou-pling acousto-optics with diffraction grat-ings. It is an effort to combine the powersof acousto-optics and electro-optics.

The critical relationship between SBIRsand Brimrose has not escaped the attentionof federal policy makers. The US Con-gress has sought Rosemeier’s advice as it tries to make SBIR relevant to the 21stcentury. Becoming the voice of the SBIR

61Photonics Spectra May 2011

Rosemeier and Sudhir Trivedi, director of research,evaluate just-manufactured crystals with the help of another staff member.

The Brimrose executive team, including CEO RonRosemeier, chief technology officer Jolanta Soos,and director of research Sudhir Trivedi, evaluate an SBIR with other staff.

Rosemeier and the concept-to-utilization team evaluate a new product idea. The team was designed to take concepts used for SBIRs and translate them into workable commercial products.

A long the way, Rosemeier and his colleagues at Brimrose have

learned some tricks for getting SBIRs as well as the accompanying Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)awards – and for converting Phase ISBIRs to Phase IIs.

There is, of course, the perseverancethat Rosemeier puts first. “I wantedthis to be an old-fashioned company,not supported by venture capital,” he said. He also was adamant that hiscompany be a technology company.This thinking led inevitably to thepursuit of SBIRs, allowing him to receive funds and develop technologyat the same time.

Rosemeier has designed his companyaround innovation – the “I” in“SBIR.” The company has variousunits: production, software, mechan-ical and so on, all ready to take a concept and turn it into somethingtangible.

He learned this model during his PhDdays at Johns Hopkins University,where he saw the workings of profes-sor Robert Green’s materials sciencedivision. “He had a machine shop; hehad mechanical guys; he had electri-cal guys. I basically built Brimrose on the same model,” Rosemeier said.

Collaboration also is a critical element of the company’s success,particularly as it takes ideas and converts them into tangible products.Brimrose’s concept-to-utilizationteam, which has representatives fromall elements of the company, includ-ing manufacturing, software and mechanical engineering, meetsweekly to guide projects.

Many SBIRs have nothing to showbut paper at the end of Phase I, butRosemeier believes it is vital that “atthe end of Phase I we have deliver-ables – we actually build hardware.”This philosophy has had dividendswith large federal contractors. “Theysee it, and they want a few,” he said.“When they want more than a few,we know we are on to something.”Rosemeier recognizes that a numberof these federally funded productshave to lead to products that can sur-vive on their own in the commercialworld. The company also has hadsuccess introducing its products tocustomers at trade shows such asCLEO and SPIE Photonics West.

1

2

3

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awardee, Rosemeier seeks to have more businesspeople on the federal teams and wants to see the same standards used foreach of the 11 agencies that implement them. He also advocatesfor longer Phase I and Phase II time periods to make for better responses.

SBIRs were not made so that companies would become SBIR mills, existing solely on that one source of funding. In fact, companies that choose that route generally end up dying out quickly or being sold when they cannot make the predictable stream of payroll with the at times unpredictableSBIR awards. One company had terrific optical cryptographytechnology but could not transfer it to commercial product and was purchased by a larger company that only does federalcontracts.

Companies that find ways to take the technologies developedfrom SBIRs and make them into commercial products are thecompanies that become and remain viable.

Meet the authorC. David Chaffee is a writer based in Ellicott City, Md., and is the former Washington editor of Photonics Spectra; e-mail: [email protected].

62 Photonics Spectra May 2011

For more information on the US government’s Small Business Innovation Research program and Small Business

Technology Transfer program, visit http://www.sbir.gov/federal_links.htm.

About SBIRs

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S E M I C O N D U C TO R

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CALL FOR ENTRIESThe Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation is an international competition that recognizes cutting-edge products that break from conventional ideas, solve problems and improve life through photonics.

Deadline for entries is September 16.

Win industrywide recognition at SPIE Photonics West in January 2012.

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65Photonics Spectra May 2011

Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources

OptiSurf®

OptiSurf® is an instrument for noncontact center thickness and air gap measurement within single lenses and optical systems. It is based on low coherent interferometry and measures all distances in an optical system with an accuracy of 1 µm in one scan. The software supports intuitive handling, alignment and statistical analysis.

+49 4103 18006 [email protected]

femtoFit™

A complete solution for laser pulse characterization, compression and shaping, femtoFit is supplied in a space-saving 6-in. cube and is fullyequipped with a spectrometer, a laptop computer with MIIPS® software andLabView drivers. Adaptive compression eliminates the need for time-consuming manual tweaking. The device has no moving parts, and anyonecan achieve transform-limited pulses and reproducible results. With introductory OEM pricing, femtoFit costs less than instruments used only for pulse measurement.

(517) 580-4075info@biophotonicsolutions.comwww.biophotonicsolutions.com

Laboratory Work Environments for Lasers,

Optics, Imaging, Electro OpticsLaser barrier curtains, custom-designed for completely dark or light-controlledareas in any lab without building walls. We have more than 30 years of experience, and our curtains are installed in colleges and universities, and in medical, industrial and government laboratories coast to coast. Visit our website for installation list, photos and specifications.

(800) [email protected] www.plsys.net

FL and SemiChill Recirculating CoolersJulabo’s recirculating cooler FL and SemiChill product series offer 27 modelswith cooling capacities from 300 W to 20 kW. Customize a SemiChill model toyour application with cooling to �20 °C, heating capacities to 12 kW (up to130 °C), control electronics, pump and filtration options. Contact Julabo todayto choose the unit for your laser/photonics application. (800) 458-5226

[email protected]

New Nanosecond Time-Resolved ICCD CamerasAndor announces the launch of its new iStar platform for nanosecond time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging. The new iStar provides a uniquecombination of USB 2.0 interface, high spectral or imaging rates greater than3400 fps or 15 full fps, respectively, ultrafast gating speeds <2 ns and highsensitivity through �40 °C TE cooling and high-QE UV-VIS-NIR photocathodeswith sustained gating rates up to 500 kHz. Complemented by the latest generation of ultralow-jitter, fully software controlled digital delay generator,the USB platform versatility serves a wide scope of applications from LIBS to combustion/PLIF studies and advanced plasma research, and allows comprehensive setups integration thanks to a triple trigger output with picosecond parametring accuracy.

