Photonicsspectra 201203

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Photonics
Innovation
Celebrated
page 71
Multispectral Imaging
Explores Harsh
Environments
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March 2012
t
TABLE OF CONTENTS
16 | TECH NEWS
Photonics Spectra editors curate the most significant photonics research
and technology headlines of the month and take you deeper inside
the news. Featured stories include:
TIGO laser ranging telescope targets satellites
Masking moments in time by splitting light
2-million-degree matter reveals the structure of stars
36 | FASTTRACK
Business and Markets
The impact of Thailands epic flood continues into 2012
Optics industry on steady ground after quake
Kodak to delete its digital device division
45 | GREENLIGHT
Solar concentration without mirrors
10 | EDITORIAL
47 | LASERS IN USE
Lessons learned from a recent laser accident
by Michael B. Woods, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
90 | PEREGRINATIONS
Out of the blue, into the office
NEWS & ANALYSIS
76 | BRIGHT IDEAS
87 | HAPPENINGS
89 | ADVERTISER INDEX
DEPARTMENTS
COLUMNS
THE COVER
The many ways remote sensors are used to
explore the most forbidding areas on the
planet inspired this months cover art. Article
by Lynn Savage on page 50. Design by Senior
Art Director Lisa N. Comstock.
16
Photonics Spectra March 2012 4
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PHOTONICS: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant
energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The range of applications of photonics extends
from energy generation to detection to communications and information processing.
Vol ume 46 I ssue 3
www. phot oni cs. com
50 | MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING EXPLORES HARSH ENVIRONMENTS
by Lynn Savage, Features Editor
By gathering data on environments that are dangerous for humans, remote sensing
helps determine the health of the ecosystem.
58 | ULTRAFAST FIBER LASERS ENABLE UNIQUE MATERIALS RESEARCH
by Dr. Tony Lin, Calmar Laser Inc.
The robust architecture and and low maintenance of fiber-based architectures,
along with extraordinary performance parameters, are enabling innovative
laboratory research.
61 | LASERS CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THE PHOTOVOLTAICS INDUSTRY
by Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor
PV development and manufacturing are well served by laser technology, including
processes such as doping, welding, ablation, trenching and drilling.
64 | NEXT-GENERATION CMOS REDEFINES TRADE-OFFS FOR INSPECTION
by Behnam Rashidian and Eric Fox, Teledyne Dalsa
To arrive at the best CMOS imaging device design, both the physics of operating
the device and the practicalities of implementing the design must be considered.
67 | PHOTONIC SENSORS HELP KEEP EARTH CLEAN, GREEN
by Dr. Radu Barsan, Rio Inc.
In energy sectors ranging from fossil fuel to geothermal, photonic technologies
are playing various roles in developing and maintaining clean, efficient systems.
71 | 2011 PRISM AWARDS WINNERS
by Melinda Rose, Senior Editor
A wrap-up of this years winning entries highlights the amazing innovations
of the photonics industry.
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64
58
FEATURES
312Contents_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:48 PM Page 5
Photonics Spectra March 2012
Group Publisher Karen A. Newman
Editorial Staff
Managing Editor Laura S. Marshall
Senior Editor Melinda A. Rose
Features Editor Lynn M. Savage
Editors Caren B. Les
Ashley N. Paddock
Copy Editors Judith E. Storie
Patricia A. Vincent
Margaret W. Bushee
Contributing Editors Hank Hogan
Gary Boas
Marie Freebody
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e
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Make Nothing Happen
B
efore I get out of bed in the morning, before I can even read the numbers on the
clock, I have to put on my glasses. I wear contacts during the day, and if I want to
clearly see words on my computer screen, I have to put on my reading glasses, too.
But I consider myself lucky that my vision can still be corrected.
Working in a laser lab or any environment where lasers are in use without wearing
protective eyewear puts you at risk for eye injuries that can damage your vision beyond
the help of any glasses or contacts. Imagine getting up in the morning and not being able
to see the clock at all, the smile of your spouse or the first robin of spring. Specific data
about workplace laser injuries to the eye is not easy to find, but even one such accident is
one too many.
Eye injuries may be just the tip of the iceberg where laser accidents are concerned, but
they are easily preventable. Still, we receive photos of students and researchers who are
not wearing laser safety eyewear, standing close to working lasers and putting themselves
at risk. Not only should these photos not be sent out with press releases, they should not
even be taken. Even photos staged for the camera should observe appropriate laser safety.
Its about setting an example for students and others new to lasers.
Despite our vigilance, such photos occasionally do get printed in Photonics Spectra.
Please dont think that means we condone the unsafe use of lasers. In fact, to underscore
our concerns about laser safety, in this issue we are launching Lasers in Use, a column
written by people working at the front lines of laser safety.
In Lessons Learned from a Recent Laser Accident, Michael Woods, the laser safety
officer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, recounts an incident in which a graduate
student was injured while adjusting a polarizing beamsplitter being used with a femtosec-
ond Ti:sapphire laser. His account carries valuable information about the root causes of
the accident and the corrective actions taken. Read the column beginning on page 47.
Peter Baker, the executive director of LIA (Laser Institute of America), the professional
organization for laser applications and safety, wrote a column called When Nothing
Happens last year for his organizations newsletter. In it, he wrote:
When nothing happens in a laser environment, does it mean that nothing was done? Not
at all! If there is no loss of sight, no burned skin, no inhalation of noxious fumes and no
electric shock, then it means that a lot has been done.
It means that the organization with the laser has taken the responsible approach to using
it, has appointed a trained or certified laser safety officer, complied with the guidelines
set out in the ANSI Z136 series of standards and provided a safe environment with appro-
priate training for its people. Our laser safety officers do a great job keeping people safe
and ensuring that nothing happens. This is an important and underappreciated factor in
the rapidly increasing growth of the laser industry.
LIA has served the industrial, medical, research and government communities for more
than 40 years with technical information, training and networking opportunities for laser
users from around the globe. Visit it at www.lia.org.
So, what are you doing to make nothing happen in your laser lab? Send us a photo of you
and your colleagues exhibiting proper regard for laser safety. Well feature the best of
them in August as part of Photonics Spectras annual list issue.
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr. Robert R. Alfano
City College of New York
Valerie C. Bolhouse
Consultant
Walter Burgess
Power Technology Inc.
Dr. Timothy Day
Daylight Solutions
Dr. Anthony J. DeMaria
Coherent-DEOS LLC
Dr. Donal Denvir
Andor Technology PLC
Patrick L. Edsell
Avanex Corp.
Dr. Stephen D. Fantone
Optikos Corp.
Randy Heyler
Ondax Inc.
Dr. Michael Houk
Bristol Instruments Inc.
Dr. Kenneth J. Kaufmann
Hamamatsu Corp.
Brian Lula
PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
Eliezer Manor
Shirat Enterprises Ltd., Israel
Shinji Niikura
Coherent Japan Inc.
Dr. Morio Onoe
professor emeritus, University of Tokyo
Dr. William Plummer
WTP Optics
Dr. Richard C. Powell
University of Arizona
Dr. Ryszard S. Romaniuk
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
Samuel P. Sadoulet
Edmund Optics
Dr. Steve Sheng
Telesis Technologies Inc.
William H. Shiner
IPG Photonics Corp.
John M. Stack
Zygo Corp.
Dr. Albert J.P. Theuwissen
Harvest Imaging/Delft University
of Technology, Belgium
Kyle Voosen
National Instruments Corp.
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Welcome to
Photonics Medias industry-leading site features the latest industry news
and events from around the world.
Research news: A roundup of the industrys top research headlines.
Light Matters weekly newscast: A video recap of the most compelling optics and
photonics news brought to you by editors from Photonics.com, and Photonics Spectra
and BioPhotonics magazines.
Business news: We keep you up-to-date with the latest mergers, acquisitions,
financial reports, grants, patents and more.
Popular Topics: Check out the most-viewed stories from Photonics.com.
Fiber Market Report: A direct link to information about the seven-year forecast
for the fiber optics components market, brought to you by 30-year industry veteran
David Chaffee in collaboration with Laurin Publishing.
Light Exchange: An easy link to all of our social media sites, including Facebook,
Twitter, blogs, forum and our poll question section.
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Its a whole new world of information for
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In the April issue of
Photonics Spectra
Precision Noncontact Metrology Application Factors
Competing requirements for the most challenging measurement applications in
industry and other technical endeavors can be daunting when their complexity
takes the design or application engineer into territory that is "uncharted" in his or
her particular experience. Coherix Inc. looks at how to evaluate a measurement
application's requirements.
Applications of Multiband Optical Filters
Multiband filters revolutionized
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Night Vision for Military/Security Applications
Night vision operators in the military and security fields
require dependable sensors that provide views in multiple
wavelengths without sacrificing power, size and weight
requirements. Xenics NV describes advances in
shortwave infrared camera technology that can
handle these constraints.
Detection on the Battlefield
Infrared isn't the only wavelength range that
promises to revolutionize combat operations
and homeland security. Millimeter-wave and
terahertz frequency imagers will play a large
role because they are adept at precise target
location and threat identification.
Surveillance Cameras
Once strictly analog, surveillance cameras
have recently switched to an internet-protocol
and digital platform. That and the need for
business intelligence video analytics are
driving the market, with much of the
processing increasingly done by the
cameras themselves.
You'll also find all the news that affects
your industry, from tech trends and
market reports to the latest products
and media.
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TIGO laser ranging telescope targets satellites
DARMSTADT, Germany It was like a
planetary-scale video game: Working from
orbital predictions, a research team took
the first laser measurements of Galileo
operational satellites in orbit using lasers
in Chile.
The Transportable Integrated Geodetic
Observatory (TIGO) performed the laser
ranging at an altitude of 23,230 km using
a near-infrared laser beam. The TIGO
team members, led by Michael Hfner and
Marcos Avendao, took aim with their
laser and fired, having first calibrated it
using Europes first test navigation satel-
lite, GIOVE-A. The orbital predictions
had been provided by the ESAs European
Space Operations Center.
TIGO is equipped for various observa-
tions in 2006, its radio telescope moni-
tored ESAs first moon mission, SMART-
1, to determine end-of-mission impact on
the lunar surface.
The Galileo satellites as with many
modern satellites are fitted with reflec-
tors that bounce the laser pulse back to its
original location. The time the laser takes
to return to the ground is measured with
an ultraprecise timer. The speed of light is
fixed, so the distance to the satellite can
be measured with an accuracy of better
than 1 cm.
TIGO is owned by the Federal Agency
for Cartography and Geodesy and has
been operating jointly with the University
of Concepcin and the Chilean Military
Geographical Institute since 2002. It was
established to fill gaps in various types
of worldwide geodetic measurements.
TIGO was the first station in the 40-
strong International Laser Ranging Service
network to range the Galileo satellites,
with Herstmonceux in the UK and Matera
in Italy among the next Satellite Laser
Ranging stations to succeed.
Besides being widely used for precise
orbit determination of satellites, laser
ranging also is employed for calibrating
satellite instruments, contributing to the
International Terrestrial Reference Frame
(Earths standardized geodetic coordinate
system) and measuring slight ground mo-
tion resulting from tectonic plate dynam-
ics. It also can measure the moons dis-
tance from Earth, thanks to laser reflectors
left on the lunar surface by the US and
Soviet Union.
NEWS
TECH
A closer look at the most significant photonics research and technology headlines of the month
Satellite Laser Ranging telescope at the TIGO ground station. The laser operates at a near-infrared
wavelength of 847 nm.
TIGO performed the worlds first laser ranging
of the first Galileo satellite on Nov. 27, 2011.
TIGO was put in place to fill gaps in various
types of worldwide geodetic measurements.
Courtesy of ESA/TIGO BKG/UdeC/IGM.
312_Tech News_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:10 PM Page 16
ITHACA, N.Y. A technique
that employs a split-time lens to
break light into its slower (red)
and faster (blue) components
creates a temporal gap, albeit at
the picosecond timescale, engi-
neers at Cornell University
have reported.
The optical fiber-based sys-
tem steers light around an
event so that no evidence, such
as a change in the temporal or
spectral properties of the light
beam, is detectable.
Applied engineering and
physics professor Alexander
Gaeta and colleagues were in-
spired by a theoretical proposal
out of Imperial College London
in 2010 for a space-time cloak
or history editor that sug-
gested that a gap could be
created by accelerating and
decelerating parts of light by
changing the composition of the
fiber at a rate fast enough to
change lights velocity no
easy task.
Instead, we thought rather
than changing the property of
the material, we could change
the property of the light. This is
much easier and has the same
effect as changing the composi-
tion, team member and post-
doc Moti Fridman told The
Cornell Daily Sun.
The property of the light
traveling through the fiber was
changed by using time lenses
that change lights speed via a
four-wave mixing technique.
They were able to mask an
event in this case a ball trying
to pass through a green beam of
laser light without detection
for 50 ps, or 50-trillionths of
a second.
The gap created might be
increased up to 10 ns, Gaeta
said, and the technique could
have applications in fiber optic
data transmission, such as in-
serting an emergency message
without interrupting or disturb-
ing the data stream, and in data
processing, such as multitask-
ing operations in light-based
computers.
The scientists now are work-
ing to extend the amount of
time that they can achieve with
the cloak and are also working
toward what they believe could
be another practical application.
There are a lot of different
ways to manipulate light, Gaeta
said, and this experiment of
cloaking is a demonstration of
the very unusual ways in which
we can control light and really
control its properties.
Fridman hopes the work
will inspire more people to get
involved in science, he told
the Sun.
Maybe more kids will be
drawn to science because of
this experiment, he said.
If this is the case, then I have
done my job.
Its nice to achieve some-
thing once in a while that ap-
peals to the nonscience commu-
nity as well, Gaeta added.
Every scientist should experi-
ence the feeling at least once
in their lifetime.
The research, funded by
DARPA and the Cornell Center
for Nanoscale Systems, ap-
peared in the Jan. 5 issue of
Nature (doi: 10.1038/nature
10695).
Masking moments in time by splitting light
2-million-degree matter reveals the structure of stars
MENLO PARK, Calif. Using the worlds
most powerful x-ray laser, scientists have
created and probed a 2-million-degree
piece of hot, dense matter in a controlled
way for the first time. This is a significant
step forward in understanding the most ex-
treme matter found at the center of giant
planets and stars, and it could help experi-
ments aimed at recreating the nuclear
fusion process that powers the sun.
Researchers at the SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory conducted experi-
ments using its Linac Coherent Light
Source (LCLS), which produces laser
pulses 1 billion times brighter than those
of any earlier x-ray source. They used its
pulses to flash-heat a small piece of alu-
minum foil, generating solid plasma with
a temperature of about 2 million degrees.
The whole process took less than one-tril-
lionth of a second.
Making extremely hot, dense matter
is important scientifically if we are ulti-
mately to understand the conditions that
exist inside stars and at the center of giant
planets within our own solar system and
beyond, said Sam Vinko, a postdoctoral
researcher at Oxford University and lead
author of the paper, which appeared in
Nature (doi: 10.1038/nature10746).
Scientists have long been able to create
plasma from gases and study it with con-
The interior of a Linac Coherent Light Source SXR experimental chamber, set up for an investigation to create
and measure a form of 2-million-degree matter. The central part of the frame contains the holder for the
material that will be converted into hot, dense matter. To the left is an extreme-UV spectrometer, and to the
right is a small red laser set up for alignment and positioning. Courtesy of University of Oxford/Sam Vinko.
t TECHNEWS
ventional lasers, said co-author Bob Na-
gler of SLAC, an LCLS instrument scien-
tist. But no tools were available for doing
the same at solid densities that cannot be
penetrated by conventional laser beams.
Now, with its ultrashort wavelengths
of x-ray laser light, the LCLS can pene-
trate a dense solid to create a uniform
patch of plasma in this case, a cube one-
thousandth of a centimeter on a side and
probe it at the same time, Nagler said.
The resulting measurements, he said,
will feed back into theories and computer
simulations of how hot, dense matter be-
haves. This could help scientists analyze
and recreate the nuclear fusion process
that powers the sun.
The Oxford-led research team included
scientists from SLAC (a multiprogram
laboratory operated by Stanford University
for the US Dept. of Energys Office of
Science) and from Lawrence Berkeley and
Lawrence Livermore national laboratories,
as well as from five other international
institutions.
Amorphous silicon makes better optical fibers
COLLEGE PARK, Pa. A first-of-its-kind
technique deposits a noncrystalline form
of silicon into the long, ultrathin pores of
optical fibers, making more flexible and
efficient fibers. This method uses high-
pressure chemistry to make well-devel-
oped films and wires from this particular
kind of silicon semiconductor.
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon is
ideal for solar cell applications and could
also be useful for the light-guiding cores
of optical fibers, said John Badding, a
chemistry professor at Pennsylvania State
University. He added, however, that de-
positing the silicon compound into a tiny
optical fiber presents a challenge.
Traditionally, hydrogenated amorphous
silicon is created using an expensive labo-
ratory device known as a plasma reactor,
Badding said. Such a reactor begins with
a precursor called silane a silicon-hydro-
gen compound. Our goal was not only to
find a simpler way to create hydrogenated
amorphous silicon using silane, but also to
use it in the development of an optical
fiber.
A bed of amorphous hydrogenated silicon wires that were prepared in the pores of optical fibers. The wires
have been chemically etched out of the optical fiber to reveal them. Scale bar = 100 m. Inset: An array of
amorphous hydrogenated silicon tubes deposited in an optical fiber. The optical fiber has been cleaved in half
to reveal the array of tubes. The very thin glass walls of the fiber surrounding each tube are largely obscured.
Courtesy of John Badding Lab, Pennsylvania State University.
Feetures
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t
70 Years
of Optical
Innovation
1942 - 2012
TECHNEWS
The low-pressure plasma reactor tech-
nique works well for depositing hydro-
genated amorphous silicon onto a surface
to make solar cells. However, the method
cannot be used for depositing hydrogen-
ated amorphous silicon into fiber so the
team had to rethink the approach.
The trick was to develop a high-pres-
sure technique that could force the mole-
cules of silane all the way down into the
fiber and then also convert them to amor-
phous hydrogenated silicon, said Pier J.A.
Sazio of the University of Southampton in
the UK, a team leader. The high-pressure
chemistry technique is unique in allowing
the silane to decompose into the useful hy-
drogenated form of amorphous silicon,
rather than the much less useful nonhydro-
genated form that otherwise would form
without a plasma reactor. Using pressure
in this way is very practical because the
optical fibers are so small.
Optical fibers with a noncrystalline
form of silicon have many applications,
such as in telecommunication devices or
for changing laser light into different in-
frared wavelengths. IR light could be used
to improve surgical techniques, military
countermeasure devices and chemical-
sensing tools, such as those that detect
pollutants or environmental toxins. The
team members also hope that their re-
search will be used to improve existing
solar cell technology.
Whats most exciting about our re-
search is that, for the first time, optical
fibers with hydrogenated amorphous sili-
con are possible, Badding said. How-
ever, our technique also reduces certain
production costs, so theres no reason it
could not help in the manufacturing of
less expensive solar cells as well.
One-step process turns carbon fibers into graphene QDs
HOUSTON Common carbon fiber can
be turned into graphene quantum dots
(QDs) in a one-step chemical process that
is much simpler than established tech-
niques. This discovery could prove use-
ful for optical, biomedical and electronic
applications.
There have been several attempts to
make graphene-based quantum dots with
specific electronic and luminescent prop-
erties using chemical breakdown or e-
beam lithography of graphene layers,
said Pulickel Ajayan, a materials scientist
at Rice University. We thought that as
these nanodomains of graphitized carbons
already exist in carbon fibers, which are
cheap and plenty, why not use them as
the precursor?
Ajayans lab collaborated with col-
leagues in China, India, Japan and the
Texas Medical Center to discover the
process.
Quantum dots, discovered in the 1980s,
are semiconductors that contain a size-
and shape-dependent bandgap. These have
been promising structures for applications
that range from computers, LEDs, solar
cells and lasers to medical imaging
devices. The sub-5-nm carbon-based
QDs produced in bulk through the new
wet chemical process are highly soluble,
and their size can be controlled via the
temperature at which theyre created.
The researchers were attempting an-
other experiment when they came across
the technique. We tried to selectively oxi-
dize carbon fiber, and we found that was
really hard, said Wei Gao, a graduate stu-
dent. We ended up with a solution and
decided to look at a few drops with
a transmission electron microscope.
The specks they saw were oxidized nano-
domains of graphene extracted via chemi-
cal treatment of carbon fiber. That was a
complete surprise, Gao said. We call
t TECHNEWS

