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FABRICATION
User-friendly opticaltweezers assemble3D microstructures
Vision sensor cutsinspection times onthe car factory floor
METROLOGY
High-power diodesoffer cost-effectiveanswer for industry
PRODUCT GUIDE
INDUSTRY CHIEFSBACK UNIFIEDSTRATEGY FOREUROPEAN R&D
POLITICS
The European magazine for photonics professionals
May 2005 Issue 128
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NEWS5 Business Consolidation and acquisition at JDSU • Innoled to
trial OLED production • Giant kaleidoscope opens its doors
9 Editorial Europe’s new challenge
11 Analysis Cambridge Display Technology: braving the market
TECHNOLOGY15 Applications High-res implant aids poor vision • Glasses-free
3D goes the distance • Holography images live cells in 3D
18 R&D Multimode lasers get brighter • Four-band camera aids IR study of the environment • Light locks plastics in position
21 Patents Ceramic motors provide optics with silent answer
FEATURES23 Photonics report advises new direction for EC
Can European photonics remain competitive with firms in Asia and the US? Yes, but only if a new, unified approach to research is adopted, says the EPIC. Oliver Graydon reports.
26 Optical manipulation plays trick with particlesDanish scientists have harnessed the power of light beams to manipulate 3D arrangements of particles at the click of a mousebutton. Rob van den Berg reports.
29 Optical sensor helps to speed up car productionFrench firm ActiCM’s high-speed, vision-based co-ordinate measuring machine is grabbing the attention of big names in the car industry. James Tyrrell finds out why.
31 High-power diode lasers offer efficient answerHigh-power diode bars that are highly efficient and boast output powers of hundreds of watts are now commercially available. Merrill Apter gives a tutorial on the technology.
SHOW PREVIEW22 The combined CLEO, QELS and PhAST conference comes to
Baltimore, US, at the end of the month and has an action-packed programme ready for delegates.
PRODUCTS37 Synthetic sapphire • MEMS motion analyser • Parabolic mirror
REGUL ARS24 Free Literature/Search Engine49 People50 Calendar
EDITORIALEditor Oliver GraydonTel: +44 (0)117 930 1015 [email protected]
Technology editor Jacqueline HewettTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
Reporter James TyrrellTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
Production editors Lucy Farrar, Clare SturgesTechnical illustrator Alison Tovey
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SUBSCRIPTIONSComplimentary copies are sent to qualifyingindividuals (for more details see optics.org/ole/subscribe). For readers outside registration requirements: £111/€ 160 ($199 US and Canada)per year. Single issue £10/€ 14 ($18 US, Canadaand Mexico). CONTACT: IOPP Magazines, WDIS Ltd,Units 12 & 13, Cranleigh Gardens Industrial Estate,Southall, Middlesex UB1 2DB, UK.Tel: +44 (0)208 606 7518. Fax: +44 (0)208 606 7303.E-mail: opto&[email protected]
© 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd. The contents of OLE donot represent the views or policies of the Institute ofPhysics, its council or its officers unless so identified. This magazine incorporates Opto & Laser Products.Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, UK.
I ssue 128 May 2005 Contents
Acquisitions continue inthe world of optics p5
Better beams: multimodelasers get a new look p17
Optical manipulation getsuser-friendly p26
Keeping cool: a tutorial onlaser-diode basics p31
For the latest news on optics and photonics don’t forget to visit optics.org
Cover The EuropeanParliament building inStrasbourg, France. p23
NEWS
Consolidation, acquisition at JDSU
BUSINESS 5 EDITORIAL 9 ANALYSIS 11
5OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
RESTRUCTURING
JDS Uniphase (JDSU), a provider oflaser components and subsystems,has taken a bigger stake in thesolid-state laser market by acquir-ing Lightwave Electronics for$65 m (750 m). By expanding intothe mid- to high-power laser sector,JDSU hopes to broaden its cus-tomer base and grow its revenue.
“We have seen an accelerationin the [solid-state laser] market,driven by a number of factors suchas the demand for smaller-size,high-power lasers for portable andhandheld devices,” JDSU directorof communications Enzo Signoretold OLE. “There is a big transition[taking place] as users migratefrom gas-phase lasers to solid-statelasers, and Lightwave Electronicshas expertise in this area.”
Retaining their branding, Light-wave’s products will complementJDSU’s existing range that includeshelium-neon and argon-ion gaslasers, industrial laser diodes, fibre
lasers and low-power solid-statelasers. The firm’s sources are usedin a diverse range of applicationsin biotechnology, materials pro-cessing, remote sensing and semi-conductor manufacturing.
Lightwave’s 120 employees willmove from its Mountain View siteto the nearby JDSU facility in SanJose, California. The new business
area will be led by Lightwave CEOPhillip Meredith and the acquisi-tion is expected to complete in thesecond quarter of this year.
Shortly after the news of theacquisition, JDSU announced thatit was consolidating its NorthAmerican manufacturing opera-tions. By the end of the year thecompany expects to reduce its
number of manufacturing posi-tions by more than 15% (approxi-mately 850 staff).
The consolidation will involvetransferring production from thefirm’s sites in New Jersey andFlorida to its Shenzhen facility inChina and to the facilities of twocontract manufacturing partners.JDSU plans to reduce manufac-turing in Santa Rosa, California, asit phases out some of its displayproducts. The firm expects to com-plete the consolidation process bythe end of the year.
“These initiatives are part ofJDSU’s business strategy to achieveprofitability by reducing cost struc-ture and improving corporateagility,” explained JDSU CEO KevinKennedy. “We firmly believe thatour ability to restructure majoroperations and rationalize our cur-rent portfolio, while investing innext-generation products, posi-tions JDSU for success.”
Strategic move: JDSU purchases Lightwave and consolidates manufacturing.
OmniVision Technologies, a USsupplier of CMOS image sensorsfor mobile phones and Web-cams,has acquired CDM Optics for$30 m (723 m). CDM has beensuccessful in developing wavefrontcoding technology that substan-tially boosts camera performanceby increasing the depth of field andcorrecting optical aberrations.
“Currently, about 80% of Omni-Vision’s revenue comes from thecamera cell-phone market and soour first goal is to adapt this tech-nology to the camera cell-phoneand digital-still camera market,”OmniVision CFO Peter Leigh toldOLE. “Our objective as a companyis to be the image sensor of choicein every end-use where an imagesensor is required.” The Californ-ian firm is keen to target emergingmarkets such as automotive, med-ical, security and surveillance.