+44 28 9023 [email protected]/istar

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66 Photonics Spectra May 2011

Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources

Spatial Light Modulators for Ultrafast Pulse ShapingNew, smaller SLM-128 enclosure with the same mask size. CRi developed the modern liquid crystal linear-array SLM and is the exclusive provider of technology for bonded masks providing simultaneous phase and amplitude control. 128- and 640-pixel masks available in VIS or NIR ranges. Transmissive or reflective.

(774) [email protected]

www.cri-inc.com/slm

High-Resolution Spectrum Analyzer for IR LasersThe 721B-MIR laser spectrum analyzer provides the most complete spectralcharacterization of lasers that operate at mid-infrared wavelengths. Absolutewavelength is measured to an accuracy of ±1 part per million, and spectralproperties are determined to a resolution as high as 2 GHz. Now, researchersworking with quantum cascade lasers for high-resolution spectroscopy, photochemistry or optical sensing applications can achieve more meaningfulexperimental results with accurate spectral information.

(585) [email protected]

Hybrid LaserTable-Base™ Vibration CancellationThe latest addition to TMC’s STACIS® iX product line is the LaserTable-Base™

hybrid piezoelectric/air active vibration cancellation system for optical tables.It combines TMC’s patented STACIS technology and air into one integratedsystem to cancel vibration at both very low and high frequencies. The result is unprecedented levels of vibration isolation for the most sensitive researchon the most severe floors.

(800) [email protected]

Phase-Locked Loop Optical ChopperThe C-995 phase-locked loop optical chopper provides crystal controlled chopping rates of 4 Hz to 5 kHz using only one blade. The use of direct digital synthesis permits the rate to be set to a precision of 0.001 Hz and provides quartz crystal stability. Frequency settings may be made via frontpanel controls, its bidirectional RS-232 port, or it may be phase-locked to auser-supplied external clock. Both enclosed and open style chopper heads are available.

(315) [email protected]

www.terahertztechnologies.com

See more new products at Photonics.comIt’s easy to find the latest products on our website – Photonics.com. Just click on the menu marked PRODUCTS on the navigation bar (under the logo) to find new products almost every day.

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21–25 August 2011Register Today

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Ultrafast Laser �The Chameleon Vision-S ultrafast laser from CoherentInc. is used for multiphoton imaging and combines80-fs pulse widths with high average power and along wavelength tuning range. It delivers more than410 kW of usable peak power, after group velocitydispersion (GVD) precompensation, and hands-freetuning from 690 to 1050 nm. The blend of short pulsewidths and high average power translates into highprecompensated peak power from a one-box laser.The laser is suitable for multiphoton excitation imaging. Its high peak power delivers maximum imaging brightness in deeper tissues and, because it is a true one-box laser with the laser oscillator and GVD precompensator integrated on a singlebaseplate, it also provides good beam pointing stability of 80 µrad per 100 nm of tuning.Coherent [email protected]

NIR Photon Counter �Available from ID Quantique SA, the id210 advanced system for single-photon detection is suitable for detectionat the telecommunications wavelengths of 1310 and 1550nm. Its performance in high-speed gating at internal or external frequencies up to 100 MHz surpasses the perform-ance of existing detectors by 10 times, according to thecompany. The system can detect photons with a probabilityof up to 25% at 1550 nm while maintaining the dark countrate at low levels. It can achieve a timing resolution as lowas 250 ps. The id210 provides adjustable delays, adjust-

able gate duration from 1 to 20 ns and adjustable dead time up to 100 µs. For applicationsrequiring asynchronous detection, the system can operate in free-running mode with detec-tion probability of 2.5% up to 10%. ID Quantique [email protected] Silicon PCX Lenses �

TechSpec silicon planoconvex (PCX)lenses manufactured by Edmund Optics Inc. are suitable for use inweight-sensitive infrared applicationsfrom 3 to 5 µm, for near-infrared imaging and infrared spectroscopy,with density less than half that ofgermanium or zinc selenide. Thelenses feature precision-polished surfaces with a positive focal lengthand with one flat and one convexsurface. They are designed for orientation with the plano (flat) sur-face facing toward the desired focalplane, are available in focal lengthsfrom 25 to 250 mm and are offereduncoated. They also may be coatedwith a wide range of the company’scustom infrared coatings. The lensesare manufactured from low-densitysilicon and are suitable for use in the1.2- to 7-µm wavelength range. Edmund Optics [email protected]

� IR-Enhanced CCD Image SensorFor Raman spectroscopy and photometric applications, Hamamatsu Corp. has introduced the S11500-1007back-thinned fast Fourier transform CCD. It has a spectral response range from 200 to 1100 nm and features40% quantum efficiency at 1000 nm. Its enhanced sensitivity in the near-infrared region, which is beneficial for detecting long-wavelength Raman emissions, is made possible by applying proprietary laser processing technology to form a microelectromechanical systems structure on the back of the CCD. The sensor has 1024 � 122 pixels with a pixel size of 24 � 24 µm. With binning, the CCD can be operated as a linear imagesensor. The binning operation ensures a higher signal-to-noise ratio and faster signal processing speeds compared to methods that use an external circuit to add signals digitally.Hamamatsu [email protected]

IDEASBRIGHT

Photonics Spectra May 2011

Dynamic Profiler �For 3-D measurement of surface roughness on large polished optics and optical-quality surfaces, despite vibration or turbulence, 4D Technology Corp.has released the NanoCam Sq dynamic profiler. The instrument replaces the slow, messy replicationmethods required by traditional workstation interferometers. By enabling on-machine roughnessmetrology, it reduces handling and transportation of the optic, increasing throughput and reducing the risk of damage to expensive, mission-critical optics.It uses dynamic interferometry, incorporating a high-speed optical sensor that measures thousands of timesfaster than typical profilers, according to the company.Because acquisition time is short, the NanoCam Sq can measure despite vibration, making it possible tomount the instrument in polishing equipment, ongantries or on robots. The system includes the profiler,computer system and 4Sight analysis software. 4D Technology [email protected]