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This transmission electron microscope image shows
a graphene quantum dot with zigzag edges. The
QDs can be created in bulk from carbon fiber
through a chemical process discovered at Rice
University. Courtesy of Ajayan Lab/Rice University.
Green-fluorescing graphene quantum dots created
at Rice University surround a blue-stained nucleus
in a human breast cancer cell. Cells were placed
in a solution with the QDs for four hours. The QDs,
each smaller than 5 nm, easily passed through the
cell membranes, showing their potential value for
bioimaging.
Dark spots on a transmission electron microscope
grid are graphene quantum dots made through a
wet chemical process at Rice University. The inset
is a close-up of one QD. Graphene QDs may
find use in electronics, optical and biomedical
applications.
them quantum dots, but theyre two-
dimensional, so what we really have
here are graphene quantum discs.
Gao said that other techniques are ex-
pensive, and they take weeks to make
small batches of graphene quantum dots.
Our starting material is cheap, commer-
cially available carbon fiber. In a one-step
treatment, we get a large amount of quan-
tum dots. I think thats the biggest advan-
tage of our work, she said.
Further experimentation revealed that
the size of the QDs, and their photolumi-
nescent properties, could be controlled
through processing at relatively low tem-
peratures, from 80 to 120 C. At 120,
100 and 80 degrees, we got blue, green
and yellow luminescing [quantum] dots,
she said.
They also found that the QDs edges
tended to prefer the form known as zig-
zag. The edge of a sheet of graphene
the single-atom-thick form of carbon
determines its electrical characteristics,
and zigzags are semiconducting.
Luminescent properties give graphene
quantum dots the potential for imaging, pro-
tein analysis, cell tracking and other bio-
medical applications, Gao said. Tests at
Houstons MD Anderson Cancer Center and
Baylor College of Medicine on two human
breast cancer lines showed that the QDs
easily found their way into the cells cyto-
plasm and did not interfere with their prolif-
eration.
The green quantum dots yielded a very
good image, said Rebeca Romero Aburto,
a graduate student in the Ajayan Lab who
also studies at MD Anderson. The advan-
tage of graphene [quantum] dots over
fluorophores is that their fluorescence is
more stable and they dont photobleach.
They dont lose their fluorescence as eas-
ily. They have a depth limit, so they may
be good for in vitro and in vivo studies,
but perhaps not optimal for deep tissues
in humans.
The quantum dots could be an interest-
ing approach for further exploration of
bioimaging, she said. In the future, these
graphene QDs could have high impact be-
cause they can be conjugated with other
entities for sensing applications too.
The results were published online in
Nano Letters (doi: 10.1021/nl2038979).
The research was supported by Nanohold-
ings, the Office of Naval Research MURI
program on graphene, the Natural Science
Foundation of China, the National Basic
Research Program of China, the Indo-US
Science and Technology Forum, and the
Welch Foundation.
t TECHNEWS
Streak camera stops light for trillion-fps video
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. A novel streak
camera that captures images in picosecond
increments now makes it possible to stop
not just a bullet piercing an apple or a
horse in mid-canter, but light particles
themselves as they traverse a
scene.
The camera, created in MITs
Media Lab, can acquire data at
a rate of 1 trillion exposures per
second. That hyperfast rate pro-
duces a slow-motion video of a
burst of light traveling the
length of a 1-liter soda bottle,
bouncing off the cap and reflect-
ing back toward the bottles bot-
tom. The work follows in the
footsteps of Stanford Univer-
sitys Eadweard Muybridge,
whose 19th-century photo-
graphic technique first showed
the stages of a horses gallop,
and of MITs own Harold Eu-
gene Doc Edgerton, whose
120 strobe flashes per second
helped capture the iconic image of a pro-
jectile puncturing a whole apple.
This is the ultimate in slow motion, said
Media Lab postdoc Andreas Velten, one of
the systems developers. Theres nothing
An ultrafast imaging system developed at MIT differs from other
high-speed imaging systems in that it can capture light scattering
below the surfaces of solid objects, such as the tomato depicted
here. Courtesy of Di Wu and Andreas Velten, MIT Media Lab.
in the universe that looks fast to this camera, he said.
The system relies on streak camera technology, although it is
deployed in an unexpected way. The aperture of the streak cam-
era is a narrow slit. Photons enter the camera through the slit and
pass through an electric field that deflects them in a direction per-
pendicular to the slit. Because the electric field is changing very
rapidly, it deflects late-arriving photons more than it does early-
arriving ones.
The image produced by the camera is therefore two-dimen-
sional; however, only one dimension the one corresponding to
the direction of the slit is spatial. The other dimension, corre-
sponding to the degree of deflection, is time. The image thus
represents the time of arrival of photons passing through a one-
dimensional slice of space.
The camera was intended for use in experiments where light
passes through, or is emitted by, a chemical sample. Because
chemists are interested chiefly in the wavelengths of light that a
sample absorbs, or in how the intensity of the emitted light
changes over time, the fact that the camera registers only one
spatial dimension is irrelevant.
But thats a serious drawback in a video camera. To produce
their super-slow-motion videos, Velten and his colleagues
Media Lab associate professor Ramesh Raskar and professor of
chemistry Moungi Bawendi must perform the same experiment
repeatedly, continually repositioning the streak camera to gradu-
ally build up a two-dimensional image. It takes only a nanosec-
ond for light to traverse the bottle, for example, but it takes about
an hour to collect all the data necessary for the final video. For
that reason, Raskar calls the new system the worlds slowest
fastest camera.
After an hour, the researchers accumulate hundreds of thou-
sands of data sets, each of which plots the one-dimensional posi-
tions of photons against their times of arrival. Raskar, Velten and
other members of Raskars Camera Culture group at the Media
Lab developed algorithms that can stitch that raw data into a set
of sequential two-dimensional images.
Because the ultrafast imaging system requires multiple passes
to produce its videos, it cant record events that arent precisely
repeatable. Any practical applications will probably involve cases
where the way in which light scatters is itself a source of useful
information. Those cases may, however, include analyses of the
t TECHNEWS
Media Lab postdoc Andreas Velten, left, and associate professor Ramesh Raskar
with the experimental setup they used to produce slow-motion video of light
scattering through a plastic bottle. Courtesy of M. Scott Brauer.
physical structures of manufactured mate-
rials and biological tissues like ultra-
sound with light, Raskar said.
If the event is not repeatable, the group
reported, the required signal-to-noise ratio
would make it nearly impossible to cap-
ture the event. Instead, the researchers ex-
ploit the fact that the photons statistically
will trace the same path in repeated pulsed
illuminations. Careful synchronization of
the pulsed light with the capture of re-
flected light allows them to record the
same pixel at the exact same relative time
slot millions of times to accumulate suffi-
cient signal. The resulting time resolution
is 1.71 ps, so any activity spanning less
than 0.5 mm in size would be difficult to
record.
Raskar also sees a potential application
in the development of better camera
flashes. An ultimate dream is: How do
you create studiolike lighting from a
compact flash? How can I take a portable
camera that has a tiny flash and create
the illusion that I have all these umbrellas
and sport lights and so on? Raskar said.
With our ultrafast imaging, we can actu-
ally analyze how the photons are travel-
ing through the world, and then we can
recreate a new photo by creating the illu-
sion that the photons started somewhere
else.
24
t TECHNEWS
Transparency discovery
could benefit LEDs, touch screens
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Scientists
have uncovered the fundamental limita-
tions of optical transparency in tin dioxide
(SnO
2
), a common conducting oxide.
The discovery could lead to more energy
efficient photovoltaics, LEDs and LCD
touch screens.
Transparent conducting oxides are
used as contacts in a variety of optoelec-
tronic devices. These materials are unique
in that they conduct electricity while
being transparent to visible light. For
optoelectronic devices to emit or absorb
light, the electrical contacts at the top of
the device must be optically transparent.
Opaque metals and most transparent
materials lack the balance between these
two characteristics to be functional for
use in such technology.
Scientists in the Computational Materi-
als Group at the University of California,
Santa Barbara, have used cutting-edge
calculation methods to identify the optical
transparency limitations of SnO
2
.
Three beams of light (red for infrared, yellow for visible and violet for ultraviolet) travel through a layer of
SnO
2
. Absorption by the conduction electrons in the oxide reduces the intensity of the beams. Courtesy of
Hartwin Peelaers, University of California, Santa Barbara.
312_ResElectroOptics_Pg25_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:22 PM Page 25
Conducting oxides strike a balance
between transparency and conductivity
because their wide bandgaps prevent
absorption of visible light by excitation
of electrons across the gap, according to
the researchers. At the same time, dopant
atoms provide additional electrons in the
conduction band that enable electrical
conductivity. However, these free elec-
trons can also absorb light by being ex-
cited to higher conduction-band states.
Direct absorption of visible light can-
not occur in these materials because the
next available electron level is too high in
energy, said Hartwin Peelaers, a postdoc-
toral researcher and the lead author of the
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Arrays of
plasmonic nanoantennas can abruptly
change the phase of light, potentially en-
abling more powerful microscopes, com-
puters and telecommunications systems.
By abruptly changing the phase, we
can dramatically modify how light propa-
gates, and that opens up the possibility
of many potential applications, said
Vladimir Shalaev, scientific director of
nanophotonics at Purdues Birck Nano-
technology Center and a distinguished
professor of electrical and computer
engineering.
26
t TECHNEWS
Plasmonic nanoantennas promise optics with strange new abilities
paper. But we found that more complex
absorption mechanisms, which also in-
volve lattice vibrations, can be remarkably
strong.
The group observed that SnO
2
only
weakly absorbs visible light, letting most
light pass through and making it a useful
transparent contact. In their study, the
transparency of SnO
2
declined when
moving to other wavelength regions.
Absorption was five times stronger for
ultraviolet light and 20 times stronger
for the infrared light used in telecom-
munications.
Every bit of light that gets absorbed
reduces the efficiency of a solar cell or
LED, said Chris Van de Walle, head of
the research group and a professor of
materials science. Understanding what
causes the absorption is essential for
engineering improved materials to be
used in more efficient devices.
The findings appeared in Applied
Physics Letters (doi: 10.1063/1.3671162).
The research was supported as part of
the UCSB Center for Energy Efficient
Materials, an Energy Frontier Research
Center funded by the US Department of
Energy, the Belgian American Educational
Foundation and the UCSB Materials
Research Laboratory.
The nanoantennas are V-shaped gold
structures formed on top of a silicon
layer. They are an example of metamate-
rials, which typically include so-called
plasmonic structures that conduct clouds
of electrons called plasmons. The anten-
nas are 40 nm wide, and researchers
312_OceanOptics_Pg27_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:23 PM Page 27
have demonstrated that they can transmit
light through an ultrathin plasmonic
nanoantenna layer about 50 times
smaller than the wavelength of light
it is transmitting.
This ultrathin layer of plasmonic
nanoantennas makes the phase of light
change strongly and abruptly, causing
light to change its propagation direction,
as required by the momentum conserva-
tion for light passing through the inter-
face between materials, Shalaev said.
The work extends findings by scientists
led by Federico Capasso, the Robert L.
Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and
the Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow
in Electrical Engineering at Harvard
School of Engineering and Applied Sci-
ences. In that work, described in an Octo-
ber 2011 Science paper, the researchers
modified Snells law, a long-held formula
used to describe how light reflects and re-
fracts while passing from one material into
another.
Until now, Snells law had implied that
when light passes from one material to an-
other, there are no abrupt phase changes
along the interface between the materials.
The Harvard researchers experiments,
however, showed that the phase of light
and the propagation direction could be
changed dramatically by using metamate-
rials, which in this case were based on an
array of antennas.
The near-infrared, specifically a wave-
length of 1.5 microns, is essential for
telecommunications, Shalaev said. In-
formation is transmitted across optical
fibers using this wavelength, which makes
this innovation potentially practical for
advances in telecommunications.
The Harvard researchers predicted how
to modify Snells law and demonstrated
the principle at one wavelength; the Pur-
28
t TECHNEWS
(Upper left) This schematic shows an array of gold plasmonic nanoantennas that can precisely manipulate
light in new ways, a technology that could make possible optical innovations including more powerful
microscopes, telecommunications and computers. (Upper right) A scanning electron microscope image of
the structures. (Bottom) The experimentally measured refraction angle versus incidence angle for light demon-
strates how nanoantennas alter the refraction. Courtesy of Purdue University Birck Nanotechnology Center.
due researchers took the work a step further, creating arrays of
nanoantennas and changing the phase and propagation direction
of light over a broad range of near-infrared light. The wavelength
size manipulated by the antennas in the Purdue experiment
ranged from 1 to 1.9 m.
We have extended the Harvard teams applications to the
near-infrared, which is important, and we also showed that its
not a single-frequency effect; its a very broadband effect, Sha-
laev said, adding that having a broadband effect could enable a
variety of technological applications.
The innovation, published online in Science (doi: 10.1126/
science.1214686), could bring technologies for steering and shap-
ing laser beams for military and communications applications,
nanocircuits for light-based computers, and new microscope
lenses.
Critical to the advance is the ability to alter light so that it ex-
hibits anomalous behavior: It bends in ways not possible using
conventional materials by radically altering its refraction, a
process that occurs as electromagnetic waves bend when passing
from one material into another. Scientists measure this bending of
radiation by its index of refraction. All natural materials, such as
glass, air and water, have positive refractive indices.
However, the nanoantenna arrays can cause light to bend in a
wide range of angles, including negative angles of refraction.
Importantly, such dramatic deviation from the conventional
Snells law governing reflection and refraction occurs when light
passes through structures that are actually much thinner than the
width of the lights wavelengths, which is not possible using nat-
ural materials, Shalaev said. Also, not only the bending effect,
refraction, but also the reflection of light can be dramatically
modified by the antenna arrays on the interface, as the experi-
ments showed.
t TECHNEWS
Vladimir Shalaevs presentation from a webinar on the future of optics is available
on demand at www.photonics.com/Webinar.aspx?WebinarID=11
Breaking wavelength limits
enables chips with finer features
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. A new way to break through wavelength-
related limits to feature size in state-of-the-art silicon chips could
enable further leaps in computational power.
The microchip revolution has seen a steady shrinking of fea-
tures on silicon chips, packing in more transistors and wires to
boost their speed and data capacity. But in recent years, the tech-
nologies behind these chips have begun to bump up against fun-
damental limits, such as the wavelengths of light used for critical
steps in their manufacture.
The new technique allows the production of complex shapes
rather than just lines and can be carried out using less expensive
light sources and conventional chip-manufacturing equipment,
said Trisha Andrew of MITs Research Laboratory of Electronics.
The whole optical setup is on a par with whats out there [in
chip-making plants], she said. Weve demonstrated a way to
make everything cheaper.
In 2009, Andrews team described a way of creating finer
lines on chips, dubbed absorbance modulation. As in the earlier
work, the new system relies on a combi-
nation of approaches: namely, interference
patterns between two light sources and
a material that changes color when
illuminated.
But, Andrew said, a new step is the ad-
dition of a photoresist, which produces a
pattern on a chip via a chemical change
following light exposure. The pattern
transferred to the chip can then be etched
away with a chemical developer, leaving a
mask that can control where light passes
through that layer.
Although traditional photolithography
is limited to producing chip features larger
than the wavelength of the light used, the
method devised by Andrew and her col-
leagues has produced features one-eighth
that size. Others have achieved similar
sizes, she said, but only with equipment
whose complexity is incompatible with
quick, inexpensive manufacturing
processes.
The new system uses a materials
approach, combined with sophisticated
optics, to get large-scale patterning, she
said, adding that the technique should
make it possible to reduce the size of the
lines even further.
The key to beating the limits usually
imposed by the wavelength of light and
the size of the optical system is an effect
called stimulated emission depletion
(STED) imaging, which uses fluorescent
materials that emit light when illuminated
by a laser beam. If the power of the laser
falls below a certain level, the fluores-
cence stops, leaving a dark patch. It turns
out that, by carefully controlling the
lasers power, it is possible to leave a dark
patch much smaller than the wavelength
of the laser light itself. And by using the
dark areas as a mask and sweeping the
beam across the chip surface to create a
pattern, these smaller sizes can be locked
in to the surface.
That process has been used to improve
the resolution of optical microscopes, but
researchers had thought it inapplicable to
photolithographic chip making. The inno-
vation by Andrew and her colleagues was
to combine STED with the earlier ab-
sorbance modulation technique, replacing
the fluorescent materials with a polymer
whose molecules change shape in re-
sponse to specific wavelengths.
The technique not only can enable the
manufacture of chips with finer features,
but also could be used in advanced tech-
nologies such as the production of pho-
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TECHNEWS
Trisha Andrew and her colleagues have developed
a way to create reduced feature sizes on silicon
chips. Courtesy of M. Scott Brauer.
312_LightworksOptics_Pg31_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:23 PM Page 31
tonic devices that use patterns to control
the flow of light, rather than the flow of
electricity. It can be used for any process
that uses optical lithography, Andrew
said.
The results were published in Physical
Review Letters (10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.
205501).
The work is strikingly simple and ele-
gant and a most impressive demonstra-
tion of the idea of using photochromic
molecules to create features that are both
finer and closer together than half the
wavelength of the light, said the creator
of STED, Stefan Hell of Max Planck Insti-
tute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gttin-
gen, Germany.
The work shows a concrete pathway
to creating tiny and dense features at the
nanoscale, Hell added. Because of its
future potential, it needs to be actively
pursued.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A method that chem-
ically etches patterned arrays in gallium
arsenide will make high-end optoelec-
tronic devices easier to manufacture.
Developed by a team led by Xiuling Li
of the University of Illinois, the technique
will enable faster, less expensive gallium
arsenide-based devices such as solar cells,
lasers, LEDs, field effect transistors, ca-
pacitors and sensors.
The physical properties of a semicon-
ductor can vary depending on
its structure, so a semicon-
ductor wafer must be etched
to tune its electro-optical
properties and connectivity
before it is assembled into
chips. Wet etching uses a
chemical solution to erode
the semiconductor in all
directions, and dry etching
uses a directed beam of
ions to bombard the
surface, carving out a
directed pattern.
Although silicon is the most common
material in semiconductor devices, materi-
als in the III-V group are more efficient
in optoelectronic applications, such as
solar cells or lasers. Unfortunately, all
of these materials can be difficult to dry-
etch because high-energy ion blasts can
damage the semiconductors surface.
III-V semiconductors are especially
susceptible to damage.
To address this problem, the researchers
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TECHNEWS
For more information on Andrews earlier
work, see Narrower Chip Patterns Made
at http://www.photonics.com/a37074.
Semiconductor etching gets easier
Scanning electron microscope image of nanopillars etched in
gallium arsenide via metal-assisted chemical etching. Images
courtesy of Xiuling Li.
312_Coherent_Pg33_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:24 PM Page 33
used metal-assisted chemical etching
(MacEtch), a wet-etching approach they
had developed for silicon. Unlike other
wet methods, MacEtch works in one di-
rection, from the top down. It is faster and
less expensive than many dry-etch tech-
niques, Li said. Her group optimized the
MacEtch chemical solution and reaction
conditions for the III-V semiconductor
gallium arsenide (GaAs).
The process involves patterning a thin
film of metal onto the GaAs surface, then
immersing the metal pattern into the Mac-
Etch chemical solution. The metal cat-
alyzes the reaction so that only the areas
touching metal are etched away, and high-
aspect-ratio structures are formed as the
metal sinks into the wafer. When the etch-
ing is done, the metal can be cleaned from
the surface without damaging it.
Realization of high-aspect-ratio III-V
nanostructure arrays by wet etching can
transform the fabrication of semiconductor
lasers where surface grating is fabricated
by dry etching, which is expensive and
causes surface damage, Li said.
Lis group used a patterning technique
developed by John Rogers, a professor of
materials science and engineering at the
university. The two research teams collab-
orated to optimize the method, called soft
lithography, for chemical compatibility
while protecting the GaAs surface. Soft
lithography is applied to the whole semi-
conductor wafer, as opposed to small seg-
ments, creating patterns over large areas
without expensive optical equipment.
By using soft lithography and MacEtch
together, the teams produced large-area,
high-aspect-ratio III-V nanostructures at a
minimal cost, Li said. The technique was
published in Nano Letters (doi: 10.1021/
nl202708d).
Next, the researchers hope to further
optimize conditions for GaAs etching and
to establish parameters for MacEtch of
other III-V semiconductors. They hope to
demonstrate device fabrication, including
distributed Bragg reflector lasers and pho-
tonic crystals.
34
t TECHNEWS
Ashley N. Paddock
ashley.paddock@photonics.com
Melinda A. Rose
melinda.rose@photonics.com
Metal-assisted chemical etching uses two steps. First,
a thin layer of gold is patterned on top of a semi-
conductor wafer using soft lithography (left). The
gold catalyzes a chemical reaction that etches the
semiconductor from the top down, creating 3-D
structures for optoelectronic applications (right).
312_ILXLightwave_Pg35_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:24 PM Page 35
The impact of Thailands epic flood
continues into 2012
BANGKOK Flooding that began more
than four months ago continues to affect
the optical components industry, as a
major supplier reported a revenue decline
of nearly 50 percent for the second quarter
of fiscal 2012 and continues to move cus-
tomers out of a still-flooded facility that
may never reopen.
The disaster began last July after unusu-
ally heavy monsoon rains, killing hun-
dreds and flooding from Chiang Mai in
the north to parts of the capital city of
Bangkok near the mouth of the Chao
Phraya River. Waters began infiltrating
industrial manufacturing facilities near
Bangkok in the fall. The event, estimated
by the World Bank to have cost $45 bil-
lion, now ranks as the worlds fourth
costliest, surpassed only by the 2011
earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 1995
Kobe earthquake and Hurricane Katrina.
Fabrinet, a major provider of optical
communications components, modules
and subsystems, industrial lasers, and
sensors for companies such as Oclaro, In-
finera, JDSU and Opnext, has its facilities
in Bangkok. Its customer base includes
optical communications, industrial lasers
and sensors OEMs that provide products
to the semiconductor processing, biotech-
nology, metrology, materials processing,
automotive and medical device markets.
On Oct. 24, 3.5 feet of water infiltrated
several manufacturing buildings at Fab-
rinets Chokchai campus in Pathum Thani.
The facility had accounted for between 30
and 40 percent of the companys revenue;
the company does not have manufacturing
capabilities outside of Thailand.
Water was pumped out of Chokchai
buildings as of Nov. 29, and while levels
outside the walls surrounding the plant
TRACK
FAST
The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASAs Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired these natural-color images of Ayutthaya,
north of Bangkok, on July 11, 2011 (left) and Oct. 23, 2011 (right). In both images, the Chao Phraya River curves through the
southwestern part of the city (image lower left). Thailands monsoons generally last from mid-May to September. However,
the large expanse of floodwater in October 2011 is unusual, even in monsoon season. (NASA Earth Observatory image created by
Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1. ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team and the US Geological Survey.)
312_FastTrack_Layout 1 2/23/12 9:13 AM Page 36
continued to recede, they remained at
2.5 feet high.
Fabrinet says it may never again manu-
facture at the Chokchai campus; instead,
it will divert manufacturing seven miles
north to existing buildings 3, 4 and 5 at
its Pinehurst campus and to its newest
structure there, building 6, upon comple-
tion. Pinehurst experienced minimal im-
pact from the flooding.
Completing building 6 is the primary
driver of its near-term plans to boost ca-
pacity, said John Marchetti, Fabrinet chief
strategy officer, in a Feb. 6 earnings call
with investors.
We have met our initial objectives and
now have 11 manufacturing bays repre-
senting 80,000 square feet open and ramp-
ing with customer projects migrating from
Chokchai, he said. Our next step is to
complete the entire 300,000-sq-ft building,
which includes engineering and office
space, by the end of March.
Upon completion, the capacity of build-
ing 6 will be more than sufficient to house
all customer products from Chokchai and
leave room to ramp production of addi-
tional projects from new and existing
customers, Marchetti said.
Fabrinet reported total revenue of $186
million for the first quarter of fiscal 2012,
which ended Sept. 30, 2011, an increase of
more than 7 percent year-over-year. The
Chokchai site accounted for 29 percent of
its first-quarter revenue and Pinehurst, for
67 percent.
Flood-related expenses for the quarter
were $40.3 million, said Mark Schwartz,
chief financial officer at Fabrinet. Inven-
tory damage, both to Fabrinet and its cus-
tomers, accounted for $26.2 million of the
total; $4.6 million was for damages to
the companys machinery and equipment,
and the remaining $9.5 million stemmed
from damage to its Chokchai campus and
other flood-related expenses. Future flood-
related losses are estimated to be between
$44 million and $63 million.
Revenue for the second quarter, which
ended Dec. 30, 2011, was down nearly 50
percent, the company said. And achieving
the $96.6 million total was feasible only
through the incredible effort of our em-
ployees and the strong support from our
customers, Schwartz said.
Revenue for its optical communications
sector was $68.4 million, or 70 percent of
the total. Lasers, sensors and other rev-
enue totaled $28.2 million, or nearly 30
percent. Quarter over quarter, this repre-
sents a decline of 50.3 percent in optical
communications and a decline of 42.2 per-
cent in our lasers and sensors market, in
both cases driven by the impact of the
October flood, Schwartz said.
I would expect the first quarter of
2013, the September quarter, will likely be
the first quarter where we wouldnt expect
our revenues to be impacted as a result of
the flood, he said.
The company told investors it didnt
expect to lose customers permanently
from the flooding, and CEO Tom Mitchell
added that Fabrinet had gained several in-
dustrial optics customers in the last quar-
ter, although he wasnt at liberty to name
them.
Floodwaters affect multiple areas of Thailand during the humanitarian survey teams aerial flood assessment
north of Bangkok on Oct. 16, 2011. US Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert J. Maurer.
312_FastTrack_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:14 PM Page 37
Fabrinet officials pointed out that some
of the revenue decline is attributable to a
weakening in the overall communications
industry. Regarding the industry overall,
Marchetti commented, We believe that
steep order reductions witnessed in the
past year have given way to stability,
along with some pockets of improvement
inventories are lean, overall industry
demand is stable to slightly improving,
and our own supply capabilities are
strongly rebounding.
Fabrinets customers, who are working
with both their own insurance carriers and
Fabrinets toward reimbursement, also re-
cently started announcing the impact of
the continuing production slowdown on
their quarterly revenue and estimated
yearly earnings.
We expect full commercial production
by the end of March for three of our five
affected product lines and within the June
quarter for the remaining two, said Alain
Couder, chairman and CEO of Oclaro, a
San Jose, Calif.-based optical communica-
tions and laser components provider, on
Jan. 26. Those product lines, which have
moved to Pinehurst, include high-power
lasers, amplifiers, tunable dispersion com-