OmniVision feels that CDM’sexpertise gives it a significant com-petitive advantage and so, ratherthan negotiating a licensing deal, itwanted to own the technologyoutright. “It means that each sidecan confidently share the technol-ogy it has with the other, withoutworrying about the possibility ofundesirable disclosures to the out-side world,” said Leigh.
According to Leigh, the acquisi-tion benefits both firms. “CDM werein a position where, to make thistechnology a reality, they neededmore resources,” he said. “Theydecided they liked what OmniVisionbrought to the table and it madesense to join forces with a larger,more established company.” CDM’s18 employees will remain at its Col-orado, US, location and the firm willoperate as a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of OmniVision.
OmniVision completes purchase of CDM OpticsACQUISITIONS
Competitive edge: CDM’s technology greatly expands the depth-of-field of an image.Images of MEMS and algae without (left) and with (right) wavefront coding.
NEWS
The world’s largest optical kaleido-scope has been constructed inJapan as a permanent exhibit at the2005 World Expo that is currentlytaking place near Nagoya.
Officially opened on 25 March,the so-called “Earth Tower” con-sists of a 47 m-high triangulartower housing a set of mirroredsurfaces and three gigantic revolv-ing discs. Sunlight entering thebuilding interacts with the moving
discs and mirrors to produce a con-stantly changing 40 m-diameter
spherical image with stunningcolours and shapes. The image is
viewed by observers from insidethe base of the tower.
The exhibit, which is NagoyaCity’s contribution to the Expo, hasalready been accredited by Guin-ness World Records and has provedto be a big hit at the event, resultingin long queues of curious visitors.
Fumiya Fuji, the designer of theEarth Tower, hopes that it willcreate feelings of serenity andtenderness in observers.
The World Expo takes place inAichi, Japan, and runs until 25September 2005.
BUSINESS
6 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
By Manoj Aravindakshan in SingaporeSingapore-based firm Innoled, alicensee of Cambridge DisplayTechnology’s light-emitting poly-mer technology, is getting ready tocommence pilot runs of its OLEDproduction line, according to PeterKarlsson, Innoled’s managingdirector. Pilot production will startlater this month in the Nether-lands at the facilities of the com-pany’s display equipment provider,OTB Engineering.
“The pilot production will aim toimprove yield from the processes,and produce some engineeringsamples for our customers,” saidKarlsson. “We want to ensure thatwe have sorted out the yield beforewe move the production line to
Singapore.” This should happen bythe end of this year, Karlsson added.The products will be marketedunder the Nuovio brand-name.
At full capacity, with a tack time
of approximately 2 min and usinga 14 ×14 inch glass substrate, theproduction line should be able toproduce about 1.5 million mobile-phone displays. Innoled is startingoff with 1.7-inch monochromedisplays with a resolution of128 ×64 pixels, but plans to bemaking active-matrix full-colourdisplays by 2007.
Karlsson predicts that 2005/6will see the commercial break-through for OLEDs. “The secondhalf of last year witnessed lots ofMP3 players coming out withOLED displays, and many moreapplications are beginning to useOLEDs,” he noted.
“A lot of work is being done toimprove the energy-efficiency andlifetime of the display, but it will be
some time before we can see OLEDdisplays for televisions or comput-ers. The automotive sector will be abig market in the future, not onlybecause of the higher brightnessthat OLEDs offer, but also due totheir ability to withstand tempera-ture variations, especially the cold.”
Innoled is a joint venturebetween Eastgate Technology andInline Display Technologies EuropeBV of the Netherlands, with East-gate holding a 70 percent stake.The fledgling unit received about$7.5 m (75.6 m) in funding from alocal financial institution inNovember last year.
Manoj Aravindakshan is director ofOn Target Media, a Singapore-basedprovider of technology news.
Innoled is about to commence pilotproduction of its OLED displays, whichare based on technology licensed fromCambridge Display Technology.
Cam
brid
ge D
ispl
ay T
echn
olog
y
A view of a typically beautiful pattern generated by the kaleidoscope (left) and thedistinctive 47 m-high Earth Tower, which houses the optics.
Innoled to trial OLED productionDISPLAYS
Libr
ary
Giant kaleidoscopeopens its doors
GIANT OPTICS
NEWS
Optoelectronics market tosee strong growth to 2008
BUSINESS
MARKETS
7OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
The worldwide market for semi-conductor optoelectronic compo-nents is predicted to increase at agrowth rate of 20 percent, from$9 bn (77 bn) in 2003 to morethan $22.3 bn by 2008, accordingto a report just published by ReedElectronics Research, UK. “Opto-electronics – a strategic study ofthe worldwide semiconductoroptoelectronic component indus-try to 2008” is now in its thirdedition and deals with lasers, LEDs,detectors, image sensors, opto-couplers and solar cells.
“The business has changed con-siderably [since compiling the lastreport] and telecoms is now firmlyseeded in second and maybe thirdplace after, notably, data-storageand illumination and status indi-cation,” analyst Roy Szweda toldOLE. “Thanks to the developmentof the gallium nitride LED, therehas been a huge increase in notjust the use of coloured LEDs forbacklighting in handsets, but alsoin white LEDs, particularly inarchitectural applications.”
The market for LEDs of all types
will continue to see some of thebest growth in the opto market.The growth rate is forecast at23 percent from a 2003 market of$3.5 bn to $9.9 bn by 2008.
Although the optical communi-cations sector is experiencing arecovery, the opto market is goingto continue to be dominated byapplications outside the fibre sec-tor, believes Szweda. Sales of newdevices such as the violet laser,which will be used in next-genera-
tion DVD recorders, are likely to dowell, but not until the arrival ofhigh-definition television.
“The device hasn’t yet got a gripon the data-storage market,” saidSzweda. “The longer-wavelengthred DVD doesn’t seem to want to liedown and stay still and we are con-tinually seeing more and morecapacity in the standard disk.”
The report is available from Reedat a price of 71878 (book only) or72088 (book and CD-ROM).