Fiber Laser �Calmar Laser Inc. hasadded a high-power 780-nm femtosecondfiber laser to its Men-docino family. TheMendocino modelFPL-05RFF0 offers>500 mW of outputpower and a pulsewidth of 150 fs in an ultracompact laser pointer-style package measuring 3 � 3 � 13.5 cm. It produces a 50-MHz train of femtosecond pulses that have a near pedestal-free shape and goodpulse-to-pulse stability. The output beam has roundness better than90% and M2 <1.1, enabling optimal spatial resolution when used in conjunction with microscope systems. The laser is air-cooled and does not require a chiller. Pulse energy is up to 10 nJ, and pulse widths are down to 0.15 ps. The second-harmonic-generation passively mode-locked laser operates in the C-band and offers linearly polarized and radio-frequency synchronization output.Calmar Laser [email protected]

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Diode Laser System

Dilas Industrial Laser Systems’ Mini is an inte-grated diode laser system based on fiber-coupledmodules. Measuring 336 � 144 mm, the systemdelivers optical output powers of up to 50 Wcontinuous-wave at 980 nm out of a 400-µmfiber and up to 35 W, continuous-wave, out of a 200-µm fiber. Cooling is provided by Peltier elements and air flow. The system can be con-trolled via either a USB port using the suppliedsoftware or by conventional analog and 24-Vsignals. The system is available as an integrat-able OEM version without housing or as ahoused desktop version. A 5-m-long fiber opticcable and an SMA connector deliver flexiblebeam guidance to the working area. Applica-tions include selective soldering and welding ofplastics.Dilas Industrial Laser [email protected]

Deuterium Lamps

Heraeus Noblelight GmbH’s D2plus deuteriumlamps produce high stability and low opticalnoise in a combination of a new advanced de-sign and proprietary enhanced lifetime perform-ance (ELP) technology. The next-generation

deuterium lamps are a new concept that instru-ment manufacturers can design into their sys-tems for higher throughput and precision ana-lytical results. OEM customers benefit from thecompany’s experience with UV/quartz glass andcoatings, and metals and ceramics. Deuteriumlamps are now available with 0.5- and 1-mmapertures with a minimum lifetime of 2000 hfor UV-VIS spectrophotometers, high-perfor-mance liquid chromatography and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography instru-ments. The ELP technology ensures 50% moreinitial intensity and greater than two times theresidual intensity compared with conventionaldeuterium lamps, according to the company. Heraeus Noblelight [email protected]

Industrial Cameras

Imaging Development Systems GmbH now offers its GigE uEye CP industrial cameras withthe new 1.3-megapixel global shutter ½-in.CMOS sensor from e2v Technologies. The UI-5240CP Power over Ethernet (PoE) industrialcamera combines high light sensitivity, goodcolor fidelity and a fast frame rate with the features of the Gigabit Ethernet interface and a design consistent with industry applications.These include a robust magnesium housing,screw-on connectors, and optically isolated digital inputs and outputs. With PoE, the camerais supplied with electricity via the data cable,rendering an additional power cable obsolete.The camera can still be supplied with a 12- to24-V external power source. Measuring 29 �29 � 41 mm, it provides plug-and-play conven-ience and is more powerful than USB models,according to the company. Imaging Development Systems [email protected]

Vibration Isolation Baseplate

A tabletop vibration isolation platform designedfor sensitive instrumentation and microscopeshas been introduced by Newport Corp. TheVIBe vibration isolation baseplate is a compactand easy-to-use platform that reduces vibra-tions that can disturb sensitive instruments.Available in four standard shapes, two rectan-gular and two triangular, it features a blackpowder-coated steel plate and patented me-chanical isolators that provide both vertical and horizontal vibration isolation. No air lines,compressors or other accessories are required.Fundamental to the device are the IB isolatorbearings, which are available in discrete pay-load ranges. The company offers six models ofIB bearings that cover a load range from 10 to100 lb, enabling users to configure the propersize platform and bearings in the required locations on the baseplate. Newport [email protected]

Antireflection Coatings Adimec Advanced Image Systems bv has an-nounced enhanced antireflection (AR) coatingsfor its Quartz camera series. The offerings im-prove the quality and accuracy of the camerasby reducing reflection to as little as 0.25% of

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the light beams processed by the sensor. Standard AR coatings deliveredwith off-the-shelf sensors typically provide protection levels of 2% of lightat bandwidth ranges of 400 to 700 nm, while the new coatings consis-tently achieve sub-0.5% protection at bandwidths of 400 to 900 nm.Based on proprietary True Accurate Imaging technology, the coatings areavailable in single and multilayer configurations, with protection levelsranging from 2% to 0.25%, depending upon the bandwidth required. Adimec Advanced Image Systems [email protected]

Imaging Software Media Cybernetics has released theImage-Pro Insight Version 8.0 imageacquisition, processing, measure-ment and reporting software. It in-cludes an updated user interface andease-of-use enhancements. Newfeatures include combined live tilingand live extended depth of field,which make it easy to acquire large,tiled images and highly focused liveimages without an automated stageor focus drive. Users can create focused, tiled images in one sittingwhile manually moving their speci-mens around. The new version provides live measurements, automaticcalibration and reporting tools, and manual distance, angle, best-fit andarea measurement tools. It introduces Snap-to-Edge “magnetic” measure-ments that identify object edges to guarantee consistent and fast meas-urements. The software’s semiautomated Auto Trace draws around an object and determines area measurements with two clicks.Media [email protected]

b BRIGHT IDEAS

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Glass Trace Evidence Craic Technologies Inc. has collabo-rated with Laboratory Imaging sro tointroduce the rIQ (refractive indexquantification) system for analyzingglass trace evidence. It combinesimage analysis software, an ad-vanced optical design and electron-ics to enable criminalists in forensiclaboratories to measure and quantifythe refractive index of multiple glassfragments simultaneously, quicklyand accurately. It monitors thechange in refractive index of cali-brated oils as they are heated andcooled. It is offered in a turnkeystand-alone configuration, as part of a microspectrophotometer that includes color analysis of glass, or as part of an upgrade package forolder units. The stand-alone packageincludes a phase contrast microscope, a high-resolution digital camera,the optical interface, a thermal stage, controlling electronics and software.Craic Technologies [email protected]

Dual-Camera Adapter Andor Technology plc has launched the TuCam adapter for simultaneoustwo-camera macro- and microscopic imaging. Suited to fast, concurrentdetection of two different fluorophores in experiments such as colocaliza-tion Förster resonance energy transfer and ratiometric ion signaling, it is compatible with the company’s low-light imaging cameras, includingiXon3 and Luca electron-multiplying CCDs, and with the Clara interline

