Photonicsspectra201403 DL PDF

www.photonics.
com March 2014

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4 Photonics Spectra March 2014 www.photonics.com
Content

MARCH 2014 www.photonics.com VOLUME 48 ISSUE 3
16 26 74
Departments & Columns
10 EDITORIAL
Thanks for Stopping By!
16 LIGHT SPEED
Business and Markets
Prism Awards honor innovations
in photonics
Photonics grants awarded to four colleges
26 TECH PULSE
Research and technology headlines
of the month
Space lasers have bright future
in communications
Active cloak is the most broadband
to date
Nanowire lasers emit at useful
wavelengths
59 GREENLIGHT
Signicant ecophotonics developments
Tapping solars full potential
60 WORKFORCE OF TOMORROW
Lasers and Fake Corneas Connect Teens,
STEM and Photonics
by Pamela Gilchrist and Judy Donnelly
63 NEW PRODUCTS
70 HAPPENINGS
73 ADVERTISER INDEX
74 LIGHTER SIDE
PHOTONICS SPECTRA ISSN-0731-1230, (USPS 448870) IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY Laurin Publishing Co. Inc., 100 West Street,
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THE COVER
The economy is
powering up the
solar industry.
Design by Senior
Art Director Lisa N.
Comstock.
314Contents.indd 4 3/3/14 12:42 PM
March 2014 Photonics Spectra 5
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.
43
46 55
Features
37
ISSUEFOCUS:
HERECOMESTHESUN
38
MANUFACTURERSREFOCUS
TECHNOLOGYEFFORTSFOLLOWING
RECENTFINANCIALWOES
by Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor
Sunnier skies are on the horizon for solar,
and companies are once again seeking
breakthroughs in technology.
43
SFGSPECTROSCOPYISKEY
TOOILINDUSTRYRESEARCH
by Duncan Cooper, Acal BFi
This nonlinear laser technique can examine
the molecular-level interaction of oil and metal
surfaces.
46
MATERIALSEVOLVING
FORLIGHTER,STIFFEROPTICS
by Hank Hogan, Contributing Editor
Components with greater rigidity but less
weight could advance high-energy lasers,
consumer products and metamaterials.
50
NEWAPPROACHESIMPROVE
BEAMEXPANSION
by Dr. Ulrike Fuchs and Sven R. Kiontke,
asphericon GmbH
New designs for afocal beam expansion
systems optimize wavefront quality.
55
InGaAsSWIRCAMERAS
OPENNEWOPPORTUNITIES
by Scott York, Photonic Science Ltd.
The 900- to 1700-nm waveband is now
accessible to detectors, opening up a host
of imaging and sensing applications.
Now a FREE mobile app
Also available:
www.photonics.com/apps
314Contents.indd 5 3/3/14 12:47 PM
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Group Publisher Karen A. Newman
Editorial Staff
Managing Editor Laura S. Marshall
News Editor Justine Murphy
Editor Caren B. Les
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Christopher Goodell
Contributing Editors Hank Hogan
Gary Boas
Marie Freebody
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Maybe you came for a meeting with a member of our team, or to tell our Light
Matters newscast crew how you got your start in the industry. Perhaps you happened
upon our Photonics Buyers Guide 60th-anniversary celebration, heard our president,
Tom Laurin, speak about the companys early days and then stayed for a piece of cake.
Or maybe you came by to say a few words about one of our publications, or to play our
Light Masters trivia game. Whatever the reason, we enjoyed greeting all who paid us a
visit during SPIE Photonics West in early February.
Before the doors opened on BiOS, the biophotonics component that kicks off SPIEs
Photonics West annual conference and expo, the Photonics Media away team had set
up camp in space No. 8701. And it was in that same space that we could be found for the
duration of Photonics West. Equal parts showroom, offce, news studio and living room,
our trade show booth is a good place to fnd us and perhaps get to know us beyond the
pages of the magazines, websites, directories and other media you regularly see from us.
The team from Photonics Media along with all the amazing folks back at the home
offce had a lot to celebrate this year. From the Buyers Guides 60th to the 20th anni-
versary of BioPhotonics and the launch of our latest title, Industrial Photonics, it was
great to be there in San Francisco to mark these milestones with so many of our readers
and friends. We also were showing off the redesign of Photonics.com. If you have sub-
scribed to, purchased or advertised in any of our publications over the past 60 years, you
are part of our celebration, and we thank you.
Speaking of celebrating,
we were in the room when the
2014 Prism Award winners
were announced. We are
grateful to all who entered
the annual competition that
showcases photonic products
that break with conventional
ideas, solve problems and
improve life through the
application of light-based
technologies. We are excited
for the fnalists and absolutely thrilled for the winners. You can read about the winning
companies and technologies/products in an article beginning on page 16. Photonics
Media was pleased to once again join SPIE in producing the awards.
After you read about the Prism Award winners, I hope you will enjoy the rest of the
issue. Please send your comments to me at karen.newman@photonics.com.
editorial
COMMENT

Thanks for Stopping By!
www.photonics.com
karen.newman@photonics.com
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr. Robert R. Alfano
City College of New York
Joel Bagwell
Edmund Optics
Walter Burgess
Power Technology Inc.
Dr. Timothy Day
Daylight Solutions
Dr. Turan Erdogan
Idex Optics & Photonics
Dr. Stephen D. Fantone
Optikos Corp.
Dr. Michael Houk
Bristol Instruments Inc.
Dr. Kenneth J. Kaufmann
Hamamatsu Corp.
Eliezer Manor
Shirat Enterprises Ltd., Israel
Dr. William Plummer
WTP Optics
Dr. Ryszard S. Romaniuk
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
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.
2013 FINALIST
JESSE H. NEAL AWARDS
FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE
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Welcome to
The online companion to Photonics Spectra
Whats Online:
In the industrys only weekly
newscast, editors from
Photonics.com and Photonics
Spectra, BioPhotonics and
EuroPhotonics magazines bring you
the top photonics research and
business news of the week.
Visit Photonics.com/LightMatters.
Join Us for a Free Webinar
2014 Webinar Series Expert Briengs
Light Advances in Biomedicine
Wednesday, April 9, 2014 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PDT
Sponsored by Power Technology
Photonics Media will host Dr. Robert R. Alfano,
distinguished professor of science and engineering
at The City College of the City University of New York,
who will present major advances in optical biopsy
and imaging spectroscopy.
Alfano will discuss the key ngerprints to detect aggressive cancer cells;
two new NIR spectral windows for imaging with less scattering of light in
tissue; the use of upper singlet S2 for dyes to increase imaging depth using
two-photon techniques; the use of spatial frequency spectra to detect struc-
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How do you take
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Duncan Cooper
Duncan Cooper is sales
manager for photonics at
Acal BFi in Milton Keynes,
England. Page 43.
Marie Freebody
Regular contributing editor
Marie Freebody is a freelance
science and technology jour-
nalist with a masters degree
in physics with a concentra-
tion in nuclear astrophysics
from the University of Surrey,
England. Page 38.
Dr. Ulrike Fuchs
Dr. Ulrike Fuchs is head of
applications at asphericon
GmbH in Jena, Germany.
Page 50.
Hank Hogan
Regular contributing editor
Hank Hogan holds a Bachelor
of Science degree in physics
from the University of Texas
at Austin. He worked in the
semiconductor industry and
now writes about science and
technology. Page 46.
Sven R. Kiontke
Sven R. Kiontke is general
manager at asphericon GmbH
in Jena, Germany. Page 50.
Scott York
Scott York is technical
director of Photonic Science
and Defence Vision Systems
in England, designing and
manufacturing imaging
systems for x-ray and low-
light applications. Page 55.
CONTRIBUTORS
Photonics Spectra...
In the April issue of
Youll also fnd all the news that affects your industry,
from tech trends and market reports to the latest
products and media.
Optics for Defense
The Future of Nanophotonics
Lasers for Machine Vision
Image-Based Bar-Code Reader for NASCAR
Check out our mobile app
To download the app,
scan this QR code or visit
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n Check out a sample of the digital
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whole new world of information for people
in the global photonics industry.
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Light Speed
A laser camera to detect veins under

the skin, a security system that identi-
fes hidden drugs and explosives, and a
laser for digital 3-D cinema projections
were among the nine winners of the 2014
Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation
announced Feb. 5 at SPIE Photonics West
in San Francisco.
Sponsored by SPIE, the international
society for optics and photonics, and Pho-
tonics Spectra publisher Photonics Media,
the annual awards recognize photonic
products that break with conventional
ideas, solve problems for the betterment
of society and improve life through the
application of light-based technologies.
A panel of 26 expert judges from
around the world deliberated upon 27
fnalists in nine categories to choose the
most infuential photonic products of the
past year.
Our Prism Awards recognize the
outstanding products that have emerged
from ideas, concepts and the distillation
of networking at previous conferences
More than 21,000 author-researchers con-
tributed to the work presented [this year].
That represents an impressive amount of
people hours very bright people hours,
said Eugene Arthurs, CEO of SPIE.
Smart, persistent believers ensured that
these ideas survived the valleys of desola-
tion and have come to market.
It is when products result that this
enormous intellectual effort makes a real
impact, he added. And while photonics
technology has an important role in
improving quality of life, its applications
have a vital economic impact as well.
It is wonderful to witness the ongoing
innovation from companies that have
been part of the industry for years, as well
as to support the emerging organizations
and individuals shaping the future of the
photonics industry, said Laurin Publish-
ing CEO Tom Laurin. It is our great
pleasure to collaborate annually with
SPIE to present the Prism Awards, and we
congratulate the 2014 winners and all the
fnalists.
Prism Awards honor innovations in photonics
Advanced Manufacturing: The Photonic
Professional GT 3-D Printer from Nanoscribe
of Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany,
produces complex structures on the nano
and micron scale for research develop-
ment and potential industrial applications
in optics, medicine, fuidics, electronics and
mechanics. The most complex 3-D objects,
with feature sizes down to 160 nm, can be
manufactured with heights ranging from a
few hundred nanometers up to the millimeter
range.
Defense and Security: The T-COGNITION
terahertz spectrometer from Hbner GmbH
of Kassel, Germany, is an intelligent security
system that identifes hidden drugs and ex-
plosives in letters and small packages.
Developed in collaboration with Fraunhofer
IPM, the device can identify the spectro-
scopic fngerprint of the hazardous substance
or material by comparing the data with its
own database. The system is designed to
enhance work safety in prisons, at customs
controls, and in companies and embassies,
among other locations.
Detectors, Sensing, Imaging, and Cam-
eras: Designed for full-featured medical and
The 2014 winners
industrial applications, the OCTANE (Optical
Coherence Tomography Advanced Nanopho-
tonic Engine) 860 from Tornado Spectral
Systems of Toronto is a spectrometer on a
silicon chip designed for full-featured OCT
imaging. The frst of its kind, it harnesses the
scalability of integrated optics.
Industrial Lasers: The VPFL-ISP-1-40-
HE-50000 laser from V-Gen of Tel Aviv, Israel,
is an ytterbium fber laser with the shortest
pulse width, highest peak power and highest
pulse energy in the market. It is capable of
precise micromachining and deep engraving
applications while drilling, cutting, scribing
and contouring diverse materials such as
silicon, metal and plastic.
Life Sciences and Biophotonics: The
AV400 Vein Viewing System from Accuvein of
Huntington, N.Y., is a handheld augmented-
reality laser camera that uses IR light to
display a real-time map of a persons internal
vasculature on the surface of his or her skin.
The device uses hemoglobins IR absorption
and an arrangement of scanned lasers to
detect veins up to 10 mm deep. Minimizing
human error, this visible, noninvasive circula-
tory blueprint allows for trouble-free IV starts,
blood draws and a variety of other surgical
procedures.
Optics and Optical Components: The
r10004 Router from Compass Electro-Optical
Systems of Milpitas, Calif., is the frst router
design to allow for full-mesh architecture
and an ASIC-to-ASIC link using an optical
interconnect. A large-scale 2-D parallel opti-
cal transceiver is assembled directly on the
ASIC with analog driving circuits embedded
as part of the CMOS process. Each ASIC
communicates with all other ASICs in its
neighborhood through optical chip-to-chip,
board-to-board or rack-to-rack connectivity
for service providers, data center operators
and high-performance computing.
Other Light Sources: The Frequency
Converted Green Laser Array by Necsel of
Milpitas, Calif., is the frst RGB laser solution
in 3-D digital cinema projection and is now
available for any visible lighting application.
The laser uses patented frequency-converted
technology to offer customizable wave-
lengths from 530 to 555 nm. The high-power,
multiwavelength, extended-cavity surface-
emitting devices achieves more than 3 W of
314LightSpeed.indd 16 2/28/14 4:25 PM
For more information about the
companies and their winning products,
visit www.photonicsprismawards.org.
output from a package that is less than one
cubic inch.
Scientifc Lasers: The C-WAVE from Hbner
GmbH of Kassel, Germany, combines the
principle of CW optical parametric oscilla-
tors with intracavity frequency-doubling to
generate coherent light across the whole
visible range. This laser is a widely tunable,
easily operated single source for applica-
tions such as spectroscopy, quantum optics
and photochemistry, as it allows the user to
tune from blue to red without any change of
materials or components. It was developed in
collaboration with Fraunhofer IPM.
Test, Measurement, Metrology: The MEMS
FT-IR Spectrometer from Si-Ware Systems of
Cairo is the frst alignment-free, calibration-
free and shock-resistant FT-IR module on
a chip scale. Using a single-chip monolithic
Michelson interferometer, the spectrom-
eter contains all optical and mechanical
components etched on silicon using standard
MEMS fabrication processes. The module
can be integrated into a wide variety of sys-
tems for qualitative or quantitative materials
analysis applications in various industries,
including the environment, health care, agri-
culture, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals,
petrochemicals and law enforcement.
Above: The 2014 Prism Awards winners gather for
a photo at the end of the evening, along with lead-
ers from SPIE and Photonics Media, which together
produce the awards and the event.
Top right: Babak Parviz, Google Glass project
leader and University of Washington professor,
presented the Life Sciences and Biophotonics
Prism Award to AccuVein Inc. of Huntington, N.Y.,
for the AV400 Vein Viewing System, a handheld
augmented-reality laser camera that detects and
projects a vein map on a patients skin.
At right: A team from Hbner GmbH of Kassel,
Germany, accepts one of the companys two
2014 Prism Awards. In the Defense and Security
category, the winner was its T-COGNITION terahertz
spectrometer, and in the Scientifc Lasers category,
its C-WAVE, which combines the principle of CW
optical parametric oscillators with intracavity
frequency-doubling to generate coherent light
across the whole visible range.
Images courtesy of Doug Cody, Bay Area Photography.
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Light Speed
Avago Technologies to purchase LSI for $6.6B in cash Tektronix acquires Picosecond Pulse Labs to strengthen 100G/400G portfolio
With the goal of attracting high school
students to pursue photonics-related
associate degree programs, the Na-
tional Center for Optics and Photonics
Education (OP-TEC) of Waco, Texas, is
providing grants to four US colleges. A
recent OP-TEC study found that two-year
colleges annually are producing fewer
than 300 graduates of photonics techni-
cian programs a level well below the
need. Supported by the National Sci-
ence Foundation, the organization aims
to build the capacity and strengthen the
quality of photonics education in two-year
institutions.
OP-TEC grants will be given to:
Cincinnati State Technical and
Community College: The colleges
laser program will use its grant to hire
a recruiter and to host a three-day
photonics institute for high school
Photonics grants awarded to four colleges
Associate of Applied Science degree programs in photonics prepare students for careers in the feld.
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This month in history
What were you working on fve, 10,
20 or even 30 years ago? Photonics
Spectra editors perused past March
issues and unearthed the following:
2009
2004
1994
1984
Handheld microscopes becoming
literally the solution at hand
for those who needed a close-up
look at components, circuit
boards or other things away
from the lab.
To improve the accuracy in
testing high-quality optics,
white-light and Fourier transform
phase-shifting interferometry
techniques were being consid-
ered.
A new generation of photonic
technologies for process and
quality control included holo-
graphic inspection techniques,
photon tunneling microscopy and
the use of narrowband tunable
diode lasers in spectroscopy.
Image processing was gaining
traction in the industrial test and
measurement market, branching
out from its pioneering role in
applications in space and
medicine.
Ivan P. Kaminow, a pioneer in photonic
devices and developer of key aspects of
lightwave communication systems, died
Dec. 18. He was 83.
In 1954, Kaminow joined Bell Tele-
phone Laboratories, where he made
pioneering contributions to advance the
feld of optical fber communications.
He conducted seminal studies on electro-
optic modulators and materials, Raman
scattering in ferroelectrics, integrated
optics, semiconductor lasers, birefringent
optical fbers and wave division multi-
plexing lightwave networks.
After retiring in 1996, Kaminow
served as an IEEE Congressional Fellow
on the staffs of the House Science Com-
mittee and the Congressional Research
Service (Science Policy Research Div.) in
the Library of Congress.
During his career, he established the
consulting service Kaminow Lightwave
Technology and served as a visiting pro-
fessor at Princeton and other universities.
Among his many accomplishments, he
published more than 240 papers, received
47 patents and wrote or co-edited 10
books, including the Optical Fiber Tele-
communication series, editions II (1988)
through VI (2013).
In 2010, he was awarded the IEEE Pho-
tonics Award for seminal contributions
to electro-optic modulation, integrated
optics and semiconductor lasers, and lead-
ership in optical telecommunications.
Kaminow is survived by his wife, Flor-
ence, three children and several grand-
children.
Lightwave pioneer Kaminow dies
Ivan P. Kaminow.
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LPKF Laser & Electronics now owns all shares of its Slovenian subsidiary
science and technology teachers this
summer. In addition, the funds will
provide 10 portable photonics kits for
teachers.
Maui College in Kahului, Hawaii: The
school will hire a recruiter to increase
enrollment in its laser-related pro-
grams. Outreach services are planned
for eight targeted high schools and
their feeder middle schools through-
out Maui.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania:
The school will hire a recruiter to in-
crease enrollment in its electro-optics
$36.52B
the earned revenues of the global
LED lighting market projected
for 2017 by Frost & Sullivan,
up from $9.18B in 2012
$248.1M
the global consumption by 2020 of LED lamps
for explosion-proof lighting, as projected by
ElectroniCast Consultants, up from $151.5M
in 2013
technician associate degree program
and will work with high schools to de-
velop dual-credit courses and articula-
tion agreements for the program.
Northwestern Michigan College in
Traverse City: The college will hire a
recruiter for its engineering technology
program and will provide scholarships
to 11 high school seniors who enroll in
its dual-credit introductory photonics
course in the fall. NMC also will pro-
vide matching funds to purchase lab
and safety equipment for the program.
Fermionics
4555 Runway St. Simi Valley, CA 93063
Tel (805) 582-0155 Fax (805) 582-1623
w w w . f e r m i o n i c s . c o m
Opto-Technology
Analog bandwidth to 8 GHz.
FC, SC, and ST receptacles.
Active diameter from 50 m to 5 mm.
Standard and custom ceramic
submounts.
TO-style packages available with flat
AR-coated windows, ball lens and
dome lens.
Standard axial pigtail packages and
miniature ceramic pigtail packages,
all available with low back-reflection
fiber.
Communications
Instrumentation
Medical
Imaging / Sensing
Fermionics 1/3 Column:Layout 1 9/25/13 5:59 PM Page 1
Light Speed
MOVES & EXPANSIONS