LICENSINGUS-based Universal DisplayCorporation (UDC) has licensed itsorganic LED technology to SamsungSDI of South Korea. The agreementallows Samsung to introduce UDC’sphosphorescent materials into itsactive-matrix OLED products. Thesematerials have been shown to beup to four times more efficient thantraditional fluorescent OLEDs,enabling lower power-consumption.
FACILITIESTinsley Industries has opened anew 30 000 sq. ft facility inRichmond, California, to grind andpolish large mirror segments for theJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST). The facility will be equippedwith nine specially designedcomputer-controlled polishingmachines and is expected toprocess all 18 of the JWST’s mirrorsegments in about 2.5 years.
RESTRUCTURINGNewport is divesting its loss-makingrobotic systems operations inRichmond, California, in order toconcentrate on its core business ofphotonics. The business representsless than 5% of Newport’s net salesand is expected to lose $2.5–3.5 min the first quarter of 2005.
IN BRIEF
Money-spinner: the optoelectronics market is forecast to show strong andsustained growth through to 2008, thanks to booming sales of all types of LEDs.
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Europe’s new challenge
NEWSEDITORIAL
9OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
How the European photonics industry and itsresearch can remain competitive with the USand Asia is an important question. You needonly look at the situation in China to realizethe scale of the issue.
While the region has historically beenviewed as a place with low manufacturingcosts and little technology of its own, thissituation will not persist indefinitely. Manyforeign firms, including European ones, arecurrently benefiting from China’s abundantpool of cheap labour, but it is clear that thecountry’s own domestic firms and researchcentres are becoming more competitive.
Several European associations are soconcerned about the situation that they haveput pen to paper and prepared a report for theEuropean Commission (EC) advising it on howto strengthen Europe’s position (see p23).
The report “Photonics for the 21st century– a consolidated European photonics researchinitiative” was compiled over a 12-monthperiod by the European Photonics IndustryConsortium (EPIC) and the Association ofGerman Engineers (VDI). More than 60 bignames in the optics sector, including theCEOs/CTOs of Aixtron, Carl Zeiss, Linos,Bookham and Rofin Sinar Laser, and thedirectors of several prestigious researchinstitutes have given it their backing.
EPIC and VDI’s report suggests thatEuropean photonics needs to adopt a unifiedapproach to research in order to achieve thescale and capabilities required to remaincompetitive with the US and Asia. One of thekey problems they highlight is the fragmentednature of European photonics – research beingspread across countries and a diverse range ofapplications. A further complication is that theEU industrial base is mainly composed of SMEs,which have limited resources.
The solution the authors propose is thecreation of a unifying platform for photonicsresearch that will help to improve strategiclinks between relevant parties. The proposalhas now been put to the EC, and EPIC says itis waiting for a response to see if it will beadopted. It’s too early to be sure of thechances of success, but OLE will keep youupdated as news becomes available. Untilthen, perhaps its best to keep your fingerscrossed and hope that European photonicsgets the investment it truly deserves.
Oliver Graydon, editorE-mail: [email protected]
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“Europeanphotonicsneeds toadopt aunifiedapproach.”Oliver Graydon
Cambridge Display Technology(CDT), based in Cambridge, UK, isa pioneer and leading source oflight-emitting polymer (LEP) tech-nology. CDT became a public com-pany in December 2004 and itsstock now trades on the NASDAQNational Market under the tickersymbol “OLED” (organic light-emitting diodes).
CDT’s LEPs are an essentialcomponent of polymer OLED dis-plays – a next-generation displaytechnology which, it is hoped, willchallenge the dominance of LCDs.However, investor response toCDT’s initial public offering (IPO)has been distinctly lukewarm.
Share price has fallen from ahigh of around $12 (79) on theday of the IPO, to a low of around$6 in early February. The stockrecovered steadily in March – tothe $8–9 range – but has sincedropped to around $6 as OLE goesto press in mid-April.
This lacklustre stock perfor-mance seems to reflect investor dis-comfort with CDT’s business model,
possible concerns over its financialperformance to date and misgivingsabout the prospects for its technol-ogy. Unlike most firms, CDT doesnot actually manufacture products;it generates revenues by licensingpatented LEP technology.
The company sold its firstlicence to Philips in 1996 and, bythe end of 2004, had sold a total of
14 licences to several leading dis-plays producers (see table, above).In 2003, 10 licences accounted for74% of the firm’s revenue, but lastyear, just five licences accountedfor 66% of revenues.
CDT currently has 179 patentsthat have either been granted orare in the application process. Lastyear, it filed 34 new applications
and was issued a total of 45 newpatents. However, the revenuestream from licensing fees (typi-cally a large one-off fee that thelicensee pays up front) and royal-ties (a smaller ongoing fee) can beirregular and volatile.
During 2001, CDT signed threelicences and achieved record rev-enues of $22.4m. But, in 2002, thecompany signed just one licensingagreement and, consequently, rev-enue dropped to $7.1 m.
Since then, CDT’s annual rev-enues appear to be climbing again($10.7 m in 2003 and $13.3 m in2004), but its operating losses showno sign of decreasing ($31.2 m in2003 and $34.5 m in 2004). Theresult is that the firm is still a longway from reaching breakeven (withnet losses of $22.8 m in 2003 and$34.8 m in 2004).
The company’s annual reportfor 2004, filed with the US Securi-ties and Exchange Commission(SEC), summarizes the situationbluntly: “We have a history oflosses, do not expect to be
OLED firm braves stock market
NEWSANALYSIS
11OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Can a high-tech company create a profitable business by licensing technology and reaping theroyalties? Robert Thomas investigates one such company having mixed results with this approach.
CDT has dramatically improved the brightness and lifetime of LEP materials over the past few years, but investors are not rushing to buy shares in the firm.
Type of licence CompanyDisplay devices Dai Nippon Printing
Delta Optoelectronics DuPont DisplaysInnoledMicroEmissive DisplaysOSRAM Opto SemiconductorsRoyal Philips Electronics
Materials Covion Organic SemiconductorsDow ChemicalH C StarckSumitomo Chemical
Semiconductor driver Plastic Logiccircuits STMicroelectronics
Licensees of CDT’s LEP technology
CDT
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profitable in the foreseeable futureand may never be.”