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CCD and the Neo sCMOS model. Bypass mode and first surface mirrorenable switching between cameras. The adapter can be configured for simultaneous imaging from two similar cameras, or as a switch betweencamera models with different capabilities. The robust design ensures goodoptical and mechanical stability, and ease of alignment via kinematic cassettes. The device is available in C- and CSUX-mount versions and offers a variety of beamsplitting optics.Andor Technology [email protected]

Spectrum Analyzers Agilent Technologies Inc.has introduced theN9344C and N9343Chandheld spectrum ana-lyzers for technicians andengineers who install,maintain and troubleshoot radio-frequency/microwave systems, monitorthe spectrum or manage interference in the field. The analyzers facilitatetesting by providing the performance of a benchtop instrument in a hand-held device, along with a range of functionality for ensuring field-readyoperation and automating routine tasks. They provide fast and accuratemeasurement from 1 MHz to 20 GHz and 13.6 GHz, respectively. Both instruments are tunable to 9 kHz and feature a rugged and fanless designfor operating in tough field environments. They are suitable for use in the aerospace/defense, microwave and satellite communications, wirelesscommunication and broadcasting, spectrum regulation and general-purpose spectrum analysis markets. Agilent Technologies [email protected]

Miniature SpectrometersB&W Tek Inc. has announced the updated Quest series miniature fiber

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optic spectrometers that now feature an ultra -low thermal drift spectrum and a faster readoutspeed of >2 MHz. The devices are availablewith an optional RS-232 communication inter-face for integration into larger systems. Theirfast readout speed makes them suitable for usein high-speed applications such as LED binningand sorting. They employ both a traditionalcrossed Czerny-Turner spectrograph (Quest X)as well as an unfolded Czerny-Turner spectro-graph (Quest U) that minimizes stray light in theUV region. The series is equipped with a 2048-element linear CCD array, a built-in 16-bit digi-tizer and an externally synchronized trigger. Theuncooled Quest X has a plug-and-play USB 2.0interface.B&W Tek [email protected]

Spectral Filter

For optical coherence tomography (OCT) andwhite-light interferometry (WLI) applications,NKT Photonics A/S has introduced the SuperKGauss spectral filter for use with SuperK Extreme supercontinuum lasers. It transformsthe broadband output of the laser to a Gauss-ian output and provides ultrawide-bandwidthspectral output in two bands, with a tunablecenter wavelength for each. Manual shuttersprovide port control. For OCT, the filter delivershigh-power spectral output centered at 800 and1300 nm, through single-mode fiber using theSuperK fiber delivery system. Similar configura-tions are available for WLI applications. The filter enables tuning of the center wavelength of each band over 200 nm. It connects easily to the SuperK Extreme and shares the sameplug-and-play platform. The wavelength splitpoint is 1050 nm. NKT Photonics A/[email protected]

OEM SpectrometersIbsen Photonics has launched the Rock VIS-NIRand XNIR (extended NIR) line of modular, indus-trial-grade, robust OEM spectrometers for the550- to 1050-nm and 1175- to 2185-nm-wavelength ranges, respectively. They deliverhigh optical throughput because of an f numberof 2.2 and the use of proprietary fused-silicatransmission gratings. The athermal Rock VIS-NIR can be supplied with almost any detectortype, enabling customers to choose a spectrom-eter configuration that best meets their needs.The XNIR uses an InGaAs detector to providehigh sensitivity and a good signal-to-noise ratio.The VIS-NIR series comprises the RST-200 for alarge dynamic/absorbance range and the RST-

300 for high sensitivity. Both have a numericalaperture of 0.22.Ibsen [email protected]

Solar Simulators

Oriel, a Newport Corp. brand, offers the Sol3Afamily of Class AAA solar simulator products forphotovoltaic (PV) applications. The continuous-wave sources provide an output beam of 300 �300 mm and use a xenon lamp. They feature astable proprietary spectral correction filter andoptical design to meet Class A performancequalifications, including spectral match, nonuni-formity of irradiance, and temporal instabilityfor compliance with IEC, JIS and ASTM stan-dards. The beam output offers maximum flexi-bility for PV test-and-measurement capabilities.Tested using industry standard methods, thesolar simulator features easy replacement of the1600-W xenon lamp. It requires no specialhardwiring to the electrical mains, and it offersa highly collimated output suited for concentra-tor applications. Oriel [email protected]

Thermal Imager

Optris GmbH has unveiled the second genera-tion of its PI thermal imager. The stationarycamera is now equipped with a new detector toimprove measurement accuracy. The new gen-eration of detectors enables measurement ofsmall objects on a micrometer scale. Thermalimages can be displayed in real time at a rateof 120 Hz, or one picture every 8 ms, as a re-sult of improved signal processing. The imageris based on a small uncooled 160 � 120-pixeldetector that produces good local resolution ofthe device under test. Pixel size is 25 � 25 µm.Thermal processes of very small objects startingfrom 50 µm can be imaged, such as small sur-

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face-mount-device components. Precise meas-urements can be performed starting from a sizeof 0.5 mm.Optris [email protected]

Microscope System

Olympus Europa Holding GmbH has releasedthe BX63 microscope system built with a modu-lar customizable design to meet different exper-imental requirements, while providing adapt-ability for future use. Users can select theirpreferred components, including optical ele-ments, camera, software suite and control func-tions. The instrument incorporates several mo-torized features, including a programmabletouch screen and a detachable remote controlto maximize accuracy and stability. The accom-panying cellSens software can be personalized.