pensators, lithium niobate external modu-
lators and wavelength-selective switch
products.
For the second quarter of 2012, Oclaro
reported revenue of $86.5 million, down
from $105.8 million in the first quarter.
Although our management cannot fully
quantify the possible impact of the flood-
ing in Thailand on our business, the sup-
ply disruption materially and adversely
impacted our results of operations, includ-
ing our revenue, for the second fiscal
quarter of 2012, and will materially and
adversely affect our results of operations
for at least the next two fiscal quar-
ters, Oclaro said in a late January SEC
filing.
Oclaro said it expects to spend about
$6 million in each of the second and third
fiscal quarters. These amounts include the
necessary capital currently expected to re-
cover product lines lost during the flood.
II-VI of Saxonburg, Pa., a maker of
laser optic materials, optics, components
and electro-optical products, said in a Jan.
24 second-quarter fiscal 2012 earnings call
that the flooding significantly impacted
Aegis Lightwave, a tunable optical device
maker it acquired in July 2011. Aegis is a
Fabrinet customer at the Chokchai campus.
The loss in production capacity was
significant with Aegis revenue in the
December quarter decreasing by about 40
percent compared to the September quar-
ter, said II-VI Chief Financial Officer
Craig A. Creaturo during the call.
It will be late in the fourth quarter be-
fore Aegis production returns to pre-flood
levels, II-VI President and CEO Francis J.
Kramer said.
Fremont, Calif.-based Opnext, a sup-
plier of optical products and systems
formed out of Hitachi, reported on Feb. 7
that revenue for its third fiscal quarter
was down 38.3 percent sequentially to
$53 million due to the loss of production
capacity at Fabrinet.
During the quarter, we started limited
assembly and testing of our 10G modules
at our facilities in Japan and California,
and we plan to restart manufacturing in
Thailand at Fabrinets Pinehurst campus
this month, with a return to pre-flood pro-
duction capacity expected by March 31,
2012, said Opnext CEO Harry Bosco in
a statement. Opnext supplies the commu-
nications, defense, security and biomedical
industries.
At the time of the flooding, the com-
panys production equipment at the
Chokchai facility included the 10-Gb/s
module test sets, which originally cost
more than $31 million. Opnext also had
about $16 million of inventory with Fab-
rinet, including $7.6 million in raw materi-
als and $8.1 million in finished products.
Fabrinet has allocated surface-mount
technology lines at Pinehurst to Opnext,
and new test systems are being con-
structed to replace systems lost, Opnext
said in December.
The lost production at Fabrinet will
have a significant impact on its opera-
tions for the remainder of the current fis-
cal year, which ends March 31, 2012, the
company said.
Fabrinet has historically accounted for
more than 50 percent of its fiber optics-
related revenue, Emcore Corp. said in Oc-
tober, when floodwaters submerged most
of its manufacturing and test equipment as
well as its inventory.
In a first-quarter earnings call on
Feb. 14, Emcore said revenue totaled
$37.5 million, a decrease of $14.7 million
resulting primarily from the decline in
fiber optics revenue impacted by the
flood. The fiber optics segments revenue
decreased about $12.6 million from the
prior quarter due to the flooding, account-
ing for $18.4 million, or 49 percent, of the
companys total revenue. Its photovoltaics
segment was not affected.
Its recorded losses for the quarter attrib-
uted to the flood were $5.7 million, with
the majority due to destroyed inventory.
Emcore has implemented alternative
manufacturing plans at its facilities in
China and the US. It also has been focus-
ing on rebuilding its high-volume manu-
facturing infrastructure at other Thailand
locations, with support from Fabrinet and
its own manufacturing facility in China.
38
f
FASTTRACK
Optics industry
on steady ground after quake
TOKYO One year after the devastating
tsunami and earthquake in Japan, there are
no lasting effects on the optics industry,
and all supply chain problems have been
resolved, according to two executives
from Edmund Optics Japan Co. Ltd.
The 9.0-magnitude quake that hit on
March 11, 2011, was the fourth largest in
the world since 1900 and the largest in
Japan since modern records of such events
began being kept 130 years ago. Nearly
16,000 people died, and the World Banks
estimated economic cost was $235 billion,
making it the most expensive natural dis-
aster to date. The quake struck about 80
miles east of Sendai in Honshu, about 231
miles northeast of Tokyo.
The majority of the optics industry in
Japan is not located within the tsunami
zone, said Timothy Paul Kennedy, sales
For more information, see the articles
Thailand Flooding Hits Optics Industry at
photonics.com/ a48923 and II-VI Acquires Aegis
Lightwave at photonics.com/a47580.
Melinda A. Rose
director at Edmund Optics Japan.
Shortly after the quake, Edmund Optics
said it did not suffer any major structural
damage and was considering transferring
some of its work to its Singapore and
Pennsburg, Pa., facilities. Hamamatsu
Photonics also expected problems to be
supply chain-based, but anticipated only
minor delays.
For most of the manufacturing across
Japan, the quake only affected the logis-
tics, which was back on regular schedule
within roughly three to six weeks,
Kennedy said.
The optics industry in Japan began
more than 100 years ago when an optical
research lab opened in Tokyo in 1906.
Since it began producing rangefinders dur-
ing World War I, the industry has grown
into the research and manufacture of pre-
cision glass, filters, coatings, aspheres,
electro-optics and precision optical assem-
blies, among others. (For more on why
optics manufacturing in Japan is still rele-
vant, see the September 2010 article in
Photonics Spectra, page 48.)
The majority of supply issues resulting
from the quake were mainly in the digital
camera, automotive and memory device
markets, as well as some other industries,
Kennedy said, but even in those industries,
companies were able to qualify second
sources that ramped up production quickly
to meet demand and reduce delays.
We have not seen many customers
moving away from the Japanese market,
said Kaz Shibata, senior sales manager at
Edmund Optics Japan. However, many
Japanese companies are considering moving
more of the low-end production overseas.
Thats not a result of the tsunami, he added,
but rather of the strong Japanese yen.
Due to problems in other parts of the
world, such as the floods in Thailand,
Japan has planned to move many factories
from Thailand back to Japan while also
considering moving to other areas, Shi-
bata said.
Because of the high value of the yen,
many companies have a good opportunity
now to buy space outside of Japan for
lower-precision products, he said. This
will continue to fuel the need for Japan to
spend on R&D for next-generation tech-
nologies, while keeping the precision pro-
duction in Japan.
Although Japan suffered such a devas-
tating event, the Japanese people reacted
quickly to ensure the business supply con-
tinued, Kennedy said.
39
f
FASTTRACK
Ashley N. Paddock
ROCHESTER, N.Y. The company that
created the first digital camera said it will
phase out its digital device business in the
first half of this year.
For some time, Kodaks strategy has
been to improve margins in the capture
device business by narrowing our partici-
pation in terms of product portfolio, geog-
raphies and retail outlets, said Pradeep
Jotwani, president, Consumer Businesses,
and Kodak chief marketing officer.
Troubled Eastman Kodak Co., which
filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 19, said the
phaseout will save it more than $100 mil-
lion a year.
The 132-year-old company, which once
controlled the photographic film market,
has been on a slow, painful decline for
years, closing 13 manufacturing plants
and 130 processing labs and reducing its
workforce by 47,000 since 2003. It lost
88 percent of its value last year. At its
peak in 1997, Kodaks stock was valued
at nearly $30 billion. Today it stands at
less than $145 million, according to The
Wall Street Journal.
Shortly before filing for bankruptcy, the
company said it was cutting its business
segments from three to two to reduce
costs.
In 1975, Kodak employee Steven Sas-
son developed the first digital camera
prototype, which weighed eight pounds
and was about the size of a toaster. Over
the next three decades, Kodak amassed
a portfolio of more than 1100 digital
imaging patents.
The company has had no luck trying
to find a buyer for those patents, which it
said have generated more than $3 billion
in licensing revenue since 2003. Kodak
also filed a number of suits in January
against companies such as Apple, Re-
search in Motion Ltd. and Fujifilm Corp.
for infringing those digital patents.
Kodaks potential demise was on the
minds of many at SPIE Photonics West
2012, held in January in San Francisco.
The collapse of one of our industry
giants should be of concern to all of us,
said Robert Edmund, CEO of Edmund
Optics at an executive panel on optics and
photonics. There are lessons here for all
of us.
Michael J. Cumbo, president of Idex
Corp.s optics and photonics platform,
began his career at Eastman Kodak.
He said that the company didnt move
fast enough to capitalize on its digital
technology because it was reluctant
to render obsolete its photographic film
business, which had a profit margin
of 75 percent.
Kodaks failure had lots of reasons, not
just a lack of ability to manage products,
said Ken Kaufmann, vice president of
marketing at Hamamatsu. He added that,
as a major employer in a small town,
Kodak had an ethical and moral responsi-
bility to keep employees.
The economy of Rochester is much
more diverse than it was in the early 1980s
f
FASTTRACK
Kodak to delete its digital device division
when it relied on Xerox, Kodak and
Bausch & Lomb for the majority of
employment opportunities, said Duncan
Moore in a Rochester Democrat &
Chronicle op-ed piece in February. He is
vice provost for entrepreneurship and the
Rudolf and Hilda Kingslake Professor of
Optical Engineering at the University of
Rochester. While Kodak shed 54,000 jobs
over the past three decades, the community
gained a net of 100,000 jobs in industries
such as manufacturing, business, services,
construction and higher education.
The University of Rochester, with its
medical center, is the areas largest em-
ployer, Moore said and, since 1996, 51
startups have been created based on the
universitys technologies.
The challenge now is to head off a
brain drain of twenty-somethings out of
the area, Moore told Photonics Spectra.
Both Kodak and Xerox had national
recruiting of twenty-somethings to
Rochester, Moore said. Thats not hap-
pening now. The challenge as a commu-
nity is how do we get the 70,000-plus stu-
dents in the area universities to embrace
our area and stay?
41
f
FASTTRACK
Ashley N. Paddock
BUSINESSBRIEFS
Association Changes Name To more accu-
rately reflect its mission, the umbrella trade as-
sociation Automation Technologies Council has
changed its name to the Association for Ad-
vancing Automation (A3). Comprising the
Robotic Industries, Automated Imaging and
Motion Control associations, the entity is an
advocate for the benefits of automation. Within
A3, the associations will continue to focus on
how companies and organizations specifically
can apply robots, vision and motion control.
The A3 board of directors consists of industry
leaders from motion control, vision and robotics
companies.
IPG Photonics Adding Jobs With the help
of $1.7 million in tax credits from the state of
Massachusetts, IPG Photonics will add 175
employees as part of an $18 million plan to
expand its facility by more than 100,000 sq ft.
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray joined state and local
officials at the fiber laser makers Oxford facil-
ity to announce both the tax credit under the
Economic Development Incentive Program and
a $2.2 million MassWorks Infrastructure Grant
for the town of Oxford. Oxford, with the support
of other towns, will use the funds to install a
sewer extension to open areas for economic
development.
Raytheon Wins Defense Contracts Raytheon
Co. of Waltham, Mass., has been awarded
$13.4 million by DARPA to develop a manufac-
turing process that will make thermal imagers
more affordable for military use. Under the
three-year contract, Raytheon Vision Systems of
Goleta, Calif., will develop wafer-scale manu-
facturing processes to reduce the size, weight,
power and cost of thermal cameras so that they
can be integrated into cell phones and other
portable electronics. Wider availability would
enhance situational awareness and information
sharing among dismounted soldiers and individ-
ual intelligence personnel, where a common
view of the battlefield is critical.
Also, in support of Blackhawk helicopter oper-
ations, the US Army has awarded Raytheon Co.
a $14.6 million contract to develop new image
processing technology for the Advanced Distrib-
uted Aperture System (ADAS). The system is a
multispectral technology that gives helicopter
pilots 360 situational awareness, improving
aircraft and crew survivability when operating
in low-visibility conditions. The new processor
will significantly enhance the systems high-res-
olution imagery. The technology upgrade in-
cludes thermal cameras and a next-generation
helmet-mounted display subsystem.
In April 2011, Raytheon successfully completed
the integration of ADAS capabilities required by
the US Department of Defenses Joint Capability
Technology Demonstrations program.
Mobius Photonics Receives Patent Mobius
Photonics Inc. has been granted US Patent No.
8,009,705 for an optical fiber-based master os-
cillator power amplifier system that avoids stim-
ulated Brillouin scattering, a spontaneous phe-
nomenon of light scattering that occurs in opti-
cal fibers, reducing a fiber laser systems optical
power. To overcome this, Mobius developed a
method that enables systems to produce high-
peak-power square pulses that are efficiently
converted to desired wavelengths. The invention
is suitable for applications such as materials
processing that demand robust fiber-based sys-
tems that can produce high-quality, high-peak-
power green or ultraviolet pulses.
FEI Acquires Aspex FEI Co. of Hillsboro, Ore.,
has paid $30.5 million for Aspex Corp. of Del-
mont, Pa., which makes scanning electron mi-
croscopes for environmentally demanding mili-
tary, industrial and factory floor applications.
Aspex makes an electron microscope that is
paired with FEIs software as part of the QEM-
SCAN WellSite product FEI markets to the oil
and gas industries. FEI now owns the hardware
and software that have contributed to its growth
in the natural resources market. Aspex gener-
ated $10 million in sales for the fiscal year end-
ing June 30, 2011.
Osram Develops GaN-Based LEDs on
Silicon To replace the sapphire substrates com-
monly used in the LED industry, researchers at
Osram Opto Semiconductors have manufac-
tured blue and white LED prototypes in which
gallium-nitride layers are grown on 6-in. silicon
wafers. The new chips, which are already in the
pilot stage, are being tested under practical
conditions, and Osram said they could be com-
mercially available in about two years. Silicon is
an attractive, low-cost option for large-volume
fabrication. Quality and performance data on
the fabricated LED silicon chips match those of
sapphire-based chips. The company is a sub-
sidiary of Osram AG of Munich.
PD-LD Granted Patent Specialty photonics
packaging company PD-LD Inc. of Pennington,
N.J., has received US Patent No. 7,982,869,
which protects the use of dual laser sources for
the analysis of a single substance. The tech-
nique, based on proprietary VBG (volume Bragg
grating) laser wavelength stabilization, provides
the underlying mechanism for shifted excitation
Raman differential spectroscopy, an analytical
technique that the company says represents a
significant development in the capabilities of
Raman spectroscopy. CEO Vladimir Ban said
that the patent will allow PD-LD to offer Raman
excitation sources that extend portable and lab-
based instruments.
Materion Expands Capacity Materion Micro-
electronics & Services, a unit of Materion Corp.
of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, has completed a 50
percent capacity expansion of its Wheatfield,
N.Y., facility. The site provides precision parts
cleaning and surface treatment of physical
vapor deposition shield kits for manufacturers
of photovoltaics, medical consumables, LEDs
and wireless products. The expansion includes a
fully automated robotic twin wire arc spray, new
cleaning processes, increased precious metals
refining capacity and a Class 10,000 certified
cleanroom. Materion, through its wholly owned
subsidiaries, supplies advanced enabling mate-
rials such as specialty metals, coatings and en-
gineered beryllium alloys.
f
FASTTRACK
May S-ID, 2DI2
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312_AutomatedImaging_Pg43_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:25 PM Page 43
AQT Solar Secures Funding AQT Solar of
Sunnyvale, Calif., has acquired $18.7 million in
venture funding to deploy a second line of cop-
per indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film
solar cells. The Series B investment, which was
more than the company received for its first
round of funding, brings the total capital it has
attracted to almost $40 million. This funding
round follows a year of consistent progress and
growth for AQT, the company said. The CIGS
2.0 technology line allows for continuous in-line
production, simplifying and streamlining the
manufacturing process. The process has re-
sulted in the development, shipment and scal-
ing of CIGS module products in just four years.
Incom Buys Paradigm Optics Fused fiber op-
tics components maker Incom Inc. of Charlton,
Mass., has expanded into the polymer fiber op-
tics market with the acquisition of Vancouver,
Wash.-based Paradigm Optics. Financial details
of the transaction were not disclosed. Paradigm
Optics makes polymer fiber optic devices. The
company will be folded into Incoms operations,
which manufacture fiber optics for scientific,
medical, defense and life sciences applications.
Company President and CEO David Welker will
remain as director, working under Incom Presi-
dent and CEO Michael Detarando.
General Dynamics Creates Imaging Divi-
sion General Dynamics Advanced Information
Systems of Fairfax, Va., has created General
Dynamics Global Imaging Technologies to
deliver imaging solutions for law enforcement,
defense and homeland security customers.
The new division will allow the company to
add integrated long-range infrared and high-
definition (HD) imaging systems to its portfolio
of electro-optical infrared cameras, precision
optical components, stabilized HD gimbals
and motion control products. The new products
are expected to address applications that de-
mand detailed optical surfaces, high-accuracy
image stabilization and tight motion control tol-
erances, such as remotely operated weapons
systems, imaging telescopes and long-range
surveillance cameras.
Novotech Completes Modernization Plan In-
frared optics and germanium materials supplier
Novotech Inc. of Acton, Mass., has completed
an equipment modernization plan that includes
the purchase of automated robotic optics edg-
ing and curve-generating machines that can
produce several thousand units per day. In ad-
dition, Novotech said, a computer numerical
control polishing machine from OptiPro Systems
of Ontario, N.Y., can handle large-size windows
and lenses up to 200 mm in diameter. Several
saws manufactured by the former Silicon Tech-
nologies Corp. were upgraded with numerical
controllers, and two additional inner diameter
saws were delivered. Also, a Precitech diamond
turning machine was upgraded with the HS75
high-speed spindle.
Precision Optical Opens Facility Laser-quality
precision optical assemblies and components
manufacturer Precision Optical of Costa Mesa,
Calif., celebrated the opening of its 42,000-sq-
ft facility in early December. Members of the
optics industry, local government officials, and
members of local business and civic groups at-
tended the ceremony. Speakers included Alan
Lambert Sr., chairman and CEO of Precision
Optical, and Roderick Randolph, president and
chief operating officer. Randolph spoke of plans
to grow and expand the companys product
base by offering lens manufacturing and assem-
bly, and infrared optics and coatings.
Ametek Buys TMC Electronic instruments
maker Ametek Inc. of Berwyn, Pa., has ac-
quired privately held Technical Manufacturing
Corp. (TMC) of Peabody, Mass., a manufacturer
of vibration isolation systems and optical test
benches. Financial terms were not disclosed.
TMCs products are used to isolate highly
sensitive instruments such as scanning
electron microscopes and ultraprecision
machine tools for the microelectronics, life
sciences, photonics and ultraprecision manufac-
turing industries. The company also supplies
passive vibration cancellation systems, optical
test tables, and acoustic and magnetic isolation
hoods. TMC has estimated annual sales of
$30 million. It will become part of Ametek
Electronic Instrument Groups Ultra Precision
Technologies Div.
f
FASTTRACK
GreenLight
Solar concentration without mirrors
M
irror-free thermophotovoltaic
devices could someday make a
much simpler and less expensive
system to concentrate sunlight. The goal is
to prevent heat from escaping the thermo-
electric material by using a photonic crys-
tal essentially, an array of precisely
spaced microscopic holes in a top layer
of the material.
By concentrating the sunlight thermally
capturing it and reflecting it back into
the material the device could absorb as
much heat as a standard black object, yet
not reradiate much of the heat, suggests
Peter Bermel, a scientist at MITs Re-
search Laboratory of Electronics.
Infrared radiation from the sun could
enter the device through the holes on the
surface, but the reflected rays would be
blocked when they try to escape; this is
much like the Earths greenhouse effect.
The blockage is achieved with a precisely
designed geometry that allows only those
rays that fall within a very tiny range of
angles to escape, while the rest stay in the
material and heat it up theoretically, to
very high temperatures.
In direct sunlight, an ordinary dark-
colored, light- and heat-absorbing material
cant get much hotter than boiling water
because the object reradiates heat almost
as fast as it absorbs it; power generation
requires higher temperatures than that. By
concentrating sunlight with parabolic mir-
rors or a large array of flat mirrors, much
higher temperatures are possible, but at
the expense of a much larger and more
complex system.
Bermel said that such a system at large
scale, is efficient enough to compete with
more conventional forms of power. This
is an alternative to concentrators.
The efficiency of ordinary solar-energy-
harnessing systems is around 10 percent,
but the new theoretical material could
achieve 32 to 36 percent. It is important to
note that an increase in efficiency of even
1 percent is considered significant.
The system is simple to manufacture,
using standard chip-fabrication technol-
ogy, Bermel said. By contrast, the mirrors
used for traditional concentrating systems
require extremely good optics, which are
expensive.
The advance envisions the use of exist-
ing light-absorbing material to create a
photonic structure that preferentially emits
light in a direction and wavelength range
optimal for photovoltaic conversion, said
Jason Fleischer, an associate professor of
electrical engineering at Princeton Univer-
sity in New Jersey, who was not involved
in this work.
Doing so, Fleischer said, increases the
efficiency significantly beyond classical
predictions based on unconcentrated sun-
light, enabling a small device to generate
as much electricity as a conventional one
that is much larger.
The heat-trapping device was described
in Nanoscale Research Letters (doi:10.
1186/1556-276X-6-549). l
A diagram of an angle-selective solar thermophotovoltaic system. Courtesy of P. Bermel et al,
Nanoscale Research Letters 2011 6:549.
A novel heat-trapping
system could bring
photovoltaic efficiency
to as high as
36 percent.
312_Greenlight_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:18 PM Page 45
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312_WebinarHouseAd_Pg46_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:26 PM Page 46
Lessons learned from a recent laser accident
BY MICHAEL B. WOODS
SLAC NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY
I
n September 2009, a graduate student
working at SLAC suffered a laser eye
injury while adjusting a polarizing
beamsplitter being used with a femto-
second Ti:sapphire laser.
1
The laser
parameters were 800-nm wavelength,
100-fs pulse width, 1-kHz repetition rate
and 100-mW beam power.
The polarizing beamsplitter, P1, was
part of an optics configuration used for
intensity control (Figure 1). During ad-
justment of the P1 optic, an unblocked
reflected beam the dashed beam in
Figure 1 hit the laser operators eye.
Although the standard operating procedure
document and the area warning signs
specified that laser eyewear protection
(LEP) was required for this work, the op-
erator was not wearing any at the time of
the accident, resulting in a small blind
spot sustained in the peripheral vision re-
gion. Fortunately, the damage was rela-
tively minor, but the incident could have
resulted in significant vision impairment.
The P1 polarizer optic has three compo-
nents: a polarizer cube, which has an es-
cape window for the reflection of one po-
larization component (the polarizer trans-
mits one of the two linear polarization
states and reflects the other); a beam tube,
which also has an escape window; and a
rotation mount. The reflected beam from
P1 was not used in the experiment, and,
initially, the beam tube and polarizer were
correctly secured in the rotation mount
with the tube blocking the reflected beam.
The laser operator wanted good extinc-
tion capability for laser intensity control
and needed the polarizer optics to be nor-
mal to the beam path. The operator ob-
served the backreflection from P1 on a
fluorescent card while wearing LEP but
thought the position information was not
precise enough because of a blooming ef-
fect resulting from saturation on the card.
The operator removed the LEP to allow
viewing of the backreflected beam on a
white card. The operator also wanted to
align the polarizer axis with a 0 marking
on its rotation mount, and loosened the
polarizer and associated beam tube in the
rotation mount to allow this adjustment.
While doing so, the escape windows for
the polarizer and beam tube accidentally
became aligned, allowing the unblocked
reflected beam to come up out of the hori-
zontal plane directly into one eye.
Direct causes
The direct causes of the accident were
deficiencies in administrative alignment
procedures, failure to wear LEP and defi-
ciencies in engineering controls.
Two engineering controls, or configura-
tion changes, that would have prevented
the accident are: 1) using beam tubes with
no escape window, and 2) using nonrotat-
ing mounts for the polarizing beamsplit-
ters. The beamsplitters would then be
mounted so that the reflected beam would
be in the horizontal plane only (using /2
as needed to rotate the polarization vector
of the incident laser beam).
Significant mistakes were made in ad-
ministrative alignment procedures. Good
alignment practices would include the fol-
lowing:
For aligning an optic normal to the
beam, choose a method where LEP is
worn, such as centering an iris on the in-
cident beam and using a CCD camera or
IR viewer to see the backreflected beam
from the optic being aligned.
Block or disable laser beams when not
needed. The accident occurred when the
worker was rotating the polarizer in its
mount, which did not require the beam.
Proper protocol would require blocking
the beam before adjusting the optic.
Do not perform unnecessary optics ad-
justments near accessible laser beams.
Installing the polarizer and adjusting its
angle in the rotation mount should have
been done in an optics preparation area
away from accessible laser beams.
Root causes, corrective actions
The postaccident analysis determined
seven root causes:
Inadequate training: in particular, on-the-
job training (OJT).
Inadequate supervision.
Inadequate work planning.
Inadequate adherence to laboratory rules
for laser alignment.
Deceptive hazard of a dimly visible
800-nm beam.
Out-of-plane beams from a polarizer.
Inadequate intervention following (prior)
laser eyewear safety violations by other
operators in the facility. (The injured
laser operator had observed more senior
laser operators remove required LEP to
perform some tasks.)
Actions were taken to address the direct
and root causes listed above, which in-
cluded significant improvements to train-
LASERS IN USE
DBS P1 /2 P2
e-ray
800 nm
o-ray
400 nm
Figure 1. Optics configuration associated with the accident. DBS dichroic beamsplitter; /2 half-
wave plate; o-ray = ordinary ray, and e-ray = extraordinary ray; and P1 and P2 = polarizers.
Images courtesy of Michael Woods, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
SAFETY PERSPECTIVES
312LaserSafety_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:08 PM Page 47
ing and supervision, and which directly
addressed hazards associated with dimly
visible beams and optics that generate
out-of-plane beams.
SLAC had a laser supervisor training
course at the time of the accident,
although it was relatively new at that
time. This course has been subsequently
strengthened. It is a two-hour classroom
course given by the laser safety officer
and emphasizes responsibilities for
supervisors.
Supervisor responsibilities include:
Providing good site-specific OJT. This
training requires a good syllabus and
must be documented. A template exam-
ple for an OJT syllabus has been created
for this.
Communicating expectations for safe
operations and accountability for actions
by laser operators.
Conducting prejob briefings when appro-
priate and encouraging laser operators to
request or conduct these; e.g., for new,
unfamiliar or infrequently performed
tasks.
Ensuring that the laser facility is well
managed, performing frequent facility
visits and interacting with laser operators
in their work.
Effectively addressing problems as they
arise. This requires good understanding
of a problems cause.
Being proactive about improving proce-
dures and acquiring new equipment to
improve operations and safety.
Ensuring the availability of good equip-
ment, procedures and laser eyewear; i.e.,
making it easy to comply with laser
safety requirements.
Modeling a good safety culture.
Two new training requirements have
been added:
Laser Accidents & Lessons Learned.
This 90-minute course, taught by the
laser safety officer, reviews the SLAC
accident as well as other accidents and
near-miss situations and how they can be
avoided. SLACs eyewear policy and re-
quirements for proper work planning and
control also are discussed.
Laser Alignment Practical. This course
2
takes one to three hours to complete. It is
given by laser supervisors to a maximum
of three students at a time. Standardized
practical training is given in core laser
safety practices that are not site-specific.
The course educates prospective laser
operators on safe alignment techniques
and common mistakes that are made. It
also assists supervisors in determining
the students skill level and how much
supervision will be needed. A schematic
and photo of the training course setup
are shown in Figures 2 and 3.
Two specific issues for the SLAC acci-
dent are hazards associated with polarizing
beamsplitters and dimly visible 800-nm
beams.
Deceptive hazard of a dimly visible
LASERS IN USE
Green DPSS Laser
6.5 mW at 532 nm
Red HeNe Laser
2 mW at 633 nm
I
R