Infraredx Inc. of Burlington, Mass.,
has announced that Nipro Corp., the
exclusive distributor of its TVC Imag-
ing System in Japan, has established a
manufacturing subsidiary in Yamanishi
that will produce the biomedical devices.
Nipro and Infraredx signed a fve-year
distribution agreement in 2012. Regula-
tory approval from Japans Pharmaceuti-
cals and Medical Devices Agency, which
is required to manufacture the product,
is expected in 2014, and production is
scheduled to begin in 2015. The TVC
Imaging System uses intravascular ultra-
sound and NIR spectroscopy to monitor
coronary artery disease by evaluating
vessel structure and composition, and by
monitoring for plaque and stenosis.
Construction of Building No. 2 at
Hamamatsu Photonics KKs Beijing
subsidiary is now complete. Operations
at the facility, located at the Langfang
factory, were scheduled to begin in
February. The new building, at Hama-
matsu Photon Techniques Inc., will be
used for glass processing and scintillator
manufacturing. It also will be used for the
manufacturing of nonphotomultiplier tube
products. The facility allows for expan-
sion of manufacturing capacity as well as
research and development activities. It is
also expected to improve the manufac-
turing capacity of two other factories in
Beijing, including the Yongqing facility.
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Omega Engineering, a Stamford, Conn.,
provider of process measurement and
control products, held a grand opening in
December at its new offce in the Campi-
nas area of So Paulo, Brazil. Omega
Engineering Brazil, headed by General
Manager Antonio Gomes, will provide
applications and technical support engi-
neers to assist customers in the region.
Omegas temperature, pressure and fow
products have applications in automotive
and aerospace, oil and gas, pharmaceuti-
cal and chemical, and food and bever-
age industries, among others. Omega
Engineering is a unit of England-based
Spectris plc, a developer of instrumenta-
tion and controls.
Ametek Inc. has signed Blue Scientifc
of Cambridge, England, as its exclusive
distributor of scientifc instruments
and software in the UK. Blue Scientifc
specializes in instruments for research,
development and process control in
academic and industrial applications
and will represent Ameteks Advanced
Measurement Technology Scientifc
Instruments business unit, handling its
Solartron Analytical and Princeton Ap-
plied Research products. The Scientifc
Instruments unit comprises the Princeton
Applied Research and the Solartron Ana-
lytical and Signal Recovery businesses
within Ameteks Advanced Measurement
Technology.
Block Engineering LLC of Marlbor-
ough, Mass., has signed a long-term sup-
ply agreement with an unnamed provider
of hardened, feld-based systems in the oil
and gas drilling industry. The agreement
applies specifcally to Blocks Mini-FT
spectrometer, which provides real-time
monitoring of C1-C5 hydrocarbons to en-
able drilling operations, providing a better
understanding of the underlying geology.
The agreement also includes Blocks gas
monitor, which comes with wireless radio
communications and custom software
integrated inside a compact, explosion-
proof enclosure that enables mounting of
the system directly at the mud pit. Block
expects the agreement to help improve the
effciency of gas and oil drilling opera-
tions.
A Passion for Precision.
www.toptica.com
Take One Fo(u)r All
Microscopes and cytometers depend on high-
end multicolor illumination systems. Reliability,
high intensity and compactness combined with
ease of use are a must for these instruments.
TOPTICAs multi-color solutions offer highest
power and unmatched stability, for example by
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Concept Laser has opened a new development center at its headquarters in Lichtenfels,
Germany. The 600-m
2
laboratory enables further advancement of the LaserCUSING
process, which uses directed laser light with a galvo scanning unit to fuse metal powder
in layers and build metal components. The center also provides engineers with a platform
for developing laser additive manufacturing systems, such as the LaserCUSING System
X line 1000R in XXL format. Company engineers also will be able to conduct tests more
rapidly and communicate the results more effectively. The development center houses a
larger metallography lab as well as a materials testing area.
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At the new Concept Laser development center, optical component inspection is under way using a Zeiss
stereo spectrometer.
Optical components manu-
facturer LightPath Tech-
nologies Inc. of Orlando,
Fla., has formed a second
subsidiary in China. Light-
Path Optical Instrumenta-
tion (Zhenjiang) Co. Ltd., in
Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province,
occupies a 26,000-sq-ft facil-
ity, tripling the companys
combined global lens pro-
duction capacity. LightPath
also has a 22,000-sq-ft plant
in Orlando and a 17,000-
sq-ft plant in Shanghai. The Zhenjiang location is close to high-speed rail service and
the Optical College at the University of Zhenjiang, providing an educated workforce,
the company said. Production is planned to start at the Zhenjiang plant during the frst
half of 2014.
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Light Speed
Carl Zeiss Meditec buys intraocular lens maker Aaren Scientifc

Agilent Technologies Inc. of Santa
Clara, Calif., and Picometrics Tech-
nologies of Labge, France, have signed
a marketing agreement to improve eff-
ciency in the research and development of
complex large-molecule biopharmaceuti-
cal compounds.
Analysis technology tools such as
capillary electrophoresis (CE), laser-
induced fuorescence (LIF) detection
and mass spectrometry are particularly
useful for the research and development
of new biological entities, said Michael
Frank, marketing director of liquid phase
separations at Agilent. Several Agilent
products can be used with Picometrics
Zetalif LED and Zetalif Laser instru-
ments, including Agilents CE and CE/
mass spectrometry technologies, as well
as HPLC/UHPLC (high-performance
liquid chromatography/ultrahigh-pressure
liquid chromatography) solutions.
NKT Photonics of Birkerd, Denmark,
has licensed parts of its photonic crystal
fber (PCF) technology to PicoQuant
GmbH of Berlin for use in PicoQuants
new Solea supercontinuum lasers. The
covered patents include NKTs fundamen-
tal methods for drawing and processing
the fbers for use in such systems. Pico-
Quant specializes in pulsed diode lasers,
single-photon counting and fuorescence
instrumentation. The license allows
PicoQuant to use NKT Photonics fbers
to make supercontinuum light sources
featuring a gain-switched laser diode.
3SAE Technologies of Franklin, Tenn.,
and European distributor NorthLab
Photonics of Nacka, Sweden, have joined
forces to expand product lines in North
America and Europe. Their agreement in-
cludes private labeling of 3SAEs thermal
stripper, ultrasonic cleaner, EndFace Prep
Station II and linear tensile tester, as well
as the new large-diameter bend-proof
tester, for the European market. It also in-
cludes the private labeling of NorthLabs
new large-diameter fber cleaver for the
North American market.
COLLABORATIONS
DigitalOptics of San Jose, Calif., will
cease its remaining mems/cam (micro-
electromechanical systems/cameras)
operations as it restructures, according
to parent company Tessera Technologies
Inc. Tessera, with operating subsidiaries
Intellectual Property and DigitalOptics,
will refocus efforts on monetizing its in-
tellectual property portfolio and technol-
ogy, including solutions for imaging and
MEMS, through sales, licensing or other
means. DigitalOptics will return to its
core IP and image enhancement business.
The companys workforce will be
reduced by more than 300 employees,
primarily in Taiwan, the US and Japan.
Its facilities in Arcadia, Calif., Rochester,
N.Y., Taiwan and Japan also will close.
DigitalOptics will continue its embedded
image processing development operations
such as FaceTools, red-eye-removal,
high-dynamic-range, panorama and
image-stabilization products in Roma-
nia and Ireland.
The restructuring follows an in-depth
review of strategic alternatives for Digi-
talOptics, conducted in conjunction with
the companys fnancial advisers, the
newly reconstituted board of directors
and the new senior management team,
Tessera said.
DigitalOptics received its frst volume
production purchase order for its smart-
phone imaging system from China-based
Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommuni-
cations Corp. Ltd. in October. The system
uses DigitalOptics mems/cam module
MEMS technology to provide fast imag-
ing to smartphones and is made using
semiconductor processes.
The restructuring and related changes
are expected to be completed during the
frst and second quarters of 2014.
DigitalOptics to cease manufacturing
British military signs 33M contract with laser group Rheinmetall
USouthampton receives $10M to bring silicon photonics to market
waves, nonlinear dynamics and photorefrac-
tive materials.
Sean Bagshaw has
stepped into the role of
chief operating offcer for
Washington-based The
Optical Society. He will
continue on as chief infor-
mation offcer, a post he has held for the past
fve years. Bagshaw has more than 25 years
of experience in the nonproft, health care
and technology services industries.
Michael Cyros, chief commercial offcer of
Allied Vision Technologies, is the recipient of
the 2014 AIA Achievement award. Cyros re-
ceived the honor, regarded as the industrys
top leadership award, for his contributions
to the vision and imaging industry at Allied
Vision Technologies, Euresys and Datacube,
and as a former chairman of AIAs board of
directors. The award was presented in Janu-
ary at the AIAs annual business conference
in Florida.
After 16 years as president and CEO at
California-based SRI International, Curtis R.
Carlson will take over as vice chairman for
innovation. In this role, he will assist the re-
search institute with business development
and innovation initiatives. Carlson holds
fundamental patents in the felds of image
quality, image coding and computer vision,
and is a past winner of the Otto Schade Prize
for contributions to imaging sciences, given
by the Society for Information Display.
Following the resignation of company
president and CEO Reed Killion, the board
of directors of UniPixel Inc. has appointed
its chairman, Bernard Marren, and director,
Carl Yankowski, as interim co-president and
co-CEO. The Texas-based maker of electro-
optic micro- and nanostructured flms has
begun the search process for a permanent
replacement for Killion, who had led the
company since 2008 and left to pursue other
interests.
Laser Components GmbH
of Olching, Germany, has
appointed Uwe Schal-
lenberg as its new head of
production for the optical
technologies department.
A specialist in optical thin-flm technology,
Schallenberg will lead feasibility studies
for new designs and evaluations of optical
and technical requirements, as well as the
research on technology in the manufacturing
of new products.
Tessera Technologies Inc. of San Jose, Calif.,
has named Robert J. Andersen its executive
vice president and chief fnancial offcer.
Andersen will report to CEO Thomas Lacey,
who had served as interim CEO since May
and who was appointed to the permanent
position effective Dec. 10. John Allen, who
had served as acting CFO since June 2013,
has returned to his position as senior vice
president and corporate controller.
Photonics technology development veteran
Bob Hainsey has joined Bellingham, Wash.-
based SPIE as science and technology strate-
gist. The former senior
director of central research,
development and engineer-
ing at Portland, Ore.-based
Electro Scientifc Industries
(ESI), Hainsey has more
than 20 years of experience in product devel-
opment for semiconductor processing and
laser micromachining applications.
Michael D. Duncan has
joined the staff of The
Optical Society (OSA) as
a senior science adviser.
He will provide strategic
direction on the scientifc
and technical aspects of Washington-based
OSAs programs and services for optics
and photonics professionals. An author of
more than 65 technical papers, Duncan has
worked as an optical scientist for the US
Navy for more than 30 years.
Photonic integrated circuit maker Infnera of
Sunnyvale, Calif., has appointed Brad Feller
as senior vice president of fnance. He also
will assume the position of chief fnancial
offcer, replacing Ita Brennan. Feller was em-
ployed in senior fnance positions at Marvell
Technology Group for more than fve years.
Physicist Mordechai Segev has been
awarded the Israel Prize for his work in the
feld of optics and lasers. Segev is a profes-
sor at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
in Haifa; his research includes nonlinear
optics and quantum electronics, specif-
cally in regard to spatial solitons, nonlinear
frequency conversion, nonlinear guided
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
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This investment of 20 million of taxpayers money, with an additional
10 million from industry, is further proof of the governments commitment to
Irish research. IPIC represents one of the strongest research teams in Europe.
Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock speaking at the launch in January
of the 30M Irish Photonic Integration Centre at the Tyndall National Institute
Please contact us with any ideas you may have for new
producLs or collaborauon.
lnfo[moxLek.com
www.moxLek.com
Heads-up!
Clarity on Display
ProFlux
Beamsplitters are ideal for heads-up displays and other applications where image
quality is critical. Our ProFlux polarizers have excellent polarization uniformity over large
apertures, providing bright, high contrast, long-lasting displays.
Learn more at www. MOXTEK.com
Light Speed
An International Year
of Light is a tremendous
opportunity to ensure
that policy makers
are made aware of the
problem-solving
potential of light
technologies.
John Dudley, chairman of the
International Year of Light and
Light-based Technologies 2015 (ILY2015)
steering committee at the Photonics21
annual meeting in Brussels
In honor of the late optical communica-

tions pioneer Tingye Li, the OSA Founda-
tion has launched a fundraising campaign
to endow an award that will recognize
young optics researchers.
The Tingye Li Innovation Award will
acknowledge top-performing young
professionals who present innovative
research at the annual OFC Conference
and Exposition. The award is intended to
celebrate Lis signifcant contributions to
the feld of microwaves, lasers and optical
communications, and to recognize his
passion for the future of optics. The foun-
dation wants to raise at least $150,000 to
permanently endow the award.
Li, who died in December 2012, was a
past president and Fellow emeritus of The
Optical Society (OSA). He worked at Bell
Telephone Laboratories (later AT&T Bell
Laboratories) from 1957 until his retire-
ment in 1998.
Donations to the Tingye Li Innovation
Award can be made at www.osa.org/
donate.
Campaign begins to endow award honoring Tingye Li
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CyberOptics is acquiring Laser Design for $3M in cash Finisar is purchasing u2t Photonics for $20M in cash
Please contact us with any ideas you may have for new
producLs or collaborauon.
lnfo[moxLek.com
www.moxLek.com
Heads-up!
Clarity on Display
ProFlux
Beamsplitters are ideal for heads-up displays and other applications where image
quality is critical. Our ProFlux polarizers have excellent polarization uniformity over large
apertures, providing bright, high contrast, long-lasting displays.
Learn more at www. MOXTEK.com
Mellanox Technologies Ltd. and Avago
Technologies are both claiming victories
in recent rulings by the International
Trade Commission (ITC) regarding an
ongoing patent dispute. Avago claims
that Mellanox, of Sunnyvale, Calif., and
FCI of France infringed on two of its US
patents concerning active optical cable
(AOC) and optical transceiver technology.
Regarding US Patent No. 5,596,595,
which covers vertical-cavity surface-
emitting laser (VCSEL) technology used
in data center, enterprise network and
high-performance computing applica-
tions, the ITC ruled that Mellanox and
FCI did infringe on Avagos intellectual
property by importing and selling optical
communication products with VCSELs
based on Avagos IP. Mellanox has asked
the ITC to review this fnding, alleging
that the ITC administrative law judge
did not follow the law in construing the
claims regarding this patent. A deter-
mination on this issue is expected by
mid-April.
Regarding US Patent No. 6,947,456,
which covers VCSEL drivers, the ITC
found that Mellanox and FCI were not
in violation. In the investigation, part of
Avagos claim with this patent focused on
IPtronics drivers used by Mellanox and
FCI in AOC products.
Avago said it plans to request an exclu-
sion order from the ITC, which would
prevent Mellanox and FCI from import-
ing products that use the VCSEL drivers.
It is unclear when a determination will
be made.
The patent dispute started in 2010,
when Avago sued IPtronics for patent
damages, trade secret misappropria-
tion and unfair competition. Mellanox
acquired IPtronics in 2013.
ITC rules on Avago, Mellanox patent dispute
Company offers credit
for damaged lenses
Laser Research Optics of Providence,
R.I., will offer a credit of up to 20 percent
toward new CO
2
lenses if purchasers
return their damaged 1.5- and 2-in. zinc
selenide lenses. The offer applies primar-
ily to metalworking laser lenses, which
can be harmed by splatter. Besides giving
customers an incentive, the arrangement
promotes proper disposal of lenses. Laser
Research Optics CO
2
laser lenses are
designed for 200-W to 4-kW lasers. Fea-
turing focal lengths from 3 to 10 in. in
0.5-in. increments, they are optimized
for 10.6 m.
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GREENBELT, Md. Neither wind, nor
clouds, nor even atmospheric turbulence
kept NASAs Lunar Laser Communication
Demonstration (LLCD) from its mission
of providing error-free communications
to ground stations from lunar orbit, NASA
said recently in releasing results of the
30-day experiment.
Throughout our testing, we did not
see anything that would prevent the
operational use of this technology in the
immediate future, said Don Cornwell,
LLCD mission manager at NASAs God-
dard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
LLCD, which hitched a ride to lunar
orbit aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and
Dust Environment Explorer, known as
LADEE, was designed to confrm laser
communications capabilities from a
distance of almost a quarter of a million
miles. Besides demonstrating record-
breaking data download and upload
speeds to the moon at 622 and 20 Mb/s,
respectively, LLCD also showed that it
could operate as well as any NASA radio
system. The sending and receiving of
high-defnition video was proved with
a message from NASA administrator
Charlie Bolden, completing the trip to the
moon and back with only a few seconds
of delay.
LLCD demonstrated error-free commu-
nications during broad daylight, including
operating when the moon was to within
3 of the sun as seen from Earth, NASA
said. LLCD also demonstrated error-free
communications when the moon was low
on the horizon, less than 4, as seen from
the ground station, which also demon-
strated that wind and atmospheric turbu-
lence did not signifcantly affect the sys-
tem. LLCD even communicated through
thin clouds, an unexpected bonus.
LLCD also demonstrated the ability to
download data from the LADEE space-
craft itself. We were able to download
LADEEs entire stored science and space-
craft data [1 GB] in less than fve minutes,
which was only limited to our 40-Mb/s
connection to that data within LADEE,
Cornwell said. That feat would have taken
several days to complete using LADEEs
onboard radio system.
LLCD proved the integrity of laser
technology to send not only error-free
data, but also uncorrupted commands and
telemetry or monitoring messages to and
from the spacecraft over the laser link,
NASA said.
The system also demonstrated the
ability to hand off the laser connection
from one ground station to another, just as
a cellphone does a hand-off from one cell
tower to another. An additional achieve-
ment was the ability to operate LLCD
without using LADEEs radio at all.
We were able to program LADEE to
awaken the LLCD space terminal and
have it automatically point and commu-
nicate to the ground station at a specifc
time without radio commands, Corn-
well said. This demonstrates that this
technology could serve as the primary
communications system for future NASA
missions.
NASAs follow-on mission for laser
communications will be the Laser
Communications Relay Demonstration
(LCRD). Also managed at Goddard,
LCRD will demonstrate continuous laser-
relay communications capabilities at more
than 1 billion bits per second between two
Earth stations using a satellite in geosyn-
chronous orbit. The system also will sup-
port communications with Earth-orbiting
satellites. More importantly, LCRD will
demonstrate this operational capability
for as long as fve years.
We are very encouraged by the results
of LLCD, said Badri Younes, NASAs
deputy associate administrator for Space
Communications and Navigation (SCaN)
in Washington, which sponsored the mis-
sion. From where I sit, the future looks
very bright for laser communications.
TECH pulse

Space lasers have bright future in communications
An artists impression of the LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) satellite in orbit.
NASA scientists and engineers seeking faster connectivity with their data-gathering spacecraft are moving
away from radio-frequency-based communications and turning to laser communications.
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From where I sit, the future
looks very bright for laser
communications.
Badri Younes, NASA
Active cloak is the most broadband to date
AUSTIN, Texas An active invisibility
cloak that is, one designed to work
with an external power source could
signifcantly broaden the devices opera-
tion bandwidth, moving its applications
beyond camoufage.
A team at the University of Texas at
Austin, led by Andrea Al, associate pro-
fessor at Cockrell School of Engineering,
proposed a design for an active cloak that
draws energy from a battery, allowing
objects to become undetectable to radio
314_TechPulse.indd 26 2/28/14 4:34 PM
sensors over a greater range of frequen-
cies. That would give the proposed active
cloak a number of new applications, such
as improving cellular and radio communi-
cations, and biomedical sensing.
Cloaks realized to date are passive, not
designed to draw energy from an external
source. They typically are based on either
metamaterials (advanced artifcial materi-
als) or metasurfaces (fexible, ultrathin
metamaterials) that can suppress the light
scattering off an object, making the object
less visible. When the scattered felds
from the cloak and the object interfere,
they cancel each other out, and the over-
all effect is transparency to radio-wave
detectors. They can suppress 100 times or
more the detectability at specifc design
frequencies.
Although the proposed design works
for radio waves, active cloaks could one
day be designed to make detection by
the human eye more diffcult, the UT
researchers say.
Many cloaking designs are good at
suppressing the visibility under certain
conditions, but they are inherently limited
to work for specifc colors of light or
specifc frequencies of operation, Al
said. But in the work, we prove that
cloaks can become broadband, pushing
this technology far beyond current limits
of passive cloaks. I believe that our design
helps us understand the fundamental
challenges of suppressing the scattering
of various objects at multiple wavelengths
and shows a realistic path to overcome
them.
The proposed active cloak uses a
battery, circuits and amplifers to boost
signals, making it possible to reduce scat-
tering over a greater range of frequencies.
This design, which covers a very broad
range, will provide the most broadband
and robust performance of a cloak to date.
Additionally, the proposed active technol-
ogy can be thinner and less conspicuous
than conventional cloaks, the investiga-
tors say.
In a paper published in Physical
Review X in October, Al and graduate
student Francesco Monticone proved that
existing passive cloaking solutions are
fundamentally limited in the bandwidth
of operation and cannot provide broad-
band cloaking. When viewed at certain
frequencies, passively cloaked objects
may become transparent, but if illumi-
nated with white light, they are bound to
become more visible with the cloak than
without. The October paper proves that
all available cloaking techniques based on
passive cloaks are constrained by Fosters
theorem, which limits their overall ability
to cancel the scattering across a broad
frequency spectrum.
In contrast, the researchers say, an ac-
tive cloak based on active metasurfaces,
such as the one they designed, can break
these limitations. They started with a
passive metasurface made from an array
of metal square patches and loaded it with
properly positioned operational amplifers
that use the energy drawn from a battery
to broaden the bandwidth.
In our case, by introducing these suit-
able amplifers along the cloaking surface,
we can break the fundamental limits of
passive cloaks and realize a non-Foster
surface reactance that decreases, rather
than increases, with frequency, signif-
icantly broadening the bandwidth of
operation, Al said.
The researchers are continuing to work
on both the theory and the design, and
they plan to build a prototype.
They are working to use active cloaks
to improve wireless communications by
suppressing the disturbance that neigh-
boring antennas produce on transmitting
and receiving antennas. They also have
proposed using these cloaks to improve
biomedical sensing, near-feld imaging
and energy-harvesting devices.
The teams most recent paper was
published in Physical Review Letters (doi:
10.1103/physrevlett.111.233001).
Near-feld setup of the cloaking device developed at
the University of Texas at Austin. The device draws
energy from a battery.
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Nanowire lasers emit at useful wavelengths