The BX63 can be controlled using the touchscreen, the remote control unit or the cellSenssoftware via the mouse. The detachable controlunits provide an ergonomic system that can betailored to specific needs. Users have adjust-ment options such as changing the objectivelens, mirror unit or observation method.Olympus Europa Holding [email protected]

Ultrafast TOF Detectors

Photonis USA has added a 40-mm size to itsGen2 ultrafast time-of-flight (TOF) detectorproduct line, which now can support input areasfrom 18 to 40 mm and allows a TOF mass

spectrometer to increase its mass resolutionsimply by replacing the detector. The detectorline addresses two major areas that affect reso-lution in TOF mass spectrometry: microchannelplate (MCP) flatness and anode spacing. Thedetectors are equipped with proprietary andpatented MountingPad microchannel plates toreduce anode spacing and use TruFlite MCPflatness technology to reduce time jitter. Thesetechnologies combine to produce a detectorwith high sensitivity and good mass resolution.The detectors provide typical pulse widths of<200 ps and a near-symmetric 120-ps rise and fall time. Photonis [email protected]

Multispectral ImagerFor real-time multispectral imaging of organicand inorganic chemicals, Ocean Thin Films’SpectroCam provides a platform that simplifiesthe design process for researchers and engi-neers, reducing time to market. The imageruses a single wideband CCD that measures thespectrum from the ultraviolet through the near-infrared. Using a discrete set of application-specific wavelengths, it creates high-resolutionimages. This targeted spectral approach pro-duces visual data that can be customized forapplications in the military, agricultural, medicaland industrial markets. For R&D teams needinga quick solution in proof-of-concept studies, it is available in a development kit that includes a

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set of filters covering the most commonly usedwavelengths. Filters and sensors can be cus-tomized, and the cameras are easily reconfig-ured for OEM applications. Ocean Thin [email protected]

Image Processing

Photron USA Inc. offers the IDP Express R2000system for high-speed real-time image process-ing. It features an onboard field-programmablegate array (FPGA) to provide experienced devel-opers access to the high-speed open-ended architecture. The system supports one or two of the company’s miniature CMOS high-speedcamera heads at full or reduced resolution andspeed. It is available in two configurations,without the FPGA and with a XiLinx FPGA. With-out the FPGA, the R2000 operates in a typical,high-speed image acquisition capacity, writingimage data directly to the host computer’s RAM;

operating with it, the R-2000-F enables real-time hardware-based preprocessing whilerecording the event. Photron USA [email protected]

Imaging Software

The SymPhoTime version 5.2.4. fluorescencelifetime imaging and correlation software fromPicoQuant GmbH supports the eight-channelconfiguration of the company’s HydraHarp 400time-correlated single-photon-counting system(TCSPC) and, therefore, data acquisition andanalysis for up to eight detection channels. Another enhancement is the extension of themeasurement preview functions. It is now possi-ble to display TCSPC histograms as well as

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intensity time traces for each channel separately during measurement.This is advantageous for Förster resonance energy transfer measurementsbecause it enables direct monitoring of changes in the fluorescence intensity of the donor and acceptor during data acquisition. The onlinefluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy features of the software alsohave been improved by such additions as a scalable intensity and lifetimecolor code.PicoQuant [email protected]

Color CamerasAvailable from PPT Visionare 26 Impact M-Seriescolor cameras with dedi-cated color Impact soft-ware tools for sorting,monitoring and identifyingcolor objects. The embed-ded vision system is a fastand robust factory auto -mation camera system,and the addition of nu-merous new color smartcameras allows it to solve a broader range of machine vision applications.The cameras range from VGA-resolution models to 210-fps high-speedtypes to a 5-megapixel model. Gray-scale cameras such as the ImpactA20 solve the majority of machine vision applications. However, sophisti-cated color cameras and tools are needed to solve numerous critical in-spection and guidance operations for industries ranging from food prod-ucts to transportation equipment. Applications include detecting foodspoilage and determining the fat content in meat.PPT Vision [email protected]

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Compact HD Zoom Lens

The Model 330 compact motorized high-defini-tion (HD) zoom lens from Resolve Optics Ltd. offers ultraclose focus. Providing users with HDresolution throughout its range of operation,the lens measures 87.5 � 45 mm and weighs<500 g. The f/1.8, 10� tracking zoom ensuresthat the image stays in focus throughout thezoom travel by using floating cell technology.The lens can focus on objects up to 450 mmaway. The camera mount incorporates topsideand back focus adjustment so the lens canquickly and easily be set up on any camera. A user-changeable rear cell enables the lens tobe adapted for use on camera formats between1⁄3 and 2⁄3 in., including three-CCD formats. Resolve Optics [email protected]

Galvanometer Mirror CoatingsMilitary coatings for galvanometer mirrors areavailable from Reynard Corp. The high-reflec-

tion coatings achieve reflectivity of >99.9% andcan withstand rigid durability requirements permilitary specifications, including temperature/humidity and salt/fog per Mil-C-48497A. Mir-rors can be manufactured from most any sub-strate but are commonly made from BK-7, fusedsilica or silicon. With its computer numericalcontrol machining capabilities, the company canshape the mirror substrates to suit any applica-tion. The substrates are then coated with ahighly reflective protected metal or multilayerdielectric tuned for the required wavelengthband and application. Galvanometer mirrorsare suited for durable reflective coating designs.Applications range from ambient and controlledto harsh military conditions. Reynard [email protected]

Tunable Laser

Yenista Optics has released a tunable laser inthe 1310-nm-wavelength region. The TunicsT100R uses a new optical cavity design to pro-vide optical power of 6 dBm with a low-noise>80 dB/0.1-nm signal-to-spontaneous-emission

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ratio. Patented self-filtered external cavity laser technology enables the combination of low noise and high power. The O-band laser operatesfrom 1270 to 1340 nm and is suitable for characterizing narrow-band-width filters and for functioning as a light source for testing high-speedtransmission systems. Engineers developing and testing components for40- and 100-Gigabit Ethernet and fiber-to-the-home/passive optical networks find the laser beneficial. Proprietary Optim-Y technology delivershigh wavelength accuracy and mode-hop-free operation with no ampli-fied spontaneous emission. The laser operates in sweeping and step-by-step modes. Yenista [email protected]

Millimeter Wave MeasurementSA Photonics has developed amillimeter wave measurementsystem (MWMS), a high-powermeasurement and calibration unitthat tests and calibrates millimeterwave sources and instrument testranges. It records power densitiesin frequencies ranging from 40 to110 GHz with an accuracy of±0.5 dB. The MWMS measures millimeter wave emissions directly fromtheir source, providing operators with accurate and timely informationabout power and frequency. It has applicability to 95-GHz active denialsystems. The company says that, as the use of active denial systems fornonlethal applications grows, defense and homeland security agencieswill need MWMS to effectively calibrate these systems and ensure theirsafe use. The system comprises a photonic probe, a processing unit, afiber optic spool and up to 5 km of fiber optic cable.SA [email protected]

