Laser Focus World Newsletter

FOCUS ON > Novel materials

March 3, 2009

INDUSTRY NEWS
Innovation Awards submission deadline is March 27 Established to honor exhibitors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and made significant contributions in advancing the field of optics and photonics, the PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Awards Program allows PhotonXpo exhibitors to showcase their latest products and services entering the marketplace at OSA's CLEO/IQEC conference.
(VIDEO) Executives debate silicon photonics roadmap An Executive Panel on "Silicon Photonics and Optical Interconnects" at SPIE Photonics West 2009 offered attendees an opportunity to learn from and interact with leading silicon-photonics scientists and management regarding the roadmap for this technology. The panel brought together five prominent technologists who agreed that photons trump electrons when it comes to designing tomorrow's high-speed computers.
IPG opens laser microprocessing applications center in Silicon Valley High-power fiber laser and amplifier manufacturer IPG Photonics opened a new 8,000 sq. ft. Laser Micro Processing Applications Facility that will serve U.S. west coast customers. The Facility will concentrate on the advancement of laser microprocessing for the photovoltaic and medical device industries.
Solar-market correction will lead to company failures, but long-term growth Few doubts remain that the solar market is at the leading edge of a massive correction. The latest report from Lux Research, called "Finding the Solar Market's Nadir," projects that the available capacity of solar cells and modules will measure twice the demand in 2009, while the overall market could shrink from last year's $36 billion over 5.5 GW to $29 billion over 5.3 GW this year.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Nanoscale grating traps & releases light at multiple locations, frequencies Last year, Lehigh University researchers developed a grating structure capable of slowing or stopping terahertz (THz) light waves. Now the team has scaled down the structure for compatibility with light waves in the telecommunications spectrum.
Researchers create laser chip with 200 nm tuning range An international research team led by Professor Cun-Zheng Ning of Arizona State University has created a single semiconductor laser chip claiming a world-record wavelength tuning range of 200 nanometers (500 to 700 nm).
Custom algorithms part of new laser beam analysis system As applications push the boundaries of laser performance, the need to understand operation criteria is increasingly important. And that, says Ophir-Spiricon (Logan, UT), is why it has designed the first "new from the ground up" beam profile analysis system the industry has seen in more than 10 years.
Laser imaging helps paleontologists better understand dinosaurs Scientists in the paleontology and biomechanics research group at the University of Manchester have reconstructed the bodies of five dinosaurs using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and computer modeling methods.

NEW PRODUCTS

High-brightness laser-diode bar
A 200 W with a 10 mm laser-diode bar is believed to be the industry's most powerful commercially available continuous wave (CW) single-bar product. The 200 W bar is designed to enable manufacturers of direct-diode laser systems to compete with fiber lasers and CO₂ lasers in multikilowatt material processing applications. The bar provides continuous-wave and hard-pulse operation at a rated power of 200 W and is designed on a microchannel single-sided cooling configuration to allow low pitch of the stack. The bar is available in wavelengths from 915 to 980 nm and has a wall-plug efficiency of 65%.
Bookham, San Jose, CA

Microlux detector for low-level light measurement
The VL-6000 photometric detector has a large-diameter front lens for high-sensitivity illuminance measurement. It uses a large-area low-noise silicon photodiode with a precise photometric correction filter and front barrel housing a 50-mm-diameter achromatic-corrected lens. In combination with a single or multichannel optometer, illuminance resolution is less than 1 microlux (50 µlx with a signal to noise ratio of 50).
Gigahertz-Optik, Newburyport, MA

Mirrors for high-power, solid-state lasers
A new series of high reflectors is specifically optimized for use with Q-switched, solid-state (Nd:YAG, Nd:YVO₄ and Nd:YLF) lasers operating in the near infrared and visible spectrum (1064, 1053, and 532 nm). The coatings on these beam-delivery optics are designed to withstand high peak fluences and deliver more than 99.5% reflectivity. The coatings are intended primarily for laser applications in micromachining and microstructuring in semiconductor fabrication, flat-panel-display production, solar-cell processing and medical-device manufacture, as well as a wide range of marking tasks.
Saint-Gobains, Hiram, OH

More new products ...
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FOCUS ON: Novel materials
New materials expand capabilities of solid-state lasers Jeff Hecht explores how ceramic hosts, transition-metal doping of II-VI hosts, and optically pumped semiconductor lasers are expanding the range of solid-state laser capabilities to new wavelengths and higher powers.
The silk road to health and safety Researchers at the Tufts University School of Engineering have created optical elements based on silk that promise to form the bases of new sensors that, among other possibilities, could monitor the safety of foods and the levels of key blood chemicals.
Holmium-doped glass ceramics enhance silicon solar-cell efficiency By adding a holmium-doped glass-ceramic upconverter material at the rear of a bifacial silicon solar cell, a researcher from the University of La Laguna in Spain has improved the solar cell's efficiency.
Negative-index materials are on positive track Fabrication of three-dimensional metamaterials with negative refractive index at optical wavelengths has opened the way to dramatic new types of optics, such as “superlenses.”