MUNICH Threadlike semiconductors
can be made to emit light at useful wave-
lengths, demonstrating potential as lasers
for computing, communications, and
environmental and biological sensing.
Scientists at Technical University
Munich (TUM) demonstrated laser action
in the semiconductor nanowires at room
temperature, which they say could work
with silicon chips, optical fbers and even
living cells.
Nanowire lasers could represent the
next step in the development of smaller,
faster, more energy-effcient sources of
light, said professor Jonathan Finley,
director of TUMs Walter Schottky Insti-
tute. But nanowires are also a bit special
in that they are very sensitive to their sur-
roundings, have a large surface-to-volume
ratio, and are small enough, for example,
to poke into a biological cell.
The experimental nanowire lasers emit
light in the near-IR, approaching the
sweet spot for fber optic communica-
tions. They can be grown directly on
silicon, presenting opportunities for
integrated photonics and optoelectronics,
and they operate at room temperature, a
prerequisite for real-world applications.
The nanowires tailored core-shell
structure, which is a complex profle of
differing semiconductor materials tailored
virtually atom by atom, enables them to
act both as lasers, generating coherent
pulses of light, and as waveguides, simi-
lar to optical fbers.
As with conventional communication
lasers, the nanowires are made of III-V
semiconductors, materials with the right
bandgap to emit light in the near-IR. A
unique advantage, Finley said, is that the
nanowire geometry is more forgiving
than bulk crystals or flms, allowing you
to combine materials that you normally
cant combine.
Because the nanowires arise from a
base only tens to hundreds of nanometers
in diameter, they can be grown directly
on silicon chips in a way that alleviates
restrictions due to crystal lattice mis-
match yielding high-quality material
with the potential for high performance.
A number of signifcant challenges
remain for the laser to move from applied
research to future applications, the inves-
tigators say; e.g., laser emission from the
nanowires was stimulated by light as
were the nanowire lasers reported almost
simultaneously by a team at Australian
National University yet practical ap-
plications are likely to require electrically
injected devices.
Ongoing research is directed toward
better understanding the physical phe-
nomena at work in such devices as well
as toward creating electrically injected
nanowire lasers, optimizing their perfor-
mance and integrating them with plat-
forms for silicon photonics.
At present, very few labs in the world
have the capability to grow nanowire
materials and devices with the precision
required, said professor Gerhard Abstre-
iter, founder of the Walter Schottky Insti-
tute and director of the TUM Institute for
Advanced Study. And yet our processes
and designs are compatible with indus-
trial production methods for computing
and communications. Experience shows
that todays hero experiment can become
tomorrows commercial technology, and
often does.
The work appears in Nature Commu-
nications (doi: 10.1038/ncomms3931). In
Nano Letters (doi: 10.1021/nl403341x),
the team discloses additional results
showing the nanowires enhanced optical
and electronic performance.
TECH pulse

Quantum phenomenon shown with plastic flm
ZURICH Instead of the usual ultrapure
crystals, a plastic flm similar to the mate-
rial used in light-emitting smartphone
displays has been used to demonstrate a
complex quantum mechanical phenom-
enon.
The frst-time demonstration of a
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at
room temperature using a luminescent
polymer, achieved by scientists at IBM
Research, has potential applications in the
development of novel optoelectronic de-
vices, such as energy-effcient lasers and
ultrafast optical switches. Such compo-
nents are critical for powering the future
computer systems needed to process
massive Big Data workloads, and using
the polymer material would be less costly
and easier to apply.
A BEC is a peculiar state of matter
that occurs when a dilute gas of particles
(bosons) is cooled to nearly absolute zero
(273 C, 459 F). At this temperature,
intriguing macroscopic quantum phenom-
ena occur in which the bosons all line
up like ballroom dancers. The phenom-
enon is named after scientists Satyendra
Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, who frst
predicted it in the mid-1920s, although it
was only experimentally proved in 1995
at those extreme temperatures.
The IBM team said it has achieved the
same state at room temperature using a
thin noncrystalline polymer flm devel-
oped by chemists at the University of
Wuppertal in Germany.
Polariton BEC within the polymer-flled microresonator consisting of the luminescent polymer layer (yellow)
and two mirrors, each consisting of many pairs of different transparent oxide layers (red and blue). The
polaritons are created by excitation of the polymer layer from below with a laser beam (white). The polaritons
(green), which are bosons composed of photons and electron-hole pairs, are formed through interactions of
the polymer with the microcavity. Once a critical density is reached, the polaritons undergo Bose-Einstein
condensation, emitting green laserlike light through the top mirror.
Images courtesy of IBM Research.
The liquid form of the polymer is placed by a laser,
altering its color.
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314_EdmundOptics_Pg29.indd 29 2/28/14 4:39 PM
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The scientists placed a 35-nm-thick
polymeric layer between two mirrors and
excited it with laser light. The bosonic
particles are created through interaction
of the polymer material and light, which
bounces back and forth between the
mirrors.
The phenomenon lasts only a few
picoseconds, but the scientists believe
that this is already long enough to use the
bosons to create a source of laserlike light
and/or an optical switch for future optical
interconnects. These components are
important building blocks to control the
fow of information in the form of zeroes
and ones between future chips and can
signifcantly speed up their performance
while using much less energy.
That BEC would be possible using a
polymer flm instead of the usual ultra-
pure crystals defed our expectations,
said Dr. Thilo Stferle, a physicist at IBM
Research. Its really a beautiful example
of quantum mechanics, where one can
directly see the quantum world on a mac-
roscopic scale.
The next step is to study and control
the BECs extraordinary properties and
to evaluate possible applications, includ-
ing analog quantum simulations. The
simulations could be used to model very
complex scientifc phenomena such as
superconductivity, which is diffcult using
todays computational approaches.
A paper on the work appears in Nature
Materials (doi: 10.1038/nmat3825).
TECH pulse

Technique stabilizes femtosecond pulses
MOSCOW, and LAUSANNE, Switzer-
land A new technique that stabilizes
femtosecond pulses generated in a micro-
resonator could improve devices depen-
dent on such pulses for applications in
telecommunications, broadband spectros-
copy, astronomy and more.
Last year, a team from Lomonosov
Moscow State University (MSU) and
cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Laus-
anne (EPFL) in Switzerland published
a paper in Nature Photonics stating that
the primary source of noise in microres-
onator-based optical frequency combs is
related to nonlinear harmonic generation
mechanisms, rather than the fundamental
physical limitations of the devices. That
means that, in principle, the noise can be
reduced.
Signal stability is of great importance
for making communications and GPS-
navigation satellites, for example, more
precise and with higher throughput.
In a new paper in Nature Photonics
(doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2013.343), the team
extends its work, describing how it found
a technique to generate stable femtosec-
ond pulses, optical combs and microwave
signals.
The researchers used a microresonator
(a millimeter-scale magnesium fuoride
disk), then propagated an optical whisper-
ing-gallery mode along the circumference
of the resonator by exciting electromag-
netic oscillations. This converted CW
laser emission into a train of femtosecond
pulses, analogous to those from mode-
locked femtosecond lasers.
In mode-locked femtosecond lasers,
complex optical devices, media and
special mirrors are normally used. How-
ever, we succeeded in obtaining stable
pulses just in passive optical resonator
using its own nonlinearity, said Michael
Gorodetsky, a professor on the Physical
Faculty of MSU and an affliate of the
Russian Quantum Centre in Skolkovo.
That could drastically reduce the size of
such devices in the future.
The short pulses are known as optical
solitons. A soliton is a stable, shape-con-
serving localized wave packet propagat-
ing in a nonlinear medium like a quasi-
particle.
One can generate a single stable soli-
ton circulating inside a microresonator.
In the output optical fber, one can obtain
a periodic series of pulses with a period
corresponding to a round-trip time of the
soliton, Gorodetsky said.
Such pulses last for only 100 to 200 fs,
but the investigators believe that much
shorter solitons are achievable. They sug-
gest that their discovery allows for the
construction of a new generation of com-
pact, stable and inexpensive optical pulse
generators working in regimes unachiev-
able with other techniques. Their results
are critical for applications such as broad-
band spectroscopy, telecommunications
and astronomy.
PHILADELPHIA A 3-D liquid-crystal
array shaped like a fower can be used as a
lens similar to an insects compound eye,
a team of materials scientists, chemical
engineers and physicists has found.
The University of Pennsylvania team
has been working to use liquid crystals
as a medium for structure assembly, a
growing nanotechnology feld known as
directed assembly. In earlier work, the
team produced patterns of defects use-
ful disruptions in the repeating patterns
found in liquid crystals in nanoscale
grids and rings, but they used tiny posts
as templates. Their new work adds a more
complex pattern out of an even simpler
template: a 3-D array shaped like a fower.
Before, we were growing these liquid
crystals on something like a trellis, a
template with precisely ordered features,
said Randall Kamien, a professor in the
Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Here, were just planting a seed.
The seeds they used were silica beads
essentially, polished grains of sand.
When the beads are planted at the top of a
pool of liquid crystal, fowerlike patterns
of defects grow around each bead.
The key difference between the tem-
plate in this experiment and ones in the
research teams earlier work was the
shape of the interface between the tem-
plate and the liquid crystal.
Not only is the interface at an angle,
its an angle that keeps changing, Ka-
mien said. The way the liquid crystal
responds to that is that it makes these pet-
allike shapes at smaller and smaller sizes,
trying to match the angle of the bead until
everything is fat.
Surface tension on the bead also makes
it so these petals are arranged in a tiered,
convex fashion. And because the liquid
crystal can interact with light, the entire
assembly can function as a lens, focusing
light to a point underneath the bead.
Its like an insects compound eye,
or the mirrors on the biggest telescopes,
Kamien said. As we learn more about
these systems, were going to be able to
make these kinds of lenses to order and
use them to direct light.
This type of directed assembly could
be useful in making optical switches and
in other applications, the team said.
The work was published in Physical Re-
view X (doi: 10.1103/physrevx.3.041026).
Liquid crystal fowers into lenses
Earlier work produced patterns of useful disrup-
tions in the repeating patterns found in liquid
crystals, in nanoscale grids and rings. A new
study adds a more complex pattern out of an even
simpler template: a 3-D array shaped like a fower.
The black dot at center is a silica bead that acts as
a template for the fowers pattern.
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Ultrathin PV device is highly effcient
VALENCIA, Spain, and LAUSANNE,
Switzerland A thin flm of perovskite
sandwiched between two very thin
organic semiconductors makes for a
photovoltaic device with high power-
conversion effciency.
A group led by Hendrik Bolink of the
Instituto de Cincia Molecular (ICMol) at
the University of Valencia developed the
device in collaboration with colleagues at
cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Laus-
anne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The solar
cells developed at ICMol were prepared
using low-temperature processes similar
to those used in the printing industry,
Bolink said. The resulting hybrid organic-
inorganic perovskite device is less than
half a micron thick and can be prepared
easily and inexpensively.
Currently, 85 percent of solar cells in
use are based on crystalline silicon, while
the rest use polycrystalline thin-flm cells,
mostly cadmium telluride/cadmium sul-
fde. These thin-flm cells are cheaper to
produce but are based on rare and toxic
elements. Methylammonium lead halide
perovskites were recently identifed as
promising for solar cells, and over the
past three years, their performance has
improved rapidly to reach effciencies that
are as high as 15 percent, the investiga-
tors said.
All previous high-effciency perovskite
solar cells used a mesoscopic metal oxide
that requires a high-temperature sinter-
ing process, but Bolinks group showed
that sandwiching methylammonium lead
iodide perovskite layers between two thin
organic charge-transporting layers using
room-temperature fabrication processes
can also result in solar cells with high
power-conversion effciencies.
It is also possible to make the thin,
lightweight devices semitransparent,
which could allow them to be integrated
into building facades, the researchers
said. That way, a buildings interior can
be protected from intense sunlight by the
solar cells, while electricity is generated
at the same time.
We believe that this new class of
perovskite solar cell using organic semi-
conductors to collect the charges will fnd
widespread applications to rival photo-
voltaic solar cells based on thin flms,
the researchers wrote in their paper, pub-
lished in Nature Photonics (doi: 10.1038/
nphoton.2013.341).
This newly developed thin-flm photovoltaic device
has high power-conversion effciency.
I
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GREENBELT, Md. NASAs Hubble
Space Telescope spectroscopically de-
tected water vapor over the frigid south
pole of Jupiters satellite Europa, provid-
ing the frst strong evidence of water
plumes erupting off the moons surface.
Previous fndings from other sources
point to the existence of an ocean under
Europas icy crust. If confrmed as water
plumes, the vapor would show that this
underground ocean has easy access to the
surface at least sometimes. If the fnding
is supported by additional observations,
it would make Europa the second moon
in the solar system known to have water
vapor plumes. The discovery could also
have implications for Europas habit-
ability.
By far the simplest explanation for
this water vapor is that it erupted from
plumes on the surface of Europa, said
Lorenz Roth of Southwest Research
Institute in San Antonio. If those plumes
are connected with the subsurface water
ocean we are confdent exists under Eu-
ropas crust, then this means that future
investigations can directly investigate the
chemical makeup of Europas potentially
TECH pulse

Hubble spots vapor venting off Europa
This is an artists concept of a plume of water vapor thought to be ejected off the frigid, icy surface of Jupi-
ters moon Europa, located about 500 million miles (800 million km) from the sun.
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habitable environment without drilling
through layers of ice. And that is tremen-
dously exciting.
Roth and colleagues used images taken
by the Hubble Space Telescope in Novem-
ber and December 2012, along with older
images of Europa, to identify surpluses
of hydrogen and oxygen in two distinct
regions of the moons southern hemi-
sphere. These surpluses can be observed
for just a small window approximately
seven hours at a time, according to the re-
searchers. They suggest that the surpluses
are actually 124.27-mile-high (200 km)
plumes of water vapor.
The imaging spectrograph detected
faint UV light from an aurora, powered
by Jupiters intense magnetic feld, near
the moons south pole. Atomic oxygen
and hydrogen produce a variable auroral
glow and leave a telltale sign that they are
products of water molecules being broken
apart by electrons along magnetic feld
lines.
We pushed Hubble to its limits to see
this very faint emission, said Joachim
Saur of the University of Cologne in Ger-
many, principal investigator of the Hubble
observation campaign. These could be
stealth plumes, because they might be
tenuous and diffcult to observe in the
visible light.
The plumes are present when Europa is
near the apocenter of its orbit, or farthest
from Jupiter, and they vanish when the
moon is close to the pericenter, or very
near its planet, they say, suggesting that
tidal acceleration plays a primary role
in the phenomenon of plume spouting
(it opens surface cracks).
Based on their observations, the re-
searchers suggest that Europas plumes
may be similar to those of one of Saturns
moons, Enceladus, with high-pressure
vapor emissions escaping from very nar-
row cracks.
The research appears in Science (doi:
10.1126/science.1247051).
THz generator has highest signal quality
This graphic shows the location of water vapor
detected over Europas south pole, providing the
frst strong evidence of water plumes erupting off
Europas surface. NASAs Hubble Space Telescope
didnt photograph plumes, but spectroscopically
detected auroral emissions from oxygen and
hydrogen.
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MADRID A terahertz generator cur-
rently in development improves signal
quality by 1 million times as compared
with the best device of its kind available
on the market, opening the technology to
applications in biomedicine, transporta-
tion safety, industry and radio astronomy,
among others.
The terahertz range has yet to be de-
veloped and exploited, say its developers,
researchers at Carlos III University of
Madrid (UC3M) and Luz WaveLabs. Be-
cause terahertz waves can pass harmlessly
through the body, they are attractive for
security screening applications. Their
spectroscopic properties can be used for
detecting cancer and other diseases, and
for standoff inspections of potentially
hazardous materials.
Luz WaveLabs, which developed out
of the universitys Department of Elec-
tronic Technology with the support of the
business incubator Vivero de Empresas
in UC3Ms science park, is designing
high-performance tools that can introduce
terahertz waves to new areas, with the
goal of making terahertz technology into
an everyday tool in a few years. The com-
panys star product is the pure-T-wave,
a terahertz generator that combines the
advantages of electronics and photonics to
obtain a signal quality that is one million
times greater than the one produced by
the best photonic terahertz generator that
is currently on the market, said ngel
Rubn Criado, a founding partner of Luz
WaveLabs.
To create the device, the researchers
Researchers at Carlos III University of Madrid and the frm Luz WaveLabs are developing an innovative
terahertz generator that improves signal quality by 1 million times as compared to the best device of this
kind currently on the market. It will allow the technology to be applied to biomedicine, transportation safety,
industry and radio astronomy, among other applications (f
REP
= frequency repetition).
U
C
3
M
From over 1,400 choices to the one thats right for you
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Finding a photonic detector with the ideal combination of sensitivity, speed, size, and cost can be a challenge
with any application. So why not start your search with the company that practically has them all? With more than
1,400 detectors to choose from, Hamamatsu has the expertise to guide you to the right choice.
Take the next step today at www.hamamatsu.com
Toll-free: USA 1-800-524-0504
PULSE THE
WORLD
Pulsed
Laser Diodes
www.laser-components.com
odes
Available Wavelengths
850 nm
905 nm
1550 nm
Designs
Single emitters
Stacked versions
Multi-junction versions
Special Features
Designs up to 650 W
Fiber-coupled PLDs
PLDs with FAC lenses
PLD modules
Customer-specic solutions
Ds_Anzeige_D_FR_USA.indd 4 09.01.2014 09:41:18
www.photonics.com
used a highly precise and coherent opti-
cal frequency comb. They demonstrated
the generation of a fat optical frequency
comb generator (OFCG) based on a single
commercial vertical-cavity surface-
emitting laser, which, besides signif-
cantly reducing the devices cost, size
and consumption, offers a wide tunability
range and high phase correlation between
optical modes.
This OFCG does not need any exter-
nal modulator, and it is the most energy-
effcient OFCG reported to date, they
wrote in their paper on the work in
IEEEs Photonics Technology Letters
(doi: 10.1109/lpt.2013.2280700).
From this source, the researchers
combined radio-frequency and photonic-
electronic techniques to synthesize a
high-quality terahertz signal.
The quality of the signal is so high
that it has not been possible to measure
some of the parameters with precision;
they are higher than the measurement
limits of our laboratory instruments,
said Criado, who is currently working
on developing the commercial system.
Industrializing the laboratory prototype
will be an important challenge; our objec-
tive is to provide a totally automated sys-
tem that is easy for users with no specifc
training in this technology to operate.
The generator is projected for market
launch by Luz WaveLabs in 2015. The
company hopes to create a device that
is easy for a layman to use, as the com-
mercial systems currently available are
much more oriented toward scientists.
It also hopes the innovation will open
the product for use by architects, doctors
and technicians controlling industrial
processes, among other applications.
From a scientifc perspective, the appli-
cation that has given the greatest impulse
to the development of terahertz waves is
radio astronomy.
Since most blackbody radiation and a
large quantity of molecular and intermo-
lecular resonances are located in the area
of the terahertz waves, having powerful,
high-quality tools to work in this feld
will lead, in the future, to great advances
in our understanding of the origin and
function of the universe, Criado said.
TECH pulse