D
i
o
d
e

L
a
s
e
r
3
.
5

m
W

a
t

7
8
5

n
m
B
l
u
e

D
i
o
d
e

L
a
s
e
r
4

m
W

a
t

4
0
5

n
m
Training
Periscope
(Insertable)
Filter 1 OD
Reduces output
to <0.34 mW
(Class 2)
Filter 1 OD
Reduces output
to <0.4 mW
(Class 1)
Diffraction
Grating Iris End
Mirror
Iris
Flip-Up Mirror
Beam Block
Iris
Fold
Mirror 2
Polarizer
(Insertable)
Fold
Mirror 1
Iris
Iris
125 mm
Lens
75 mm
Lens
Fold
Mirror 3
Periscope
(Fixed) Zero-Order /2 Plate
at 532 nm
Flip-Up Mirror
ND Filter 1 OD
Reduces output to <0.7 mW (Class 2)
Filter 1 OD
Reduces output to <0.5 mW (Class 2)
Figure 2. Schematic for SLACs laser
alignment practical training class.
800-nm beam: An 800-nm beam is out-
side the normal visible range but still
dimly visible when viewed on a white
card if it has high enough power. Some
laser personnel unwisely take advantage
of this to perform certain tasks while not
wearing LEP. They can become compla-
cent about the associated hazard because
the perceived hazard is less than what
one observes with a low-power visible
alignment laser or laser pointer. The dif-
fuse reflection hazard at 0.5-m viewing
distance from a white card is typically
10
4
to 10
5
times less than the direct beam
hazard. And even if the diffuse reflection
hazard is below physiological damage
thresholds, unintended stray beams at
0.11 percent of the direct beam are very
hazardous. If LEP is removed for a task,
one often is giving up OD5 (attenuation
of 10
5
) or more in protection a huge
amount of safety to give up. If these
beams were operating instead at 532 nm
in the green, they likely would be intimi-
dating enough that laser operators would
want to wear the required LEP.
Hazards from polarizing beamsplitters:
Laser beams should always to the ex-
tent practical be kept in the horizontal
plane below eye level, with any associ-
ated stray beams (e.g., partial transmis-
sion in a dielectric mirror) also blocked
and kept in the horizontal plane. It is
sometimes necessary, however, to use
optics that generate out-of-plane beams,
including periscopes, polarizing beam-
splitters and diffraction gratings. Extra
caution and special training are needed
to use these optics safely, with good
awareness of common mistakes made
and how to avoid them.
Meet the author
Dr. Michael B. Woods is the laser safety officer
at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory,
Menlo Park, Calif.; email: mwoods@slac.stan
ford.edu. This work is supported by the US
Department of Energy under contract number
DE-AC02-76SF00515.
References
1. M. Woods (2011). Lessons learned from a
recent laser accident. Intl Laser Safety Conf,
SLAC-PUB-14346, http://slac.stanford.edu/
pubs/slacpubs/14250/slac-pub-14346.pdf
2. M. Woods and S. Edstrom (2011). Laser
safety: a laser alignment practical training
course. Intl Laser Safety Conf, SLAC-PUB-
14345, http://slac.stanford.edu/pubs/slacpubs/
14250/slac-pub-14345.pdf
LASERS IN USE
Michael B. Woods
SLAC
Figure 3. SLACs laser alignment practical training course setup.
Images acquired at 8.93, 9.37
and 9.81 m with a TASI-600
hyperspectral system help geologists
map mineral resources over the
Cuprite Hills in Nevada. Courtesy
of ITRES Research Ltd.
312RemoteSensing_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:37 PM Page 50
Explores Harsh Environments
BY LYNN SAVAGE
FEATURES EDITOR
I
dentifying the fluctuating state of the en-
vironment is a massive undertaking that
requires thousands of people to trek to
some of the most desolate corners of the
globe. From arid deserts to forsaken lakes
and rivers and everywhere in between, the
search is on for plants, minerals, water,
soil and other materials that reveal the
health of the ecosystem. These samples,
once collected, are then chemically ana-
lyzed with hopes of determining not only
their native states, but also whatever out-
side influences are taking a toll on them.
To find out, for example, how an oil
spill may influence the aquatic life in a
river delta or how acidic runoff from a
gold mine might seep into wells that pro-
vide water to a town, collecting soil and
water samples from a handful of sites no
longer is satisfactory. Instead, environ-
mental investigators increasingly collect
spectrographic information from sensors
implanted in the belly of an airplane, a
helicopter or even a low-orbiting satellite.
As with any lab-based spectrometer, re-
mote multispectral and hyperspectral im-
agers collect and analyze the spectral in-
formation from the target under its gaze.
Spectral differences not only help differen-
tiate between the leafy canopy of a dense
forest and the algae in a nearby lake, but
also between species of trees and other
plants within that same forest.
How much data these specialized sen-
sors can collect depends on the wave-
length range to which they are sensitive.
The difference between multispectral and
hyperspectral imagers is nuanced, but,
generally, both provide data from a multi-
tude of wavelengths. Multispectral im-
agers, however, acquire imaging data only
(and from discrete wavelengths to boot),
while hyperspectral devices provide both
imaging data and full spectra at each pixel
as well as scanning within a range of
wavelengths. For example, a multispectral
imager may acquire an image of an ice
floe at 600, 1200 and 3600 nm; a hyper-
spectral imager given the same task could
look at every wavelength between 600 and
3600 nm.
There is 20 years of spectral research
From the ice and snow of Antarctica to the daunting heights of the Andes Mountains
or the effluent-choked waters of the Amazon, the world offers plenty of forbidding environments
that beg to be investigated spectrally.
Left: Field photograph of the Los Tollos volcanic center near the town of Rodalquilar in Spain, which is an area of extensive hydrothermal alteration.
Center: A natural color composite image shows the same site via data derived from the HyMAP airborne hyperspectral imager. Right: More data from
the HyMAP imager shows hydrothermal alteration mineralogy of the area. The reddish colors are likely areas with gold mineralization. Red colors indicate
intense alteration of the rocks and the presence of alteration minerals such as alunite and kaolinite. Green areas are related to alteration, but at lower
temperatures and pressures, and are predominantly associated with the mineral illite. Blue areas are unaltered volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Pixel size
of the HyMAP image is 4 4 m. Image maps produced by Frank van Ruitenbeek of the University of Twente. Data Credit: DLR of Germany.
Hyperspectral will be
the next hit after lidar,
and the best news of all
is that those two combined
support each others
strengths and weaknesses
wonderfully.
Petri Nygrn
Specim Spectral Imaging Ltd.
to tap into, and it means a vast scope of
environmental applications for monitoring
various attributes in soil, water and vege-
tation, said Petri Nygrn of Specim Spec-
tral Imaging Ltd. in Oulu, Finland. He is
in charge of the companys AISA airborne
imaging systems hyperspectral systems
that cover the visible, near-infrared, and
short-wave and long-wave infrared re-
gions.
The resolution offered by aircraft-
mounted remote sensors varies not only
with the device type, but also with flight
speed. For example, the broadband imager
TABI-1800 from ITRES Research Ltd. of
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, offers a spatial
resolution of about 15 cm at an airplanes
150 to 200 knots, but about 2.5 cm at the
more genial rate provided by helicopter
transit.
The great forests of the world have
always captured the imaginations of the
populations that live around them. But it
has been a while since people looked at
them mainly as a source of wood and
other resources, or even as a place to visit
every once in a while to commune with
nature. People still look at forests as
a valuable resource, now without even
having to cut them down.
The ITRES Research Ltd. CASI-1500 captures images of cityscapes and other natural environments at 380 to 1050 nm,
with a resolution of 25 cm. Courtesy of ITRES.
Sensing and imaging technologies for defense,
security, industrial applications, and the
environment
Location
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Baltimore, Maryland, USA
spie.org/aboutdss
Conferences and Courses
2327 April 2012
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2012
2327 April 2012
312_SPIE_DSS_Pg53_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:26 PM Page 53
The worlds forests together comprise
one of the most controllable carbon banks
available. Forests currently cover about
one-third of the Earths land surface, and,
according to NASA, as much as 45 per-
cent of the carbon stored on land is held in
these forested areas. Carbon released dur-
ing wildfires or when trees are felled and
converted into fuel adds to the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, adding to the
trapping of heat in the atmosphere.
Scientists at Woods Hole Research Cen-
ter in Falmouth, Mass., and at more than a
dozen other institutes are delving into the
particular role that trees play in carbon
banking, or sequestration. They want to
know if todays forests are holding as
much carbon as they have in the past,
and how they might be better maintained
for future sequestration needs.
Using data from the lidar instrument on
the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite
(ICESat), the Moderate Resolution Imag-
ing Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the
QuikSCAT scatterometer, and the Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission, researchers
are mapping where the best carbon storage
is taking place. They also are looking at
data that will help preserve the health of
the forests.
Forest hygienics studies have the op-
portunity to assess the health of forests as
a whole and particularly the spread of par-
asites or diseases, said Specims Nygrn.
(For information about ICESat-2, the next
generation of the technology, read Pho-
tonic Sensors Help Keep Earth Clean,
Green on p. 67.)
Orbiting sensors such as the Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Re-
flectance Radiometer, which is part of
NASAs Earth Observing System, are ex-
tremely useful to geologists as well as to
foresters. Mineralogists and gas/oil spe-
cialists use data collected at short-wave in-
frared wavelengths and longer to identify
sites worthy of exploiting.
Geologists have long used spectroscopic
tools to analyze rock and soil samples
carefully located and removed to field
bases or brought home to university labs.
Freek D. van der Meer and his col-
leagues at the University of Twente in the
Netherlands use both field and remotely
gathered spectroscopic measurements to
study hydrothermal systems areas of
volcanic land through which water and
other fluids circulate, bringing about min-
eralogical changes. This passage of liquids
leaches some minerals out of the rocks,
but new minerals are formed and left be-
hind as well.
Any remaining patterns of mineraliza-
tion provide information about the fluid
pathways through the system as well as
the pressure and temperature conditions
that have existed in the rocks. Studying
fluid movement, temperature and pressure
helps researchers to understand the under-
lying geologic processes and to predict
where various bodies of specific ores are
likely to occur. Such research also helps
investigators understand and predict the
geology of other planets, such as Mars.
Locating ores is not the sole purpose of
remote imagers. Oil and gas engineers use
multispectral or hyperspectral data to iden-
tify environmental risks at existing mining
sites and oil fields, and soil scientists use
the technology to map properties indica-
tive of soil fertility and soil erosion, which
can aid farmers and forest managers with
their long-term planning.
Adrift in the Amazon
Tracing the metals, acids and other
toxic materials that are the by-products of
mining operations is important for the pro-
tection of globally and regionally impor-
tant river systems. This is particularly true
for the great rivers, such as the Amazon,
which wander for hundreds of miles
through both populated areas and highly
inaccessible ones.
With its many tributaries and adjoining
lakes, the Amazon has a wealth of water
An overhead view of Villacaas, Spain, acquired in the short-wave infrared with the SASI-600 imager. Images in this band provide high-fidelity object classification,
plant speciation and other vital data. Courtesy of ITRES.
sources, some of them crossing through
gold mines that dot the South American
hills through which the river system flows.
Gathering water samples by hand would
be an impossibly tedious task and could
not supply nearly large enough sample
collections, so Felipe de Lucia Lobo and
his colleagues at Instituto Nacional de
Pesquisas Espaciais in So Jos dos Cam-
pos, Brazil, looked to the reflections off
the Amazonian waters.
Because the region is too large, we
need tools that provide information about
water quality in a large scale, Lobo said.
Lobo, who now is pursuing the project
from the University of Victoria in British
Columbia, Canada, compiled reflectance
data from several remote sources, includ-
ing NASAs Hyperion instrument and the
European Space Agencys MERIS (Medi-
um Resolution Imaging Spectrometer).
The former provides per-pixel resolution
of 30 m, while the latter provides a resolu-
tion of 250 m. Data from these spectra
were tested against those gathered from
field tests using handheld spectroradi-
ometers.
The data from the multispectral imagers
proved that the Amazons waters contain
variable and detectable from afar con-
centrations of optically active components
(OACs). These OACs comprise such ele-
ments as phytoplankton pigments, inor-
ganic suspended solids, dissolved carbon
from decayed plants and animals, and
water molecules themselves.
Lobos group sorted the OACs into
several broad groups that help define the
water sources from which they originated:
Clear waters with low concentrations
of OACS.
Black waters rich in dissolved organic
compounds.
Waters with large concentrations of
inorganic suspended solids.
Waters dominated with chlorophyll
from phytoplankton.
For these studies, Lobo said, field re-
search using handheld spectroradiometers
remains the best way to collect data
for now. He and his colleagues reported,
however, that the remotely gathered re-
flectance data provided classification
accuracy as high as 67 percent.
Lobos plan is to continue using remote-
sensing and specialized geographical data
analysis to monitor inland water quality.
I want to provide key information that
actually supports regional policies in order
to improve water resources management
and quality of life, he said.
Technological evolution
Hyperspectral imaging technology has
matured from the research labs and is rap-
idly finding its way into commercial appli-
cations, Specims Nygrn said. The main
problems the hyperspectral industry is
now facing are related to creating an effi-
cient work flow with easy-to-use analysis
tools.
The number of remote sensor users is
growing, and these clients are looking for
several things, according to Daren Tru -
The MuSIC (Multiple Sensor Instrument Controller) system from ITRES Research Ltd.
shows data from up to three sensors in a single real-time display. Courtesy of ITRES.
From an image combining hyperspectral and lidar data, vital information about the health of this forest in British Columbia can be gleaned.
From this data, researchers determined a list of trees that included species, height, spectra and overall health. Courtesy of Specim Spectral Imaging Ltd.
deau of ITRES Research. They want better
performance, more technical capability,
smaller sizes, wider swatch coverage and
simultaneous data collection across a wide
spectral band, he said. They also want
faster access to the data once it is col-
lected.
As with most technologies, improve-
ments in one area may bring about reduc-
tions in another, a fact of which manufac-
turers of hyperspectral imaging systems
are keenly aware.
Weve strived to produce imaging sys-
tems that are physically smaller with each
succeeding generation, Trudeau said.
Ultimately, though, shrinking the size of
the system often incurs a performance
penalty, which may be acceptable for
some users.
Likewise, Trudeau noted, imagers that
cover ever-wider swaths of territory in a
single pass reduce operational costs and
allow for higher spatial resolution, but
tend to be more expensive.
But there is more to hyperspectral imag-
ing than merely spatial resolution, accord-
ing to Nygrn. Real applications with re-
peatability require high spectral resolution,
spectral stability and sensor sensitivity.
Having an instrument with those qualities
does not come without a cost.
I am an application person more than
a sensor person, van der Meer said. I
think that we would greatly benefit from a
hyperspectral mission in space, as it will
provide access to data in any place in the
world rather than being dependent on
aircraft campaigns, which are costly and
typically one off experiments.
Having said that, he added, there re-
mains the trade-off between spatial resolu-
tion, global coverage and repeatability.
We need global coverage for data acces-
sibility, we need repeated observations to
allow monitoring and, hence, make the
link to studying dynamic processes, and
we need protocols and standards so that
measurements are reproducible.
Because 70 percent of the Earths sur-
face is covered by oceans, van der Meer
said, there is a lot of sea bottom that likely
will have much great geology left to ex-
plore which will be difficult even with
advanced remote sensors. There are even
areas uncovered by water where nearly
vertical cliffs and overhanging areas likely
will occlude use of remote sensors.
Future improvements in hyperspectral
imaging may come from research into
novel sensor materials or from new ways
to sift through large amounts of data. But
even as novel remote sensing applications
continue to stack up, ongoing research
will go only so far.
Improvements will come not only
from scientific research, but also from
unexpected sources, van der Meer said.
Breakthrough science is rarely planned.
Lynn Savage
lynn.savage@photonics.com
Breakthrough science is rarely planned.
Freek van der Meer, University of Twente
The latest in photonics for researchers,
engineers, product developers, clinicians
and others in medicine, biotechnology
and life science.
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From the publisher of
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MICROSCOPY
SPECTROSCOPY
IMAGING
OPTICS
LASERS
BRI NGI NG LI GHT TO LI FE SCI ENCE
312_BIO House Ad_Pg57_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:27 PM Page 57
Ultrafast Fiber Lasers
Enable Unique Materials Research
BY DR. TONY LIN
CALMAR LASER INC.
T
he growth of optical fiber technology
is not restricted to the industrial laser
manufacturing sector: The diversity
of fiber laser applications goes way
beyond cutting, welding and materials
processing applications. The intrinsic ro-
bust architecture and low maintenance of
fiber-based architectures coupled with
exceptional performance parameters such
as ultrashort pulse widths, higher pulse
energies, flexible repetition rates, broader
wavelength coverage and phase locking
are extending the capabilities of multiuser
light source facilities to enable innovative
research studies.
Over the past several years, fiber lasers
have made increasing inroads into the
market and now account for more than
10 percent of the overall nondiode laser
segment. Although most of the market
penetration has been confined to the in-
dustrial manufacturing sector, the advan-
tages of fiber lasers in terms of turnkey re-
liability, intrinsic stability and predictable
operation in a relatively small footprint
appeal to a much wider customer base.
And further market growth is likely,
through both new applications and market
share erosion of conventional lasers. Re-
searchers also are embracing ultrafast fiber
laser technology at multiuser facilities
such as SLAC National Accelerator Labo-
ratory in Stanford and Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley,
both in California.
Advances in synchrotron and free-
electron lasers (FELs) are providing
researchers with access to ever-brighter
and -shorter x-ray sources. For many
years, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation
Lightsource (SSRL) has provided pulses
of x-rays for investigating the molecular
and crystallographic structure of materials.
More recently, the development of a
low-alpha mode has allowed access
to x-ray pulses of 1-ps duration.
Meanwhile, the Linac Coherent Light
Source (LCLS) at SLAC is delivering sub-
100-fs pulses with ~10
12
x-ray photons at
wavelengths as short as 0.15 nm. These
ultrafast hard x-ray pulses, with both high
spatial and temporal coherence, are en-
abling the investigation of new fields of
science, from 3-D imaging and dynamical
studies of important biomolecules to char-
acterizing transient states of matter.
In a synchrotron or FEL, energy is ex-
tracted from an electron beam that passes
through an undulating magnetic field. The
path of the electrons is bent back and forth
by an array of magnets of alternating po-
larity, causing a release of energy in the
form of light. In the case of a synchrotron,
the radiation is spatially incoherent with
typical pulse durations on the order of
100 ps, whereas FELs emit an intense,
spatially coherent output beam with pulses
as short as tens of femtoseconds. To sup-
port operation at hard x-ray wavelengths,
the electrons must be tightly bunched so
that they interact coherently with the re-
leased light (effectively achieving self-am-
plified stimulated emission).
Because an FEL has no resonator and is
a single-pass device, an extremely bright
electron beam is required to achieve gain
saturation. This is sometimes accom-
plished by using a conventional ultrafast
laser source (such as Nd:YLF or Ti:sap-
phire) to excite a photocathode in an ac-
celerating radio frequency (RF) field to
serve as an electron injector. Synchroniza-
tion is achieved by locking the ultrafast
laser to a master clock that also is control-
ling the Linac.
In addition, for a number of synchro-
Although ultrafast fiber laser technology is perhaps the catalyst
that will finally allow the nascent industrial ultrafast laser market to reach its
full potential, researchers also are embracing this technology for cutting-edge science.
Cazadero Oscillator
(39.7 MHz)
25 ns
Error Signal
Photo
Diode
Mixer
476 MHz
Bandpass
12th Harmonic
Synchrotron RF
(476 MHz)
Figure 1. Schematic/block diagram of the synchronization scheme.
Ultrafast Fiber Lasers Calmar Feat_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:15 PM Page 58
trons around the world, time-resolved
beam lines have been developed using
conventional ultrafast sources to enable
pump-probe studies. For each of these
configurations, however, a major draw-
back has been that conventional solid-
state ultrafast amplifiers typically con-
sume an enormous optical table and
require daily maintenance to ensure opti-
mum performance.
Professor Aaron Lindenberg of Stanford
University overcame this problem at
SSRL by using a turnkey ultrafast fiber
laser, the Cazadero from Calmar Laser.
Designed for demanding OEM medical
and microelectronics processing applica-
tions, the lasers compact size and simple
setup facilitate convenient installation and
relocation from one experimental beam
line to another. Furthermore, its high pulse
energy (up to 20 J at <500 fs) and high
repetition rate play to the strengths of the
SSRL, enabling time-resolved studies with
an excellent signal-to-noise ratio.
In Lindenbergs initial experiments, the
ultrafast fiber laser, operating at a repeti-
tion rate of 1.28 MHz, has been success-
fully phase-locked to the synchrotron
476-MHz RF signal (Figure 1) with a tim-
ing jitter of less than 1 ps and used to di-
rectly measure the x-ray pulse duration.
Figure 2 shows direct measurements of the
synchrotron pulse in a short-pulse x-ray
mode. The experiments are carried out by
cross-correlating in a barium borate crystal
visible light at 500 nm generated by the
synchrotron with the lasers phase-locked
1030-nm output and detecting the sum fre-
quency-mixed signal at 340 nm. The short-
est pulses recorded are ~3 ps in duration.
The synchronism of the optical and
x-ray pulse enables a unique class of
Figure 2. Pulse width of synchrotron from cross-correlation signal.
Figure 3. X-ray goniometer; at center, a sample is illuminated simultaneously by x-rays and second-harmonic light (515 nm) from the
Cazadero laser system.
pump-probe experiments (Figure 3). The
high-energy output pulse of the fiber laser
system pumps or excites a sample, induc-
ing a kind of physical or photochemical
transformation. The change then is interro-
gated at the atomic level by an x-ray pulse
from the synchrotron. By varying the ar-
rival time of the probe pulse, the dynamics
of the process can be followed as an
x-ray movie of the structural changes
occurring at the atomic level. The ap-
proach is being used to gain a better un-
derstanding of the excited-state dynamics
of nanocrystalline systems and the way in
which they differ from their corresponding
bulk structures.
In a recent study, Lindenbergs group
used the laser source to photoexcite a sys-
tem of nanocrystalline silver selenide
(Ag
2
Se) and successfully used the x-rays
to follow structural transformations occur-
ring on ultrafast timescales. Although
these initial studies are very encouraging,
enhanced detector and sample delivery
systems are now in development to further
improve the signal-to-noise levels. Future
studies are expected to provide insight for
the development of unique catalysts and
more efficient photovoltaic materials.
At LBNL, the Cazadero also has been
chosen to enable the development of a
light source called the Next Generation
Light Source (NGLS). In this case, the
laser is again phase-locked but is used to
irradiate a photocathode to produce
bunches of electrons that are accelerated
to high energy in an RF cavity. This sys-
tem is being developed as the electron
injector for the NGLS.
The NGLS is an FEL producing x-rays
into the kilo-electron-volt energy range
and will be unique in operating at a mega-
hertz repetition rate. Depending on the
choice of photocathode material, the laser
will operate at its fundamental 1030-nm
wavelength; its second harmonic, 515 nm;
or its fourth harmonic, 257.5 nm.
The choice of the photocathode laser
system is critical in the design of a ma-
chine devoted to support a user facility,
said Dr. Howard Padmore, experimental
group systems leader for the Advanced
Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley. We
cannot tolerate any human intervention on
a daily basis. The Cazadero is a unique
system offering reproducible stable opera-
tion with a simple on/off switch. In addi-
tion, it provides all the key technical spec-
ifications such as power, repetition rate
and pulse duration for different types of
cathode as well as frequency locking.
The NGLS high-repetition-rate, high-
brightness x-ray source will enable cine-
matic imaging of dynamics, determination
of the structure of heterogeneous systems
and development of novel nonlinear x-ray