One of the problems facing CDTis that its polymer OLED technol-ogy competes with tried-and-tested LCDs, which are firmlyentrenched in the market, andrival emerging technologies suchas Eastman Kodak’s small-molecule OLED technology. Busi-ness analysts have expressedscepticism regarding the ability ofpolymer OLED technology to make
headway against this competition. CDT’s stock may also be a victim
of bad timing. Many analysts cat-egorized CDT as a nanotechnol-ogy player and drew parallels withNanosys – the Californian start-upthat attracted intense and unflat-tering media attention when itcancelled its IPO in August 2004,a few days after CDT announcedits plans to go public.
At present, investors seem tohave little enthusiasm for nano-
technology stocks: the MerrillLynch Nanotech Index and thePunk Ziegel Nanotechnology Indexboth declined in 2004 and neitherhas improved in 2005.
CDT’s 2004 annual reportdescribes its investment risks insome detail and gives an overviewof the company’s financial perfor-mance to date. Much of the infor-mation is enough to make potentialinvestors pause for thought, butalso provides some grounds foroptimism about CDT.
Commercial productsSeveral commercial products con-taining small monochrome dis-plays based on CDT’s licensed OLEDtechnology have already enteredthe market, including a mobilephone and an electric shaver byPhilips, plus an MP3 player with aDelta Optoelectronics display.
What’s more, CDT’s progress insignificantly extending the lifetimeof green, red, blue, orange and yel-
low LEPs could also mean that full-colour commercial displays maynot be far behind (see table, left).
A number of CDT’s licenseeshave already demonstrated larger,full-colour displays using polymer-OLED technology. Recent demon-strations include 40 and 12.5 inchdisplays by Seiko Epson and a13 inch display by Philips.
If polymer OLED technology issuccessful, CDT and its sharehold-ers will be the lucky beneficiaries.At present, however, investors seemto be more wary of the risks associ-ated with CDT’s stock than excitedabout the potential rewards. ■■
End 2000 End 2002 October 2004Red >40 000 >40 000 >210 000Green >10 000 >25 000 >260 000Blue >1900 >11 000 >80 000Yellow >5000 >30 000 >290 000Orange >10 000 >10 000 >320 000
Lifetime is measured as the time to half-brightness from an initial brightness,then extrapolated to give predicted levels at 100 cd/m2.
Improvements in LEP lifetime (h)
NEWSANALYSIS
13OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Robert Thomas is principal at SRIConsulting Business Intelligence, abusiness and technology research
consultancy spin-offfrom the formerStanford ResearchInstitute. See www.sric-bi.com or [email protected].
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A 3D display that does not requirespecial viewing spectacles couldbenefit television, computer gam-ing and even air-traffic control, sayits Japanese inventors. Based on anarray of small lenses, the devicegenerates a 3D image, which has aperceived depth of several metres,for viewing with the naked eye(Optics Letters 30 613).
The display uses so-called “inte-gral photography” to generate its3D images. A computer dividesthe image into pixels that areeither printed on photographicfilm or shown on a flat-screen dis-play. When passed through anarray of lenses, the result is a 3Dimage with a depth of 5.7 m ormore in front of the display, and3.5 m or more behind it.
“The integral photography tech-nique has none of the inherent eye-straining problems associated withthe continuous viewing of binocu-lar stereoscopic displays,” Univer-sity of Tokyo scientist Hongen Liaotold OLE. “It is an ideal way to dis-play autostereoscopic images.”
Until now, the success of the
technique has been limited by theaccuracy of the lens array, whichis composed of glass lenslets of6 mm in diameter arranged in a35 ×35 hexagonal layout. But, asLiao explains, even a small errorin the lens’s arrangement cancause image overlap and blurring,which limits the precision and
depth of the 3D image.“Most of the autostereoscopic
displays only have an image depthof several centimetres,” said Liao.“To the best of our knowledge,there have been no reports aboutproducing an image with a depthof several metres.”
Liao and his colleagues havefound a way of preparing imagesso that they can be viewed long-distance. Firstly, a computer pix-elates the image to match the 3Ddisplay’s lens array and projectsthis image onto a screen.
Next, the researchers use thelens array to capture the view onphotographic film, creating a ref-erence image that self-compen-sates for any lens distortion ormisplacement. “Our methodenables a display device to presentdeviation-free, distortion-free 3Dimages,” commented Liao. “Weare now developing an animatedintegral videography device.”
Hi-res implant aids poor vision
TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS 15 R&D 17 PATENTS 21
15OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
VISION
By Oliver GraydonAn artificial vision system with animaging performance allegedlygood enough to recognize faces,read large fonts and watch TV hasbeen designed by a team of scien-tists at Stanford University, US.
The system, described in a recentissue of the Journal of Neural Engi-neering, features a wallet-sized com-puter, a tiny video camera mountedon a pair of goggles and an infrared-sensitive detector chip implanted inthe retina. Tests are currently ongo-ing in rats, and the retinal chips aresoon to be implanted in pigs. How-ever, human trials are said to be atleast three years away.
The hope is that the system mayone day be used improve the visionof people who suffer from retinaldegeneration: the death of theeye’s photoreceptor cells. Around700 000 people each year arediagnosed with age-related macu-lar degeneration, which results inimpaired vision and, in some cases,complete blindness.
In the past, difficulties in achiev-ing the necessary proximity of a fewmicrometres between cells andelectrodes severely limited the reso-lution of chip implants, resulting inpoor vision. But the Stanford team’schip enables users to perceive a 10°visual field at a good resolution.
The system’s camera capturesan image of a scene, which is
passed to the computer for process-ing. An LCD illuminated with aninfrared LED then projects aninfrared image of the processeddata through the eye onto a retinalchip, which stimulates nerve cells.The 3 mm2 chip consists of a densearray of imaging pixels – infraredphotodiodes connected to cell-stimulating electrodes.
The scientists say that the chipoffers a resolution of 2500 pixelsper millimetre, corresponding to avisual acuity of 20/80 – sufficientfor reading a book or using a com-puter. The chip achieves this perfor-mance by letting cells grow aroundthe electrodes, which either pro-trude from the chip like miniaturepillars or are recessed into pores.
“We actually invite cells to cometo the electrode site, and they do ithappily and very quickly,” saidStanford’s Daniel Palanker. Withinthree days, cells migrate to fill thespaces between the pillars andpores of the subretinal implant.