Warping compresses big data
LOS ANGELES A physics-based data
compression method outperforms existing
technologies, such as JPEG, for images
and eventually could be adopted for the
capture and analysis of massive amounts
of data in real time for communication,
scientifc research and medicine.
The entirely new way to compress data
was developed by a team at the Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles, Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and
Applied Science, led by Bahram Jalali,
the Northrop Grumman Opto-Electronic
Chair in Electrical Engineering.
The group discovered that it is possible
to achieve data compression by stretch-
ing and warping the data in a specifc
fashion prescribed by a newly developed
mathematical function. The technology,
dubbed anamorphic stretch transform
(AST), operates in both analog and digital
domains. In analog applications, AST
makes it possible not only to capture
and digitize signals that are faster than
the speed of the sensor and the digitizer,
but also to minimize the volume of data
generated in the process.
AST also can compress digital records
and does not require prior knowledge of
the data for the transformation to take
place; it occurs naturally and in a stream-
ing fashion.
Our transformation causes feature-
selective stretching of the data and allo-
cation of more pixels to sharper features
where they are needed the most, postdoc-
toral researcher Mohammad Asghari said.
For example, if we used the technique to
take a picture of a sailboat on the ocean,
our anamorphic stretch transform would
cause the sailboats features to be stretched
much more than the ocean, to identify the
boat while using a small fle size.
AST also can be used for image com-
pression, as a stand-alone algorithm, or
for combination with existing digital
compression techniques to enhance speed
or quality or to improve the amount that
images can be compressed. Results have
shown that AST can outperform the stan-
dard JPEG image compression format,
with dramatic improvement in terms of
image quality and compression factor.
AST has its origin in another technol-
From over 1,400 choices to the one thats right for you
O
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i
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l
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t
u
b
e
s
Finding a photonic detector with the ideal combination of sensitivity, speed, size, and cost can be a challenge
with any application. So why not start your search with the company that practically has them all? With more than
1,400 detectors to choose from, Hamamatsu has the expertise to guide you to the right choice.
Take the next step today at www.hamamatsu.com
Toll-free: USA 1-800-524-0504
ogy pioneered by the Jalali group: time-
stretch dispersive Fourier transform,
which slows down and amplifes faint
but very fast signals so they can be de-
tected and digitized in real time.
High-speed instruments created with
this technology enabled the discovery
of optical rogue waves in 2007 and the
detection of cancer cells in blood with
one-in-a-million sensitivity in 2012. But
these instruments produce a fre hose
of data that overwhelms even the most
advanced computers. The need to deal
with such data loads motivated the UCLA
team to search for a new data compression
technology.
Reshaping the data by stretching and
wrapping it in the prescribed manner
compresses it without losing pertinent in-
formation, Jalali said. It emulates what
happens to waves as they travel through
physical media with specifc properties. It
also brings to mind aspects of surrealism
and the optical effects of anamorphism.
The research was published in Applied
Optics (doi: 10.1364/ao.52.006735). Data can be compressed using warping, a method that outperforms existing technologies such as
JPEG for images.
from the publisher of
Photonics Spectra magazine.
A global resource on lasers, sensors,
machine vision and automation systems
for materials processing, process control
and production.
Subscribe at www.Photonics.com/Subscribe
Cameras
Lasers
Imaging
Metrology
Optics
Positioning
Sensors
NEW
INTRODUCING
314IntroducingIPQ_PG36.indd 36 2/28/14 4:40 PM
Here Comes the Sun:
Solar Warms to Research Revival
As proftability returns to solar manufacturing, research picks up, too. Thin-flm
production makes way for silicon-based cells.
Sum-frequency generation
spectroscopy can see adsorption at work in surfactants and polymers. The oil
industry may gain from improved lubrication effciency and longer oil life.

InGaAs detectors opened up the shortwave infrared band. Now, InGaAs SWIR
sensors are fnding application in remote detection and identifcation of chemical
spillage and staining, and more.
Lighter, stiffer optics are important in

air and space as well as in semiconductor applications. Optical materials are
evolving to meet the new demands.
Beam expansion systems are vital to the

work of an optics lab. Their wavefront quality can be improved through the use
of additional optical surfaces or aspherizing them with monolithic elements.
38 Manufacturers Refocus
Technology Efforts Following
Recent Financial Woes
43 SFG Spectroscopy Is Key
to Oil Industry Research
46 Materials Evolving for Lighter,
Stiffer Optics
50 New Approaches Improve
Beam Expansion
55 InGaAs SWIR Cameras
Open New Opportunities
this months FEATURES