spectroscopies.
Meet the author
Dr. Tony Lin is CEO at Calmar Laser Inc.
in Sunnyvale, Calif.; email: tony@calmar
laser.com.
Ultrafast Fiber Lasers
The synchronism of the
optical and x-ray pulse
enables a unique class
of pump-probe
experiments.
Lasers Change the Shape
of the Photovoltaics Industry
BY MARIE FREEBODY
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
L
asers may have been made for photo-
voltaics (PVs). Many of the materials
used in PVs, such as silicon, metals
and dielectrics, absorb laser light at the
right wavelength; short-wave or pulsed
lasers enable low optical and thermal
penetration depth; fragile materials can
be processed without contact; and, once
the initial investment is made, high pro-
duction rates can make laser technology
highly cost-effective.
But the story doesnt end there. The
potential for further laser development
in PV manufacturing is high, with many
solutions currently in testing phase or
recently transferred to industry.
A few major headline grabbers of the
moment include tailoring of the temporal
shape of the laser pulse to obtain faster
and cleaner processes, contact-free laser
printing and the use of short pulses.
In many of the process steps required
for novel solar cell architectures, the use
of the laser is unavoidable: for instance,
for the drilling of holes for metal wrap
through crystalline solar cells. In others,
however, a laser must compete with exist-
ing manufacturing technologies. Examples
of such competition include selective
emitter and edge isolation, both of
which could be realized using nonlaser
approaches.
Because the architecture of crystalline
solar cells is continuously evolving, laser
manufacturers must follow solar cell man-
ufacturer road maps to identify the busi-
ness opportunities for laser technologies,
sometimes with only a short window
of time.
In fact, some of the well-established
laser processes, such as laser edge isola-
tion, could be replaced in the future by
other, even more complex, approaches,
such as one-sided wet etching, which is
more compatible with novel cell architec-
tures providing higher cell efficiencies,
said Milan Rosina, technology and market
analyst at Yole Dveloppement, a market
research and strategic consulting company
in Lyon, France.
Although laser technology has been
continuously improved and successfully
used in several manufacturing steps, the
advantage of using lasers is now more in
an incremental cell-efficiency increase or
progressive simplification in some of the
processing steps than in a considerable
improvement.
Contact-free laser printing
That being said, there are a couple of
potential game changers that could chan-
nel PV manufacturing into new directions.
Although screen-printing techniques
are the mainstream technology for todays
solar cell metallization, Rosina said they
will become incompatible with thinner
wafers in the near future and will be re-
placed by a kind of noncontact technique
more adapted for the handling of fragile
wafers.
These techniques, such as plating, ink-
jet and contact-free laser printing, still
have a low throughput compared with
screen printing, but their performances are
continuously improving. For example, the
contact-free laser transfer printing (LTP)
process developed by BASF SE of Lud-
wigshafen and Aurentum aurentum Inno-
vationstechnologien GmbH of Mainz, both
in Germany, could be particularly adapted
for high-throughput metallization. LTP
was designed by the Schmid Group of
Freudenstadt, Germany.
The contact-free laser printing could
be considered as a hot candidate for a big
change in the PV industry, because it
could definitely allow using thinner wafers
without increased breakage losses and
potentially replace the traditional and
proven screen-printing technology,
Rosina said. Laser solutions may find
their added value in the near future when
thinner wafers and complex cell architec-
Laser technology and photovoltaics manufacturing make naturally happy partners. Lasers lend
themselves well to the needs of PV development such as drilling, trenching, ablation, welding and doping.
Electro Scientific Industries Inc. is testing PV technology with several copper indium gallium selenide module
manufacturers and scribing equipment makers. The PyroFlex 25 flexible pulsed laser can perform the P1
scribing process in the difficult case of two-layer molybdenum. Images courtesy of ESI.
312_ Laser Feat PV_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:16 PM Page 61
tures will require noncontact and digital
processing.
Manufacturers of thin-film solar cells
often rely on three scribing processes
P1, P2 and P3 to increase the operating
voltage of the cells to useful values. Criti-
cal to the overall efficiency of the cells,
the scribes yield in manufacture is an im-
portant factor in determining their cost.
In many thin-film manufacturing
processes, laser scribing has become
the preferred method; however, copper
indium gallium selenide (CIGS) has
proved unusually difficult to scribe with
lasers, and mechanical scribing using a
diamond needle is the most commonly
used technique.
Sophisticated ultrafast lasers have been
demonstrated recently as a potential solu-
tion, but cost could be a limiting factor
here. Some CIGS manufacturers consider
these lasers too expensive and not suffi-
ciently robust for use in a 24/7 manufac-
turing environment.
Another new promising approach is
the tailoring of the temporal shape of the
laser pulse to obtain faster and cleaner
processes. This means customizing the
shape, height and width of the laser pulse
nanosecond by nanosecond, independent
of the repetition rate.
Such tailored pulse lasers are enabling
higher-quality P2 and P3 scribes on CIGS
at lower cost than current mechanical
scribing and could be integrated into solar
scribing production systems in 2012,
Rosina said. The US company ESI [Elec-
tro Scientific Industries Inc.] is currently
testing this technology with several CIGS
module manufacturers and scribing equip-
ment makers.
ESI is a leading supplier of innovative,
laser-based manufacturing solutions for
the microtechnology industry, with head-
quarters in Portland, Ore. The company
has had promising initial results with the
laser technology, which was acquired by
purchasing startup PyroPhotonics Lasers
Inc. of Montreal. The PyroFlex technology
initially was brought in to assure its sup-
ply of the lasers for its memory business;
however, ESI now is targeting the poten-
tially far larger solar market.
Some advantages of laser scribing are
thought to be: higher throughput than
current needle scribing processes, elimi-
nation of the need to fix a scribing needle
once it has dulled, and the potential for
scribes to be spaced closer together, since
no longer must space be left to allow for
chipping.
ESI PyroPhotonics senior product
manager Marco Guevremont explained
that the PyroFlex 25 laser series combines
the benefits of fiber laser technology with
ESIs tailored pulse capability, enabling a
new generation of laser processing appli-
cations that lie beyond the capabilities of
Q-switched and picosecond lasers.
Available in the infrared or green, the
PyroFlex 25 programmable tailored pulse
fiber laser platform provides users with
Lasers in PV Manufacturing
complete, individual control over the pulse
parameters, including temporal width,
energy and repetition rate, he said. It
also provides fine and detailed control
over precise pulse shape and complex
pulse trains.
Working with the US Department of
Energys National Renewable Energy Lab-
oratory and multiple CIGS manufacturers,
ESIs PyroFlex 25 has demonstrated the
ability to produce clean P2 and P3 scribes
with no melting of the CIGS at the side-
walls, leaving the molybdenum layer
undamaged.
This ability to remove material without
melting, using pulses in the sub-10-ns
range, is key to maximizing device yield on
complex materials like CIGS where pre-
serving the crystalline phase is essential to
electrical performance, Guevremont said.
Additionally, the laser also can be used
to perform the P1 scribe in the difficult
case of two-layer molybdenum, whereas
some other commercial laser scribe
processes can scribe only single layers of
the material.
Short pulses make short work of it
Another laser technology making its
way into PV factories is the short nanosec-
ond infrared pulsed fiber laser. This laser
is attracting attention for CIGS P2 and
P3 scribing, where it can be used in the
selenium-boil-off process. This involves
rapidly boiling the selenium using short
laser pulses at the interface with the
underlying molybdenum.
A drawback to this process is that,
because many of the coatings used by
CIGS vendors are nontransmissive in the
infrared, this works with only a fraction
of the CIGS vendors materials.
Outside of this subset, the processing
needs to be done using direct ablation
with a green picosecond laser such as our
Talisker product, said David C. Clark, a
product line manager at Coherent Inc.
Unfortunately, the costs of a tool with
multiple picosecond lasers are rather pro-
hibitive, and, as such, the direct ablation
approach hasnt really been accepted into
production yet. But we have hopes that it
will at some point.
Speed, speed and more speed
Speed is the most challenging aspect
that laser manufacturers must overcome
because throughput and yield are the key
to lower solar cell manufacturing costs,
said Yole Dveloppements Rosina.
For example, some laser processing
steps, such as selective emitter formations,
typically require two lasers to achieve
the desired process speed. To process
emitter-wrap-through (EWT) cells, laser
drilling speeds of approximately 10,000
holes per second (not available today
by industrial lasers) is required. This is
hindering the introduction of EWT cells
into commercial production, he said.
According to ESI PyroPhotonics
Guevremont, the PyroFlex 25 recently
demonstrated drilling speeds that meet
industry requirements for the implemen-
tation of the EWT process with front-
side-back-side PV cell manufacturers.
However, to increase laser processing
speed, the requirements on laser pulse
energy, accurate beam spot positioning,
beam shape, beam energy time profile
and reproducibility will become even
more challenging.
One of the main hindrances of laser
manufacturing is the fact that the laser
beam is usually performing very locally.
But a solar cell is a large-surface elec-
tronic device, and, therefore, the surface
treatments, such as laser texturing of
solar wafers or EWT cell processing,
remain costly and very time-consuming
processes, Rosina said. On the other
hand, the local (digital) character of
laser processing is required to realize
specific features such as a locally doped
profile for selective emitters or locally
ablated dielectric layers.
Therefore, a combined approach of
transforming a high-energy, small laser
beam spot into a desired form, such as a
line or a series of lines, could prove very
promising.
marie.freebody@photonics.com
Lasers in PV Manufacturing
Left and above: In the P3 scribing process, transparent conductive oxide/CIGS is ablated, leaving
the molybdenum undamaged.
Next-Generation CMOS
Redefines Trade-Offs for Inspection
O
ver the past 10 years, CMOS
imaging technology has been
increasingly adopted by OEMs in
the machine vision industry, although
progress has required considerable time
and investment. Integrated circuit design
is always a process of optimizing trade-
offs between limiters, but innovations in
design and improvements in fabrication
technology have allowed designers to
overcome many traditional practical im-
plementation issues and deliver products
with performance that is truly compelling
for machine vision applications.
Future generations of CMOS technol-
ogy will continue to enhance the perform-
ance of imaging devices. Now users can
benefit from high-resolution, high-speed
imaging devices that provide image qual-
ity that exceeds application requirements.
Future generations of CMOS technology
will defy todays limits with unprece-
dented combinations of imaging device
attributes.
Designing the most suitable camera for
a specific machine vision application re-
quires a delicate balance between the
needs of the machine vision system and
the various attributes of the image sensor
and camera.
Trade-Offs
Three main attributes define the primary
set of trade-offs for an area imaging de-
vice. The first set can be observed in im-
aging performance: image quality, maxi-
mum number of frames per second and
resolution. The second set is in the func-
tionality of the camera or sensor, where
competing features call for difficult deci-
sions. Examples of these secondary trade-
off attributes include features such as win-
dowing and power consumption. Finally,
there are feasibility trade-offs dealing with
cost, yield, reliability and other features
related to the manufacturing of the imag-
ing device.
Although in the past, image quality
thresholds required the use of interline
transfer CCD sensors in many applica-
tions, improvements in the design of
CMOS sensors have led to better image
quality and opened up new possibilities
for much faster inspection systems with
the desired image quality.
Historically, CCD interline transfer was
the dominant sensor technology for shut-
tered imaging. The first generation of
CMOS technology entered the market of-
fering only rolling shutter functionality,
which precluded its use in most shuttered
applications, despite the opportunity for
higher speed and lower power and cost.
Later on, the CMOS global shutter feature
was introduced, solving the rolling shutter
shortfall and allowing CMOS to be rele-
vant to more users. Recent advances have
vastly reduced the noise and improved the
signal-to-noise ratio levels in CMOS.
Now, in high-speed machine vision ap-
plications, CMOS meets or exceeds CCD
interline transfer technology in functional-
ity, performance and cost.
The latest generations of CMOS imag-
ing technology have diminished the trade-
off between resolution and speed by using
very high data throughput, made possible
by very fast, high-bandwidth analog-to-
In the CMOS imaging
device design process,
some trade-offs are related
to the physics of operating
the device; others are due
to practical non-idealities
in the implementation of the
design. To come up with
an optimal CMOS imag-
ing device design, all of
these factors should be
considered.
BY BEHNAM RASHIDIAN AND ERIC FOX,
TELEDYNE DALSA
Resolution Speed
Image Quality
Figure 1. CMOS image
sensor primary trade-off.
Images courtesy of Teledyne Dalsa.
FEATteledyne_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:48 PM Page 64
digital converters. The speed of these de-
vices has challenged the boundaries of
available data transmission standards such
as Camera Link and has been the primary
driving force behind the new high-band-
width Camera Link HS standard.
Advances in pixel structures, such as
global shutter pixels, have already nar-
rowed the gap between speed and image
quality, which in the past was an issue in
high-speed applications. This technology
currently is a de facto standard for any
high-end CMOS image sensor.
Use of features such as pinned photo-
diode technology and optimized implanta-
tion techniques reduces the dark current
and number of hot pixels as well as the
noise and lag in an image. This has im-
proved the pixel signal-to-noise ratio. A
lower noise floor means that new imagers
can be used with less illumination at faster
frame rates and still achieve the same
image signal-to-noise ratio as older,
slower, noisier designs.
The benefits of the new CMOS imaging
technology are not confined only to the
imaging sensor. Advances in CMOS cam-
era design techniques also have offered
new possibilities in terms of imaging per-
formance. For example, real-time embed-
ded processing in the camera compensates
for non-idealities in the sensor, such as
pixel response nonuniformity correction.
This embedded processing also simplifies
the vision system by performing process-
ing that traditionally was done in a frame
grabber, such as in-camera real-time flat-
field correction. Windowing capability and
the ability to change camera aspect ratio
are other examples of how camera design
in conjunction with a CMOS image sensor
can provide additional capabilities to an
end user.
Competing factors
When it comes to CMOS pixel structure
design, a few fundamental competing fac-
tors define the performance of the CMOS
imaging sensor. Some of these trade-offs
are fundamental and physical, and some
are due to non-idealities in the silicon or
in the implementation of the device. In the
past, a primary focus of CMOS technol-
ogy development was overcoming image
artifacts. The user must pay close attention
to the performance of a CMOS image sen-
sor with regard to artifacts arising in ex-
treme situations, or related to certain oper-
ation and lighting situations. This con-
sideration heavily affects a designers de-
cision when faced with design trade-offs.
A sensor with an excellent combination of
specifications may prove to be unusable if
it exhibits image artifacts.
Some of the major trade-off parameters
are:
1. Fill factor: An inverse relationship ex-
ists between the number of transistors
in a given pixel and its fill factor the
percentage of light-sensitive area in a
pixel. Fill factor directly affects the
sensitivity of a sensor and the signal-
to-noise ratio of the captured image.
On the other hand, having more tran-
sistors in a pixel allows for additional
features that enhance image quality,
such as global shutter and correlated
double sampling.
2. Light acceptance angle: To minimize
the impact of an increased number of
transistors per pixel, most CMOS
image sensors use microlenses to com-
pensate for some of the lost real estate
in a pixel due to the greater number of
transistors. However, microlenses re-
duce the light acceptance angle in a
pixel. Using microlenses somewhat
improves the trade-off between the
number of transistors in a pixel and
image quality.
3. Pixel charge capacity (Qsat) and maxi-
mum exposure level: Another major
drawback of having more transistors in
a pixel is reduced pixel charge capac-
ity. A reduction in pixel size (increased
resolution for the same-size sensor)
means less space for charge storage,
which in turn results in lower pixel
charge capacity. Reduced pixel capac-
ity affects the suitability of sensors for
some applications. For example, in the
many that require the camera to differ-
entiate between shades of gray in a
bright image, shot noise is the decisive
factor, not the absolute noise floor.
Since the signal-to-noise ratio in the
shot noise limit scales with the square
root of the captured photon signal,
shot-noise-limited applications require
high pixel storage capacity. Higher
pixel storage capacities also help to
minimize the size and impact of sev-
eral types of imager non-idealities,
such as blooming and parasitic image
artifacts.
4. Minimum exposure time, and resolu-
tion and power: Minimum exposure
time directly defines the maximum
practical speed of the imaging device.
A sensor that is not optimally designed
can exhibit image artifacts at low ex-
posure times while behaving normally
VPR
PR TR
SEL
VDD
RST
Figure 2. Teledyne Dalsas 5T global shutter CMOS pixel, introduced in 1999.
Figure 3. Distortion, rolling shutter and global shutter.
at longer ones. In a CMOS sensor
design, the minimum exposure time is
determined by the signal propagation
speed within the sensor. Voltage stabi-
lization could be compromised by
suboptimal signal routing schemes.
This issue becomes more evident as
the sensor resolution increases. On
the other hand, an ability to clock a
sensor fast enough to capture a really
short exposure time will also lead to
larger exposure control feed-through
artifacts as well as higher power con-
sumption.
5. Minimum achievable noise level: The
minimum achievable noise level in a
pixel is important in light-starved ap-
plications. Complex pixel circuitry
and an increased number of stages
can negatively affect the noise floor
of a sensor. Essential techniques,
such as correlated double sampling
(a must-have feature to achieve
equivalent or better noise figures as
in CCD interline transfer devices),
requires extra memory in the pixel
architecture. This additional circuitry
leaves less real estate in the pixel
for light collection and signal
storage, therefore limiting optical
efficiency and maximum signal hand-
ling capacity.
There are a few schools of thought
on how best to implement correlated
double sampling in CMOS global shut-
ter pixels. In general, charge domain
techniques are superior to voltage
domain techniques, but the former are
more susceptible to shutter leakage.
6. Shutter leakage: When a CMOS pixel
is read out, the charges from the light-
sensitive area of the pixel are trans-
ferred to a storage area for subsequent
charge to voltage conversion and data
transfer. Because the storage area
cannot be perfectly isolated from the
imaging area of the pixel, unwanted
signal may be collected in the storage
node, creating parasitic image arti-
facts. To reduce this charge spillage,
the charge can be immediately con-
verted into voltage and sampled. This
technique, also known as voltage do-
main global shutter, requires extra ca-
pacitors. However, the downsides
of this technique are increased noise
floor level relative to charge domain
correlated double sampling and a
negative impact on almost all of the
previously mentioned performance
parameters.
An alternative approach to the voltage
domain global shutter structure is a
charge domain structure, where the trans-
fer of the image into a shielded area takes
place in the charge domain. This vastly
reduces the complexity of the pixel but
requires optimized implementation of the
components within a pixel. To achieve a
better trade-off scheme between global
shutter and other performance parameters,
CMOS fabrication process challenges
must be met and overcome. Essentially,
with this method, a reduced number of
high-quality elements in the pixel achieve
the same result as a more complex pixel
circuitry.
Meet the author
Behnam Rashidian is senior product manager at
Teledyne Dalsa in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;
email: behnam.rashidian@teledynedalsa.com.
Eric Fox is technical director for CMOS ICs;
email: eric.fox@teledynedalsa.com.
CMOS for Inspection
SEL
VDD
RST
TX
Frame Memory/Sense Node
Figure 4. Voltage domain global shutter architecture.
Photonic Sensors
Help Keep Earth Clean, GREEN
BY DR. RADU BARSAN,
RIO INC.
P
hotonic sensors play a major role
in a sustainable future and, in par-
ticular, in a variety of applications
in the generation, distribution and
conservation of energy, as well as
in the mitigation of the effects of energy
production and consumption on the
environment.
Electricity generation from wind en-
ergy is rapidly growing in the US and
worldwide, and could provide at least
20 percent of the nations electricity by
2030. This trend is driving the need for
larger multimegawatt turbines, for on-
shore and offshore utility-scale operation,
with rotor diameters well exceeding 100
to 120 m. As wind turbines increase in
size and capital cost, there is a growing
need to incorporate early-warning wind
shear measurements and turbine struc-
tural health monitoring to optimize the
design, operation and maintenance of
the wind turbine and to protect it with
a high level of confidence against danger-
ous wind gusts. At the same time, the
high levels of investment required for the
development of new wind farm projects
drive the need for improved site assess-
ments of the wind resources, over longer
periods of time, to improve the confi-
dence level in the returns on investment.
Because of their immunity to electro-
magnetic interference, lightning and elec-
trical noise, optical fiber sensors have been
steadily gaining in popularity among wind
turbine manufacturers as a practical, reli-
able and cost-effective online structural
safety and fatigue monitoring tool inte-
grated with the condition-based monitoring
system of wind turbines. Fiber Bragg grat-
ing (FBG) strain sensor arrays either sur-
face-mounted or embedded can monitor
the mechanical behavior of rotor blades
in different types of wind turbines. The
results can be used during the design and
qualification stages to corroborate the
Spectroscopic, fiber optic sensing, and light detection and
ranging (lidar) technologies increasingly are being employed
in the wind and geothermal energy sectors; in making
fossil fuel exploration, extraction and distribution as well
as fossil-fuel-based energy generation cleaner, safer and
more efficient; and in monitoring greenhouse emissions
and pollution and theireffects on the planet.
Figure1. Commercial
lidar wind-measure-
ment systems are
among the many tools
used to keep an eye
on the environment.
Courtesy of Zephir Ltd.
312EnergyApplications_Rio_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:17 PM Page 67
measured strain values against design
models. In service, premounted FBG sen-
sors help monitor online the condition of
the blades while rotating or stationary,
and under various wind conditions.
Lidar technology has been used for a
long time in atmospheric research. Re-
cently, it has been having a growing impact
on the wind energy sector because, unlike
mechanical anemometers, it can measure
the speed of wind remotely. Laser radiation
scatters from atmospheric particles (aero-
sols, dust, pollen, water droplets) and is
Doppler-shifted by the wind. Measuring the
Doppler shift can provide accurate speed
measurements at distances ranging from
tens or hundreds of meters to kilometers.
By scanning the laser beam or using sev-
eral telescopes at different angles, the wind
speed vector components also can be de-
rived in real time. Ground-based lidar,
which complements wind flow modeling
data, first penetrated the site assessment
market as a valuable replacement for mete-
orological towers equipped with cup
anemometers. Powered by reliable infrared
lasers with a narrow linewidth, wind lidar
operates nonstop over extended periods of
time (months and years), taking and trans-
mitting vast amounts of wind speed data
from multiple points on a prospective site
over many seasons, atmospheric conditions
and altitudes (Figure 1).
Narrow-linewidth semiconductor lasers
have become lower-cost, smaller and,
most importantly, more stable and reliable.
They can now operate maintenance-free
on the nacelle for long periods of time.
With the aid of these developments, tur-
bine-mounted lidar instruments increas-
ingly are being deployed to measure the
magnitude and direction of the wind speed
at hub height upstream of the turbine (typ-
ically 200 m). The supervisory control and
data acquisition, or SCADA, systems of
turbines equipped with wind lidar can
now see the wind before it reaches the
blades. The systems can take appropriate
yaw and pitch control actions to either
protect the blades from excessive gusts or
maximize the efficiency of converting
wind speed into generated power. This
results in increased component lifetimes,
increased turbine availability, and lower-
operating and maintenance costs per
megawatt of generated power.
Using lasers to monitor
the environment
Thanks to their ability to remotely deter-