Although other research teamsin Germany, the US and Japan arealso working on the topic, the Stan-ford approach uses a projection andtracking system to follow the rapidsmall movements the eye makeswhen viewing a scene. “In reality,when you think that you are star-ing at a certain point, your eyes arenot steady,” said Palanker. “You aremicroscanning it all the time.”
Eyeing up the situation: Daniel Palanker and his team from Stanford University.
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Glasses-free 3Dgoes the distance
DISPLAYS
Lumileds, the Californian devel-oper of high-brightness LEDs,claims to have developed a range ofrecord-breaking devices that pro-vide three times the lumen outputof its best previous products.
The new red, red-orange andamber Luxeon III LEDs emit 140,190 and 110 lm respectively andoffer a lifetime (50% drop inlumen output) of 20 000 h when
driven at 1400 mA. “This is a huge milestone for the
automotive industry because, atthese levels of performance, itenables manufacturers to meet thestandards for rear-combinationlamps [an optical unit featuringtail, brake and indicator light] witha single LED,” explained Steve Lan-dau from Lumileds.
“And because you move to a sin-gle LED solution, you start to havecost parity with a lamp system,” hecontinued. “That means you canimplement the technology on abroader range of vehicles.”
Aside from the automotive
industry, other potential appli-cations are in the aviation,machine-vision and architecturallighting sectors, where the newLEDs can be used with Lumileds’
existing range of green, blue andwhite Luxeon IIIs.
According to Landau, the boostin lumen output has been enabledby the use of a larger LED chip(about 1 mm2) that can be drivenat a higher current, thanks toimprovements in heat manage-ment and device design.
Can the technology be pushedfurther? Landau certainly believesso. “We will continue to makebrighter and brighter products interms of both lumens per packageand lumens per watt,” he said. “Ireally don’t think we know whatthose upper limits are yet.”
Holography images live cells in 3D
TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS
MICROSCOPY
16 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
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Swiss scientists have used a digitalholographic microscope (DHM) tocapture 3D phase images of trans-parent living cells. The team put itssystem to the test by imaging a liv-ing mouse neuron with an axialaccuracy in the 160–320 nmrange (Optics Letters 30 468).
The researchers from the Uni-versity of Lausanne and EcolePolytechnique Fédérale de Lau-sanne (EPFL) have patented theirtechnique and formed a company,Lyncée Tec, to market and manu-facture DHM imaging systems.
The Swiss group’s device isbased around a Mach-Zehnderinterferometer, with a 10 mWhelium–neon laser (633 nm) pro-viding the coherent light source.The big benefit of the technique isthat it is able to focus on differentobject planes without using anyoptomechanical movement.
“Digital processing replaces the
need for complex optical adjust-ment procedures and allows [us] tocorrect lens aberrations intro-duced by the microscope objec-tive,” research scientist PierreMarquet told OLE. “[It can also]simulate the effect of optical com-ponents such as lenses and filterson the reconstructed wavefront.”
Most biological samples, in par-ticular living cells, are transpar-
ent and provide little contrastagainst their background. Fortu-nately for biologists, these sam-ples have the capacity to alter thephase of a lightwave, and it is thisproperty that the Swiss teamexploits in its DHM set-up.
Marquet feels that their tech-nique is considerably simpler toimplement than conventionalinterference microscopy. “Classical
interferometric techniques arebased on phase-measuring proce-dures that require multiple inter-ferogram acquisitions andphase-modulation devices,” hecommented. “These technical con-straints explain why very fewattempts to use interferometricphase-measurement techniqueshave been reported in biology forreal-time imaging of living cells.”
Marquet points out that, untilrecently, processing power has beenthe major barrier facing digitalholography as a real-time opticaltechnique. Here, the researchersuse a PC with a 3 GHz processor toreconstruct and transform theirholographic data into 3D at a rate ofaround 5–7 images per second.
“The main challenge in gettingour system to work has been theminimization of coherent noiseresulting from the light sources,”Marquet revealed.
High-brightnessLEDs challenge car-lamp systems
ILLUMINATION
The Swiss firm Lyncée Tec has been founded to commercialize and manufacture theDHM (left). A 3D DHM image of a living mouse cortical neuron in culture (right).
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Brighter than ever: Lumileds’ Luxeon IIIrange of LEDs looks set to make anappearance in car-lamp systems soon.
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A collaboration between NASA’s JetPropulsion Laboratory (JPL) andthe semiconductor firm IQE claimsto have produced the world’s firstfour-band infrared (IR) camera.
Based on quantum-well IRphotodetector (QWIP) technology,the camera is suited to applicationsincluding weather prediction and
the remote sensing of pollution. Ithas already been used as part of aninternational project investigatingthe environmental impact of vege-tation burning in Africa.
The camera’s four QWIP chan-nels enable the detection of radia-tion at wavelengths of 3–5, 8–10,10–12 and 13.5–15.5 µm, andcombine to give a pixel resolutionof 640 × 512. “This technologywill revolutionize the way wedevelop new remote sensinginstruments,” said JPL senior sci-entist Sarath Gunapala.
“One such example is the detec-tion of smog. Smog contains arange of chemicals which onlyappear in certain IR ranges,” hecontinued. “The multiband capac-ity of the camera array will allowresearchers a full spectral view toidentify them.” Other technologiessuch as microbolometer- andHgCdTe-based cameras are lim-ited in terms of their spatial reso-lution, and HgCdTe cannot detectbeyond 12 µm.
The QWIP camera containsGaAs-based material that was
grown at IQE’s US facility, locatedin Bethlehem, PA. IR light excitescarriers within the wells, whichare then accelerated by an electricfield to generate a photocurrent.
The detector is also likely to beused to form the basis of a hyper-spectral IR camera, which maycomprise more than 64 wave-length bands. The project is a jointendeavour between JPL, IQE andthe US Army Research Laboratory,and will contain quantum-wellstructures fabricated on 6 inchGaAs substrates.
Multimode lasers get brighter
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Researchers in Israel have demon-strated a way to dramaticallyimprove the beam quality of amultimode laser. In tests, the tech-nique increased the brightness of amultimode Nd:YAG laser by a fac-tor of 10 (Optics Express 13 2722).
The leap in performance isachieved by splitting the multi-mode beam within the laser cav-ity into an array of smaller,higher-quality beams, which arethen coherently combined beforeleaving the laser.