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C-Mount Lenses

Schneider Optics’ C-mount 2⁄3-in. (11-m imagecircle) lenses are designed for aerospace andmilitary imaging. The compact precision primesare optically corrected and broadband-coatedfor the visible and near-infrared spectral rangeof 400 to 1000 nm on megapixel cameras. Engineered to image properly across the entirespecified range, they offer consistent operationwithout focus shifts. Providing high vibrationstability, they feature a robust yet lightweightmechanical design. A lockable-focus and iris-setting mechanism guarantees long-term stabil-ity, even in rigorous production environments.The lens family includes the following focallengths: 4.8, 6, 8, 12, 17, 23, 35 and 70 mm.Most have front threads to accept a screw-onfilter, except for the 4.8- and 6-mm lenses,which have a filter adapter. Schneider [email protected]

Intravital Imaging

The optical design of Till Photonics GmbH’s Intravital2P microscope dedicated to intravitalimaging increases light collection efficiency fordual-color two-photon microscopy. The ultra-compact imaging platform provides an opti-mized dual-emission beam path for high collec-tion efficiency in both detection channels. Theenhanced signal detection facilitates imaging atlow-light levels and improves signal-to-noise ra-tios for dynamic measurements deep withinhighly scattering tissue. The proprietary Yanusscan head provides good scan quality with ho-mogeneous two-photon excitation as well aslarge-area scanning. Combined with its fastscanning speeds, the microscope enables long-term in vivo imaging with reduced phototoxiceffects. The voice coil-based focus drive com-bines excursions of up to 7.5 mm with 50-nm

resolution, step response time of <10 ms andhigh speed for 3-D views of the sample.Till Photonics [email protected]

Line-Scan Camera

For machine vision, sorting and solar inspectionapplications, Sensors Unlimited – Goodrich ISRSystems’ compact SU1024LDM line-scan cam-era features high-resolution 1024-pixel imagingin the short-wavelength infrared (SWIR). Itssquare pixels are suitable for inspection of polished silicon blocks, ingots, wafers and hotglass bottles, and for use on continuous-processlines that apply transparent coatings that can be seen in the SWIR region. The square pixeldesign ensures that the pixel height is sharplydefined by a metal mask, providing better uni-formity of response and improved measurementaccuracy for the object being imaged. The ro-bust camera measures 76 � 74 � 61 mm andhas mounting points on four of its six sides, facilitating integration into a processing line or machine vision system. Sensors [email protected]

Blue-Light Transilluminator

Syngene has unveiled its blue-light transillumi-nator light box for safe, precise viewing of fluo-rescently labeled DNA and proteins. It does nothave to be used in a darkroom, and it can beeasily fitted into any of the company’s imagecapture systems. It can illuminate dyes that emitlight at 420 to 480 nm, so it is suitable for visu-alizing nanogram amounts of nontoxic DNAstains, including SYBR Safe, SYBR Green, SYBRGold (Invitrogen) and GelGreen (Biotium), aswell as protein stains such as SYPRO Ruby andProQ Diamond (Invitrogen). Visible blue light isnot damaging to the human eye and does notphoto-nick DNA as UV light does. The transillu-minator is supplied with a 20 � 20-cm gelviewing area, suitable for use in most labora-tory [email protected]

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Concave Grating SpectrometersThe Black-Comet-HR concave grating spectrom-eters manufactured by StellarNet are designedfor high-resolution applications. Available formeasurements in the UV (200 to 600 nm) andvisible (380 to 750 nm) ranges, the instrumentsachieve resolution of 0.4 nm. The 16-bit devicesare plug-and-play USB 2.0-powered, shock-proof and vibration-tolerant, have no movingparts, and include the SpectraWiz 32-bit spectrometer software and development kit. The software includes drivers and can be customized to run on Windows. It accuratelymeasures wavelength emissions, reflectance,transmission, absorption, concentrations andabsolute intensities. It has built-in applicationsfor spectroradiometry, spectrocolorimetry,ChemWiz chemistry laboratory concentrationanalysis and UV-level monitors. The devices use a 40-mm-diameter holographic concavegrating with aberration correction to providegood spectral imaging and to improve spectral [email protected]

Cooled IR Cameras Telops has launched the TEL-1000 cooled infrared camera line available in three configu-rations: mid-wave, covering the 3- to 5-µmrange; long-wave, the 8- to 11-µm range; and very long wave, the 7.7- to 11.8-µm range.Ease of use and customization are integrated

into the cameras’ design. They feature apatented temperature calibration algorithm,providing either raw or thermally calibrateddata in real time without the need for external blackbodies. They also can beequipped with automatic exposure control to adjust the exposure time according to the scene’s dynamic temperature variations.These options allow the cameras to be customized to meet the demands of specific applications. Benefits include setup time reduction and instantaneous availability ofprocessed and calibrated [email protected]

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JUNE11th Annual OptiNet China 2011 and China FTTH (June 1-2) Beijing. Contact Peter Lee, InfoEx-World Services Ltd.,+852 2865 1118; [email protected];www.optinetchina.com.

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XII Conference (June 5-8) Naples, Fla. Contact EngineeringConferences International, +1 (212) 514-6760;[email protected]; www.engconf.org.

Fourth International Conference on Quantum Information (ICQI) (June 6-8)Ottawa. Contact Optical Society of America, +1(202) 223-8130; [email protected]; www.osa.org.

Sensors Expo & Conference (June 6-8)Rosemont, Ill. Contact Jennifer Marcus, Questex Media Group LLC, +1 (617) 219-8330;[email protected]; www.sensorsexpo.com.

Advanced High-Power Lasers (June 6-10)Santa Fe, N.M. Contact Donna Storment, Directed Energy Professional Society, +1 (505)998-4910; [email protected]; www.deps.org.

Sensor+Test 2011 (June 7-9) Nuremberg,Germany. Contact AMA Service GmbH, +49 50 3396 390; [email protected]; www.sensorfairs.de.

euroLED 2011 (June 8-9) West Midlands, UK.Contact +44 121 250 3515; [email protected];www.euroled.org.uk.

Intersolar Europe Conference 2011 (June 8-10) Munich, Germany. Contact TeamIntersolar Europe, Freiburg Wirtschaft Touristikund Messe GmbH & Co. KG, +49 761 3881

3700; [email protected]; www.intersolar.de/en.

Advanced Photonics Congress (June 12-16) Toronto. Contact Optical Societyof America, +1 (202) 223-8130; [email protected];www.osa.org.