mine the speed and direction of air particles
or molecules, atmospheric lidar systems are
an instrument of choice for diverse environ-
mental monitoring activities ranging from
predicting the trajectory of volcanic ash
plumes after a major eruption, to measuring
global tropospheric wind fronts to help in
weather forecasting (Figure 2).
The extraordinary ranging accuracies
that can be achieved with ultranarrow-
linewidth lasers enable powerful space-
based applications for environmental
research and monitoring. For example,
NASAs GRACE (Gravity Recovery and
Climate Experiment) mission maps the
Earths gravity field by making accurate
measurements of the distance between
two satellites, using GPS and a precise
Environmental Monitoring
Figure 3. Above: Satellites fly in formation in the
GRACE mission. Right: The ICESat-2 satellite uses
a laser beam split to illuminate six spots on
the ground. Courtesy of NASA.
Figure 2. This direct-detection fringe imaging
Doppler wind lidar system is located near the
summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Courtesy of
Michigan Aerospace.
ranging system (Figure 3a). The gravity
variations that GRACE studies include
changes due to surface and deep currents
in the ocean; runoff and groundwater stor-
age on land masses; exchanges between
ice sheets or glaciers and the oceans; and
variations of mass within the Earth. The
results from GRACE contribute to global
climate change studies. The GRACE-FO
(GRACE-Follow-On) mission, planned
for launch in 2016, will provide an ul-
tralow-noise, frequency-stabilized laser
interferometric ranging capability to the
satellites. The GRACE-FO laser ranging
will measure the distance variations be-
tween the spacecraft to the level of 1 nm,
allowing a more precise determination of
the Earths gravity field.
Another application, ICESat-2 (Ice,
Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2), is
the second generation of the orbiting laser
altimeter ICESat and is also scheduled for
launch in early 2016. Its scientific objec-
tives are the following: quantifying polar
ice-sheet contributions to current and re-
cent sea-level change and the linkages to
climate conditions; quantifying regional
signatures of ice-sheet changes to assess
mechanisms driving those changes and to
improve predictive ice-sheet models; esti-
mating sea ice thickness to examine ice/
ocean/atmosphere exchanges of energy,
mass and moisture; and measuring vegeta-
tion canopy height as a basis for estimat-
ing large-scale biomass and biomass
change. ICESat-2s ATLAS (Advanced
Topographic Laser Altimeter System) in-
strument is a multibeam laser altimeter
that uses time of flight to map out the
topology of the Earth (Figure 3b).
Oil and gas exploration
and production
Over the past decade, optical fiber sen-
sors have gained widespread acceptance
within the oil and gas industry due to their
reliability, flexibility and low operating
costs, as well as the benefits brought by
their multipoint and distributed sensing ca-
pabilities. Initial applications have focused
on downhole, single-point bottom-well
temperature and pressure sensing, as well
as distributed temperature and strain reser-
voir sensing. More recently, extensive in-
terest has been shown in the development
and commercialization of fiber optic seis-
mic and acoustic sensing arrays land and
underwater for oil and gas exploration,
pipeline surveillance, geophysical moni-
toring, reservoir monitoring and manage-
ment, geothermal monitoring, and struc-
tural monitoring of offshore platforms and
oil tankers. Photonic sensors contribute
directly to making hydrocarbon explo-
ration and production cleaner by helping
avoid spills, reducing the number of re-
quired drillings per oil field, and making
oil and gas transportation and distribution
safer and less polluting.
Initially, fiber optic sensing (FOS) was
introduced in the oil and gas industry as
a replacement for legacy electronic tem-
perature and pressure gauges, as well as
a tool to monitor nonconventional reser-
voirs and enhanced recovery in wells
through distributed temperature sensing
using either FBGs or Raman backscatter-
ing techniques.
FOS technology, having undergone
the incubation period required to prove
its field-worthiness, is now ready to be
widely deployed in more advanced appli-
cations such as pipeline monitoring,
leakage detection, high-temperature
geothermal wells, intelligent completions
and flow assurance among others. The
development of reliable commercial ul-
tralow-noise semiconductor lasers that
can operate maintenance-free from desert
to arctic conditions has enabled dynamic
acoustic sensing based on coherent
Rayleigh backscattering technology.
Distributed temperature and strain sens-
ing, on the other hand, is being ad-
dressed with Brillouin optical time-
domain reflectometry or Brillouin optical
time-domain analysis techniques. Dis-
tributed acoustic sensing (DAS)
enables detection, discrimination and
location of acoustic events on an optical
fiber over tens of kilometers.
Using a combination of the measure-
ment of backscattered light and advanced
signal processing, the DAS interrogator
segregates the fiber into an array of thou-
sands of individual microphones.
Applications of DAS are common in
pipeline monitoring, intrusion detection,
hydraulic fracturing of tight sand and
shale gas reservoirs, and passive or
active seismic reservoir monitoring
(Figure 4).
Seismic permanent offshore oil reservoir
monitoring is an important and growing
application of interferometric FOS technol-
ogy, with significant contributions to the
upstream oil and gas industry (Figure 5).
The seismic data is used for monitoring
Figure 4. Fiber optic sensing systems: Left: A
commercial distributed acoustic sensing monitoring
system in operation. Courtesy of QinetiQ. Above: A
distributed temperature sensing data acquisition unit
installed in a thermal recovery field in the Middle
East. Courtesy of Qorex.
and mapping fluid movements and pressure
changes in oil and gas reservoirs, and for
identifying bypassed compartments, moni-
toring flood fronts, planning infill drilling
locations, and monitoring fracturing and
stimulation operations all of which con-
tribute to greener utilization of assets.
Processes, emissions
across energy sectors
In the conventional energy sector, opti-
cal and photonics-based gas sensors and
sensing techniques are effective, practical
tools for the detection, assessment and
localization of fugitive gas emissions and
leaks such as hydrocarbons and sulfur
hexafluoride (SF6) in chemical plants,
refineries, power plants and gas pipe-
lines. The technology also plays an im-
portant role in detecting and quantifying
gas emissions, volatile organic com-
pounds and pollutants from hydrogen
leak alarms for fuel cells and hydrogen
stations, to moisture in natural gas lines;
it is also used for monitoring combustion
efficiency and emissions in fossil plants.
Detection systems are based on tech-
niques such as Fourier transform infrared,
Raman spectroscopy, cavity ring-down
spectroscopy, differential optical absorp-
tion spectroscopy, photoacoustic spec-
troscopy and tunable laser absorption
spectroscopy.
Fugitive emissions in refineries result
when hydrocarbon vapors leak from pro -
cess equipment such as valves, flanges,
pumps, compressors and other equipment,
and from the evaporation of hydrocarbon
spills in open areas. The total quantity of
fugitive volatile organic compound emis-
sions in a typical refinery, with a capacity
of 330,000 barrels per day, is estimated at
45,000 pounds per day. Fugitive emissions
are typically invisible and oftentimes poi-
sonous or flammable. They are also com-
mon in the electric power industry. Sulfur
hexafluoride is an effective electrical insu-
lating gas frequently used in high-voltage
gas-insulated switchgear, transmission
lines and breakers. However, SF6 has an
extremely high impact on the greenhouse
Figure 5. A fiber optic seabed seismic sensing
system. Courtesy of Stingray Geophysical.
effect more than 23,000 times more
severe than an equivalent amount of
CO
2
and has a lifetime of 3200 years.
SF6 can be emitted from leaking substa-
tion equipment, or can be released during
servicing and refilling operations.
A significant portion of greenhouse
gases are produced by the energy sector,
with the largest pollutant contributor being
CO
2
from coal-fired power plants. This is
precisely another application where pho-
tonic sensors tunable laser absorption
spectroscopy gas monitoring systems are
making an impact by performing in situ,
real-time measurements of O
2
, CO, CO
2
and water vapor in two dimensions across
the boiler flame zone to help improve the
combustion efficiency.
Meet the author
Dr. Radu Barsan is president and CEO
of RIO Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; email:
radu.barsan@rio-inc.com.
Prism Awards Celebrate Photonics Innovations
Winners of 2011 Prism Awards represented
an intriguing mix of European and US-based
small companies and established businesses.
This years winners include a 60-laser system for
inspecting train rails at high speed, a dual-laser
source for eliminating fluorescence effects in Raman
spectroscopy, and a breakthrough in miniaturization
that enables speckle reduction in laser-based pico
projectors.
The international competition, co-sponsored
by Photonics Media and SPIE, honored the products
introduced in the past year that challenge conven-
tional ideas, solve problems and improve life
through the generation and harnessing of light.
Over the past four years, the awards have grown to
become the premier recognition of innovation and
new-product development in the photonics industry.
(For a complete list of finalists, see the January
2012 issue of Photonics Spectra.)
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LIFE SCIENCES
AND BIOPHOTONICS
89 North
Heliophor
The Heliophor is a pumped-phos-
phor light engine for quantitative
fluorescence microscopy, allow-
ing high-speed, live-cell imaging
without the need for additional
equipment such as shutters and
controllers. It provides a new alternative to arc lamps, metal
halides and LED light sources, enabling production of a
wider range of output wavelengths, all matched to common
fluorescent proteins and dyes. The high-speed switching af-
forded by the pump source allows the light source to serve as
its own shutter, while the internal feedback system maintains
ultrastable output power.
Im standing on the shoulders of giants. Dr. Johannes
Koeth, CEO, Nanoplus
BY MELINDA ROSE,
SENIOR EDITOR
312Prism_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:50 PM Page 71
OTHER LIGHT SOURCES
OEwaves
Ultranarrow
Linewidth Laser
This narrow linewidth laser source is based on the
self-injection locking of a semiconductor laser diode
to a proprietary optical whispering gallery mode
microresonator. It achieves robust supernarrow instan-
taneous spectral linewidth of less than 300 Hz in a
small 14-pin butterfly package. The wide range of
optical transparency of the resonator host material
allows narrowing the linewidth of a laser at any
wavelength UV to far-IR making this capability
available in ranges not previously accessible with
conventional techniques. These features make the
laser suitable for applications in a variety of sensing
and communications applications, including harsh
environments, as required by many optical-based
sensors.
DETECTORS, SENSING,
IMAGING AND CAMERAS
Mermec
T-Sight 5000
This system integrates clear-
ance gauge measurement with
tunnel wall inspection, sharing
the same laser illuminating
source to inspect and analyze tunnels and clearance profiles
on railways and capturing image data of bridges, underpasses,
poles, walls, tree branches and other obstacles that may hinder
the safe transport of rail passengers and cargo. The system can
be mounted to the front of a high-speed train, replacing visual
inspections that must be performed slowly and during off-peak
traffic hours. The T-Sight 5000 allows inspections to be per -
formed in real time at speeds greater than 300 km/h.
When our company was founded 10 years ago, a funny joke was putting femtosecond and industrial
lasers in the same sentence. Dr. Eric Mottay, President and CEO, Amplitude Systmes
SCIENTIFIC LASERS
PD-LD Inc.
LabSource VBG-
Stabilized Dual
Laser Source
This dual-laser source is used in shifted excitation
Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS), the pre-
ferred method for the elimination of fluorescence ef-
fects in Raman spectroscopy. It allows taking Raman
spectra at two very stable and precisely spaced laser
wavelengths and replaces more costly tunable lasers
for subtracting the fluorescence contribution from the
Raman signal. Volume Bragg grating (VBG)-stabilized
laser diodes operate with external feedback from a
VBG element. The grating spacing of the VBG deter-
mines the wavelength reflected back into the laser
cavity and, thus, the emission wavelength of the laser.
VBG-stabilized laser diodes have a narrow linewidth
and a precisely controlled center wavelength and are
considerably smaller, cheaper and simpler to operate
than the tunable lasers previously used in SERDS
applications.
DEFENSE AND SECURITY
Physical Optics Corp. (POC)
Mobile ELISA-Based Pathogen
Detection (MEPAD)
The Mobile ELISA is a biohazard detection system with a
highly sensitive portable fluorimeter and automated processing
for disposable microfluidic chips. It provides responders and
point-of-care specialists with a cost-efficient and automated
ELISA-based process for field use and identification of concen-
trations below 100 ng/ml. The fluorescence detection subsystem
is composed of a 635-nm diode laser, an avalanche photodiode
that measures fluorescence, and three filtering mirrors.
Melinda A. Rose
Thanks to the award presenters at Photonics West:
Timothy Day, Daylight Solutions; Mary Lou Jepsen,
Pixel Qi; Wellington Chadehumbe, Triumph Venture
Capital; Michael Lebby, Translucent Inc.; Laura
Smoliar, Peppertree Engineering; Robert Huang,
Wavelength Technology Pte Ltd.; Michael J. Cumbo,
Idex Optics & Photonics; Rob Randelman, Halma;
and Larry Marshall, Southern Cross Venture Partners.
We are a microphotonics company,
so winning a prize for lasers is
particularly satisfying Dr. Lute
Maleki, President and CEO, OEwaves
INDUSTRIAL LASERS
Amplitude Systmes
Satsuma HE
This high-power ultrafast fiber laser combines
characteristics that are usually mutually exclu-
sive: a pulse energy greater than 20 J, an average power greater than
10 W, and an air-cooled housing that measures less than 13 30 in.
Applications for such ultrafast lasers are rapidly growing and include eye
surgery, medical device manufacturing and semiconductor processing.
OPTICS AND OPTICAL
COMPONENTS
Optotune
AG
Laser Speckle
Reducer
Speckle contrast in
laser illumination
is a major roadblock to the lasers becoming
the focus free standard for projection light
sources. Although a traditional approach is
to use rotating diffusers, which destroy the
temporal and spatial coherence of the laser
and smear the speckle pattern, the Laser
Speckle Reducer uses electroactive polymers
(EAPs, also known as artificial muscles) to
oscillate a diffuser, enabling speckle reduction
in laser-based pico projectors. The diffuser is
mounted on an elastic membrane and moved
back and forth using EAPs, resulting in a
planar circular oscillation of the diffuser
with lateral deflections of 100 to 500 m
at frequencies of several hundred hertz.
TEST, MEASUREMENT, METROLOGY
WITec GmbH
True Surface Microscopy
True Surface Microscopy is an imaging technique that follows
the surface topography with high precision so that even rough
or inclined samples always stay in focus while performing
confocal (Raman) imaging. With this new imaging mode,
samples that previously required extensive preparation to
obtain a certain surface flatness now can be effortlessly and
automatically characterized as they are.
GREEN PHOTONICS/
SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
nanoplus
DFB Laser at 3 m
These DFB (distributed feedback) laser diodes
perform at the previously unattainable wave-
length range between 2.9 and 3.4 m for tunable diode laser spectroscopy
applications, an important technique for gas detection. Reaching that spec-
tral range was made possible, in part, by the recent commercial availability
of application-grade laser sources in that region for sensor applications.
Imaging Components & Systems
The Leader in Optical Filter Solutions Confocal Imaging
Iridians dichroic filters exhibit excellent isolation that reduces background
levels from excitation wavelengths. Our filters use hard dielectric coatings,
which greatly improve the transmission levels compared with traditional
filters. This results in brighter imaging, shorter exposure times, better
image quality and a reduced rate of bleaching. Multiwavelength dichroic
filters also are available.
(613) 741-4513
inquiries@iridian.ca
www.iridian.ca
Camera Link Equipment
We offer a broad line of Camera Link supporting devices
Video Splitters
Repeaters
Multiplexers
Adapters
Camera Simulators
Breakout Box
Custom Engineering
OEM Solutions
(508) 842-0165
sales@vividengineering.com
www.vividengineering.com
Vacuum Valves Manufacturing
VAT is the worldwide leader in vacuum valves manufacturing and technology.
VAT products include: angle valves, gate valves, transfer valves, control
valves, throttle valves, isolation valves, pendulum valves and valves designed
for custom applications. More than 1000 standard products are listed in
our catalog.
VAT valve applications include: Semiconductor Manufacturing, PV, Thin-Film
Technology, Synchrotrons, High-Energy Physics, Fusion Research, Metallurgy
and many more.
(781) 935-1446
us@vatvalve.com
www.vatvalve.com
New iXon Ultra EMCCD Camera
The iXon Ultra platform takes the popular back-illuminated
512 512-frame transfer sensor and overclocks readout to 17 MHz,
pushing speed performance to 56 fps (>60% faster), while maintaining
quantitative stability throughout. This speed boost facilitates a new level
of temporal resolution to be attained, ideal for speed-challenged low-light
applications such as superresolution microscopy, single-molecule tracking,
ion signaling, cell motility, single-photon counting, lucky astronomy
and adaptive optics.
+44 28 9023 7126
info@andor.com
www.andor.com
See more new products at Photonics.com
Its 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.
When people ask, Whats new? tell them to go to:
Photonics.com/Products.
(413) 499-0514
photonics.com
312_Spotlight_Layout 1 2/23/12 10:31 AM Page 74
Imaging Components & Systems
Highest-Resolution SWIR Line-Scan Camera
Xenics Lynx cameras and detectors, covering the SWIR range, are perfectly
suited for remote sensing. The technology development has been supported
by ESAs General Size and Technology Program:
Smallest InGaAs detector with 12.5-m pixel pitch
Highest resolution up to 1 2048 pixels
High line rate of 10 kHz up to 40 kHz (1024-pixel version)
Low noise and high dynamic range
+32 16 38 99 00
sales@xenics.com
www.xenics.com
New Hybrid Glass Light-Shaping Diffusers
Hybrid Glass diffusers offer high transmission (up to 92%) from 350 nm
to the visible light range. They can withstand temperatures of 150 C and
are available in sizes up to 20 20 in. on optical glass or fused silica.
They also are available in many circular and elliptical light-shaping angles
and can be made with AR coating on one or both sides.
(310) 320-1066
info@luminitco.com
www.luminitco.com
Microdisplays for Structured Light
Forth Dimension Displays high-resolution reflective microdisplays are used
globally for structured light projection in 3-D optical metrology. The high
fill factor (>96%) and linear gray-scale display technology, coupled with the
flexibility of the 3DM driver interface, make this the perfect choice for
3-D metrology systems builders. The application-specific driver interface,
with its small size, configurable timing, synchronization and I/O ports, has
been designed for easy integration into structured light projection systems.
So if you want a fast, precise, accurate and cost-effective solution for
your AOI, SPI or 3-D inspection system, contact our experts now.
sales@forthdd.com
+44 1383 827 950
www.forthdd.com
iChrome MLE Multi Laser Engine for Multicolor Applications
The iChrome MLE is a complete solution for demanding multicolor applica-
tions in biophotonics. It comprises up to four diode lasers or, alternatively,
up to three diodes and one DPSS laser fully integrated into one compact
box. The individual lasers are efficiently combined, yielding highest power
levels, and are delivered via one SM/PM fiber. TOPTICAs ingenious COOL
AC
technology ensures a Constant Optical Output Level due to push-button
auto-recalibration, ensuring exceptional long-term power stability. The
microprocessor-controlled system enables flexible OEM integration in
instruments such as microscopes or flow cytometers. High-speed analog
(1 MHz) and digital modulation (20 MHz) allow fast switching of laser
wavelength and intensity.
sales@toptica-usa.com
(585) 657-6663
ww.toptica.com
Recirculating Coolers
JULABOs F250 EcoChiller and FL300 recirculating cooler provide cooling
capacities of 250 and 300 W. The units feature easy operation and high-quality
components for years of trouble-free operation. Contact JULABO today to
choose the unit for your optics, detector and photonics applications.
(800) 458-5226
info@julabo.com
www.julabo.com
312_Spotlight_Layout 1 2/23/12 10:31 AM Page 75
76
DPSS Lasers
The Archimed series diode-pumped solid-state
(DPSS) lasers manufactured by RPMC Lasers Inc.
offers 45 to 150 mJ of pulse energy at 1064
nm, with pulse widths from 9 to 12 ns and rep-
etition rates of up to 50 Hz. The compact air-
cooled devices also are available with second-,
third- and fourth-harmonic-generation options.
They can be equipped with an optical paramet-
ric oscillator to generate the eye-safe wave-
length of 1.5 m, which produces 10 mJ of
pulse energy with pulse widths from 7 to 9 ns
and repetition rates of up to 25 Hz. All lasers in
the series have multimode beam profiles and a
polarization ratio of 100:1. They are suitable for
use in light detection and ranging, rangefinding
and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, and
are rugged enough for limited field use.
RPMC Lasers Inc.
info@rpmclasers.com
Packaging Submounts
Remtec Inc. provides packaging options to de-
signers of laser diode, LED and photodiode sub-
mounts and substrates, offering ceramic sub-
mounts (alumina, beryllia, aluminum nitride),
metal heat sinks and enhanced plated gold tin
metallization. Based on plated copper-on-thick-
film technology, the submounts offer 25- to
75-m-thick copper metallization from a burr-
free ceramic edge. Gold tin plating on ceramic
submounts can be applied to edge-emitting and
vertical external-cavity surface-emitting laser
diodes, and to copper tungsten submounts and
laser bars. Gold, palladium and gold tin plating
finishes enable the use of gold wire bonding,
brazing and epoxy die attach soldering materi-
als and assembly techniques. Applications in-
clude laser welding, cutting and marking sys-
tems; medical (blood-oxygen sensors, trans-
dermal delivery systems for medications); skin
rejuvenation and hair removal; UV curing of
light-sensitive dental materials, industrial inks
and adhesives; 3-D digital printing; and cine-
matic lighting.
Remtec Inc.
sales@remtec.com
IDEAS
BRIGHT
FireWire-b Digital Cameras
Point Grey Research Inc. has added 2.8-
megapixel models to its Grasshopper Express
IEEE 1394b (FireWire-b) digital camera series.
The GX-FW-28S5M-C (monochrome) and
28S5C-C (color) are based on the Sony
2
3-in.
ICX674 CCD, which features 4.54-m square
pixels and produces 1932 1452-pixel-resolu-
tion images at 26 fps. Sonys EXview HAD CCD
II technology improves quantum efficiency, re-
duces smear and increases sensitivity into the
near-infrared. Other features include a 32-MB
frame buffer, a 14-bit analog-to-digital con-
verter, and onboard temperature and power
sensors. The included FlyCapture software de-
velopment kit provides a common control inter-
face for all of the companys cameras under
Windows and Linux. The 800-Mb/s FireWire-b
interface allows fast image transfer and builds
low-latency, highly deterministic multiple cam-
era networks. The cameras are used in biopho-
tonics, medical, astronomy, traffic surveillance,
factory automation and machine vision appli-
cations.
Point Grey Research Inc.
info@ptgrey.com
USB 3.0 Industrial Cameras
Imaging Development Systems GmbH has
unveiled the uEye CP industrial cameras with
three sensors ranging from VGA to 5-mega -
pixel. Measuring 29 29 29 mm, they are
housed in a magnesium casing and incorporate
a USB 3.0 interface that is backward-compati-
ble. Vision applications include industrial, med-
ical and biometrics. The cameras offer trigger,
flash and pulse width modulation, and two
general-purpose input/outputs that can be
changed into an RS-232 serial interface for
trigger or control of peripheral devices. Bright-
ness correction is achieved by a 12-bit look-up
table and hardware gamma. A field-program-
mable gate array performs color correction and
de-bayering with up to 12 bits per channel, and
enables RGB or YUV data output. A software
package for Microsoft Windows and Linux in-
cludes 32- and 64-bit drivers, demo programs
and source code in C, C# and Visual Basic.
Imaging Development Systems GmbH
usasales@ids-imaging.com
Ultralow-Absorption Coatings
Precision Photonics Corp. offers ultralow-absorp-
tion thin-film coatings based on ion-beam-sput-
tered (IBS) deposition. The antireflection types
produce losses of 0.5 parts per million (ppm),
and the high-reflection coatings exhibit losses of
2 ppm. Photothermal common path interferom-
etry combined with proprietary calibration meth-
ods results in measurement sensitivity of 0.1
ppm for optical materials such as fused silica.
Besides verification of in-house IBS coatings, the
company provides measurement services to customers wishing to measure absorption in their own
coatings or substrates. Two-dimensional mapping of surfaces also is available.
Precision Photonics Corp.
sales@precisionphotonics.com
Copper Mirrors for CO
2
Lasers
REO Inc. offers copper high reflectors for beam-
delivery and beam-shaping tasks involving high-
power CO
2
lasers. The mirrors feature reflectivity of
99.7% at 10.6 m, surface quality of 40-20 scratch-
dig and low scatter surface roughness of 50 . Pro-
duced from oxygen-free, high-thermal-conductivity
copper, they deliver good optical performance and a
maximum laser damage threshold. They can be pro-
duced with plano, spherical or cylindrical surfaces in
sizes from 6 to 150 mm. Through-holes, mounting
flanges and other mechanical features can be accom-
modated. Either traditional electron beam or ad-
vanced plasma source coating technologies are employed to deliver the durability and damage
resistance required for a specific application. The optics are handled in a controlled environment
throughout the manufacturing process, preventing deterioration of the pristine optical surfaces prior
to coating, and maximizing thin-film adhesion.
REO Inc.
markd@reoinc.com
312BrightIdeaLeads_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:17 PM Page 76