314Intro.indd 37 2/28/14 4:28 PM
Manufacturers Refocus
Technology Efforts Following
Recent Financial Woes
Overcapacity has caused fnancial problems
in the past few years, so the solar industry
has been somewhat less focused on
implementing technology advances
but today things are looking up
and research is being revived.
BY MARIE FREEBODY
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
314Solar.indd 38 2/28/14 4:29 PM
T
he solar market was technology
driven until 2012, but then experi-
enced a collective tightening of belts
as the industry went into overcapacity in
2012 and 2013.
Much of the photovoltaic manufac-
turing sector saw proftless prosperity
the past two years, but for the last two
quarters of 2013, manufacturers fnally
began to see a return to proftability and
2014 heralds the most proftable year for
manufacturers since 2010, according to
analysts at GTM Research, a Greentech
Media company based in Cambridge,
Mass.
Curiously, the upturn is not predicted
to be caused by any staggering break-
throughs in materials, harvesting methods
and/or fabrication techniques, but, instead,
will be driven by strong demand growth
and stable pricing.
We expect a strong end-market per-
formance this year, with global solar in-
stallations in 2014 growing by 25 percent
year over year. Most of this growth will
be driven by continued strong growth
trends in China, Japan and the US as
was the case in 2013 but we are also
seeing sizable volumes of solar being
deployed in markets where even a couple
of years ago there was almost no solar
being installed at all, in many cases with
few or no subsidies, which is very excit-
ing, said Shyam Mehta, a lead upstream
solar analyst at GTM Research. These
emerging markets include Latin/South
America (Mexico, Chile) and the Middle
East (particularly [United Arab Emirates]
and Saudi Arabia).
Thin-flm buzz moves to silicon
In the past, thin-flm-based panel
production was considered the technol-
ogy that would gain market share over
the industry-standard silicon-based solar
cells, but this never happened, and sili-
con-based cells are gaining market share
today, according to industry analysts NPD
Solarbuzz of Santa Clara, Calif. Compa-
nies are currently trying to take all costs
out of manufacturing, rather than using
technology as a means to stay proftable,
said Finlay Colville, vice president and
team leader.
A close view of a silicon crystalline solar cell.
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314Solar.indd 39 2/28/14 4:30 PM
n Solar Technology
But thats not to say that promising new
avenues in solar technology are not being
explored, particularly as they relate to
silicon-based cells. As solar companies
are fnally able to sell out again, they
are looking at expanding capacity, said
Sarah Kurtz, Photovoltaic Reliability
Group manager at the US Department
of Energys National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo.
The majority of this increased capac-
ity is currently going into silicon, but
the expansion provides an opening for
new technologies, Kurtz said. While
low cost is still a key driver, there is an
increased focus on reliability and quality
control at both the module and system
levels.
Although a relatively mature technol-
ogy, there is still scope for silicon tech-
nology to improve, namely in increasing
effciencies and decreasing cost. Some
key advances include a recent conversion
from p-type to n-type technology.
Historically, p-type was the norm, but
advances in n-type allow a higher toler-
ance to common impurities, resulting in
high minority carrier diffusion lengths,
when compared with p-type. Further-
more, n-type crystalline does not suffer
from the boron-oxygen-related light-in-
duced degradation (LID) that is common
on p-type Czochralski silicon.
IHS Solar of Santa Clara, Calif., a
leading provider of diverse global market
and economic information, forecasts that
n-type applications will mature and fnd
their way into mainstream manufacturing.
Looking forward, n-type will be
mostly a monocrystalline technology
growing from 5 percent of the total cell
production capacity to approximately
32 percent by 2020, said analyst Jon-
Frederick L. Campos of IHS. The two
key n-type mono technologies in focus
currently are interdigitated back-side con-
tact (IBC) and [heterojunction intrinsic
thin-layer] (HIT).
Exploitation of HIT technology has
Multicrystalline silicon wafers are still the main growth driver
in the PV industry, and will likely remain p-type.
Solar cells, such as this wafer of multicrystalline silicon produced by CaliSolar, are tested at NRELs One-Sun
Solar Simulator.
Canadian Solar Inc. was named the 2012 winner
of the Solar Project of the Year Award at POWER-
GEN Internationals Projects of the Year awards
gala in Orlando, Fla., for its 148-MW solar park PV
project in southern Brandenburg, Germany.
This roof-mounted PV system at Georgia Techs
Aquatic Center was constructed using multicrystal-
line silicon solar modules. It generates an energy
output of about 5 MWh annually.
Optical (left) and IR (right) image of photovoltaic module.
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314Solar.indd 40 2/28/14 4:30 PM
seen an increase since Sanyos HIT
patent expired, allowing various compa-
nies to look into this approach to reach
high effciency. These technologies (or
very similar variants) are being used by
mainstream players such as SunPower
Corp. (IBC) of San Jose, Calif., Panasonic
(HIT) of Kadoma, Japan, and Yingli Solar
of Baoding, China (HIT).
IHS expects IBC technologies to reach
effciency levels of 24.8 percent by 2020.
Todays most effcient monocrystalline
cells achieve an average effciency of
21.7 percent (Sanyo) through HIT and are
predicted to reach 24.1 percent by 2020.
When it comes to the main growth
driver in the PV industry, multicrystalline
silicon wafers are still the star and will
likely remain p-type. Multicrystalline,
specifcally, meets the requirements of
commercial PV for both cost-effective-
ness and large-scale production.
Generally, from a technology stand-
point, cell effciencies based on multicrys-
talline depend on the crystallization pro-
cess, the solar cell processing sequence on
the crystallization process, and a mutual
adjustment of both processes, Campos
said. The enhancement of the effciency
of multicrystalline cells may help to fur-
ther broaden the demand and installation
of solar applications worldwide.
Bad news for organic PV
The excitement for technologies often
referred to as third generation has seem-
ingly died away in recent months, with
much of the activity surrounding organic
and dye-sensitized cells now confned to
the research laboratory. Unfortunately,
issues regarding effciency, lifetime,
scalability and cost remain key barriers
to entry.
The second- and third-generation (i.e.,
thin-flm solar cells) options are no longer
seen as the preferred route to low-cost
manufacturing in the industry because the
cost to manufacture crystalline silicon-
based modules has fallen so much, said
NPD Solarbuzzs Colville.
First-generation focus
The focus for the future seems to be
on improving and optimizing existing
frst-generation technologies, with many
manufacturers cautious about releasing
plans for any new capital expenditures.
Indeed, NPD Solarbuzz reports that
any new lines being installed are typi-
cally using optimized process fows for
mono- and multicrystalline silicon ingot
to module production. This environment
is expected to continue during 2014, with
any new technologies unlikely to see
strong adoption before 2015 at the earli-
est, Colville said. There remain many
R&D-based variants being explored, but
none has yet to evolve out of niche adop-
tion.
The reluctance by manufacturers to
invest in capacity increases or new equip-
ment on the whole is a cause for concern,
noted Mehta at GTM Research.
Chinas new PV industry regulations
encourage M&A [mergers and acquisi-
tions] instead of greenfeld expansions,
Mehta said. This is a bit concerning
because it does not incentivize the capital-
equipment sector (which has traditionally
driven most of the technological innova-
tion in the industry) to continue investing
314Solar.indd 41 2/28/14 4:30 PM
n Solar Technology
in advanced technology platforms and
processes, which could hurt the industry
further down the line, since there is still
much work to be done to reduce solar
electricity costs even further.
A possible solution may lie in innova-
tive new fnancing mechanisms for solar
projects that could attract a different class
of investors to consider solar. Securitiza-
tion of downstream solar assets aim to
encourage institutional investors, such
as master limited partnerships (MLPs),
real estate investment trusts (REITs) and
yield cos.
There is still a lot of work that needs
to be done to make this happen. This
means driving greater transparency as
regards the long-term performance and
reliability of components (modules and
inverters), more standardized project
screening practices, and better after-
sales-service infrastructure and ancil-
lary services for components, Mehta
said. Ultimately, this is part and parcel
of becoming more mainstream that
is, in enabling solars transition from a
relatively small, nascent, immature sector
to a more stable, mature and sophisticated
industry.
marie.freebody@photonics.com
Top fabrication advances
Fluidized bed reactor (FBR) tech-
nology for polysilicon production is garnering
a lot of interest for its potential to produce
solar-grade silicon at signifcantly lower cost
than the currently dominant Siemens pro-
cess, which uses CVD (chemical vapor depo-
sition). The REC group, based in Oslo, Norway,
is producing FBR silicon at a cash cost of $12
to $12.50/kg, compared with $16 to $20/kg
for large Siemens plants, according to GTM
Research. REC also has estimated that, in
China, its FBR technology could be produced
at a cash cost of $7.90/kg, which would be a
disruptively low cost.
Glass-glass and frameless modules, as
opposed to standard aluminum-framed
modules, are expected to increase market
penetration in 2014 and 2015.
Diamond wire saws use diamond-coated
sawing wire to enable cutting speeds up to
three times faster than the current indus-
try standard (steel wire cutting in a slurry
medium). IHS Solar expects diamond wire
to gain signifcant market share by 2016
and a majority share by 2020. By switching
to diamond wire saws, SunPower Corp. has
reduced silicon consumption to 4.2 g/W, a
15 percent reduction over the past year. The
company is now using wafers at or thinner
than 135 m.
Replacing silver contacts with lower-cost
copper equivalents reduces silver paste
consumption by about 45 percent, enabling
cell effciency gains on average of 0.2 to 0.25
percent. These gains translate to an average
module power gain of 3 to 5 W. Hanwha
SolarOne Co. Ltd. of Shanghai has integrated
its Project EstarII cell technology into its
Example of a frameless module.
A glass-glass module.
Example of a frameless module.
A glass-glass module.
production processes; the company plans to
leverage this technology to gradually increase
the cell effciency of its multicrystalline silicon
wafers to more than 18.5 percent by the end
of 2015.
Passivated emitter and rear contact
(PERC) is under heavy R&D and is in line for
large-scale deployment by many major Asian
manufacturers. Metal wrap through (MWT)
is gaining technological superiority through
development by PV manufacturers such as
Canadian Solar and JA Solar.
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314Solar.indd 42 2/28/14 4:30 PM
SFG Spectroscopy
Is Key to Oil Industry Research
Sum-frequency generation spectroscopy offers insights for oil and other
applications but assembling the right equipment can be a slippery problem.
BY DUNCAN COOPER
ACAL BFI
L
aser spectroscopy enables the minute
determination of molecular structure
for a variety of applications ranging
from biomedicine to materials science
and space exploration. The Infrared Laser
Spectroscopy Group in the chemistry de-
partment at the University of Cambridge
uses several laser-based methods to study
molecules in a wide range of situations.
The researchers work closely on
nonlinear laser spectroscopy techniques
such as sum-frequency generation (SFG),
which they use to gain insight into
adsorption at interfaces on a molecular
scale of surfactants and polymers, for
example. Nano- and picosecond lasers are
used for these investigations, which typi-
cally are carried out in cooperation with
industry, such as the oil and gas sector.
In addition to our international proj-
ects, which involve overseas visits by our
research students, much of our work on
surfaces and interfaces is strongly sup-
ported by industry, the group has written
in a mission statement on its website.
When the department, in conjunction
with a leading oil company, took on a
signifcant research project designed
ultimately to improve the effciency of
lubrication and to extend the life of the
oil, the team needed a whole new suite of
instruments. The project centered on the
investigation of small friction-modifying
molecules adsorbed onto metal surfaces;
researching the adsorption of monolayer
and submonolayer flms in a dynamic
wear environment is possible only with
SFG spectroscopy.
The research results could be applied to
engines from those found in high-perfor-
The main laser equipment for the SFG spectroscopy study at the University of Cambridge
was supplied by Ekspla.
Photos courtesy of Dr. Robertas Kananavicius, Ekspla.
314_AcalBFI Feat.indd 43 2/28/14 4:32 PM
n SFG Spectroscopy
mance Formula 1 cars to those installed
in standard road vehicles particularly
those with diesel engines, where oil per-
formance presents a particular challenge.
To test and analyze oil samples with
precision, the department needed a so-
phisticated SFG system to examine the
way liquids and surfaces interact. These
systems are expensive, so the department
had to select one that would work not only
for this research project, but also for the
long term.
Choosing a system
Ekspla of Vilnius, Lithuania, makes
solid-state picosecond and nanosecond
laser systems, a broad selection of tunable
laser sources and other tools, notably
spectroscopy systems, for science and
industry; its sole distributor in the UK is
Acal BFi. When Cambridge faculty mem-
bers turned to Ekspla and Acal BFi, they
were looking for partners who could pro-
vide the right system as well as technical
support in the form of advice, installation
and service. Acal BFi still has ongoing
business with the department, and Ekspla
has been supportive in providing replace-
ment or additional systems as necessary.
The support throughout both the in-
stallation and running of the machine has
been exceptionally good, said Dr. Mike
Casford, a postdoctoral researcher in the
Cambridge chemistry department. The
expertise of the Ekspla service engineer
is outstanding, whilst the support of Acal
BFi has also been of an extremely high
standard.
The company says that the relationship
has been mutually benefcial: Working
with the chemistry department has al-
lowed Acal BFi to demonstrate its ability
to understand complex needs and to work
with its suppliers to ensure those needs
are met. The companys close relation-
ship with Ekspla has resulted in a smooth
process throughout, allowing the Cam-
bridge team to focus on its research with
complete confdence in the equipment.
Equipment
The main equipment a picosecond
diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser
and upgrade, and a single-channel SFG
spectrometer consisting of a mode-locked
Nd:YAG laser, a parametric generator
with a tuning range of 0.42 to 16 m,
a harmonic box, a single-channel SFG
spectrometer and a six-axis sample
holder was supplied by Ekspla. Acal
BFi advised on and supplied a smaller
system for sample testing, alongside fber
coupling and a small spectroscopy unit.
Ocean Optics supplied a scientifc-grade
spectrometer and a fber-coupled probe
for Raman spectroscopy, along with
SpectraSuite spectroscopy software;
CNI supplied a 785-nm infrared DPSS
50-mW Raman laser.
The smaller system allowed the re-
searchers to obtain initial spectrometry
data that helped them to decide whether to
The SFG spectroscopy system designed for the Cambridge research team comprised the following: (far left) Eksplas PL2231, a picosecond diode-pumped solid-
state (DPSS) laser with upgrade to PG401-DFG2; (center left) the QE65 Pro scientifc-grade spectrometer from Ocean Optics, with a fber-coupled probe for Raman
spectroscopy, along with Spectrasuite spectroscopy software; (center right) a 785-nm IR DPSS 50-mW Raman laser from CNI; and (far right) from Ekspla, a single-
channel SFG spectrometer consisting of a mode-locked Nd:YAG laser PL2251B-20, parametric generator PG401-DFG2, harmonic box H400, single-channel SFG
spectrometer and six-axis sample holder. Images courtesy of the companies.
A comparison of spectral resolution from the Cambridge research: In femtosecond SFG (a), two peaks
above 2900 cm
1
are unresolved; in Ekspla picosecond SFG (b), two peaks are clearly resolved
at 2910 and 2930 cm
1
.
a
run the samples through the more sophis-
ticated equipment.
In a typical SFG setup, two laser beams
one fxed-frequency (532 nm) and one
tunable across the IR (2.3 to 16 m)
mix at a surface and generate an output
beam with a frequency equal to the sum
of the two input frequencies, producing
a spectrum specifc to the interface. The
advantages of the technology for complex
research projects of this sort include its
sensitivity to monolayer surfaces and its
ability to analyze sample surfaces in situ
(for example, aqueous surfaces and in
gases) with only minimal damage. These
characteristics helped to fulfll the groups
requirements for a technically accurate,
fexible and adaptable system.
Laser systems with picosecond-pulse
duration have inherently narrower line-
width than femtosecond systems. The
longer pulse gives increased spectral
resolution in comparison with unmodi-
fed femtosecond-based systems and has
helped the industrial partner to develop
improved products.
Results and publications
The systems accuracy and reliability
allowed the preparation and publication
of at least fve papers within an 18-month
time frame. The team has submitted two
academic papers for publication
1,2
and
has delivered important information on
the adsorption of monolayer and sub-
monolayer flms to its partner in the oil
industry.
In both the long and short term, the
purchase of this machine allows us to ex-
pand the frequency range that is accessi-
ble to us and has dramatically increased
the speed of data acquisition, resulting in
a marked increase in the number of publi-
cations produced each year and also in the
number of samples run for our sponsor,
Casford said.
Meet the author
Duncan Cooper is sales manager for photonics
at Acal BFi in Milton Keynes, England; email:
duncan.cooper@acalbf.co.uk.
References
1. M.T.L. Casford and P.B. Davies. The struc-
ture of lipid bilayers adsorbed on activated
carboxy-terminated substrates investigated
by sum-frequency generation spectroscopy.
Submitted to Journal of Physical Chemistry.
2. M.H. Wood et al (Nov. 12, 2013). Hexa-
decylamine adsorption at the iron oxide-oil
interface. Langmuir, pp. 13735-13742.
b
Materials Evolving
for Lighter, Stiffer Optics
Building better optical materials will impact applications
in high-energy lasers, consumer devices and more.
BY HANK HOGAN
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
F
or optical materials, less can be
more: Coatings that reect less could
lead to displays that are brighter and
can be seen over a wider angle. Materials
that expand or contract less as the temper-
ature uctuates could lead to better optics.
Equally important could be lightweight
materials that move less.
One basically wants very stiff optical
systems, but with as low a total mass as
possible, said Marc Tricard, managing
director of precision optics for Zygo Corp.
of Middleeld, Conn., which makes opti-
cal components and measurement instru-
ments, and offers design and manufactur-
ing services.
Light yet stiff optics are particularly
important for airborne and space applica-
tions, of course, but also semiconductor
applications where lower mass translates
into higher system accelerations and hence
higher tool throughput, Tricard said.
New materials would be benecial in
several other areas, he added. One is in
materials with a low coefcient of ther-
mal expansion. In response to demands
from defense and semiconductor custom-
ers, the industry has pushed coefcients
of thermal expansion from roughly 100
parts per billion per degree kelvin down
to seven or better.
High-energy laser applications
Another area of focus is high-energy
laser applications. The military is inter-
ested because high-energy lasers could
By repeatedly withstanding laser
pulses scores of times more
intense than sunlight, fused
silica optics enable high-energy
laser applications.
Z
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314_Optical Materials.indd 46 2/28/14 4:30 PM
replace conventional weapons. Also inter-
ested are those researching fusion power,
since high-energy lasers are being used
to ignite the reaction. For this scenario,
Zygo has developed and qualifed materi-
als capable of withstanding as much as
8 J/cm
2
, or nearly 60 times the intensity
of sunlight. This is done for pulses of
a few nanoseconds at a wavelength of
351 nm.
The need for relatively stiff yet light-
weight materials is leading researchers to
look again at single-crystal silicon. The
stuff of chips and solar panels has the
mechanical and thermal properties that
make it an excellent compromise mate-
rial, Tricard said.
Another well-known semiconductor,
AlGaAs (aluminum gallium arsenide), is
also promising, particularly for low-noise
optical coatings, according to Dr. Garrett
Cole, co-founder of Crystalline Mirror
Solutions GmbH of Vienna. The startup
manufactures high-quality single-crystal
AlGaAs thin flms on arbitrary bulk
optics.
This is of commercial appeal because
of the frontiers of science: As optical
measurements become more precise, they
demand higher optical and mechanical
system quality. Its the latter that now
constrains performance. For instance,
gravitational wave detectors are kilo-
meter-long interferometers, but a small
component sets the noise foor.
There are two mirrors held 4 km
apart, and the system is largely limited by
the 6-m-thick flm making up the refec-
tive element of those mirrors, Cole said.
Because they are crystalline in nature,
the thin flms produced by Coles com-
pany have few defects and low mechan-
ical loss. Just as importantly, the loss
shrinks upon cooling, which is not true
for all coatings. Therefore, as components
are cooled and motion decreases, theres
an added bonus because the mechanical
performance of the flms increases.
One consequence of less mechanical
loss is that devices can be made smaller,
because unwanted motion as a percent-
age of the total cavity length is a critical
constraint. If that must be below a given
value, then a lower-loss material allows
devices to be made smaller. That possibil-
ity is one reason why crystalline coatings
have attracted the interest of defense
researchers and contractors.
To produce the coating, Crystalline
Mirror Solutions begins by growing an
AlGaAs multilayer on a wafer via molec-
ular beam epitaxy. The flm is transferred
in centimeter-sized swaths using a tem-
porary fexible mount and then bonded to
a fnal substrate, with care taken to elimi-
nate voids. The resulting flms are at least
an order of magnitude better in terms of
mechanical performance while offering
optical characteristics competitive with
those created by ion-beam sputtering, an
alternative approach, Cole said.
A fused silica substrate with a thin flm of
AlGaAs (center disc) bonded to it. Due to its
low mechanical loss and high optical quality,
AlGaAs improves measurements in a number
of scientifc research areas.
A high-mechanical-quality crystalline AlGaAs
coating (the white disc in the middle) helps improve
optical system performance. The transparent
glass cylinder to the left is a cavity spacer, and
the opaque piece to the right is a mirror substrate.
In a device, all pieces are in contact with each
other.
G
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A
n Optical Materials
Dr. Jun Ye, a fellow at NIST and the
University of Colorado at Boulders JILA
research lab, makes the worlds most
stable laser, with a 30-mHz-wide spectral
output. Partly due to this extreme stabil-
ity, Yes group in January demonstrated
an atomic clock thats accurate to a sec-
ond over 5 billion years.
In a quest for even better lasers, Ye was
involved in testing the crystalline mirror
coating developed by Cole and a team at
the University of Vienna. He participated
because the mechanical quality of an
optical system determines its response to
thermal noise. That limits how stable a
laser can be made or how precise an inter-
ferometer can be used to read out length
information, Ye said of what is known as
mechanical Q.
For his part, he sees the potential for
a big impact from these crystalline coat-
ings. Theres a need for high-quality opti-
cal and mechanical components across a
number of scientifc disciplines, accord-
ing to Ye.
Consumer applications
Another sector where high-perfor-
mance optical materials are attracting
interest is consumer devices. A case in
point comes from JDSU, the Milpitas,
Calif.-based optical technology company.
Today, consumer needs drive innova-
tion, noted Fred Van Milligen, vice presi-
dent of research and development. For
optical materials, an example of this can
be seen in smartphones, which have ever-
more-capable cameras, despite severe size
and power constraints.
In general, the goal in consumer goods
is to collect as much light over as wide a
feld of view as possible. Usually, this is
done in a bandpass, with only the desired
part of the spectrum getting through. Pre-
viously, this might have been for 2-D im-
aging in the visible, but now theres in-
creasing demand for 3-D and IR imaging.
Most of JDSUs coatings involve sput-
tering of inorganic and organic materi-
als onto substrates, with this often done
directly on device-bearing semiconduc-
tor wafers. The coatings are carefully
tailored to yield specifc optical perfor-
mance, and they can be complex.
We tend to have a fair amount of lay-
ers in our coatings, Van Milligen said.
We deliver some products with thou-
sands of layers in them.
Multilayer coatings are becoming
more common, said Dr. E. Fred Schubert,
a professor of electrical engineering at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy,
N.Y.; he co-authored an infuential 2007
Nature Photonics paper on antirefection
coatings.
In part, this interest in coatings is being
driven by advances that allow the tailor-
ing of a materials optical properties by
manipulating its physical characteristics,
Schubert said. We are able to control the
refractive index by changing its porosity
or nanoporosity.
As a result, coatings can be designed
based on calculations. Finding the sweet
spot that optimizes a multilayer coating
can be challenging. To do that, research-
ers and developers may make use of ge-
netic algorithms, which evolve a coatings
properties from a starting point to arrive
at the best solution.
Metamaterials and more
Finally, new optical materials have
appeared on the horizon. For instance, Dr.
Withawat Withayachumnankul, a post-
doctoral researcher at the University of
Adelaide in Australia, was part of a team
that etched cavities into the surface of
slightly conductive silicon, as described
in a 2013 Advanced Optical Materials
paper. The resulting metamaterial trapped
and confned terahertz waves in ways that
offered some signifcant advantages, one
of which was improved imaging contrast,
Multilayer coatings can be designed based on calculations. To nd
the sweet spot that optimizes a coating, researchers and developers
may make use of genetic algorithms, which evolve the coatings
properties from a starting point to arrive at the best solution.
thanks to minimal cross-coupling be-
tween each pixel, Withayachumnankul
said.
Moreover, since each optimized cav-
ity can absorb nearly 100 percent of the
incident power, the imaging contrast is
improved further, he added.
The next step in the research will be to
form a complete imaging system by inte-
grating a thermal detector to read out the
temperature change when terahertz waves
strike the cavity array. The technique has
attracted commercial interest, Withaya-
chumnankul said.
Metamaterials in general allow the
engineering of properties and so could
enable new applications, he added. An
example might be an optical tunable fat
lens that actively responds to incoming
light with polarization changes.
Another way to make new optical mate-
rials is to grow them. A research team
from New York University, Harvard Uni-
versity and Dow Chemical Co. revealed
in a 2012 Nature paper a self-assembly
technique based on small particles sus-
pended within a fuid. Such colloidal
manufacturing could be very inexpensive
and suitable for fabricating materials on
plastics or other fexible substrates that
cant tolerate high temperatures.
Dr. Vinothan Manoharan, a chemical
engineering and physics professor at Har-
vard who was a member of the research
team, is investigating the technique as a
way to produce photonic inks materi-
als inspired by bird feathers that generate
color through interference. Since light
isnt absorbed, photonic inks might retain
their hue longer than traditional pigments.
Also, this structure-based approach relies
on ambient light, making photonic inks
potentially useful in low-energy-consum-
ing electronic displays.
At present, the colloid-created photonic
inks can change color in response to
changes in their chemical environment,
although Manoharan noted that doing so
electronically would be best for displays.
Being researched is how to make photonic
inks mimic the appearance of traditional
pigments. Red, in particular, has proved
diffcult to achieve. In addition, because
these colors depend upon diffraction and
interference, another area of improvement
is being researched.
You also have to get a color that
doesnt change as you change the viewing
angle, Manoharan said.
hank.hogan@photonics.com
An illustration of annular cavities etched into the surface of conductive silicon. Depending on their dimensions, the cavities trap terahertz waves at different
frequencies and enhance imaging. These and other metamaterials form the basis for new optical materials.
W
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Tech Feature
Images courtesy of asphericon GmbH.
Everyday work in an optics labora-
tory would be unthinkable without beam
expansion systems, which optimally ad-
just beam cross sections between the light
sources (e.g., lasers) and the subsequent
optical elements. Precise illumination of
the optically effective surfaces is essen-
tial, especially for beam shaping and fo-
cusing with high numerical apertures. The
most widespread basic principles of afocal
beam expansion systems are based on the
telescopes of Kepler and Galileo. This ar-
ticle will reveal various modes of action in
more detail, and discuss new approaches
based on the use of aspherical surfaces.
The simplest principle of a beam expan-
sion system is the combination of two con-
vergent lenses with different focal lengths,
corresponding to the confguration of a
Kepler telescope. The enlargement or re-
duction of the beam cross section results
from the relationship between the focal
lengths as per Equation 1. The total length
of this optical system is primarily deter-
mined by the distance between the lenses,
which can be estimated using the sum of
the focal lengths (Equation 2).
If the construction length needs to be
shortened while retaining the enlarge-
ment, the frst convergent lens (Figure 1,
left) can be replaced with a divergent lens,
resulting in a construction similar to that
of a Galileo telescope.
In addition, the sign of the enlargement
changes, whereby the beam profle is no
longer subject to point refection during
enlargement. Figure 1 shows both a Kepler
(a) and a Galileo (b) telescope for 10 en-
largement, realized with a convergent lens
with a long focal length (f2 = 200 mm),
and a convergent (f1 = 20 mm) or diver-
gent lens (f1 = 20 mm) with a short focal
length. To further shorten the construction
length while retaining the enlargement, ac-
cording to Equations 1 and 2, focal lengths
f1 and f2 should be scaled correspondingly
with a factor. The same enlargement of
M = 10, for instance, also can be achieved
with the focal lengths f1 = 150 mm and
f2 = 15 mm. If only spherical lenses are
used in this kind of confguration, spheri-
cal aberrations soon become noticeable,
reducing the quality of the wavefront for
the expanded beam. Figure 2a shows the
resultant wavefront as a cross section.
This comparison clearly shows the com-
promise between the achievable wavefront
quality and minimal achievable construc-
tion length when using spherical lenses
with a certain minimal requirement on the
quality of the wavefront, it is not possible
to go below a certain construction length
using this mode of action.
The use of achromatic groups counter-
acts this effect (Figure 2b). This shows a
Galileo telescope for the same enlarge-
ment M = 10, in which a doublet with
f2 = 150 mm has replaced the convergent
Afocal beam expansion systems based on the basic principles of Kepler and Galileo
telescopes can be improved in terms of wavefront quality by using additional optical
surfaces or aspherizing them using monolithic beam expansion elements.
BY DR. ULRIKE FUCHS AND
SVEN R. KIONTKE, ASPHERICON GMBH
New Approaches Improve
Beam Expansion
V 5
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f
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Equation 1. Equation 2.
Equation 3. Equation 4.
e 5 f1 1 f
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V 5 1 1
d ( n 21 )
r n
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1 1 1 2 (1 1 k)
1 2
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i 5 2
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2i
h
2i
Figure 1. Illustration of the course of a beam for a Kepler (a) and a Galileo (b) telescope for 10
enlargement, realized with a convergent lens with a long focal length (f2 = 200 mm) and a convergent
(f1 = 20 mm) (a) or divergent lens (f1 = 20 mm) (b) with a short focal length.
314Asphericon.indd 50 2/28/14 4:27 PM
The new Goldeye pushes beyond the limits of traditional SWIR cameras. It provides
best-in-class image quality thanks to its compact, fan-less design, full 14-bit,
low-noise imaging and automatic, on-board image correction. With its GigE Vision
interface, Power over Ethernet support, comprehensive I/O control options, multiple
fixation facilities, and flexible lens or filter mounting, it fits in any system. In short,
its the most versatile and feature-rich, InGaAs sensor-based, infrared camera
available today. See beyond the visible, visit www.AlliedVisionTec.com/inspired S E E I N G I S B E L I E V I N G
insp
IR
ed
314_AlliedVision_Pg51.indd 51 2/28/14 4:40 PM
lens. The spherical aberrations can thus be
reduced signifcantly while retaining the
construction length. This effect can be in-
creased further by adding additional opti-
cal surfaces.
An alternative approach is to aspher-
ize one of the lens surfaces, whereby the
spherical aberrations can be reduced to a
minimum in line with the working prin-
ciple. The shape of the lens surface differs
from that of a sphere and can be described
by Equation 3.
In Figure 2c, such a beam expansion
system for M = 10 and f2 = 150 mm is
shown in comparison to the approach
using an achromatic lens. In the selected
example, the last optical surface (on the
right) has an aspherical design.
If this kind of system is used for beam
expansion, the shape of the optical sur-
faces and the lens spacing are usually op-
timized for one wavelength (or, if using a
doublet, two). Because of this, using the
system for another wavelength inevita-
bly results in greater wavefront error and
additional divergence. By slightly alter-
ing the spacing of the lenses, the afocal
system can be reproduced, minimizing
the residual divergence and the spherical
aberrations. Occasionally, a targeted mis-
Beam Expansion
Tech Feature
Figure 2. Illustration of three implementations of a Galileo telescope for the enlargement M = 10, realized
using the focal lengths f1 = 150 mm and f2 = 15 mm, with (a) a spherical convergent lens, (b) an achro-
matic doublet and (c) an aspherical convergent lens. The gradual reduction of the wavefront aberrations by
several orders of magnitude is very easy to understand using the cross-section images on the right.
Figure 3. Two monolithic beam expansion systems are shown, (a) with spherical surfaces and (b) with a
(convex) aspherical surface, for an enlargement of M = 2. The incoming beam diameter is 5 mm in (a) and
10 mm in (b). Nevertheless, the resulting wavefront errors for the aspherical solution are three times smaller.
HF_60_226_2C.indd 1 16.02.2008 14:14:07 Uhr
A Passion for Precision.
Phone: (585) 657- 6663
sales@toptica-usa.com
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Wavelength Meters
Accurate Like Your Research
Redening Performance
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Pulsed & cw for 192 nm 11 m
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TOPTICA-WLM-PS-2012_May.indd 1 10.04.2012 17:49:48
alignment of the formerly afocal system
is also desirable to produce or compensate
for a defned residual divergence.
Monolithical beam expansion systems
take a slightly different approach. In terms
of the mode of action, they correspond to
the Galileo telescope, although they con-
sist of only one optical element a menis-
cus lens, which means both of the optically
effective surfaces possess a common cen-
ter of curvature. The principle behind this
has already been known for some time,
although they produce severe spherical ab-
errations in their original design with two
spherical surfaces and thus can be used for
only very small incoming beam diameters
and very small enlargements. Figure 3
shows an example of such a lens.
These optical elements become very
interesting when one of the two surfaces
is aspherized. In line with the mode of ac-
tion, this enables the spherical aberrations
to be corrected and an afocal system to be
realized, even for large incoming beam
diameters. The improvement in the opti-
cal properties is clearly visible in the com-
parison in Figure 3. The enlargement cor-
responds in both cases to M = 2, whereby
the incoming beam diameter is decreased
by a factor of two.
One of the most exciting questions in
this context is, of course: How large is
the maximum enlargement that can be
achieved with such an individual element?
This is estimated using the paraxial en-
largement (Equation 4), whereby n is the
refractive index of the glass, r the radius
of the concave side and d the center thick-
ness. If glass is chosen as the material, the
refractive index in VIS is 1.4 <n <2.1 and,
therefore, the corresponding factor is ap-
proximately between 0.3 and 0.5. Accord-
ingly, the contribution of the two sum-
mands is signifcantly determined by the
relationship between the center thickness
d and radius of curvature r of the concave
surface.
Of course, in principle, a very large
center thickness could be chosen, but this
does not make practical sense. As a result,
a limit is set on an aspect ratio of center
thickness to diameter of 1 (e.g., center
thickness = diameter = 25 mm) for this
estimation. The concave radius also has
a lower limit of approximately 8 mm; a
smaller radius would place signifcant un-
necessary limitations on the free aperture
of the lens. This produces an optimum in
the maximum individual element enlarge-
ment of M = 2. If these considerations are
extended to semiconducting materials for
use in IR, enlargements of up to M = 3.5
are possible.
As shown, the individual element en-
Figure 4. Illustration shows cascade systems for beam expansion based on monolithic individual systems:
(a) 10.5 enlargement, (b) 21 enlargement and (c) 9.3 enlargement. The systems (a) and (b) differ by
the additional element with M = 2. When transferring from (b) to (c), the orientation of the last element with
M = 1.5 has been inverted.
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largements of monolithic Galileo tele-
scopes are relatively small as a result of
the limitation in center thickness. How-
ever, as these are afocal beam expansion
systems, they can be connected in series
to successively enlarge the incoming beam
one after the other in the beam course
(Figure 4).
This opens up new opportunities. Just
three of these elements can enlarge the
beam by eight times; fve elements, 32
times. If only individual elements with
M = 2 are used, the increments of the pos-
sible enlargements are very approximate at
M = 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 ... . This is an optimal
solution if one requires strong enlarge-
ment with minimal space used and a high
wavefront quality.
If, however, fner increments between
the enlargement levels are desired, it is
necessary to introduce other individual
element enlargements, which also lie very
close together. Two lower levels are of-
fered here at M = 1.5 and M = 1.75, espe-
cially for the version in glass. Because of
the afocal dimensioning of the individual
elements, the meniscus lenses can be ori-
ented in the course of the beam however
one likes, as shown in Figure 4c. This
means, when combined, there are not only
three but actually six individual element
enlargements available, which signif-
cantly increases the combinatorics level.
If, for instance, one element is available
for each basic enlargement, this produces
13 possibilities for the overall enlargement
with just these three meniscus lenses. If
we push these combinatorics further with
additional elements, an above-average
number of combination options are opened
up by certain lens groupings.
What is common to all these groups
is the presence of one element each with
M = 1.5 and M = 1.75 and an increasing
number of elements with M = 2. Figure
4b shows an example of an overall en-
largement of M = 21 consisting of fve
individual elements. Using the specifc
group shown there (1 M = 1.5; 1 M
= 1.75; 3 M = 2), it is possible to realize
62 enlargement levels with the maximum
at M = 21.
In practice, to implement such an aspher-
ical cascade system for fexible beam ex-
pansion, very high surface qualities for the
individual elements are required. To pre-
vent restrictions on combinatorics for later
use, each individual element must be sig-
nifcantly better over the whole free aper-
ture than the diffraction limited require-
ment (i.e., wavefront error RMS </14).
For a Ti:sapphire laser wavelength at
780 nm, for instance, RMS <55 nm; for
= 532 nm, it is even just RMS <32 nm.
If the center thickness and the decentra-
tion of the surfaces are also produced very
precisely for these requirements, this sys-
tem is adjustment-free. This means that
the attachment of additional monolithic
elements to change the enlargement level
also takes place completely adjustment-
free and is thus quick and easy.
Meet the authors
Dr. Ulrike Fuchs is head of applications at
asphericon GmbH in Jena, Germany; email:
u.fuchs@asphericon.com. Sven R. Kiontke
is general manager at asphericon; email:
s.kiontke@asphericon.com.
Beam Expansion
Tech Feature
InGaAs SWIR Cameras
Open New Opportunities
Shortwave infrared imaging is fnding new applications
by improving spectroscopy, inspection and more.
BY SCOTT YORK
PHOTONIC SCIENCE LTD.
A
whole new waveband of the electro-
magnetic spectrum has been opened
up for exploitation in the past few
years the shortwave infrared (SWIR),
which ranges from the edge of the near-
IR region at 900 nm up to 1700 nm and
has traditionally been invisible to all
detectors. Now, indium gallium arsenide
(InGaAs) sensors can image within this
waveband for a wide range of applica-
tions: Stimulated photoemission silicon
devices can allow in-line inspection of
their internal structure during manufac-
ture; bruising of fruit can be detected by
imaging the subsurface accumulation
of water; surveillance applications can
beneft from reduced atmospheric scat-
tering due to mist in the SWIR band, and
can take advantage of the SWIR-band
nightglow of a clear night sky; and
SWIR-band laser illuminators, invisible
to most detectors, can provide high-
quality night vision when coupled with
a SWIR camera.
So how can we take advantage of this
new part of the electromagnetic spec-
trum? The frst obvious use is in spec-
troscopy. A normal CCD color camera
has sensitivity up to about 700 nm, at
which point the IR cut flter cuts off the
near-IR that would otherwise ruin the
color balance of scenes intended to look
natural to the human eye. A monochrome
CCD, without the IR cut flter, will see
up to about 1000 nm. An InGaAs SWIR
sensor, on the other hand, has sensitivity
from about 900 to 1700 nm and therefore
makes an ideal component of a multisen-
sor system for hyperspectral imaging.
Cameras are available now with wave-
band extension up to 2200 nm and even
with visible extension down to 400 nm,
making a very wide spectral range pos-
sible within a single camera.
A recent spectroscopic application here
is in remote detection and identifcation of
chemical spillage and staining. Materi-
als absorb, refect and even fuoresce in
unfamiliar ways in the SWIR spectrum.
Characterizing these effects can allow
noncontact identifcation of materials
to be made where, previously, physi-
cal samples would have to be taken for
chemical analysis. In the recent EU-
funded Opticlean project supporting the
pharmaceutical industry, for example,
the spectral signatures of chemical stains
under broadband illumination are mea-
sured in 120 wavelength bands through-
out the SWIR spectrum, using flters and
an interferometer to isolate the individual
wavelength contributions. Comparing this
signature with those of precharacterized
samples allows the nature and extent of
the staining to be identifed.
Conventional thermal cameras, operat-
ing in the wavebands of 3 to 5 and 8 to
12 m, are well known for their ability to
detect body heat. SWIR cameras detect
temperature changes too, but at higher
temperatures (about 100 C and above).
This makes them a good choice for remote
temperature mapping in industrial condi-
tions, such as in the JET tokamak, the
UK center for nuclear fusion research.
In this application, SWIR cameras are
providing a safety system to check proper
confnement of the plasma by monitoring
temperature changes within delicate parts
of the enclosing toroidal structure.
The surveillance industry is now mak-
ing use of SWIR cameras, too. Rayleigh
scattering of sunlight in the atmosphere
which is responsible for the blue sky
and red sunsets, and which causes the
blue haze overlying distant scenes is
strongly dependent on the wavelength
of the light. Blue is scattered most, and
red least. Even further into the red, the
longer wavelengths of SWIR are scattered
Figure 1. The two images show the same vista, but the right is taken using an InGaAs CACTUS320 SW
camera from Sofradir and a visible-SWIR lens with 1.5-m focal length, while the left is taken using visible
light. Note that the Eiffel Tower is clearly seen in the SWIR image at 25 km.
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n SWIR Imaging
even less by the atmosphere and therefore
have an ability to penetrate hazy, misty
or smoky conditions, critical in a long-
range surveillance system. In addition,
SWIR wavelengths are affected less by
atmospheric turbulence and heat haze
compared with conventional visible-band
color cameras (Figure 1).
While traditional thermal cameras are
excellent at detecting body heat, they are
very poor at providing details for iden-
tifcation. Facial features cant be made
out, nor can writing on signs, for example.
In contrast, a SWIR image can appear
similar to an image acquired in the visible
spectrum. This makes a SWIR camera a
powerful surveillance tool.
At night, SWIR imaging comes into its
own. Nightglow results in a clear night
sky being quite bright in the SWIR spec-
trum. Reasonable night vision is therefore
possible with a SWIR camera. This can
be enhanced with near-IR illumination
which, if above 1000 nm, is invisible
to all conventional CCD and thermal
imagers, and so makes for a simple high-
quality covert imaging system. Video
Unlike thermal images, SWIR images can appear similar to images acquired
in the visible spectrum, which makes a SWIR camera a powerful surveillance tool.
P
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Figure 3. Photoemission captured with a deep-
cooled PSL 320 256 SWIR/InGaAs camera with
a 10-second exposure on a transistor polarized
with few-milliampere current, 40-nm technology
with seven layers and metal fllings.
Figure 2. Inspection of an 18th-century Russian
icon using a cooled PSL 320 256 SWIR/InGaAs
camera. The part of epitrachelion under the hand
that blesses is revealed in SWIR image.
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314_SWIR Feat.indd 56 2/28/14 4:31 PM
delivery via GigE and GenICam compli-
ance is a big asset here, as they greatly
simplify camera integration and provide
reliable high-frame-rate image delivery in
a networked surveillance system.
SWIR imaging is also being used
to examine the subsurface structure of
paintings: The longer wavelengths pen-
etrate the surface layers and can reveal
original details that were later painted
over. This can help with confrming the
artworks authenticity, as well as assist-
ing with restoration. In Figure 2, one of
the critical requirements for the imaging
system is high intrascene dynamic range,
so that both the low-intensity parts of the
subsurface artwork and surface highlights
can be imaged at the same time. The
image of an 18th-century Russian icon in
Figure 2 shows a good example: Note how
the SWIR image reveals the epitrachelion
under the praying hand.
Photoemission microscopy is comple-
menting well-known semiconductor
failure-analysis techniques such as high-
power inspection and microprobing
within advanced bipolar transistor pro-
duction lines. The technique relies on the
detection of weak photonic emissions at
the 1.1-m wavelength, which are primar-
ily caused by carrier recombination mech-
anisms in p-n junctions under forward- or
Figure 4. Polycrystalline cells, photoluminescence, imaged at 640 512 resolution with a cooled
SWIR/InGaAs camera from Photonic Science: (a) 20-ms exposure, primary bandgap emission; (b) 2-ms
exposure, secondary bandgap emission.
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a
Figure 5. (a) Air-bubble detection within a silicon
wafer using a cooled PSL 640 512 SWIR/InGaAs
camera. (b) MEMS structure imaging.
b
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314_SWIR Feat.indd 57 2/28/14 4:31 PM
n SWIR Imaging
reverse-biased conditions. Standard CCD
cameras will capture only the tail of the
photoemission peak, resulting in extended
exposures, whereas a deep-cooled InGaAs
camera sensitive in the SWIR waveband
typically will capture an image within
10 seconds. The resulting image is then
overlaid with its corresponding die-
surface image, so that the emission spot
coincides with the precise location of the
defect (Figure 3).
The same electroluminescence detec-
tion technique is applied at the macro-
scopic level for the detection of defects
in solar cells. The forward or reverse bias
applied to the solar cell will result in the
primary bandgap emission at 1.1 m as
well as secondary bandgap emission be-
yond 1400 nm. This reveals local defects
such as cracks, grain boundaries, broken
contacts and shunts, providing a means of
identifying and locating abnormal series
resistances that will affect the overall
maximum photovoltaic current the device
can provide.
Photostimulated luminescence, where
the solar cell is simply illuminated with
light at 800 nm rather than being electri-
cally connected, is also used as a noncon-
tact measurement technique to check the
quality of unprocessed wafers at an early
stage of production. The image of the
resulting photoluminescence at 1100 to
1200 nm in the SWIR waveband reveals
the inhomogeneity response due to minor-
ity carrier recombination, which is di-
rectly related to the future cell-conversion
effciency.
Unlike traditional CCD cameras,
cooled InGaAs cameras have very high
quantum effciency in the photolumines-
cence waveband and are not sensitive to
the visible spectrum. Not only does this
mean they have very high sensitivity
at 1100 nm, resulting in short exposure
times and fast duty cycles, but they also
offer the possibility of inspecting from
wafer to installed panels under ordinary
ambient light conditions (Figure 4).
Another clear advantage of cooled
InGaAs cameras is the ability to see
through silicon at wavelengths beyond
1200 nm. This helps in identifying struc-
tural defects on MEMS or MOEMS de-
vices using suitable backside illumina-
tion. The same technique is used to unveil
complex 3-D integrated circuit structures
at different stages of fabrication, or to
identify dislocations within large single-
crystal ingots (Figure 5).
The benefts of using longer wave-
lengths than the visible band to see
through single-crystal structures or
large-bandgap materials can also apply
to soft tissues and small-animal imaging
applications. A typical setup includes a
coherent source penetrating through soft
tissues, which is generally used to gener-
ate a long-wavelength photonic emis-
sion from fuorescent markers known as
quantum dots or carbon nanotubes. The
reduced autofuorescence and scatter-
ing process beyond 1300 nm within soft
tissues makes it possible to capture faint
emissions from the fuorescent markers
binding to specifc tumors or proteins.
Monitoring the fuorescence signal
intensity over time provides a means of
quantifying protein traffc and drug ef-
fciency. It also can allow the determina-
tion of specifc gene expression on small
animals, with improved signal-to-noise
ratio and sensitivity compared with a
traditional CCD setup operating at shorter
wavelengths (Figure 6).
Meet the author
Scott York is technical director at Photonic Sci-
ence Ltd. in Robertsbridge, England; email:
info@photonic-science.com.
Figure 6. Fluorescence signal emission of different molecules in the IR-spectrum range.
PS March 2014
SWIR Feature
Figure 6b
Lisa
Note: the b is to be added on the layout page
Rayleigh
Mie
Molecules
Particles
SWIR Is
15 Times
Less Diffused
Than NIR
~ /50
~ /4
~ 5
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314_SWIR Feat.indd 58 2/28/14 4:31 PM
Solar cells may be a little closer to
full realization of their potential, thanks
to the creation of large sheets of nano-
textured silicon microcell arrays. The
discovery promises to make solar cells
lightweight, bendable, more effcient and
easily mass-produced.
Converting sunshine into electricity is
not a diffcult process, although the lack
of a national solar cell network reveals
that much of the diffculty lies in doing so
effciently and on a large scale.
But a team from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
and the University of Central Florida
(UCF) in Orlando may be one step closer.
The group used a light-trapping scheme
based on a nanoimprinting technique in
which a polymeric stamp mechanically
embosses a nanoscale pattern onto the
solar cell without additional complex lith-
ographic steps. This approach provides
the fexibility that investigators have
been searching for, making the design
ideal for mass manu-facturing, said UCF
assistant professor Debashis Chanda, lead
researcher of the study.
Previously, scientists had suggested
designs that showed higher rates of sun-
light absorption, but how effciently that
sunlight was converted into electrical
energy was unclear, Chanda said. This
study demonstrates that the researchers
light-trapping scheme offers higher elec-
trical effciency in a lightweight, fexible
module.
This technology could someday lead to
solar-powered homes fueled by cells that
are reliable and provide stored energy for
hours without interruption, the team said.
Chanda, who joined UCF in the fall of
2012 from UIUC, has joint appointments
at the Nanoscience Technology Center
and the College of Optics and Photon-
ics (CREOL). He has published multiple
articles on light-matter interactions and
metamaterials. For some of his pioneering
works, Chanda received a Department of
Energy solar innovation award and a Nat-
ural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council award, among others. He also
earned a National Science Foundation
Summer Institute Fellowship last year.
The studys fndings are featured in
Advanced Energy Materials (doi: 10.1002/
aenm.201370046).
green
LIGHT