“Our technique should be usefulwhenever there is a need for highoutput powers combined with goodbeam quality and compact dimen-sions,” said Amiel Ishaaya from theWeizmann Institute of Science inRehovot. “Many potential appli-cations exist in industry, medicine,the military and scientific fields.”
In initial tests, the Israeli teamsplit the multimode beam of atorch-pumped Nd:YAG laser intofour Gaussian beams by inserting a
mask containing four small circu-lar apertures (1.4 mm in diameter,spaced 2.4 mm apart) into thelaser cavity.
Just before the output coupler,these beams were brought together
by the use of two interferometricbeam combiners, which effectivelyfold the separate beams on top ofeach other. The first combiner per-forms horizontal folding, while thesecond performs vertical folding.
In each case, the phase is carefullypreserved so that the beams addcoherently. At low pump powers, thecombining efficiency was measuredto be as high as 90%, but dropped to80% at higher pump powers.
Operating the laser with a singlelarge-square aperture and no beamcombiners resulted in a multimodebeam with M2 values in the x and yaxes of 6.3 and 6.0 respectively. Incontrast, the four-beam combineddesign produced a high-quality,almost circular beam with M2 val-ues of 1.23 and 1.31, resulting in abrightness enhancement of 10.5.
The team is now experimentingwith splitting the multimode beaminto a larger array of sub-beamsand applying the technique to dif-ferent kinds of lasers. “We cer-tainly believe that our techniquecan be scaled up from four sub-beams,” said Ishaaya. “Indeed, weare currently experimenting withnine and even 16 beams, alreadywith very promising results.”
The near-field beam profile of the Nd:YAG laser with (top left) and without (top right)beam-splitting and combining. The principle of operation of the scheme (bottom).
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Light locks plastics in position
TECHNOLOGYR&D
MATERIALS
18 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Polymers that can be locked into avariety of shapes by illuminatingthem with ultraviolet (UV) lighthave been fabricated by a US/Ger-man team (Nature 434 879).
The shape-memory polymerscan be fixed into tubes, arches andspirals, and could have a widerange of uses in medicine. Potentialapplications include light-activatedstents for inflating blood vessels orstaples for sealing wounds.
“Now, instead of using heat, wecan induce the shape-memoryeffect in polymers with light,”explained co-author Andreas Lend-lein, from the GKSS Research Cen-tre in Tetlow, Germany. “We arecurrently developing medical andindustrial applications using theirphotosensitivity.”
According to Lendlein and hiscolleagues at RWTH Aachen andMassachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, the new shapes are stablefor long periods of time, evenwhen heated up to 50 °C. Theyalso return to their original shapeat ambient temperatures, whenexposed to UV light of a shorterwavelength.
Central to the polymer’s fascinat-ing properties are photosensitivegroups that are grafted onto a poly-mer network. On illumination withUV light, the photosensitive groupscrosslink and bind to one another,causing the material to hold its new
shape. Subsequent irradiation at ashorter UV wavelength cuts thecrosslinks and the material returnsto its original shape.
To date, the team has stretched apolymer film by 20% and thenlocked it in its new state by irradi-ating both sides evenly with260 nm light for 60 min. Illumi-nating it with light below 260 nmfor the same period of time causedit to return to its original length.
What’s more, the researchershave created 3D shapes by irradi-ating just one side of a stretchedpolymer strip. When the externaltension is released, the illuminatedside wants to keep its new shape,while the dark side wants to returnto its original shape. This imbal-ance of the forces causes the stripto deform into an arch or a spiral.Irradiation with short-wavelengthUV light reverses the effect.
SE N S O R S
Amnon Yariv’s group at theCalifornia Institute of Technologyhas made an optical fibre-basedrefractive index sensor that boasts asensitivity of 1.4 × 10–5. The so-called Fibre Fabry-PerotInterferometer sensor consists oftwo fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) thatare separated by an etched sectionof fibre. “These highly flexiblesensors add the function ofrefractive-index sensing to theestablished repertoire of FBGsensing techniques and can be
applied to many fields includingbiomechanical sensing andenvironmental monitoring,” reportthe authors in their paper (AppliedPhysics Letters 86 151122).
DE F E N C E
An optical sensor that can detecttrace vapours of the explosives TNTand DNT has been made by a teamat Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, US. The sensor operatesby monitoring the lasing action of asemiconductor organic polymer. Theexplosive gases cause the lasing to
cease by introducing non-radiativepathways that compete with thestimulated emission. According tothe team, the technology “promisesto deliver sensors that can detectexplosives with unparalleledsensitivity” (Nature 434 876).
ME T RO LO GY
An optical molecular clock with aninstability of 1.2 ×10–13 in 1 s hasbeen demonstrated by aUS/Russian partnership. Theapparatus, based on a HeNe laseroperating at 3.39 µm and the
methane F2 line, serves as a highlyaccurate optical frequency standardin the near and mid-infrared. It wasdeveloped by scientists from theNational Institute of Standards andTechnology in Colorado, the LebedevPhysical Institute in Moscow andMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology. “Our set-up represents acompact, reliable clock with highstability and exceedingly low phase-noise, which can in principle beoperated for long (more than 24 h)periods,” say the researchers(Optics Letters 30 570).
JOURNAL WATCH
Ultraviolet effects: a 8 × 0.4 × 0.05 cm strip of the new polymer in its original state(top), a light-activated spiral (middle) and restored to its initial shape (bottom).
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AWARDSCeramic motors provide opticswith a silent and reliable answerA design of a new type of miniature linear motormade from piezoelectric ceramics has been giventhe all-clear by the US Patent and TrademarkOffice. The developers – US firms BiophanTechnologies and New Scale Technologies – saythat the SQUIGGLE motor suits use in a widevariety of medical and optical applications,including wearable drug-delivery pumps andautomatic camera zoom lenses for mobile phones.The motors, which have just four parts, are about10 ×4 mm, and are allegedly more reliable thanconventional electric motors.
LICENSINGBioluminescent genes provepopular in medical imagingXenogen Corporation, US, is licensing itsbiophotonic imaging technology to fellow US firmMIR Preclinical Services. Xenogen’s IVIS ImagingSystem injects bioluminescent genes into livinganimals, then uses an ultrasensitive camera totrack the light emission to monitor the spread ofdisease or the effects of a drug. “Biophotonic
imaging technology is becoming the new researchstandard in drug development,” said PamelaContag, Xenogen’s president.