Fiber Optic Raman Probe
The BAC200 from B&W Tek Inc. is a
microlensed fiber optic Raman probe
that delivers the performance of a
larger Raman probe in a diameter
<4 mm with enhanced optical col-
lection power. Its design provides
immersion and direct contact mea-
surements, enabling applications
and measurements previously not
possible with standard Raman
probes. The fused silica tip is housed
in a stainless steel needle tube, re-
sulting in a scratch-resistant, easy-
to-clean device. The optical elements
are permanently fixed in alignment,
with no possibility of movement
caused by impact or vibrations. The
probes small size, flexibility and
durability make it suitable for analy-
sis in biological and biomedical ap-
plications with small sample sizes.
Scientists performing molecular-level
spectroscopic analysis can perform in
vivo analyses of specimens without
creating apertures any larger than 4 mm.
B&W Tek Inc.
sales@bwtek.com
Large Sapphire Windows
Custom-fabricated sapphire windows and lenses that transmit from the
UV to the IR and are impervious to most chemicals, water, and fast-mov-
ing dirt and sand are available from Meller Optics Inc. The optics can be
produced in sizes up to 10 in. in diameter, depending upon the diameter-
to-thickness aspect ratio. Featuring transmission from 270 nm to 4.7 m,
they are clear as glass, second only to diamond in hardness (Moh 9), and
can withstand temperatures up to 1000 C. Suitable for use as protective
front-surface optics and as viewports, they provide flatness to /10 in the
visible and <2-arcsec in./in. parallelism with finishes from 60-40 to 40-20
scratch-dig, depending upon size and construction. Applications include
viewing optics in cameras, weapons and refractometers, and machine
inspection windows.
Meller Optics Inc.
sales@melleroptics.com
Lens Cleaning Kit
Laser Research Optics, a
division of Meller Optics
Inc., is offering a profes-
sional lens cleaning kit
for the field that includes
everything necessary to re-
move spatter and blowback
from CO
2
laser optics. The
LRO Advanced Optical
Cleaning Kit was developed
to help prevent damage to
coatings, extend lens life
and improve laser perform-
ance. Supplied with step-
by-step instructions, the kit
includes 24 cotton balls, 24
surgical-grade finger cots,
24 lens mats, distilled
water, polishing compound,
reagent-grade isopropyl
alcohol and acetone, and
an air bulb for dust removal. Improving transmission and increasing laser
system efficiency, the kit is suited for CO
2
lasers used in dirty environ-
ments. It also is effective for most precision optics, including CaF
2
, fused
silica, germanium, sapphire, silicon, ZnSe and ZnS.
Laser Research Optics
scott@laserresearch.net
b BRIGHT IDEAS
312_Bright Ideas_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:07 PM Page 77
Enhanced Laser-Driven Light Sources
Energetiq Technology Inc.s customers can now
choose between a standard quartz bulb and an
ozone-free one on the LDLS EQ-99 and EQ-
99FC light sources, allowing them to tailor the
spectral range to a particular application while
maintaining high brightness and long lamp life.
The standard synthetic quartz bulb produces
light from 170 nm through the visible and into
the infrared. The ozone-free quartz bulb cuts off
light below 250 nm, where ozone is produced.
This optimizes the spectrum for applications
where operation in the deep-UV is not neces-
sary. The ozone-free bulb produces a broad-
band spectrum from 250 to 2100 nm, with the
same brightness as that produced by the stan-
dard synthetic quartz bulb, and offers the same
long lamp life. Electrodeless in operation, the
companys laser-driven technology in the EQ-99
and EQ-99FC provides ultralong lamp life and
a broad spectral range.
Energetiq Technology Inc.
info@energetiq.com
Sintering System
With the release of the Sinteron 2010, Xenon
Corp. delivers flexibility for sintering conductive
copper and silver metallic inks, curing thin-film
substrates, and for solar and surface modifica-
tions. The 19-in. rack-based stand-alone system
allows for digitally programmable pulse widths.
Pulse amplitude can be adjusted, and pulse
width is adjustable from 100 to 2000 s in
increments of 5 s. Because the pulse profile is
linear at maximum amplitude, a relationship of
1000 J/ms can be assumed. The system allows
connection for either spiral or linear lamp hous-
ings. Applications include photonic sintering of
conductive inks for printed electronics in dis-
plays, smart cards, radio-frequency identifica-
tion and solar applications. The noncontact low-
thermal characteristics for this process make it
suitable for web-based printing techniques such
as ink-jet, flexography, gravure and screen
print.
Xenon Corp.
info@xenoncorp.com
Rack-Mount High-Voltage
Power Systems
UltraVolt Inc.s HV Rack Advanced and HP Ad-
vanced high-voltage power systems produce
power up to 90 kW. They offer computerized
front panels, full controls and displays, digital
and analog interfaces, and an SD card memory
function for loading preset user voltage/current
curves. The systems feature advanced measure-
ment and data logging, and standard modes for
constant voltage and constant current, and they
provide source simulation modes such as con-
stant resistive, constant power, photovoltaic and
automotive. Features include good line and
load regulation, low ripple and low noise. They
can be used for simulation of solar panels by
testing inverters and capacitor chargers in the
laser industry. HV Rack Advanced systems offer
output voltages from 0 to 1200 VDC, currents
from 0 to 500 A, and output power to 10 kW.
HP Advanced offers 0 to 1200 VDC, currents
from 0 to 2250 A, and output power to 60 kW.
UltraVolt Inc.
csd@ultravolt.com
Temperature-Controlled Lasers
Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbHs redesigned
ZQ family of lasers offers higher power and
good beam and laser line quality for fiber,
homogeneous lines, collimated beam and struc-
tured light projections. They can be remote-con-
trolled, now that they are combined with a
graphical user interface for setting power and
monitoring all parameters. The ZQ2 systems
deliver a boresight accuracy of <3 mrad and
output up to 7000 mW between 600 and 1100
nm. The Z1000Q1-F-808 delivers output of 1 W
at 808 nm and is accurate to 300 m, FWHM,
in 1500-mm focus. The internal design of the
ZQ1 is laser-coupled with an integrated ther-
moelectric cooler that produces good stability
and minimum boresight error. Both feature inte-
grated optics, electronics and active tempera-
ture control in a self-contained enclosure and
support communication interfaces including
RS-232, USB, Ethernet and programmable logic
controller, each galvanically isolated.
Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH
info@z-laser.de
IR Laser Beam Finder
Pathfinder Research LLC has released the Cool-
Card II handheld infrared beam finder and IR
beam-quality evaluation tool for use with lasers
and other IR sources operating from the near-IR
to the 10-m wavelengths and beyond. Capital-
izing on actively thermally stabilized liquid crys-
tal technology, the device senses and resolves
the fine spatial character of lasers operating
near and well beyond 1.7 m. Based on the
original CoolCard, the new version features a
rechargeable, field-replaceable lithium-ion bat-
tery that provides multihour continuous opera-
tion and the ability to be recharged in the lab
or with the supplied 12-VDC auto adapter. With
sensitivity of a few milliwatts and good spatial
resolution resulting from built-in sensor temper-
ature control, the compact wire-free CoolCard II
rivals IR cameras in many applications, accord-
ing to the company.
Pathfinder Research LLC
charley.hale@pathfindresearch.com
Red Laser
Laser Quantum Ltd.s compact lux red diode
laser delivers up to 1 W at 660 nm. Features
include a diffraction-limited TEM
00
beam with
M
2
<1.2, automatic power control, rms noise
levels of 0.6% and power stability of 1%. The
laser is based on diode-pumped optical technol-
ogy. Applications include fluorescence imaging,
spectroscopy, DNA sequencing, Raman spec-
troscopy and stimulated emission depletion
nanoscopy. The hermetically sealed laser offers
>40,000 h mean time to failure, full RS-232
control, and a permanently aligned and zero-
stress cavity. Beam diameter is 0.75 0.15 mm,
bandwidth is ~30 GHz, beam divergence is
<1.5 mrad, pointing stability is 10 rad/C, and
polarization ratio is >100:1. Polarization direc-
tion is horizontal, coherence length is <1 cm,
beam angle is <2 mrad, and operating temper-
ature is from 22 to 37 C. The instrument
weighs 0.7 kg, and warm-up time is <15 min.
Laser Quantum Ltd.
sales@laserquantum.com
QI for AFM System
JPK Instruments AG has developed quantitative
imaging (QI) capabilities for its NanoWizard 3
atomic force microscope (AFM). With the QI
force curve-based imaging mode, the user can
control the tip-sample force at every pixel.
There is no need for set point or gain adjust-
ment while scanning. Applying proprietary
78
b BRIGHT IDEAS
ForceWatch technology, QI delivers good results
on soft (hydrogels, biomolecules), sticky (poly-
mers, bacteria), and loosely attached (nano-
tubes, virus particles in fluid) samples, and on
samples with steep edges (powders, micro-
electromechanical systems structures). It is use-
ful in biology, polymers and surface science. QI
and QI-Advanced modes make the NanoWizard
AFM a versatile instrument for high-end re-
search and routine use. Measuring a real and
complete force distance curve at every pixel
yields all information about the local tip-sample
interaction, with high spatial resolution. QI-
Advanced software enables quantitative mea-
surement of nanoscale material properties
such as stiffness, adhesion and dissipation.
JPK Instruments AG
info@jpk.com
16-Channel MPPC Modules
Hamamatsu Photonics UK Ltd. has introduced
multipixel photon counter (MPPC) modules for
evaluation of large-area MPPC detectors. The
S11834-3388DF and the C11206-0404FB both
use a 64-channel MPPC array of 3 3-mm dis-
crete detectors, resulting in an effective area of
576 mm
2
. The C11206-0404FB also includes a
high-voltage supply, a temperature control cir-
cuit and a dedicated application-specific inte-
grated circuit that includes an amplifier and
a digital-to-analog converter. The C11206-
0808FA uses a 16-channel monolithic MPPC
array with 3 3-mm channels, producing an
effective area of 144 mm
2
and allowing for
maximum position resolution with minimum
dead space. All are available with 3600 pixels
per channel and a 50-m pitch. Each pixel con-
tains a quenching resistor so that simultaneous
photon events can be counted separately. The
devices feature a typical gain value of 7.5
10
5
and high photon detection efficiency in the
UV and blue regions, with peak sensitivity at
400 nm. They are insensitive to magnetic fields
and are used in time-of-flight positron emission
tomography, flow cytometry and astrophysics.
Hamamatsu Photonics UK Ltd.
europe@hamamatsu.com
VBG-Stabilized Benchtop Lasers
PD-LD Inc. has announced its LabSource series
benchtop laser sources. The LS-1 features a
single-volume Bragg grating-stabilized laser
source, and the LS-2 offers dual laser sources
that enable it to perform dual-wavelength light
therapy and specialized analytics. Both are cus-
tomizable solutions in a variety of wavelengths
and include integrated drive circuitry and soft-
ware, making them easily integrated into exist-
ing laboratory instruments. They have a user-
friendly interface and feature an ergonomic
design. The LS-2 analyzes and identifies fluores-
cent substances that have previously been diffi-
cult or impossible to identify or analyze via tra-
ditional Raman spectroscopy, as well as organic
and biological samples. The dual-source tech-
nique is known as shifted-excitation Raman dif-
ferential spectroscopy. The turnkey lasers are
well suited for customers who wish to operate
a complete laser solution rather than work with
a group of discrete parts.
PD-LD Inc.
info@pd-ld.com
Temperature Controller
The LDT-5910C 32-W thermoelectric tempera-
ture controller from ILX Lightwave Corp. incor-
porates low-noise, bipolar current output with a
digital proportional integral derivative control
loop for temperature control of laser diodes and
optoelectronic devices. For wavelength-sensitive
79
b BRIGHT IDEAS
applications, it provides long-term stability of
0.002 C. It is compatible with thermistors, re-
sistance temperature detectors, and LM335 and
AD590 integrated circuit sensors. Linearized
thermistor sensor mode produces 0.2 C tem-
perature accuracy from 30 to 85 C with a
standard 10-KO thermistor. Interlocks connect
the LDT-5910C to a laser diode driver and will
disable the laser output if the controller is dis-
abled or is over the temperature limit. Analog
voltage input enables temperature sweeping or
tuning without using a remote interface or front
panel control. USB 2.0 and IEEE 488.1 general-
purpose interface bus connections provide re-
mote operation. LabView drivers for the LDT-
5910C are available for download from the
companys website.
ILX Lightwave Corp.
sales@ilxlightwave.com
Optical Oxygen and pH Sensors
For life sciences, pharmaceuticals, biotechnol-
ogy, food and beverage processing, and moni-
toring of fermentation processes, Ocean Optics
Inc. has unveiled optical oxygen and pH sen-
sors. Small and customizable, the fiber optic
sensors perform in situ nonintrusive real-time
measurements. Proprietary sensor coating ma-
terials do not consume the sample and can be
applied to substrates such as probes, self-adhe-
sive acrylic patches and microtiter wells. Oxygen
presence or pH can be visually determined by
color change with a handheld LED, or a fluo-
rometer can be used to make exact measure-
ments. An oxygen-sensitive fluorophore or pH
indicator dye is trapped in a sol-gel host matrix
that can be applied to the tip of a fiber, an ad-
hesive membrane such as a patch, or a flat sub-
strate such as a cuvette. The indicator materials
change optical properties in response to specific
analytes in their environment, and electronics
measure the response.
Ocean Optics Inc.
info@oceanoptics.com
LEDs
Avago Technologies ASMT-FJ70 and ASMT-
FG70 series compact LEDs reduce space re-
quirements for designing autofocus auxiliary
flash functionality into digital cameras. Supplied
in a thin, environmentally friendly surface-
mount 3.6 3.2 3.4-mm package, they pro-
duce the brightness needed for autofocus in
dark settings. They use a clear, nondiffused lens
to produce high luminous intensity within a nar-
row radiation pattern. The ASMT-FJ70 devices
are orange, and the ASMT-FG70 are green aux-
iliary flash LEDs. ASMT-FJ70 uses AlInGaP ma-
terial and features a 12 viewing angle, while
ASMT-FG70 uses InGaN and provides a 14
viewing angle. Both produce high light output
over a range of drive currents. The narrow
viewing angles deliver the long-distance illumi-
nation and narrow beam pattern required for
autofocus auxiliary flash. The LEDS are housed
in a lead-free RoHS 6-compliant package and
operate from 40 to 85 C.
Avago Technologies
support@avagotech.com
Kinetic Microspectroscopy
Craic Technologies Inc. has added kinetic spec-
troscopy capabilities to its 20/20 Perfect Vision
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UV-VIS-NIR microspectrophotometer. The system monitors the full-range
spectra of a microscopic sample area over time and plots the results.
Analysis of samples can be done by absorbance, reflectance and optical
emission from the deep-UV to far into the near-infrared spectral regions
and over a range of time periods. Applications include biological time-re-
solved analysis, measuring the degradation of LEDs over time, and mea-
suring chemical reactions on metallic films. Time-resolved spectra of mi-
croscopic sample areas can be analyzed with multiple spectroscopic tech-
niques in the laboratory or manufacturing facility. The microspectropho-
tometer delivers high spatial resolution and sensitivity. It integrates a
high-speed spectrophotometer with a UV-VIS-NIR range microscope and
easy-to-use software. The instrument can create 3-D maps in which X and
Y are the spectrum and Z is the time domain.
Craic Technologies Inc.
sales@microspectra.com
Microscopes
Olympus Europa Holding GmbHs CX22
series microscopes provide a large field of
view. Viewing height can be set easily to
accommodate multiple users. Ergonomically
designed, they feature a lock in the upper
stage to protect objectives and specimens
from damage during focusing, and a wire-
driven stage for smooth operation. The eye-
pieces, objectives and condenser are se-
cured to the microscope frame, preventing
accidental loss or damage. The power cord
can be wound around a hanger provided at
the rear of the system, facilitating transport
and storage. The series also includes the CX22LED microscope, which
provides long service life and offers low power consumption and natural
color tones. The CX22 uses a halogen lamp, which enables easy intensity
b BRIGHT IDEAS
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adjustment and facilitates observation of images
with faithful color reproduction. Objectives, eye-
pieces and observation tubes are anti-fungus-
treated for use in humid environments.
Olympus Europa Holding GmbH
microscopy@olympus-europa.com
Single-Mode Laser Diodes
Intense Inc. has released a 300-mW version
of its Series 6030 and Series 6130 ultrahigh-
power, high-brightness single-mode laser
diodes. Designed for defense, medical and
print/imaging applications such as spectros-
copy and industrial coding, they are available
in 980-, 830-, 808-, 785- and 780-nm wave-
lengths. They are based on proprietary and
patented Quantum Well Intermixing technology,
which increases brightness and reliability while
eliminating problems associated with cata-
strophic optical mirror damage. The new wave-
lengths and ultrahigh power are driving new
uses in illumination, life sciences and atomic
clock applications. The diodes offer high electri-
cal conversion efficiency in a range of operating
temperatures from 25 to 50 C. They are avail-
able in free-space packages including 9-mm,
C-mount and 5.6-mm, with pulse duration
modulation optional, and are offered in a vari-
ety of standard beam divergences to match
specific application requirements.
Intense Inc.
sales@intenseco.com
Turret Upgrade Kit
Prior Scientific Inc. has unveiled the HF6NTK
Nikon turret upgrade kit for new or existing
Nikon Model Ti-FLC-E motorized six-position
turrets. It enables users to upgrade their Ti-FLC-
E turret so the unit can be regulated by the Prior
ProScan III controller, making the system com-
patible with most major imaging software pack-
ages. The kit, combined with the ProScan III
controller, regulates the Ti-FLC-E at speeds of
up to 300 ms between adjacent cubes. It also
enables motorization of the Nikon Ti without
the need for the HUB-B motorization hub. The
kit is compatible with Priors PS3J100 interactive
control center and can be retroverted easily to
the Nikon Ti six-position motorized turrets orig-
inal manufacturers specifications.
Prior Scientific Inc.
ddoherty@prior.com
Metrology Software
IK5000 version 2.96 of PC-based Quadra-Chek
software from Heidenhain Corp. performs 2-
and 3-D measurement. It introduces 3-D profil-
ing capabilities that provide measurement and
graphic evaluation of 3-D contours using multi-
sensor and tactile measuring machines. This
new option, used for profile measurements,
imports a 3-D CAD file and compares it with
the actual measured part. Parts programming
improvements support compensation for the
thermal behavior of products that experience
shrinkage or growth during manufacture. The
radial and palletized methods of automatic
parts programming routines help users when
there are common features or parts that repeat
angularly, around a datum or based upon a
palletized grid layout. The palletized grid func-
tionality allows the user to graphically select
which parts in the grid are required for mea-
surement, and to run the program in those lo-
cations only. The software is compatible with
32-bit Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows
Vista operating systems.
Heidenhain Corp.
info@heidenhain.com
Optical Engines
For applications requiring detection of light en-
ergy at multiple wavelengths, Newport Corp.
has released the OptoFlash miniature multi-
channel spectrometer engines. The demultiplex-
ing devices are configured with as many as 10
wavelength channels, selected from 24 standard
options ranging from 200 to 900 nm. Devel-
oped for clinical chemical analyzers, they pro-
b BRIGHT IDEAS
vide high speed and high linearity with minimal
stray light, as well as simultaneous optical
transmission information for each wavelength
channel, making them suitable for use in OEM
applications that require a small (51 16 25
mm) and lightweight (30 g) single-package de-
vice. They include silicon detectors, beam steer-
ing optics and optical filters manufactured using
proprietary Stabilife optical coatings. The 40-pin
dual in-line package reduces instrument size,
weight and complexity. The optical engines are
suitable for spectroscopy instruments designed
for immunodiagnostic testing, environmental
monitoring and colorimetry.
Newport Corp.
ken.pihl@newport.com
Femtosecond Fiber Laser
The Femtolite HX-150 is the latest addition to
Imra America Inc.s femtosecond fiber laser
series. It emits at 1620 and 810 nm, with up
to 200 mW at 1620 nm and up to 150 mW
at 810 nm, or simultaneous emission at both
wavelengths. A slider bar enables continuous
adjustment of the two signals average power.
Applications include multiphoton fluorescence
microscopy, second-harmonic imaging, tera-
hertz wave generation and detection, laser
lithography and ultrafast spectroscopy. With
dimensions of 23 19.3 7.6 cm and a con-
troller size of 30.7 20.7 13.5 cm, the laser
integrates into complex systems or OEM prod-
ucts. Operation is done either directly from the
front panel controls or remotely via an RS-232
interface. The fiber-based design ensures that
no adjustment, alignment or optical tweaking is
required.
Imra America Inc.
lasers@imra.com
Thermal Detector
The BeamTrack 3A-QUAD manufactured by
Ophir Photonics is a high-sensitivity thermal de-
tector that combines power, energy and position
functions in a compact laser sensor. It measures
power from 100 W to 3 W and energy from
20 J to 2 J, and tracks beam position down to
0.1 mm. The beam position measurement func-
tion allows tracking of beam wander as the
beam drifts from its initial position. The detector
has a 9.5-mm aperture and measures from 190
nm to 20 m. BeamTrack sensors divide the
sensor signal into quadrants, measuring and
comparing the output to determine the position
of the center of the beam. The sensor operates
with the companys Nova II and Vega smart dis-
plays and Juno PC interface. Each display fea-
tures a smart connector interface that auto-
matically configures and calibrates the display
when plugged into one of the companys meas-
urement heads.
Ophir Photonics
sales@ophir-spiricon.com
Digital Proximity Sensor
The MAX44000 digital ambient-light and infra-
red proximity sensor from Maxim Integrated
Products Inc. detects light as a human eye does.
The integrated circuit incorporates three optical
sensors, two analog-to-digital converters and
digital functionality into a 2 2 0.6-mm
package. The sensor is suitable for touch-screen
applications, including smartphones, portable
devices, industrial sensors and presence detec-
tion. Once a sensed signal is received, it is run
through a DC ambient infrared rejection front-
end circuit and sent to an analog-to-digital con-
verter, allowing the sensor to operate in the
83
b BRIGHT IDEAS
presence of DC infrared radiation. By using a
single-pulse technique for pulsing the external
infrared LED, it is immune to fixed-frequency ex-
ternal infrared radiation. Proprietary BiCMOS
technology enables integration of the two photo-
diodes and an optical filter to reject UV and IR
light. The sensor is offered in a lead-free, six-
pin ultrathin dual flat no-lead package.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc.
sales-us@maxim-ic.com
Interference Filters
Photolithographic filters are used in applications
with LSI and LCD steppers in which high-power
mercury vapor lamps are employed for illumi-
nation. The narrow bandpass filters produce an
almost monochromatic radiation, allowing high
resolution to be achieved in the target. Laser
Components GmbHs partner Omega Optical
has revised its i-line bandpass filters. The filter
designs are now available based on dual mag-
netron reactive sputtering coating, improving
both the intensity of the i-line and its homo-
geneity in the photolithographic process. One
new product from Omega is of interest for
microelectromechanical systems production.
MicroChem Corp., manufacturer of the SU-8
photoresist, recommends that UV radiation
below 350 nm be blocked to produce perpendi-
cular structures. The PL-360-LP from the mask
aligner series is suited to this application. All fil-
ters are available from Laser Components.
Laser Components GmbH
info@lasercomponents.com
Benchtop Raman Spectrometer
BaySpec Inc. has released the research-grade
benchtop RamSpec 1064-nm Raman spectrom-
eter, which delivers high sensitivity and spectral
resolution at wavelengths up to 1700 nm. A
lighttight sampling chamber improves ease and
accuracy of sample measurements. Integrated
deep-cooled InGaAs array detectors and multi-
ple volume phase gratings customized for each
wavelength provide maximized light throughput.
Without any interferometric mechanical moving
parts, it is designed for long-term stability, rug-
gedness and automated push-button operation.
With 1064-nm excitation, it is suitable for use in
cell biology, forensics, materials science and
food analysis. Features include a spectral range
from 150 to 3200 cm
1
; spectral resolution of 4
cm
1
; automated wavelength calibration; com-
pact size for portability; and customization with
various fiber optic probes.
BaySpec Inc.
info@bayspec.com
Thermal Imaging Software
Flir Advanced Thermal Solutions ResearchIR
software performs advanced thermal pattern
analysis, viewing, recording and storage of im-
ages at high speed, postprocessing of fast ther-
mal events, and generation of time-temperature
plots from live images or recorded sequences. It
includes a facility to set up start/stop recording
conditions, analyze data with an unlimited num-
ber of functions, organize files, take a close
look at images with zoom and pan controls,
and set up multiple user-configurable tabs for
live images, recorded images or plotting. For
more advanced thermal analysis, the companys
ResearchIR Max has those features plus facilities
for pre- and posttriggering, tools for mathemat-
ical processing and image filtering, radiometric
digital detail enhancement and support for par-
allel recording using multiple cameras. Used
b
THE INTERSECTION AT
MANUFACTURINGS FUTURE
MAY 8-10, 2012
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BRIGHT IDEAS
with a Flir thermal imaging camera, ResearchIR
software allows researchers to make small tem-
perature differences visible and to thoroughly
analyze thermal processes in real time.
Flir Advanced Thermal Solutions
research@flir.com
Wide-Emission IR LED
Opto Diode Corp. has announced the OD-
850W infrared emitter. The GaAlAs LED fea-
tures a wide emission angle, minimum optical
output of 30 mW, with 40 mW typical at 100
mA, and a peak emission wavelength at 850
nm. It is a replacement for the OD-880W IR
LEDs, offering nearly double the output power,
added stability and less degradation. The 850-
nm wavelength is more closely matched to the
peak response of phototransistors and opto in-
tegrated circuits, making them suitable for ap-
plications such as photoelectric controls and op-
tical encoders. Hermetically sealed, the TO-46
package is designed with gold-plated surfaces
and welded caps for durability. The IR LED of-
fers continuous forward current at 100 mA and
peak forward current at 300 mA (absolute max-
imum ratings at 25 C). Storage and operating
temperatures range from 40 to 100 C, with
a maximum junction temperature of 100 C.
Opto Diode Corp.
sales@optodiode.com
Green Lasers for Surgery
Power Technology Inc. has launched a green-
wavelength version of its PM series laser mod-
ule. Designed for medical and surgical applica-
tions, it performs better than red lasers on
dark-colored or pigmented skin and on red tis-
sue, and is easier to identify under the bright
lights in the operating room. The PM visible
laser diode is designed for use by OEM medical
and surgical manufacturers for integration into
existing and prototype low-power lasers. It in-
corporates a single-mode laser, single-element
glass collimating optics or line-generating op-
tics, and the power supply into a single unit. It
measures 12.6 mm in diameter, is 50.93 mm
long and is available with input voltages rang-
ing from 6 to 8 VDC. Optical output power and
fine focus are adjustable, and optical output
power digital control is available. The laser
delivers output of 20 mW at 515 nm.
Power Technology Inc.
sales@powertechnology.com
Scientific CMOS Camera
Andor Technology plc has enhanced its Neo sci-
entific CMOS (sCMOS) camera with faster sus-
tained frame rates, better image quality, hard-
ware pixel binning, flexible region of interest
with single-pixel granularity, accurate time
stamp and improved global snapshot exposure.
The 5.5-megapixel sCMOS sensor achieves
1 e
read noise at 30 fps, and the dual-ampli-