Tapping solars full potential
This approach provides the
exibility that investigators have
been searching for, making
the design ideal for mass
manufacturing, according
to Debashis Chanda of UCF.
A printed solar cell is shown. Researchers have created large sheets of nanotextured silicon microcell arrays
that could make solar cells easier to mass-produce.
U
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314GreenLight.indd 59 2/28/14 4:35 PM

of tomorrow
WORKFORCE
Learning middle school science from a
textbook can be boring; at least it was
for me! But it would have been less so if I
could have constructed solar ovens, per-
formed simulated laser surgery or seen
photonic technologies at work in the real
world. A special science program at North
Carolina State University has found the
secret to exciting kids and their teachers
about STEM careers. JD
Middle and high school students
have so many distractions these days, so
STEM (science, technology, engineering
and math) subjects have to work hard to
attract and hold their interest. But actually
shaving a gelatin eye in a simulated lasik
vision-correction surgery sounds like a
great way to get a teenagers attention.
And a special science program offers
students a chance to do just that.
For more than 20 years, the Imho-
tep Academy at North Carolina State
University (NCSU) has successfully
used industry-academic collaboration in
programs designed to introduce science
and mathematics to underrepresented
minority students (African-Americans,
Latinos and females) and their teachers.
The academys goal is to immerse stu-
dents in grades 6 through 12 in hands-on
STEM investigations, projects and career
learning experiences to develop their
awareness of STEM careers as well as
programs at NCSU.
The program has evolved to incorporate
engineering competencies to introduce
students to the unifying connection of
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics. From 2005 to 2011, Imhotep
Academy offered a special series of sci-
ence programs on optics and photonics to
middle and high school students, parents
and teachers from North Carolina, New
Hampshire, Maryland, South Carolina
and Virginia.
In these programs, participants learned
about the physics and applications of light
and solid-state technology, and students
and teachers engaged in activities such
as fabricating an LCD pixel, building
a laser beam communicator, attending
virtual seminars and conducting indepen-
dent research. They toured optics- and
photonics-based research laboratories and
discovered STEM careers through extern-
ship experiences in the Research Triangle
Park with the support of companies such
as Kyma Technologies, Verizon Business,
Semiconductor Research Corp., Bioptigen,
Cisco Systems and IBM.
Eighty percent of the 56 Photonics
Leaders II graduates who attended the
program between 2009 and 2011 are
currently pursuing a college or four-year
university degree in a STEM feld. The
student leaders completed more than 340
hours of in-depth investigations covering
optics and photonics topics; completed
two independent research projects; com-
peted in regional, state and national sci-
ence competitions; and fulflled 48 hours
of externship experiences in STEM-
based companies and laboratories at the
Research Triangle Park C and North
Carolina State University.
This group of leaders was the only
cohort in North Carolina discovering the
wonder of light and its interdisciplinary
applications, and using the knowledge
they had gained to perform independent
research and engineering design proj-
ects. These projects included designing
a solar-powered golf cart; building and
erecting radio telescopes for collection
of solar fare data; and investigating dark
matter, photonic properties of novel dyes
and the effects of algae on light intensities
for formal presentations to their peers,
parents and university and STEM leaders
in Research Triangle Park.
In 2012 and 2013, the photonics pro-
gram was scaled to Imhotep Academy to
build middle school students awareness
of applications in biophotonics, energy
and fber optics. In this science enrich-
ment program, sixth-, seventh- and
eighth-grade students from underserved