APPLICATIONSBackscattered laser pulsesdetect submarine signatureBAE Systems has devised a method of detectingsubmarines that involves projecting pulsed laserlight down through a column of water andmonitoring the backscattered light or speckle(WO 2005/026661). The set-up relies onspotting the violent movement of particles in asubmarine’s wake against a background ofBrownian motion, which has sufficiently differentdynamics. Laser pulses are spaced at10–100 µs intervals and the speckle patternsimaged and cross-correlated on a detector array.
Miniature diffraction gratingsoffer an alternative to barcodesTagging items with labels containing tinydiffraction gratings could be a convenient andsecure way to track raw materials andmanufactured products, according to US firmCyvera Corporation. Technologies such as
barcodes, electronic microchips or radiofrequencyidentification can be too large for someapplications or unable to withstand hostileenvironments, say the authors of applicationWO 2005/027031. Their design – a diffractiongrating sandwiched between two opticalsubstrates – provides a unique identification codewhen illuminated by incident light. The code,which takes the form of spatially distributed light,can then be collected and analysed. The gratingelement is said to provide more than 67 millionunique codes and withstand harsh conditions.
Philips investigates ultravioletLEDs as a sterilization method Philips is attempting to patent a mercury-free, low-voltage disinfecting lamp that uses ultraviolet (UV)LEDs emitting over the 250–280 nm wavelengthband (WO 2005/031881). “The germicidal actioncurve shows that the maximum germicidal actionis obtained from UV light with a wavelength of265 nm,” said the applicants. The scientists mixsemiconductor compounds such as InN, InGaN,AlN or AlGaN to create an LED with a band-gapenergy of approximately 4.7 eV, which then emitslight at this optimum wavelength.
QCLs reach record temperaturesMid-infrared quantum cascadelasers (QCLs) that operate at arecord-breaking temperature ofup to 400 K (123 °C) have beenfabricated by a team of scientists inGermany. The semiconductorlasers emit pulsed light at a wave-length of 4.5 µm (Applied PhysicsLetters 86 131107).
“These are the first 4.5 µm QCLsworking at up to 400 K,” explainedQuankui Yang from the Fraun-hofer Institute for Applied SolidState Physics (IAF) in Freiburg,Germany, where the devices weremade. “We are currently workingtowards continuous-wave [CW]operation and also trying to makeshorter-wavelength QCLs.”
The lasers consist of 25 periodsof GaInAs/AlAsSb active andinjection regions that are grown bymolecular beam epitaxy on InP
substrates. The 18 µm ×2.8 mmdevices emit up to 750 mW ofpeak power per facet at room tem-perature, and 30 mW at 400 Kwhen driven by a current of 5.5 A.
QCLs have the potential to be
convenient sources of mid-infraredlight. Improvements in semicon-ductor technology mean that sev-eral firms such as Alpes Lasers,Laser Components and CascadeTechnologies are now offering com-
mercial versions for applicationssuch as gas sensing. However, untilrecently, room-temperature oper-ation of short wavelength (less than5 µm) QCLs was hard to achieve.
Yang cites two main reasons whythe IAF lasers operate at such hightemperatures. The first is a highconduction-band offset of 1.6 eVbetween the quantum well and bar-rier materials used in the active andinjection regions. The second is thehigh quality of its growth process.
“We are currently working inthe direction of CW operation byoptimizing both the design andheat dissipation of the lasers,”Yang told OLE. “Low-temperatureCW operation, or at least highduty-cycle (more than 50%) oper-ation, of these short-wavelengthQCLs should be possible in thenear future.”
TECHNOLOGYR&D/PATENTS
21OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
PATENTS
To search for recently published applications, visit http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/ and http://ep.espacenet.com.
The IAF team: left to right are Karin Schäuble, Joachim Wagner, Lutz Kirste, QuankuiYang, Christian Mann, Christian Manz, Klaus Köhler and Hanspeter Menner.
IAF
SEMICONDUCTORS
CLEO/QEL S/PHAST
22 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
The combined CLEO, QELS and PhAST conference comes to Baltimore, US, at the end ofthe month and has an action-packed programme ready for delegates.
The Optical Society of America (OSA) hasonce again decided to combine its CLEO, QELSand PhAST conferences into one action-packed week, following PhAST’s successfuldebut at last year’s combined event in SanFrancisco. This year’s events take place on22–27 May in Baltimore, US, and there’s noshortage of things to do.
The Conference on Lasers and Electro-optics (CLEO) and the Quantum Electronicsand Laser Science (QELS) conference are nowin their 24th year. Running alongside themfor the second time is a more application-focused event called Photonic ApplicationsSystems Technologies (PhAST).
“With more than 1500 technical presen-tations and tutorials lined up and approxi-mately 300 companies exhibiting, theconferences are shaping up to be thestrongest to date,” Colleen Morrison from theOSA told OLE. “For PhAST’s second year, wehave exciting new programming to add tothe fold: along with the conference’s focus onapplications, we are showcasing a number ofkey business and management topics.”
One example of the business programme isa “Power Lunch” that has been organized byMilton Chang, the founder of New Focus andmanaging director of venture capital firmIncubic. It takes place from 12.30 to 2.00p.m.on Tuesday 24 May, and will let attendees ask
questions and share insights with industry,business and technology leaders.
Well-known names at the lunch includeJohn Ambroseo, the CEO of Coherent, JohnCarrano, a programme manager at DARPA,Thomas Baer, co-founder of Arcturus Bio-science and Gregory Olsen, the chairman ofSensors Unlimited. The number of tickets islimited, so register early.
A second business-related session, “Busi-ness and Management Insights”, takes placelater the same day between 4.00 and6.00 p.m. Olsen, Stephen Forrest and HenryKressel will give talks entitled “Starting andSelling Two Optoelectronic Companies”,“How Can Industry and Academia Get
Along?” and “The New International Busi-ness Model for Technology Companies”. Nodoubt a lively panel discussion will follow.
Other highlights include two impressiveplenary sessions. The first takes place on Mon-day 23 May at 6.00 p.m. and includes talksfrom Shuji Nakamura, who will describe theprospects for solid-state lighting, and ArpadBergh from the Optoelectronics Industry andDevelopment Association (OIDA).