International Conference on Micro/NanoOptical Engineering (ICOME) (June 12-16)Changchun, China. Contact ICOME Secretariat,+86 431 8617 6852; [email protected];icome2011.csp.escience.cn.

Nanotech Conference & Expo 2011 (June 13-16) Boston. Contact Sarah Wenning,+1 (925) 353-5004; [email protected];www.nsti.org.

Mirror Technology SBIR/STTR Workshop(June 20-23) Greenbelt, Md. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; [email protected];spie.org.

16th International Conference on Luminescence & Optical Spectroscopy of Condensed Matter 2011 (June 26-July 1)Ann Arbor, Mich. Contact University of Michigan, Marketing and Conference Services,+1 (734) 764-5297; [email protected];www.sitemaker.umich.edu/icl2011.

QCAV 2011: 10th International Conferenceon Quality Control by Artificial Vision (June 28-30) Saint-Etienne, France. ContactSecretariat, +33 477 4201 23; [email protected]; qcav2011.emse.fr.

JULY16th Opto-Electronics and CommunicationsConference (July 4-8) Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

HAPPENINGSPAPERS

Renewable Energy and the Environment (November 2-4) Austin, TexasDeadline: Paper submission, June 28, noon EDT (16:00 GMT)Papers are invited for this OSA Optics and Photonics Congress, which encompasses the meetings Optics for Solar Energy (SOLAR); Solid State and Organic Lighting (SOLED); Optical Nanostructuresand Advanced Materials for Photovoltaics (PV); and the new Optical Instrumentation for Energy and Environmental Applications (E2). Contact Optical Society of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;[email protected]; www.osa.org.

IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging 2012 (January 22-26) San FranciscoDeadline: Abstracts, July 11Researchers are invited to submit their findings at this electronics imaging event, which will addresstopics such as image and multimedia processing; digital imaging sensors and applications; 3-D imaging, interaction and measurement; imaging, visualization and perception; and visual informationprocessing and communication. The meeting is sponsored by SPIE and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; [email protected]; spie.org.

Laser Florence (November 4-5) Florence, ItalyDeadline: Abstracts, July 15The International Academy Laser Medicine & Surgery invites papers for its 25th International Laser Medicine Congress, Laser Florence. Laser medical applications for the human body, includingthe skin, teeth and nervous system, and at the cellular level will be addressed. A session will be dedicated to the use of laser beams and light in quantum and regenerative medicine. Awards will be given for the best paper and poster presentations. Accepted papers will be published in the official journal of the academy. Contact IALMS, fax: +39 055 3906 9632; [email protected]; www.laserflorence.org.

Photonics Spectra May 2011

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Contact Secretariat, +886 7 525 1569;[email protected]; www.oecc2011.org.

Imaging and Applied Optics Congress (July 10-14) Toronto. Contact Optical Societyof America, +1 (202) 223-8130; [email protected];www.osa.org.

Semicon West/Intersolar North America2011 (July 12-14) San Francisco. ContactSEMI, +1 (408) 943-6978; [email protected]; www.semiconwest.org.

Second International Symposium on Liquid Crystals: Science and Technology(July 17-19) Changzhou, China. Contact Secretariat, LCST2011, Changzhou University,+86 519 8633 4730; [email protected];www.lcst-cn.org.

Joint International Symposium on Optical Memory & Optical Data Storage(July 17-21) Kauai, Hawaii. Contact OpticalSociety of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;[email protected]; www.osa.org.

Nonlinear Optics (July 17-22) Kauai, Hawaii.Contact Optical Society of America, +1 (202)223-8130; [email protected]; www.osa.org.

AUGUSTFundamental Optical Processes in Semiconductors 2011 (Aug. 1-5)

Lake Junaluska, N.C. Contact University of Bremen, [email protected];www.fops2011.phyast.pitt.edu.

NIWeek 2011 (Aug. 2-4) Austin, Texas. Contact National Instruments, +1 (800) 531-5066; www.ni.com.

Microscopy & Microanalysis 2011 (Aug. 7-11) Nashville, Tenn. Contact Catalina Mercado, Microscopy Society of America Association Office, +1 (703) 234-4089; [email protected];www.microscopy.org.

SPIE Optics + Photonics (Aug. 21-25)San Diego. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290;[email protected]; spie.org.

IQEC/CLEO Pacific Rim 2011 (Aug. 28-Sept.1) Sydney, Australia. Combines International Quantum ElectronicsConference; Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim; Australasian Conference on Optics, Lasers and Spectroscopy;and Australian Conference on Optical FibreTechnology. Contact Waldronsmith Manage-ment, +61 3 9645 6311; [email protected]; www.iqec-cleopr2011.com.

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h HAPPENINGS

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For complete listings, visit

www.photonics.com/calendar

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aADVERTISER INDEX

83Photonics Spectra May 2011

Photonics Media Advertising Contacts

Please visit our websitePhotonics.com for all your marketing needs.

Ken TyburskiDirector of SalesVoice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 101Fax: +1 (413) [email protected]

New England, Southeastern US & FL Rebecca L. PontierRegional ManagerVoice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 112Fax: +1 (413) [email protected]

NY, NJ & PATimothy A. DupreeRegional ManagerVoice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 111Fax: +1 (413) [email protected]

CA, AK, NV, HI, Pacific Northwest, Yukon & British Columbia Karen HardisonRegional ManagerVoice: +1 (916) 990-1473Fax: +1 (916) [email protected]

Rocky Mountains, AZ, NM, Midwest & Eastern CanadaVoice: +1 (413) 499-0514Fax: +1 (413) [email protected]

Europe & IsraelPenny PrettyEuropean Sales ManagerVoice: +44 1494 [email protected]

Austria, Germany & LiechtensteinOlaf KortenhoffVoice: +49 2241 1684776Fax: +49 2241 [email protected]

Asia (except Japan)Hans ZhongVoice: +86 755 2157 3066Fax: +86 755 2872 [email protected]

JapanScott ShibasakiVoice: +81 3 5225 6614Fax: +81 3 5229 [email protected]

Reprint ServicesVoice: +1 (413) 499-0514Fax: +1 (413) [email protected]

Mailing addresses:Send all contracts, insertion orders and advertising copy to:Laurin PublishingPO Box 4949Pittsfield, MA 01202-4949

Street address:Laurin PublishingBerkshire Common, 2 South St.Pittsfield, MA 01201Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472E-mail: [email protected]