Lasers and Fake Corneas Connect
Teens, STEM and Photonics
Imhotep Academy by the numbers
20+ years of industry-academic collaboration to bring science and math
to underrepresented minority students.
Offered special science programs on optics and photonics to 4000 middle
and high school students, 600 parents and 70 teachers from 2005 to 2011.
These participants came from 27 counties of North Carolina and school
districts in four other states: New Hampshire, Maryland, South Carolina and
Virginia.
80 percent of the 56 Photonics Leaders II graduates (2009-2011) are
currently pursuing a college or four-year university degree in a STEM feld.
38 partnering scientists, engineers and STEM professionals; 12 industries;
one government agency; and funding from the National Science Foundation,
Burroughs Wellcome Fund, IBM, John Deere Turf Care and other foundation
funding sources made the program possible.
314Workforce.indd 60 2/28/14 4:26 PM
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populations learned about all types of
electromagnetic radiation, performed a
simulated laser eye surgery, used sensor-
based technology to monitor the bodys
vital signs, and discovered with a micro-
array activity how geneticists study gene
expression. They explored the nature of
energy; constructed solar ovens; and in-
vestigated biofuels, wind power, biomass
and photovoltaic cells in problem-based
learning scenarios.
They even dissected a cows eye to
study its parts and learn how it works. The
middle school students learned that mil-
lions of Americans pay to get their eyes
poked, prodded, suctioned and zapped
by a laser to correct vision impairments.
They discovered that the lasik procedure
includes removing layers of the cornea
with a laser to change the focal point of
photons (light particles) passing through
the eye. Upon viewing the Science Friday
lasik eye surgery video, students were
given an eye model made of a convex
lens and a clear gelatin mold with an ill-
focused image projected through a lens.
As a team, students had to shave layers
of the cornea away from the eye until a
focused image was projected through
the lens. This experience gave them an
awareness of what ophthalmologists do
and of how a leading surgical procedure
has evolved to correct vision problems.
The goal is to inspire and prepare stu-
dents for the future.
To understand real-world and future-
forward applications of these topics, the
students toured Cisco Systems, Duke
Energy Envision Center, SAS Institute
and Solar Farm, and Tekelec. They talked
to STEM professionals, learned about the
history of each company, used advanced
technology equipment, discovered how to
prepare for a STEM career at these com-
panies, and learned what skills are needed
to compete in the global workforce.
All year-round programs are held at
The Science House on NC States Cen-
tennial Campus, a research park and
technology campus. The photonics pro-
Crystals
Our optics skill is broad, our service commitment is
deep. Sydor Optics dedicated crystal operation
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ITAR Registered
ISO 9001: 2008 Certified
grams offered to middle and high school
students are the result of a collaboration
of scientists, engineers and STEM profes-
sionals; different industries; a government
agency; and funding contributions. Funded
originally by the College of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences and nominal fees
paid by parents, the program is supported
today by the College of Sciences, The Sci-
ence House, Friends of Imhotep Academy,
IBM, John Deere Inc. and fees paid by
participants.
Over the years, funding has come
from a variety of sources, including the
National Science Foundation, Burroughs
Wellcome Fund, IBM and John Deere
Turf Care. Future program plans include
reinstating the high school photonics pro-
gram for ninth-grade students, creating
a program for elementary students for
statewide dissemination, and providing
fellowships for teachers in these programs
to learn the innovative curriculum for
classroom implementation.
Industry representatives are invited to
partner with The Science House-Imhotep
Academy program to develop students
awareness of optics and photonics, ca-
reers and the skills needed to thrive in a
global society by serving as a consultant
or content expert on the program advisory
board, hosting a high school student or
teacher as a research mentor for a summer
internship, offering a one-day feld trip for
younger students and teachers, participat-
ing in a career symposium as an exhibitor,
or speaking to parents and students as a
guest speaker or panelist.
Industry contributions include materi-
als, supplies, company souvenirs, and
short informative videos or webinars
about your company or feld of work. Of
course, donations to Friends of Imhotep
to support the photonics programs future
initiatives are always welcome.
Pamela Gilchrist, Imhotep Director,
and column curator Judy Donnelly,
Three Rivers Community College
Connecticut
of tomorrow
WORKFORCE
The program has exposed my child to several opportunities he otherwise would
not have experienced. He is now planning on majoring in engineering in college as
a result of this program (he was previously undecided). It also taught him what it is
like to be a real scientist: developing hypothesis, experimentation and then, most
importantly, failing to reach his expected conclusion and, as a result, reworking his
hypothesis and trying again. Through the internship programs, Photonics Leaders II
showed him many examples of the real work that scientists and engineers do on a
daily basis, rather than simply learning about it in the margins of a textbook.
A parent whose child attends the Imhotep Academy Photonics Program
1 2 3
4 5 6
Convex Mirrors
TechSpec convex mirrors by Edmund Optics
create virtual, upright images for use in a variety
of optical systems. The mirrors expand an imaging
systems feld of view without introducing chromatic
aberrations, and they feature a polished surface
with a /2 surface accuracy to maintain image
quality. They are available in 44 models, with focal
lengths of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mm
in 25- or 50-mm-diameter sizes. Coatings of en-
hanced aluminum, protected aluminum, protected
gold or protected silver are available.
sales@edmundoptics.com
Remote-Sensing Pistol Grip
Spectral Evolution is now offering a pistol
grip for ambient light remote-sensing applications
in the feld requiring fber optic data collection, such
as climate research, and environmental, vegetation
and forest canopy studies. The pistol grip features
a low-refectance, impact-resistant ABS thermo-
plastic handle with a tether hole and push-button
trigger for data collection. Its thumbscrew secures
any fber optic cable and lens, and its industry-
standard Picatinny rail (MIL-STD-1913) can be
used to mount many options, such as laser sighting
scopes and spirit levels. An integrated peep sight
enables remote sensing without adding extra sights
to the rail, and a tripod mount allows for hands-free
operation.
sales@spectralevolution.com
Sapphire Optical Domes
Available from Meller Optics Inc. are
sapphire optical domes for protecting guidance
systems, sensors and other devices in harsh air-
borne and subsea environments. The domes fea-
ture Moh 9 hardness and provide up to 85 percent
transmission uncoated in the UV and IR, and up
to 99 percent transmission when antirefection-
coated on two sides. They can withstand pressure
up to 10,000 psi and temperatures up to 1000 C,
and they are unaffected by fast-moving dirt, sand,
saltwater or chemicals. Available in sizes up to 6
in. in outside diameter, the domes can incorporate
steps and profles for mounting.
steve@melleroptics.com
HeCd Replacement Laser
The Concerto 442-nm solid-state HeCd
replacement laser from Power Technology Inc.
delivers up to 150 mW of actively stabilized single-
frequency light with a spectral bandwidth <5 MHz.
The instrument has a mean time before failure of
>12,000 h, compared with a typical HeCd laser,
which requires retubing every 3000 h, depending
on the original power output. Typical coherence
length is 100 m. Applications include holography,
security printing, spectroscopy, thin-flm analysis,
fow visualization, optical data storage and semi-
conductor inspection.
sales@powertechnology.com
Surface Inspection
The ConfoPort CPO-LV-SD measuring system
from confovis GmbH provides noncontact quality
inspection of the surface integrity of optical lenses
down to the nanometer range. The system mea-
sures and analyzes the height, depth, width, radii
and angles of lenses to generate 3-D analyses,
even of refective surfaces. It checks for scratches,
particles and inclusions on lenses to determine
their quality and subsequent use, allowing classif-
cation by fault. The fve-axis positioning unit allows
the optical surface to be swiveled and rotated. The
system can be equipped with extra-long-working-
distance objectives, and a transmitted-light func-
tion for 2-D observation also is available.
baechstaedt@confovis.com
Aspheric Measuring Station
From Mahr Federal Inc., the MarSurf LD
130/260 is a 2-D/3-D measuring station for check-
ing contour and surface topography of aspheric
optical lenses and other components during
multistage grinding and polishing operations. The
system offers a measuring range up to 260 mm,
vertical resolution of 0.8 nm and form deviations of
<100 nm. It can be used for spheric and aspheric
lenses as well as many types of cylinder lenses,
lens mounts, housing and other mechanical compo-
nents. Measuring speed is up to 10 mm/s for large
lenses and down to 0.02 mm/s for microlenses.
information@mahr.com
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www.photonics.com
12th Optatec
International trade fair
for optical technologies,
components and systems
Optical components
Optomechanical and
optoelectronical components
Fibre-optics
Laser system components

Photovoltaic components
20. 22. MAY 2014
FRANKFURT
www.optatec-messe.de
Single-Active-Area Photodiode
The SXUV100 by Opto Di-
ode is a single-active-area,
100-mm
2
photodiode for
detecting 13.5-nm wave-
lengths or for monitoring
high-power-density sources
from 1 to 150 nm. It is oper-
ational from 1 to 1000 nm
and features peak photon
responsivity at 0.27 A/W
(at 1 nm) and 0.33 A/W (at
850 nm). Shunt resistance
at 10 mV is 10 M, mini-
mum; the capacitance is
6 nF, typical, and the response time is 25 ns, typical. The devices operating
and storage temperatures range from 10 to 40 C (ambient) and from 20 to
80 C (in nitrogen or vacuum conditions). The maximum junction temperature
is 70 C, and the lead-soldering temperature is 260 C at 0.08 in. from the
case for 10 s.
sales@optodiode.com
Infrared-Emitting Diode
The Oslon Compact SFH 4710 IRED (infrared-emitting diode) from Osram Opto
Semiconductors is suitable for applications such as surveillance, digital image
processing, 3-D measurement, pattern recognition and gesture detection. The
device offers typical output of 270 mW from an operating current of 500 mA.
It includes a chip with an edge length of 750 m and comes in a 1.6 1.2
0.8-mm package. Featuring an emission angle of 65, the device requires no
internal optics or refectors. Its light can be injected into narrow-angle external
optics to provide illumination for surveillance and machine vision tasks.
info@osram-os.com
Fiber Laser
Available from NKT Photonics, the Koheras Basik X15 ultralow-noise fber
laser is suitable for industrial applications such as seismic mapping for oil
and gas, pipeline monitoring and security. The device offers phase noise
<1 rad/vHz and a narrow hertz-range linewidth. It provides 30-mW output
power in the 1535- to 1585-nm range. For applications requiring multiple wave-
lengths, the module can be integrated into NKTs Acoustik multichannel rack,
which supplies control and power for up to 16 channels.
sl@nktphotonics.com
LED Light Engine
Model 2400B-510, an addi-
tion to Innovations in Optics
Inc.s line of LumiBright FC
fber-coupled LED light en-
gines, was designed for fber
and lightguide input apertures
from 1 to 3 mm in diameter.
The device features patented
technologies that encompass
nonimaging optics with LED
chip-on-board metallic sub-
strates for luminous effcacy
and thermal management.
Suited for OEM endoscope
and microscope illuminator
applications, it provides a nominal correlated color temperature of 4700 K
and can emit up to 600 lm through its 3-mm-diameter aperture with no UV or
IR emissions. Custom connectors and lightguide ferrule holders are available
upon request.
kevinc@innovationsinoptics.com
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motion system that is specifically designed to provide an
ideal motion platform for surface measurement applications.
The SMP is optimized to provide more flexibility in 2D and
3D contouring, higher precision with nanometer resolution,
significantly reduced processing time, and minimal footprint.
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AH1212H_TM_SMP_8_125x5_375_AGR_halfpage.qxd 2/7/2014 4:15 PM Page 1
Electro-Optics Technology, Inc.
www.eotech.com|sales@eotech.com
231-935-4044
EOTs 1.5-5m PbSe Power Detectors have a
selectable gain of either 2X or 100X and an active
area of 5mm x 5mm making alignment easy.
Easy-to-use|Quick Response|Great Performance
Photometer/Colorimeter
Konica Minolta Sensing Americas has added
Instrument Systems LumiCam 1300 imaging
photometer and colorimeter to its light- and
display-measurement portfolio. The camera also is
designed to take measurements of LED indicator
lamps and multifunction information displays. Its
high-resolution CCD image sensor allows complex
luminance distributions to be measured within
seconds. Features include simultaneous capture
of a large number of measurements in a single im-
age; image-processing functions integrated in the
software, enabling automated methods of analysis
(calculation of homogeneity or contrast); short
measurement cycles; and simple setup of intuitive
pass/fail criteria for use in production. Applications
include the automotive, aerospace and general
lighting industries.
darlene.giordano@konicaminolta.com
Black Coatings Data
Refectance data for Acktar Ltd.s black-light-
absorbing coatings has been incorporated into the
libraries of optics simulation software packages
Zemax and TracePro. The programs are designed
to reduce the negative effects of stray light from
bright objects outside the feld of view and from
thermal emission within the system itself, including
deterioration of image quality and reduced sensitiv-
ity. The coatings offer <1% refectance from the
314_NewProds.indd 65 2/28/14 4:23 PM
extreme-UV through the longwave IR and feature
properties such as zero outgassing and fuores-
cence, no particulation, operational temperature
from 4 to 625K, biocompatibility and thickness
<10 m. They can be deposited on glass polymers,
ceramics and metals.
customer-support@acktar.com
EMCCD Cameras
For low-light imaging, Nv Cameras HN cameras
deliver faster frame rates with photon-counting
precision for EMCCD detectors. The thermoelectri-
cally cooled devices provide a pixel readout rate
of 20 MHz for standard back-illuminated Grade 1
scientifc EMCCD detectors, making it possible to
image any feld of view without compromising on
acquisition speed or optimal precision. The cam-
eras offer >91% single-photon-detection probabil-
ity, and their lower levels of noise, combined with
an operating temperature of 85 C, enable frame
rates exceeding 17, 67 and 975 images per second
for the three standard sizes of EMCCD detectors
(1024 1024, 512 512 and 128 128).
info@nuvucameras.com
Off-Axis Paraboloid Mirrors
Off-axis paraboloid mirrors from Optical Surfaces
Ltd. direct and focus incident collimated light at a
specifc angle for unrestricted access to the focal
point. The mirrors are suitable for applications
such as high-power laser focusing, collimating
reference wavefronts, focusing upon astronomical
objects, beam expansion, and aligning boresights
for missile guidance systems. The standard off-axis
paraboloid mirrors range from 60 to 600 mm in di-
ameter and offer surface accuracy to /20, peak to
valley, depending upon off-axis angles. The natural
limit to the off-axis angle, around 25 to 30, can
be achieved, along with surface microroughness
of <1 nm.
sales@optisurf.com
Galvanometer Laser Scanners
Lincoln Laser Co. has announced a new series
of six galvanometer laser scanners. The compact
PHX-30/50/75 models ft into microscopes and
other instruments for biomedical applications. The
PHX-100/150/300 models have large-aperture
mirrors that are suitable for marking, materials
processing, inspection and lidar systems. Mirrors
may be coated with fused silica, silicon or silicon
carbide.
madkins@lincolnlaser.com
UV-C LEDs
TO-39 LEDs from Crystal IS offer UV-C wave-
lengths from 250 to 280 nm and are suitable for
applications such as scientifc instrumentation,
and air and water quality monitoring. Featuring
low-defect aluminum nitride substrates, the LEDs
are fabricated by means of an epitaxial deposi-
tion process that preserves the low density of the
substrate. They offer a viewing angle of 15 and
are RoHS-compliant.
sales@cisuvc.com
Microthermal Imaging Core
Lepton, a microthermal imaging camera core from
Flir Systems Inc., uses multiple proprietary tech-
nologies, including wafer-level detector and micro-
optics, and a custom integrated circuit that sup-
ports all camera functions on a single integrated
low-power chip. The microbolometer-based device
is similar in size, weight and power consumption to
a conventional CMOS cellphone camera module.
It is designed for easy integration into third-party
products, including smartphones, tablets, diag-
nostic tools, automobiles, toys, building controls,
new products
314_NewProds.indd 66 2/28/14 4:23 PM

M1 Mirror Mount
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Ad 15 1/4 Page USA 87x125 mm
NanoScan provides NIST-
Traceable Beam Prole and
Pointing Measurements
13.2.14
Designed to Measure
New & Improved NanoScan 2
Direct USB connection to computer
www.ophiropt.com/photonics
1-866-755-5499
Ask about our trade-in program
process equipment, security and machine vision
systems, and advanced gaming devices.
sales@fir.com
Picosecond Laser
Fianium has introduced the Hylase-25 high-energy
picosecond laser for micromachining of semicon-
ductors, dielectrics, metals and polymer materials.
The device offers <20-ps pulse duration and speci-
fed power of 8 W at 50 J and 25 W at 125 J. It
features built-in optical modulators, pulse repeti-
tion rates up to 40 MHz, and burst-mode operation
for advanced process development.
info@fanium.com
Optical Mirrors
From Newport Corp., ValuMax research-grade opti-
cal mirrors are for general laboratory use, prototype
development, and proof-of-concept or educational
applications. The mirrors are available with six
metallic and broadband dielectric coatings and
cover the UV-VIS-IR from 250 nm to 20 m. They
are 25.4 mm in diameter, 6 mm thick and feature a
fatness of /10.
pete.neely@newport.com
Mineral Identier
The ASD TerraSpec Halo mineral identifer by PANa-
lytical Boulder is a handheld near-IR spectrometer
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Mfg4 brings together three manufacturing industries;
aerospace, defense (including arms) and medical, and one
strategic technology; micromanufacturing under one roof.