fier architecture provides a dynamic range of
30,000:1. The camera delivers deep-vacuum
cooling down to 40 C for low noise and mini-
mal pixel blemish. It offers field-programmable
gate array intelligence for stability and good
image quality, coupled with 4-GB on-head
image memory that enables it to acquire ex-
tended kinetic bursts at frame rates faster than
the variable hard drive write speeds, eliminating
the need for a PC. The laboratory camera is
suitable for live-cell imaging. The sensor offers
rolling and snapshot exposure modes, the latter
enabling freeze-frame capture of fast-moving or
fast-changing objects.
Andor Technology plc
marketing@andor.com
85
b BRIGHT IDEAS
2-m Fiber Couplers
With growing demand for products in the 2000-
nm range, Phoenix Photonics Ltd. has extended
the operational wavelength of its current selec-
tion of all-fiber-based components with the in-
troduction of 2-m couplers. They are available
in 1 2, 2 2, tap and cascaded configura-
tions. Proprietary technology facilitates the
availability of components built on single-mode
fiber specifically designed for optimized opera-
tion in the 2000-nm-wavelength band. To opti-
mize the performance of the fused couplers, the
company has designed and built its own fusion
rigs and developed the processing methods.
Phoenix Photonics Ltd.
sales@phoenixphotonics.com
Optical Fiber Stripper
Vytran LLC has unveiled the SAS-400 optical
fiber stripper, which uses hot sulfuric acid to re-
move the protective coating from a fiber while
maintaining the fibers intrinsic strength. The
company built it on the concept of its predeces-
sor, the SAS-200, but with an increased empha-
sis on use in manufacturing. Improvements
include greater ease of use and enhanced ro-
bustness. The new model features an intuitive
graphical user interface and improved operator
protection. The automated system is intended
for use in sensing, medical, telecommunica-
tions, aerospace and research applications. It
can remove a variety of coating types, including
acrylate and polyimide, and can strip a fiber
section up to 40 mm long. It can be used to
center strip a fiber for fiber Bragg grating man-
ufacture and for metallizing fiber sections.
Vytran LLC
info@vytran.com
640 512 InGaAs Camera
Princeton Instruments PIoNIR:640 scientific-
grade camera uses a deep-cooled InGaAs focal
plane array and is designed for low-light near-
infrared and short-wavelength infrared imaging
and spectroscopy applications that require sen-
sitivity from 0.9 to 1.7 m. Applications include
nanotube fluorescence imaging, photovoltaic
(PV) inspection, semiconductor failure inspec-
tion, singlet oxygen imaging, photolumines-
cence imaging of PV materials, near-infrared
fluorescence and absorbance, and deep-tissue
imaging. Thermoelectric cooling to 90 C min-
imizes thermal noise to achieve a good signal-
to-noise ratio. The camera offers air or liquid
cooling, or a combination of the two, for use in
thermal- and vibration-sensitive environments.
The Gigabit Ethernet interface enables remote
operation and delivers a maximum rate of 110
fps at full resolution. Proprietary LightField data
acquisition software controls all hardware fea-
tures via an intuitive user interface and provides
automatic defect correction, exposure control up
to minutes, and functions for capture and export
of imaging and spectral data.
Princeton Instruments
info@princetoninstruments.com
86
b BRIGHT IDEAS
b ANOTHER BRIGHT IDEA
Advertise your new product in
Photonics Showcase or in the
Spotlight section of Photonics Spectra.
Reach all of our readers in these
low-cost, lead-generating features.
Call Kristina Laurin at (413) 499-0514,
or e-mail advertising@Photonics.com.
APRIL
Focus on Microscopy 2012 (April 1-4)
Singapore. Contact Fred Brakenhoff, University
of Amsterdam, +31 20 5255 189; brakenhoff
@focusonmicroscopy.org; www.focuson
microscopy.org.
Photonix 2012 Expo & Conference (April
11-13) Tokyo. Contact Mitsuru Takazawa,
Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd., +81 3 3349 8549;
photonix@reedexpo.co.jp; www.photonix-
expo.jp/en.
Photovoltaics Summit 2012 (April 16-18)
San Diego. Contact IntertechPira, a division
of Pira International, +1 (202) 309-7296;
info@pira-international.com; www.photovoltaic
summit.com.
SPIE Photonics Europe (April 16-20)
Brussels. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290;
customerservice@spie.org; spie.org.
Photomask Japan 2012 (April 17-19)
Yokohama, Japan. Contact Photomask Japan
Secretariat, +81 3 3219 3541; pmj@ics-inc.
co.jp; www.photomask-japan.org.
Photonics. World of Lasers and
Optics 2012 (April 17-20) Moscow.
Contact Liudmila V. Bedniakova, Laser
Association (LAS), +7 (495) 333-0022;
laser@tsr.ru; www.photonics-expo.ru/en.
META 2012, Third International
Conference on Metamaterials,
Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics
(April 19-22) Paris. Contact Secretariat,
+33 1 69 85 16 60; meta12@metaconfer
ences.org; metaconferences.org.
Experimental Biology 2012
(April 21-25) San Diego.
Contact Yvette Clark, Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology,
+1 (301) 634-7016; yclark@faseb.org;
experimentalbiology.org.
SPIE Defense, Security + Sensing
(April 23-27) Baltimore. Contact SPIE, +1
(360) 676-3290; customerservice@spie.org;
spie.org.
Optics and Photonics International
2012 Congress & Exhibition
(April 25-27) Yokohama, Japan.
Includes Laser Expo 2012. Contact The
Optronics Co. Ltd., +81 3 3269 3550;
www.optronicsjp.com.
Advanced Optical Manufacturing
and Testing Technologies 2012
(April 26-29) Xiamen, China.
Contact Yang Li, yangli@ioe.ac.cn;
Fax: +86 28 8510 0583; www.aomatt.org.
Biomedical Optics and 3-D Imaging:
OSA Optics and Photonics Congress
(April 29-May 2) Miami. Contact Optical
Society of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;
info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
MAY
CLEO: 2012 Laser Science to Photonic
Applications (May 6-11) San Jose, Calif.
Conference on Lasers and Electro-optics.
Contact Optical Society of America Customer
Service CLEO Management, +1 (202)
416-1907; custserv@osa.org; www.cleo
conference.org.
The Vision Show (May 8-10) Boston.
Contact Automated Imaging Association,
+1 (734) 994-6088; www.machinevision
online.org.
Mfg4 (Manufacturing 4 the Future)
Conference & Exposition (May 8-10)
Hartford, Conn. Contact Society of
Manufacturing Engineers, +1 (800) 733-4763;
service@sme.org; www.mfg4event.com.
AKL International Laser Technology
Congress (May 9-11) Aachen, Germany.
Contact Silke Boehr, Fraunhofer Institute for
Laser Technology ILT, +49 241 8906 288;
silke.boehr@ilt.fraunhofer.de; www.laser
congress.org.
Quantum Interfaces: Integrating
Light, Atoms and Solid-State Devices
(May 14-15) Milton Keynes, UK. Con-
tact Jon Mackew, Institute of Physics,
+44 20 7470 4800; jon.mackew@iop.org;
www.iop.org.
Third International Topical Meeting
on Optical Sensing and Artificial Vision
(OSAV 2012) (May 14-17) St. Petersburg,
Russia. Contact Igor Gurov, conference
chairman, +7 812 571 6532; gurov@mail.
ifmo.ru; osav.spb.ru.
Sensor + Test 2012 (May 22-24)
Nuremberg, Germany. Contact AMA
Service GmbH, +49 50 33 96 39 0;
info@sensorfairs.de; www.sensor-test.com.
ANGEL 2012 Second Conference
on Laser Ablation and Nanoparticle
Generation in Liquids (May 22-24)
Taormina, Italy. Contact Silke Kramprich,
EOS-Events & Services GmbH, +49 511 2788
117; angel2012@myeos.org; www.myeos.org/
events/angel2012.
OPTATEC 2012 (May 22-25) Frankfurt,
Germany. Contact P.E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG,
+49 7025 9206 0; info@schall-messen.de;
www.optatec-messe.com.
XXII International Scientific and
Engineering Conference on
Photoelectronics and Night Vision
Devices (May 22-25) Moscow. Contact
Alexander I. Dirochka, State Scientific Center
of Russian Federation, +7 499 374 81 20;
conf@orion-ir.ru; www.orion-ir.ru.
BioMedOptTex Symposium
(May 23-25) College Station, Texas.
Contact Kristen Maitland, kmaitland@tamu.edu;
biomed.tamu.edu.
Sixth International Conference on
Nanophotonics (ICNP) (May 27-30)
Beijing. Contact Optical Society of America,
+1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org; icnp2012.
pku.edu.cn.
JUNE
Display Week 2012 (June 4-8) Boston.
Contact Society for Information Display,
HAPPENINGS
PAPERS
MIOMD-XI (September 4-8) Evanston, Illinois
Deadline: abstracts, April 4
Papers are encouraged for MIOMD-XI, the 11th International Conference on Infrared Optoelectronics:
Materials and Devices. Among topics to be considered are infrared emission in the areas of LEDs,
and Fabry-Perot, external cavity and high-power distributed feedback lasers; infrared detection,
including single-element and single-photon detectors, and multicolor detection and imaging; and
monolithic and heterogeneous integration of lasers, detectors and passive components. Contact
Manijeh Razeghi, Northwestern University, +1 (847) 491-7251; miomd-11@northwestern.edu;
miomd-11.northwestern.edu.
SPIE Laser Damage (September 23-26) Boulder, Colorado
Deadline: abstracts, April 16
SPIE is accepting papers for its Laser Damage conference, which addresses materials for high-power
and high-energy lasers. Topics to be discussed include photonics bandgap materials, multilayer thin
films, nonlinear optical and laser host materials, fibers for high-power laser applications, measure-
ment protocols, materials characterization, contamination of optical components, metamaterials
and thermal management of high-power lasers. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; customerservice
@spie.org; spie.org.
EOS Annual Meeting 2012 (September 25-28) Aberdeen, UK
Deadline: abstracts, May 7
The European Optical Society invites papers for EOSAM 2012. Contributions will be accepted for
oral and poster presentations. The event will encompass topical meetings on biophotonics, silicon
photonics, nanophotonics and metamaterials, micro-optics, organic photonics and electronics,
nonlinear photonics, and optical systems for the energy and production industries. Contact EOS
Events & Services GmbH, +49 511 2788 115; aberdeen@myeos.org; www.myeos.org.
312Happenings_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:15 PM Page 87
+1 (408) 879-3901; office@sid.org;
www.sid.org.
3D Microscopy of Living Cells Course
(June 9-21) and 3D Image Processing
Postcourse Workshop (June 23-25) Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada. Contact James
Pawley, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
+1 (608) 238-3953; jbpawley@wisc.edu;
www.3dcourse.ubc.ca/2012.
QIRT 2012: 11th Quantitative Infrared
Thermography Conference (June 11-14)
Naples, Italy. Contact Secretariat, +39 081
7685 184; qirt2012@unina.it; www.qirt2012.
unina.it.
Lasys 2012: International Trade Fair
for System Solutions in Laser Material
Processing (June 12-14) Stuttgart, Germany.
Contact Meike Mayer, +49 711 18560,
Ext. 2374; meike.mayer@messe-stuttgart.de;
www.messe-stuttgart.de.
euroLED 2012 (June 13-14) Birmingham, UK.
Contact Michelle Cleaver, +44 121 250 3515;
info@euroled.org.uk; www.euroled.org.uk.
Third EOS Topical Meeting on Terahertz
Science & Technology (TST 2012)
(June 17-20) Prague, Czech Republic.
A European Optical Society Event. Contact Silke
Kramprich, EOS Events & Services GmbH,
+49 511 277 2674; tst2012@myeos.org;
www.myeos.org/events/tst2012.
Advanced Photonics Congress (June 17-21)
Colorado Springs, Colo. Includes Access
Networks and In-house Communications;
Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and Poling
in Glass Waveguides; Integrated Photonics
Research, Silicon and Nano-Photonics;
Photonic Metamaterials and Plasmonics;
Nonlinear Photonics; Specialty Optical Fibers
& Applications; and Signal Processing in
Photonic Communications. Contact Optical
Society of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;
info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
TechConnect World 2012 (June 18-21)
Santa Clara, Calif. Contact Sarah Wenning,
+1 (925) 353-5004; wenning@techconnect.
org; www.techconnectworld.com.
BIO International Convention (June 18-21)
Boston. Contact Biotechnology Industry
Organization, +1 (202) 962-9200; reg2012@
bio.org; www.convention.bio.org.
Imaging and Applied Optics: OSA Optics
& Photonics Congress (June 24-28)
Monterey, Calif. Includes Applied Industrial
Optics: Spectroscopy, Imaging, and Metrology;
Computational Optical Imaging and Sensing;
Imaging Systems Applications; Optical Fabrica-
tion and Testing; Optical Remote Sensing of
the Environment; and Optical Sensors.
Contact Optical Society of America, +1 (202)
223-8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
JULY
2012 Astronomical Telescopes +
Instrumentation (July 1-6) Amsterdam.
Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; help@
spie.org; www.spie.org.
39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
(July 14-22) Mysore, India. Contact COSPAR
(Committee on Space Research) Secretariat,
+33 1 44 76 75 10; cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr;
www.cospar-assembly.org.
Lasers in Medicine & Biology Conference
(July 22-27) Holderness, N.H. Contact Holly
Tobin, Gordon Research Conferences, Fax: +1
(401) 783-7644; htobin@grc.org; www.grc.org.
M&M 2012: Microscopy & Microanalysis
(July 29-Aug. 2) Phoenix. Contact Microscopy
Society of America, +1 (703) 234-4115; regis-
tration@microscopy.org; www.microscopy.org.
88
h HAPPENINGS
For complete listings, visit
www.photonics.com/calendar
Advertise in Photonics Spectra
Contact your sales representative at
(413) 499-0514 or sales@photonics.com
Lasers, optics, imaging, lighting and
solar covered in every issue in addition
to our special content focus targeted to
our 95,000 qualified subscribers.
June Content Focus: Food & Drink
Spotlight: Imaging Components & Systems
Ad close: April 25, 2012
July Content Focus: Medicine & Health
Spotlight: Optics & Optics Fabrication
Webinar: Medicine & Health
Ad close: May 25, 2012
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312Happenings_Layout 1 2/22/12 4:15 PM Page 88
a
ADVERTISER INDEX
a
ADVERTISER INDEX
Photonics Media Advertising Contacts
Please visit our website
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your marketing needs.
Ken Tyburski
Director of Sales
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 101
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ken.tyburski@photonics.com
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Rebecca L. Pontier
Associate Director
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Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
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NY, NJ & PA
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Joanne C. Gagnon
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Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 226
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joanne.gagnon@photonics.com
Central CA, Southern CA & HI
Tracy L. Reynolds
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Eastern Canada
Maureen Riley Moriarty
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riley.moriarty@photonics.com
Europe, Israel & South Central US
Owen Broch
Regional Manager
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owen.broch@photonics.com
Austria, Germany & Liechtenstein
Olaf Kortenhoff
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olaf.kortenhoff@photonics.com
Asia (except Japan)
Hans Zhong
Voice: +86 755 2872 6973
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Japan
Scott Shibasaki
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Send all contracts, insertion orders
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PO Box 4949
Street address:
Laurin Publishing
Berkshire Common, 2 South St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
Aero Research
Associates Inc. ................... 28
www.aerorese.com
Andor Technology .................74
www.andor.com
Applied Scientific
Instrumentation ....................34
www.asiimaging.com
Argyle International ...............26
www.argyleoptics.com
Automated Imaging
Association .........................43
www.visiononline.org
B&W Tek ................................7
www.bwtek.com
Bayspec Inc. ..........................79
www.bayspec.com
Bristol Instruments Inc. ............49
www.bristol-inst.com
Castech Inc. ...........................66
www.castech.com
China Daheng
Group Inc. ..........................82
www.cdhcorp.com
Coherent Inc. .....................9, 33
www.coherent.com
Cooke Corporation Ltd. ..........19
www.cookecorp.com
CVI Melles Griot ....................32
www.cvimellesgriot.com
Directed Energy Inc. ...............56
www.ixyscolorado.com
DRS Technologies Inc. ............15
www.drs.com
Edmund Optics .................20-21
www.edmundoptics.com
EMD Millipore
Corporation ........................39
www.emdchemicals.com
Energetiq Technology Inc. .......12
www.energetiq.com
Esco Products Inc. ..................18
www.escoproducts.com
Forth Dimension
Displays Ltd. .......................75
www.forthdd.com
Horiba Scientific ....................24
www.picocomponents.com
ILX Lightwave Corp. ...............35
www.ilxlightwave.com
Iridian Spectral
Technologies .......................74
www.iridian.ca
Julabo USA Inc. .....................75
www.julabo.com
Laser Institute
of America .........................80
www.icaleo.org
Lee Laser Inc. .........................44
www.leelaser.com
Lightmachinery Inc. ..........26, 30
www.lightmachinery.com
Lightworks
Optics Inc. ..........................31
www.lwoptics.com
Luminit LLC ............................75
www.luminitco.com
Master Bond Inc. ...................30
www.masterbond.com
Mightex Systems ....................34
www.mightexsystems.com
New Focus,
A Newport Corporation
Brand ..............................CV4
www.newport.com
Newport Corp. ..........29, 77, 81
www.newport.com
nm Laser Products Inc. ............88
www.nmlaser.com
Nova Sensors,
a Teledyne Majority
Owned Company ................41
www.novasensors.com
Novotech Inc. ........................62
www.novotech.net
Nufern ................................CV2
www.nufern.com
Ocean Optics ........................27
www.oceanoptics.com
OPCO Laboratory Inc. ...........23
www.opcolab.com
Photonics Media .......46, 57, 74,
81, 85, 88
www.photonics.com
Photonis USA Inc. ..................60
www.photonis.com
PI
(Physik Instrumente) L.P. .......37
www.pi.ws
Pico Electronics Inc. ................14
Power Technology Inc. ...........11
www.powertechnology.com
Prior Scientific Inc. .................86
www.prior.com
Research
Electro-Optics .....................25
www.reoinc.com
Ross Optical Industries ...........40
www.rossoptical.com
Scanlab AG ............................8
www.scanlab.de
Schott North America Inc.
Lighting and Imaging
Division ............................CV3
www.us.schott.com/
lightingimaging
Siskiyou Corporation ..............22
www.siskiyou.com
Society of Electrical &
Electronic Engineers
in Israel ..............................83
www.seeei.org.il/english/html
Society of Manufacturing
Engineers ...........................84
www.mfg4event.com
Spectra-Physics,
A Newport Corporation
Brand ...................................6
www.newport.com
SPIE International Society
for Optical Engineering .......53
www.spie.org/aboutdss
Stanford Research
Systems Inc. ..........................3
www.thinksrs.com
StellarNet Inc. ........................42
www.stellarnet-inc.com
Tohkai
Sangyo Co. Ltd. ..................86
www.peak.co.jp
Toptica
Photonics Inc. ......................75
www.toptica.com
Vat Inc. .................................74
www.vatvalve.com
Vivid Engineering ...................74
www.vividengineering.com
Xenics NV .............................75
www.xenics.com
Zygo Corp. ...........................13
www.zygo.com
312AdIndex_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:09 PM Page 89
p PEREGRINATIONS
Out of the blue, into the office
W
orking outdoors in the sunshine
with blue skies and fluffy white
clouds overhead it sounds a
little like heaven, doesnt it? Except when
rain falls, snow blows or wind gusts, of
course. Skylights can provide much the
same effect for the top floor of a build-
ing on a sunny day.
But a new virtual sky ceiling lighting
setup gives office workers the feeling of
being outside, even on the first floor and
even when the weather outside is frightful.
The idea is to boost productivity and well-
being.
The setup, developed by Fraunhofer
Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
in Stuttgart in collaboration with LEiDs
GmbH & Co. KG of Backnang, both in
Germany, simulates sunlight along with
passing clouds. To do this, the researchers
studied the natural light spectrum and the
speed at which it changes as breezes play
with clouds.
The celestial ceiling consists of 50
50-cm tiles, with each one comprising a
board with 288 LEDs, said Matthias Bues,
head of the Visual Technologies Compe-
tence Team at Fraunhofer IAO. A matte-
white diffuser film beneath the LEDs
produces the effect of uniform lighting
throughout the room. Red, blue-green and
white LEDs enable the full light spectrum
to shine forth.
The LEDs enable simulation of the dy-
namic changes in natural lighting without
making the artificiality obvious to the
naked eye, Bues said.
In a pilot study, the virtual sky was well
received. For four days, 10 participants
worked under a 30 60-cm lighting sur-
face. The lighting was motionless on the
first day, fluctuated moderately on the sec-
ond day and changed rapidly on the third.
A total of 80 percent of the volunteers
chose the fast, dynamic lighting option
when given their choice of illumination
for the fourth day.
The prototype sky contains 34,560
LEDs spanning an area of 34 sq m. The
ceiling can light up with an intensity of
more than 3000 lux, but 500 to 1000 lux
creates a comfortable level of illumina-
tion, the researchers say.
There has been some interest in the lu-
minous ceiling for conference rooms.
Bringing the outdoors in currently has a
high price tag about $1300 per square
meter but the cost could come down if
demand and production increase.
Caren B. Les
caren.les@photonics.com
Top image: Light from an artificial sky, such as that
produced by these ceiling panels, could promote
increased productivity in office settings. Bottom
image: A behind-the-scenes view of the LED panels
beneath a diffuser screen, which helps to create
uniform lighting for a skylike office ceiling.
312Peregrinations_Layout 1 2/22/12 3:17 PM Page 90
Lighting and Imaging
SCHOTT North America Inc.
122 Charlton Street
Southbridge, MA 01550
Phone: 508.765.9744
Fax: 508.765.1299
lightingimaging@us.schott.com
www.us.schott.com/lightingimaging
Extremely Enlightening:
PURAVIS

eco-friendly glass optical bers!
One of the most obvious advantages that PURAVIS
offers is
the outstanding transmission of white light. The bright future
of eco-friendly ber optic lighting starts with SCHOTT today!
s$UETOLOWERCOLORSHIFTILLUMINATEDOBJECTSRETAINTHEIRNATURALCOLOR
s4HANKSTOIMPROVEDNUMERICALAPERTURETHELIGHTGUIDECAPTURES
more light from the very start.
s4HEVERYLOWDISPERSIONRESULTSINILLUMINATIONWITHHIGH
color uniformity.
312_SchottNA_PgCVR3_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:15 PM Page CVR3
312_Newport_Velocity_PgCVR4_Layout 1 2/22/12 5:16 PM Page CVR4

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read noise at 30 fps, and the dual-ampli-

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