4D Technology Corporation.....20www.4dtechnology.com

Andor Technology ..................65www.andor.com

Applied Scientific Instrumentation.....................56www.asiimaging.com

Argyle International ................82www.argyleoptics.com

Aston Science Park .................70www.euroled.org

Avantes..................................62www.avantes.com

Biophotonic Solutions Inc. Lab [email protected]

Bristol Instruments Inc. ......47, 66www.bristol-inst.com

Cambridge Technology Inc. ...................13www.cambridgetechnology.com

Castech Inc. ...........................79www.castech.com

Coherent Inc. ......................CV2www.coherent.com

Cooke Corporation Ltd. ..........44www.cookecorp.com

CRi, a part of Caliper Life Sciences ........................66 www.cri-inc.com

CVI Melles Griot ...............19, 43www.cvimellesgriot.com

Directed Energy Inc. ...............34www.ixyscolorado.com

Docter Optics GmbH.................6www.docteroptics.com

Edmund Optics .......................15www.edmundoptics.com

Energetiq Technology Inc. .......16www.energetiq.com

Esco Products Inc. ..................42www.escoproducts.com

Exciton Inc. ............................30www.exciton.com

Gooch & Housego ..................14www.goochandhousego.com

Greenlee Textron ....................21www.greenlee.textron.com

Hellma USA ...........................71www.hellmausa.com

Heraeus Quartz America ........29www.heraeusoptics.com

ILX Lightwave Corp. ...............36www.lightwave.com

Image Science Ltd. .................80www.image-science.co.uk

Imaging Solutions Group.........40www.isgchips.com

Incom Inc. .............................11www.incomusa.com

Infratec Infrared LLC................26 www.infratec-infrared.com

Intertech-Pira ..........................74www.nanomaterials-conference.com

Intlvac ....................................81www.intlvac.com

Julabo USA Inc. .....................65www.julabo.com

Klastech Karpushko Laser Technologies GmbH .............75www.klastech.de

Lambda Research Corporation .........................25www.lambdares.com

Lambda Research Optics Inc. ..........................41 www.lambda.cc

Laser Institute of America ..........................72www.icaleo.org

Lightmachinery Inc. ..........24, 77www.lightmachinery.com

Mad City Labs ........................24www.madcitylabs.com

Martek Power Laser Drive LLC ....................31www.laserdrive.com

Mightex Systems .....................82www.mightexsystems.com

Nano Science & Technology Instrumentation.....................76www.techconnectworld.com/nanotech2011

Newport Corp. .......22, 57, CV4www.newport.com

Novotech Inc. ........................75www.novotech.net

nPoint Inc. .............................78www.npoint.com

Nufern .....................................7www.nufern.com

Opco Laboratory Inc. ...............8www.opcolab.com

PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P. ......69www.pi.ws

Pico Electronics Inc. ................58www.picoelectronics.com

Picoquant GmbH ....................73www.picoquant.com

Piezosystem Jena GmbH .........................76www.piezojena.com

PL Systems Inc. ......................65www.plsys.net

POG Gera .............................70www.pog.eu

Polymicro Technologies LLC..................56www.polymicro.com

Power Technology Inc. ...........23www.powertechnology.com

Qioptiq Inc. ........................CV3www.qioptiqlinos.com

Research Electro-Optics ......................17www.reoinc.com

Roithner Lasertechnik...............80www.roithner-laser.com

Rolyn Optics Co. ...................33www.rolyn.com

SEMI......................................63www.semiconwest.org

Sill Optics GmbH....................77www.silloptics.de

Siskiyou Corporation...............46www.siskiyou.com

Society of Manufacturing Engineers.............................78www.easteconline.com

Spectrogon US Inc. ................72www.spectrogon.com

SPIE International Society for Optical Engineering ........67www.spie.org/optics-photonics.xml

Stanford Research Systems Inc. ..........................3www.thinksrs.com

Swift Glass Co. Inc. ................71www.swiftglass.com

Synopsys Inc. ..........................9www.opticalres.com

Technical Manufacturing Corp. ...........66www.techmfg.com

Terahertz Technologies Inc. .................66www.terahertztechnologies.com

Tohkai Sangyo Co. Ltd. ..........80www.peak.co.jp

Toptica Photonics Inc. .......27, 53www.toptica.com

Trioptics GmbH.......................65www.trioptics.com

Vortran Laser Technology Inc. ...................62www.vortranlaser.com

Zygo Corp. ...........................35www.zygo.com

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p PEREGRINATIONS

As you enjoy your lunch today, imagine more than 1000 sandwich rollsper minute moving along a production line as bakers anxiously checkfor machine failures that could result in dozens upon dozens of less-than-perfect buns that will never be invited to the picnic.

Now ponder the fact that a prototype automated imaging system has beendeveloped to help bakers produce consistently high quality buns for their foodservice and fast-food customers.

Senior research engineer Douglas Britton and research scientist Colin Usherof Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta developed the system. Theyworked with Georgia-based Flower Foods of Thomasville, a baking company,and Baking Technology Systems (BakeTech) of Tucker, a baking equipmentmanufacturer.

The system, which was tested at a Flowers Foods bakery for more than a year at hour-long intervals, comprises a digital camera that images the buns as they exit the oven, and imaging software that assesses whether theircolor is too light or too dark to be of high enough quality. If the software detects substandard buns, it automatically sends the color information to the oven controller, which adjusts the temperature. This rapid correction could help minimize a bakery’s material and product loss.

Basically, it shortens the interval between when a problem is noticed andwhen it is fixed. For example, if a quantity of buns takes a total of 12 minutesto bake and a batch is checked after eight minutes and found to be less thanperfect, there is only a four-minute window in which to correct the tempera-ture for the remainder of the baking.

The current manual-based quality assurance technique – checking a samplehourly and adjusting the oven temperature accordingly – is slower to detectchanges in bun consistency, which can arise through such variables as ingredi-ents, batches, shifts, or daily and seasonal temperature and humidity.

The prototype system also provides bakers with up-to-the-minute data re-ports on such matters as bun shape and size, seed distribution and contamina-tion. The buns can be in pans or on a conveyor belt of any color except thecolor of the buns. The stainless steel system mounts to conveyor belts as wideas 50 in.

It’s the best thing to happen to buns since sesame seeds. Caren B. Les

[email protected]

84 Photonics Spectra May 2011

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