Experience interactive exhibits and conference sessions

Discover ground-breaking solutions from other industries

Explore the latest techniques for creating micro features
on parts of all sizes
Mfg4 is the perfect event for cross-collaboration,
innovation and networking.
Visit mfg4event.com for complete event details and to register.
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that delivers mineralogy results in <20 s. Weighing
only 2 kg, the instrument includes a proprietary
mineral prediction software program that pulls data
from a multicontinent mineral library sourced from
public and private databases. Features include
onboard GPS, voice recording capability, multiple
languages for onboard software and an extensive
spectral library. The device can be used in the core
shack or on the rig for core and drill chip analysis,
and in production environments for feld confrma-
tion, ore-grade control or other purposes.
info@panalytical.com
UV Viewing Systems
Available from Spectronics Corp., the Spectroline
CC-80 and CC-81 UV viewing systems provide fuo-
rescence analysis for applications in chromatogra-
phy, electrophoresis, genetic research, photoresist
coating inspection and forensic science. Both
models have built-in white-light sources that
provide visible illumination for sample preparation.
The aluminum cabinet housing accepts standard
electrophoresis gels and up to two 8 8-in. (20
20 cm) thin-layer chromatography plates. The
CC-81 is equipped with a high-intensity longwave/
shortwave UV lamp. Fluorescence analysis systems
can be customized, with a range of UV lamps
available in 254-, 312- and 365-nm wavelengths;
various transilluminators are also available.
bsavasta@spectroline.com
360 Camera
Offered by Sundance DSP, the iStar fully auto-
matic, high-resolution camera captures, creates
and distributes 360 spherical images for a variety
of applications, such as crime and collision inves-
tigations, incident/training analysis, remote obser-
vation and surveillance, and geospatial data docu-
mentation. It features a multilens array and single-
push-button control. It comes in three models and
is supplied with a range of software tools.
salesforce@sundancedsp.com
Image Analysis Software
Available from Media Cybernetics, the Image-Pro
Premier 9.1 image analysis software provides tools
to capture, process, measure, share, visualize and
compare images for scientifc and industrial analy-
sis and processing. Features for the life sciences in-
clude colocalization of multiple fuorescent images
or channels; tissues or cell pathology classifcation
using multiple parameters; automated wound-
healing analysis; and advanced ring analysis for
otoliths, scales and trees. Industrial inspection and
materials analysis features include layer thickness
measurements; wire bonding corrosion analysis;
bubble, foam and void analysis using circle fnding;
and a custom report generator and editor.
info@mediacy.com
Beam Analyzer
The Beam Analyzer Touch from AMS Technologies
measures beam profle, size, shape, position and
power. The stand-alone unit has a built-in touch
screen and measuring head. Its 190- to 2700-nm
new products
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spectral range allows it to measure beam sizes
from 2 m to 10 mm with 0.1-m resolution, and its
patented technology enables tomographic recon-
struction of 2-D and 3-D images.
info@amstechnologies.com
Camera Module Testing
The ProCam from Trioptics GmbH tests the active
alignment of camera modules that combine optics
with a sensor and a readout circuit. The device
includes standard measurement systems with test
charts for applications with fnite object distance
as well as solutions with collimators for infnite and
variable object distances. For the active alignment
of optics and sensors for serial production, the
companys ProCam Align aligns the sensor with the
camera optics in up to six degrees of freedom with
submicron accuracy. The components are tilted,
shifted, focused and rotated during a single cycle.
k.braeuniger@trioptics.com
Data Acquisition Software
PicoQuant GmbH has released the version 3.0
data acquisition software for its PicoHarp 300
time-correlated single-photon-counting (TCSPC)
system. The software provides a programmable
time offset in the sync input to replace adjustable
cable delays (4-ps resolution, 100 ns) and a
programmable time offset in all PHR 800 router
channels to tune for relative delay (4-ps resolution,
8 ns). It also provides a future-proof fle format
and export of histograms directly to ASCII fles as
well as improvements in usage and user interface.
A programmable marker hold-off time suppresses
glitches on the control signals.
info@picoquant.com
Laser Micrometer Interface
NetLinc, a laser micrometer interface from Laser-
Linc, streamlines the setup process by enabling
transmission of measurement data via a standard
Ethernet cable. Users can plug one end of the cable
into any PC, laptop or all-in-one box running Total
Vu software, and the other into the interfaces
Ethernet port. It also can connect a micrometer to
plant networks, streaming the data to a Total Vu PC
via standard Ethernet TCP/IP. To use the interface
with existing company micrometers, an external
box may be added.
info@laserlinc.com
Driving Technology
The Thermal camera on Chip by Senso Optics adds
thermal night-vision capability to its proprietary
advanced driving assistance system, ADAS. The
technology is designed to reduce automobile ac-
cidents and lane departures by providing alerts for
the driver. Thermal camera on Chip works during
the day, at night and in adverse weather conditions
even heavy fog, smoke and smog detecting ani-
mals and pedestrians, and providing braking and
steering assistance. The new application-specifc
integrated system includes a thermal miniature
camera module.
info@senso-optics.com
Spread the word
Advertise your new product in Photonics
Showcase.
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lead-generating features.
To advertise, call Kristina Laurin at
(413) 499-0514, or email advertising@
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314_NewProds.indd 69 2/28/14 4:24 PM
l
Indicates shows Photonics Media will be attending.
Complete listings at www.photonics.com/calendar.
Happenings
APRIL
Design, Test, Integration & Packaging of
MEMS/MOEMS (April 1-4) Cannes, France.
Contact Chantal Benis-Morel, local secretary,
CMP, +33 4 76 57 46 22; http://cmp.imag.fr/
conferences.
Laser 2014: 34th ASLMS Annual Conference
(April 2-6) Phoenix. Contact American Society
for Laser Medicine and Surgery Inc., +1 (877)
258-6028; information@aslms.org; www.aslms.org.
Principles of Fluorescence Techniques
(April 7-10) Urbana-Champaign, Ill. Contact
Fabiola Elias, +1 (217) 359-8681; fabiola.elias@
fuorescence-foundation.org; www.fuorescence-
foundation.org.
Internal Medicine 2014 (April 10-12) Orlando,
Fla. Contact American College of Physicians,
+1 (800) 523-1546l; http://im2014.acponline.org.
Focus on Microscopy 2014 (April 13-16) Sydney.
Contact Fred Brakenhoff, University of Amsterdam,
+31 20 525 5189; brakenhoff@focusonmicros-
copy.org; www.focusonmicroscopy.org.
l
SPIE Photonics Europe 2014 (April 14-17)
Brussels. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290;
customerservice@spie.org; http://spie.org.
l
The Vision Show and Conference 2014
(April 15-17) Boston. Contact AIA, +1 (734)
994-6088; www.visiononline.org.
FOE 2014: 14th Fiber Optics Expo
(April 16-18) Tokyo. Contact FOE Show
Management, Mitsuru Takazawa, Reed Exhibitions
Japan Ltd., +81 3 3349 8518; foe@reedexpo.co.jp;
www.foe.jp/en.
l
HPLA/BEP: International High Power
Laser Ablation and Beamed Energy Propulsion
(April 21-25) Santa Fe, N.M. Contact Sherry
Johnson, Blue52 Productions LLC, +1 (937)
554-4671; sjohnson@blue52productions.com;
www.usasymposium.com/hplabep.
2014 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit
(April 21-25) San Francisco. Contact Materials
Research Society, +1 (724) 779-3003; info@mrs.
org; www.mrs.org/spring2014.
l
OPIE 14: Optics and Photonics
International Exhibition (April 23-25) Yokohama,
Japan. Contact Scott Shibasaki, The Optronics Co.
Ltd., +81 3 5225 6614; s_shiba@optronics.co.jp;
www.opie.jp/en.
Advanced Optical Manufacturing
and Testing Technologies 2014 (AOMATT)
(April 26-29) Harbin, China. Contact Yang Li,
fax: 86 028 8510 0583; yangli@oe.ac.cn;
www.aomatt.org/aomatt2014/english.
Biomedical Optics (BIOMED) (April 26-30)
Miami. Contact The Optical Society, +1 (202)
223-8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
IEEE 11th International Symposium on
Biomedical Imaging (ISBI 2014)
(April 29-May 4) Beijing. Contact Dana Bernstein,
+1 (732) 981-3451; d.bernstein@ieee.org;
www.ieee.org.
MAY
l
2014 57th SVC Annual Technical Conference
(May 3-8) Chicago. Contact Society of Vacuum
Coaters, +1 (505) 856-7188; svcinfo@svc.org;
www.svc.org.
Optical Interconnects Conference 2014
(May 4-7) San Diego. Contact Megan Figueroa,
+1 (732) 562-3895; m.fgueroa@ieee.org; www.
oi-ieee.org.
ARVO 2014 Annual Meeting (May 4-8) Orlando,
Fla. Contact Association for Research in Vision and
Ophthalmology, +1 (240) 221-2900; arvo@arvo.org;
www.arvo.org.
l
DSS 2014: SPIE Defense, Security, and
Sensing (May 5-9) Baltimore. Contact SPIE
+1 (360) 676-3290; customerservice@spie.org;
http://spie.org.
l
Mfg4: Manufacturing for the Future
(May 6-8) Hartford, Conn. Contact SME,
+1 (313) 425-3000; service@sme.org;
www.mfg4event.com.
Ninth EOS Topical Meeting on Diffractive Optics
(DO 2014) (May 6-9) Gdansk, Poland. Contact Oili
Kohonen, conference manager, European Optical
Society, +358 40 564 0480; kohonen@myeos.org;
www.myeos.org.
Graphene 2014 (May 6-9) Toulouse, France.
Contact Phantoms Foundation, +34 91 140 2145;
info@grapheneconf.com; www.grapheneconf.com.
AKL International Laser Technology Congress
(May 7-9) Aachen, Germany. Contact Silke Boehr,
+49 241 8906 505; akl@lasercongress.org; www.
lasercongress.org.
Fourth EOS Topical Meeting on Terahertz
Science & Technology (TST 2014) (May 11-14)
Camogli, Italy. Contact Oili Kohonen, conference
manager, European Optical Society, +358 40 564
0480; kohonen@myeos.org; www.myeos.org.
2014 APS/CNM/EMC Users Meeting
(May 12-15) Argonne, Ill. An event of Advanced
Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials,
and Electron Microscopy Center. Contact APS,
Argonne National Laboratory, +1 (630) 252-9090;
apsuser@aps.anl.gov; http://usersmeeting2014.
conference.anl.gov.
Conferencia Espaola de Nanofotonica
(May 13-16) Santander, Spain. Contact Antonio
PAPERS
SPIE Laser Damage (September 14-17) Boulder, Colorado
Deadline: Abstracts, April 7
Researchers are invited to present their work at the conference SPIE Laser Damage 2014,
which will address laser-induced damage issues in areas such as photonic bandgap materials,
high-power/ultrafast lasers, multilayer thin flms, fbers for high-power laser applications, and
nonlinear optical and laser host materials. Measurement protocols, materials characterization
and contamination of optical components also will be discussed. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-
3290; customerservice@spie.org; http://spie.org.
Advanced Photonics (July 27-31) Barcelona, Spain
Deadline: Abstracts and summaries, April 8 (12:00 EDT)
The Optical Society encourages submissions for Advanced Photonics, a congress that will
consider multiple aspects of propagation (linear and nonlinear) in fbers as well as the
construction of fbers for various applications. Participating topical meetings include Bragg
Gratings, Photosensitivity, and Poling in Glass Waveguides (BGPP); Nonlinear Photonics (NP);
Optical Sensors (Sensors); and Specialty Optical Fibers & Applications (SOF). Contact The
Optical Society, +1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
SPIE Asia-Pacifc Remote Sensing (October 13-17) Beijing
Deadline: Abstracts, April 14
Papers are being accepted for SPIE Asia-Pacifc Remote Sensing, a conference focusing on
sensing technologies for environmental monitoring. Areas to be covered include land surface
remote sensing, ocean remote sensing and monitoring from space, lidar remote sensing, and
remote sensing of the atmosphere, clouds and precipitation. Earth-observing missions and
sensors and multispectral, hyperspectral and ultraspectral remote sensing technology,
techniques and applications also will be covered. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290;
314Happenings.indd 70 2/28/14 4:32 PM
Suprema
XTE Mirror Mount

The Best Performance
Ultra-low CTE Steel Body
254-TPI Adjusters
Unmatched Thermal Stability
1 and 2 Models Available
best performing mirror mount at
www.newport.com/suprema-XTE-7
Correia, Phantoms Foundation, antonio@phantoms
net.net; www.phantomsnet.net/cen2014.
Translational Biophotonics 2014 (May 19-20)
Houston. Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290;
ANGEL2014: EOS Conference on Advanced
Nanoparticle Generation and Excitation by
Lasers in Liquids (May 19-21) Matsuyama,
Japan. An event of the European Optical Society.
Contact angel2014offce@lalnano.jp;
http://lalnano.jp/ANGEL2014.
2014 International Conference on Optical
Network Design and Modeling (ONDM)
(May 19-22) Stockholm. Contact Paolo Monto,
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden,
+46 87 90 4076; pmonti@kth.se; www.ict.kth.se/
ondm2014.
12th Optatec: International Trade Fair
for Optical Technologies, Components and
Systems (May 20-22) Frankfurt, Germany.
Contact P.E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG, +49 7025
9206 0; www.optatec-messe.de/en/optatec.
58th International Conference on Electron,
Ion, and Photon Beam Technology and
Nanofabrication (EIPBN) (May 27-30)
Washington. Contact Melissa Widerkehr and
Associates, +1 (301) 527-0900, Ext. 101;
melissaw@widerkehr.com; http://eipbn.org.
Photonics North 2014 (May 28-30)
Montreal. Contact Conferium, +1 (418) 522-8182;
conference@conferium.com; www.conferium.com/
WPclients/photon14.
IEEE International Conference on Robotics
and Automation (ICRA) (May 31-June 5)
Contact Yunhui Liu, Chinese University of Hong
Kong, +852 2609 8340; yhliu@mae.cuhk.edu.hk;
www.icra2014.org.
JUNE
l
SID Display Week 2014 (June 1-6) San Diego.
Contact Mark Goldfarb, Society for Information
Display, +1 (212) 460-8090, Ext. 202; mark@
sid.org; www.displayweek.org.
23rd International Conference on Optical
Fiber Sensors, OFS 23 (June 2-6) Santander,
Spain. Contact Photonics Engineering Group,
University of Cantabria, +34 942 200 877;
ofs23@teisa.unican.es; www.teisa.unican.es/
ofs23.
Sensor + Test 2014 (June 3-5) Nuremberg,
Germany. Contact AMA Service GmbH,
+49 5033 9639 0; info@sensor-test.com;
www.sensor-test.com.
l
CLEO: 2014 (Conference on Lasers and
Electro-Optics) (June 8-13) San Jose, Calif.
Contact The Optical Society, +1 (202) 223-8130;
info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
Image Science: Accelerating the Pace of
System Design and Task-Based Evaluation
(June 8-13) Easton, Mass. Contact Holly Tobin,
Gordon Research Conferences, htobin@grc.org;
www.grc.org.
40th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists
Conference (June 8-13) Denver. Contact
Conference Chair, conferencechair@ieee-pvsc.org;
www.ieee-pvsc.org/PVSC40.
Optoelectronic Devices and Integration
(OEDI) and Fiber-Based Technologies and
Applications (FBTA) (June 18-21) Wuhan, China.
Held at POEM 2014: International Photonics and
OptoElectronics Meetings. Contact The Optical
Society, +1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org;
www.osa.org.
2014 Laser Display Conference (June 19-20)
Taichung City,Taiwan. Contact Yi-Qing Huang, Na-
tional Chung Hsing University, +866 4 2287 3181;
yqhuang@nchu.edu.tw; http://ldc.nchu.edu.tw.
Classical Optics (June 22-26) Kohala Coast,
Hawaii. Includes Computational Optical Sensing
and Imaging (COSI); International Optical Design
Conference (IODC); and Optical Fabrication and
Testing (OF&T). Contact The Optical Society,
+1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
l
SPIE Astronomical Telescopes +
Instrumentation (June 22-27) Montreal.
Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; customer
service@spie.org; http://spie.org.
IFLA: International Meeting on Fiber Lasers
and Applications (June 23-24) Ramat Gan, Israel.
Contact Itai Voller, +972 3 520 5818; itai@aeai.
org.il; www.fi.org.il.
FTTH 2014 Conference & Expo
(June 23-25) Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A Fiber to the
Home Council Americas event. Contact Kelly Sapp,
SmithBucklin Corp., +1 (202) 524-9550, Ext. 6;
ksapp@smithbucklin.com; www.ftthcouncil.org/
annualconference.
Sensors Expo and Conference (June 24-26)
Rosemont, Ill. Contact Wendy Loew, Questex Media
Group LLC, +1 (617) 219-8343; wloew@questex.
com; www.sensorsmag.com/sensors-expo.
LASYS, International Trade Fair for Laser
Material Processing (June 24-26)
Stuttgart, Germany.Contact Landesmesse
Stuttgart GmbH, +49 711 185 60 0; info@
messe-stuttgart.de; www.messe-stuttgart.de/
en/lasys.
International Conference on Vibration Measure-
ments by Laser Techniques (AIVELA) (June
24-27) Ancona, Italy. Contact Janet L. Dubbini,
Polytechnic University of Marches, +39 71 220
4489; aivela@univpm.it; www.aivela.org.
LALS 2014: International Conference on Laser
Applications in Life Sciences (June 29-July 2)
Ulm, Germany. Contact ILM, University of Ulm, +49
731 14 29 100; info@ilm-ulm.de; http://lals2014.
ilm-ulm.de.
16th International Conference Laser Optics
2014 (June 30-July 4) St. Petersburg, Russia.
Contact Institute for Laser Physics of Vavilov Sol,
+7 (812) 323 63 48; conference2014@laseroptics.
ru; www.laseroptics.ru.
JULY
21st International Workshop on Active-Matrix
Flatpanel Displays and Devices (AM-FPD)
(July 2-4) Kyoto, Japan. Contact Yukiharu Uraoka,
+81 743 72 6060; uraoka@ms.naist.jp; www.
amfpd.jp.
OECC/ACOFT 2014: Optoelectronics and
Communications Conference 2014/Australian
Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (July
6-10) Melbourne, Australia. Contact oecc-2014@
wsm.com.au; www.oecc-acoft-2014.org.
Intersolar North America (July 7-10) San
Francisco. Contact Ludmilla Koch, Solar Promotion
International GmbH, +49 7231 585 98 215;
www.intersolar.us.
UP 2014: 19th International Conference
on Ultrafast Phenomena (July 7-11) Okinawa,
Japan. Contact Conference Team, up2014@
chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp; http://up2014.org.
l
SEMICON West 2014 (July 8-10) San
Francisco. Contact SEMI, +1 (408) 943-6978;
semiconwest@semi.org; www.semiconwest.org.
Advanced Photonics for Communications (July
13-17) San Diego. Includes Integrated Photonics
Research, Silicon, and Nanophotonics (IPR); Pho-
tonics Networks and Devices (Networks); Photonics
in Switching (PS); and Signal Processing in Photonic
Communications (SPPCom). Contact The Optical
Society, +1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org; www.
osa.org.
Imaging and Applied Optics: Optics and
Photonics Congress (July 13-17) Seattle.
Includes Applied Industrial Optics: Spectroscopy,
Imaging and Metrology (AIO); Digital Holography &
3-D Imaging (DH); Imaging Systems and Applica-
tions (IS); Laser Applications to Chemical, Security
and Environmental Analysis (LACSEA); Propaga-
tion Through and Characterization of Distributed
Volume Turbulence (pcDVT); Quantitative Medical
Imaging (QMI); and Signal Recovery & Synthesis
(SRS). Contact The Optical Society, +1 (202) 223-
8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
Happenings
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(413) 499-0514 or at sales@photonics.com
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a
Aero Research
Associates Inc. ....................... 45
www.aerorese.com
Aerotech Inc. ............................. 65
www.aerotech.com
Allied Vision
Technologies .......................... 51
www.alliedvisiontec.com
AMA Service GmbH .................. 66
www.sensor-test.com
Applied Scientifc
Instrumentation Inc. .............. 54
www.asiimaging.com
Argyle International Inc. ........... 41
www.argyleoptics.com
Automated Imaging
Association ............................ 15
www.visiononline.org
b
Bristol Instruments Inc. ..........CV3
www.bristol-inst.com
c
CASTECH INC. ........................... 52
www.castech.com
Cobolt AB .................................. 30
www.cobolt.se
Crystalline Mirror
Solutions GmbH .................... 54
www.crystallinemirrors.com
e
Edmund Optics ......................... 29
www.edmundoptics.com
Electro-Optics
Technology Inc. ...................... 65
www.eotech.com
f
Fermionics Opto-Technology .... 20
www.fermionics.com
Fresnel Technologies Inc. .......... 8
www.fresneltech.com
g
G-S PLASTIC OPTICS ................. 22
www.gsoptics.com
Gould Fiber Optics .................... 12
www.gouldfo.com
h
Hamamatsu Corporation ......... 35
www.hamamatsu.com
i
Iridian Spectral
Technologies .......................... 32
www.iridian.ca
l
Laser Components
USA Inc. .................................. 34
www.laser-components.com
m
Mad City Labs Inc. .................... 62
www.madcitylabs.com
MOXTEK Inc. ............................. 24
www.moxtek.com
n
Necsel ....................................... 25
www.necsel.com
Newport Corporation ...67, 69, 71
www.newport.com
NKT Photonics A/S ..................... 7
www.nktphotonics.com
Nufern ......................................... 9
www.nufern.com
o
Ophir-Spiricon LLC ................6, 67
www.ophiropt.com
Osela Inc. .................................. 69
www.oselainc.com
p
P.E. Schall
GmbH & Co. KG .....................64
www.schall-messen.de
PCO AG ...................................... 11
www.pco.de
Photonics
Media .................13, 36, 67, 72
www.photonics.com
PI
(Physik Instrumente) L.P. ...... 18
www.pi-usa.us
Prior Scientifc Inc. ................... 41
www.prior.com
q
Qioptiq Inc. ................................ 14
www.qioptiq.com
r
Reynard Corporation ................ 48
www.reynardcorp.com
s
SME ........................................... 68
www.mfg4event.com
Spectral
Instruments Inc. .................... 61
www.specinst.com
Spectral Optics,
a division of Spectral
Products LLC .......................... 71
www.spectraloptics.com
Stanford Research
Systems Inc. ............................ 3
www.thinksrs.com
Sydor Optics Inc. ...................... 62
www.sydor.com
t
Tohkai Sangyo Co., Ltd. ............ 72
www.peak.co.jp
TOPTICA
Photonics Inc. ................. 21, 53
www.toptica.com
u
United Lens
Company Inc. .......................CV4
www.ulc-inc.com

z
Zygo Corporation ....................CV2
www.zygo.com
314AdIndex.indd 73 2/28/14 4:26 PM
The buzzer sounds. The crowds
cheer. Twelve angry hockey players fy
out onto the ice, blades clicking, to test
their refexes, brute force and balance. Its
pandemonium. Chaos. And in the middle
of it all, each player is hunting for a tiny,
wily puck. Any training tool that offers
the upper hand is invaluable, even if it
sounds counterintuitive.
One such instrument is a piece of
special eyewear that improves player
performance by only allowing snippets
of action to be seen by the wearer much
like a strobe light. The lenses of the Nike
SPARQ Vapor Strobe quickly switch
between transparency and opaqueness,
producing stroboscopic visual conditions
that improve on-ice skills by 18 percent,
according to a recent study.
Training the eye to operate effectively
in these choppy conditions, the eyewear
strengthens the vision and concentration
of the wearer through a visual workout.
Testing the eyewear in real-life situa-
tions rather than keeping it within the
confnes of its birthplace, the Duke Uni-
versity Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
is important, said Dr. Stephen Mitroff,
associate professor of psychology and
neuroscience at Duke. The NHLs Caro-
lina Hurricanes tested the eyewear during
practice drills, showing improved vision,
visual attention and ability to anticipate
the timing of moving items.
From a sports perspective, you want
to know if something is going to be an
actual, viable training tool, Mitroff
said. If players train with it, will they
likely get the benefts? Our previous
work showed that stroboscopic training
affected vision and attention, and here
we explored if those changes can beneft
sports performance.
Working with Hurricanes athletic train-
ers and coaches, Mitroff tested 11 players
during the teams 16-day preseason train-
ing camp. Six players wore the eyewear
once daily during normal training, and
fve players did not. Forwards were asked
to perform a task that involved complex
skating before taking shots on goal. De-
fensemen were asked to skate in a circle
before completing long passes. Each
group completed performance assess-
ments before and after training; those in
the control group showed no change in
skill, while those who wore the eyewear
improved by 18 percent.
That 18 percent improvement for on-
ice skills for professional players is huge,
Mitroff said. This is a dramatic improve-
ment observed in professional athletes
I would imagine that with more data the
effect will be signifcant and real, but a
smaller percent improvement.
And its not just athletics that can reap
the benefts of strobe vision: potential also
exists for medical, military and physical
rehabilitation applications, Mitroff said.
The study appeared online in Athletic
Training & Sports Health Care (doi:
10.3928/19425864-20131030-02).
Sarina Tracy
sarina.tracy@photonics.com
lighter
SIDE

Seeing the puck in strobe
Carolina Hurricanes trainer Peter Friesen (left) watches as NHL goalie Justin Peters performs a drill
with a tennis ball while wearing stroboscopic training eyewear.
P
e
t
e
r

F
r
i
e
s
e
n
Its not just athletics that could
benet from strobe vision:
potential also exists for medical,
military and physical rehabilita-
tion applications, according to Dr.
Stephen Mitroff of Duke.

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