The second plenary session starts at8.00 a.m. on Wednesday 25 May and fea-tures Christopher Contag from Stanford Uni-versity, who will talk on the optical imagingof stem cells, and Deborah Jin from the Uni-versity of Colorado, who will describe the lat-est developments in fermionic condensates.
Aside from the plenaries, there will be theusual mix of technical sessions describingthe latest advances in photonics. CLEO andQELS will have two special symposia on grav-itational wave detection and on the coherentand quantum control of light.
“Another key area of focus this year is ajoint CLEO/PhAST symposium on activeremote sensing,” said Morrison. “This is thefirst time that we’ve had a joint event and itwill explore everything from theoreticalresearch and development to real products.”
OLE and Optics.org will be present at thisyear’s show and can be found at Booth 1359.
When: 22–27 May (conferences) and 24–26 May (exhibition)Where: Baltimore Convention Center, Maryland, US
What’s on: 23 May● Technical sessions. 8.00 a.m. – 5.30 p.m.● Plenary talks. 6.00 p.m.Shuji Nakamura of the University of California onthe future prospects of solid-state lighting, andArpad Bergh of the OIDA.
What’s on: 24 May● Exhibition and career centre. 10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.● Power Lunch with industry leaders.12.30–2.00 p.m.● Poster session. 1.00–2.30 p.m.
● Business and Management Insights.4.00–6.00 p.m.Gregory Olsen of Sensors Unlimited on “Starting andSelling Two Optoelectronic Companies”; StephenForrest of Princeton University on “How Can Industryand Academia Get Along?”; Henry Kressel ofWarburg Pincus on “The New International BusinessModel For Technology Companies”.● CLEO panel session.6.30–7.30 p.m.“Laser-Based Gas Sensing: Research Project orCommercial Reality?” A discussion on the futureprospects of laser-based gas sensor technologies.Panelists include: Mickey Frisch of PhysicalSciences Inc; Bill Gignac of Picarro; Murty Neti ofCalifornia Analytical Instruments; Marty Spartz ofMKS Instruments; and Hubert Braendle of ABB.
What’s on: 25 May● PhAST plenary session.8.00 a.m.
Christopher Contag of Stanford University on theoptical imaging of stem cells, and Deborah Jin of theUniversity of Colorado on fermionic condensates.● Exhibition and career centre.10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.● Poster session.12.00–1.30 p.m.● Conference reception.6.30–8.00 p.m.
What’s on: 26 May● Exhibition and career centre.10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. ● Poster session.1.00–2.30 p.m.● Post-deadline paper session.8.00–10.00 p.m.
For more information about CLEO, QELS andPhAST, please visit www.cleoconference.org andwww.phastconference.org.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
The wait is over: CLEO 2005 comes to Baltimore on 22May. Will it be as packed as last year’s show?
J H
ewet
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Can European photonics remain competitive with firms in Asia and the US? Yes, but only ifa new, unified approach to research is adopted, says EPIC. Oliver Graydon investigates.
Photonics report advisesnew direction for Europe
INTERVIEW
23OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Europe needs a common, unified approach tophotonics research to achieve the economyof scale necessary to compete with the USand Asia, and properly address the markets ofthe 21st century. That’s the conclusion of anew report drawn up by the European Pho-tonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) and theAssociation of German Engineers (VDI).
The 20-page report, entitled “Photonicsfor the 21st century – a consolidated Euro-pean photonics research initiative”, providesa detailed analysis of the state of optics in theEU, clearly spelling out the strengths, weak-nesses and opportunities.
It has been drawn together from informa-tion and opinions gathered from 60 leaders ofwell-known firms and research establish-ments across Europe. Open up the report andmany of the most influential CEOs and CTOsin photonics can be found to have signed theirnames in support of the proposal: Dieter Kurzfrom Carl Zeiss, Paul Hyland from Aixtron,Gerd Litfin from LINOS, Ulrich Hefter fromRofin Sinar and Mike Scott from BookhamTechnology, to name a few.
RecommendationsSo what exactly do they recommend? As a firststep the partners want to persuade the Euro-pean Commission (EC) to create and fund adedicated photonics technology area withinits Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
“People who work in photonics oftendescribe it as a great enabling technology inareas such as communications and bio-medicine,” explained Tom Pearsall from EPIC.“Our starting point is exactly the opposite. Ouridea is that photonics is actually a strategictechnology in its own right.”
Part of the problem seems to be that Euro-pean research is fragmented and dispersed.According to the report, the photonics indus-try in Europe has become complex andmultidisciplinary after just a few decades ofexistence, and about two-thirds of the pho-tonics workforce is employed by SMEs.
“We want to bring together people whohave a common interest in photonics, be it atthe research and development or manufac-turing levels,” Pearsall continued. “Euro-
pean photonics is a very innovative sectorbut is made up of lots of SMEs and has neverhad this kind of unified approach, so it’s a bigstep forward to get people to work together.This report shows the EC that the Europeanphotonics community is unified in wantingto build conditions for sustainable growth.”
From reading the report it is clear that theeconomic importance of the photonics sectorto Europe cannot be ignored. It states that, in2003, photonics was responsible for 500000jobs, products worth a total of 760 bn and15 000 patents. If the sector is properly sup-ported, the report claims that these figureswill rise to 1.5million jobs, 7250bn productsand 45 000 patents by 2010.
According to the report, photonics is cur-rently used in five main application areas:● information, communication and imaging;● lighting and displays;● manufacturing;● lifesciences and healthcare● safety and security.
Of these, the European photonics industrycurrently leads the world in two: solid-state(LED) lighting and laser-assisted manufac-turing. In the former, European companies
such as Philips and Osram account for 30%of the world market, and the prospects forgrowth are huge.
“High-brightness LEDs are expected to beused in automobiles in significant volumesfrom around 2008,” commented Pearsall.“We estimate that, by then, 60 million carswill be sold per year, each containing 200LEDs. That’s an annual requirement of12 billion LEDs.” The big question is: canEurope compete with Asia when it comes tosupplying such huge volumes in a cost-
EPIC is lobbying the EC to create a dedicated research platform for photonics within FP7.
“Without strongleadership, manyindustries will bevulnerable tocompetition fromthe US and Asia.”Thomas Pearsall, EPIC
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effective manner? Pearsall is confident: “Does the LED ind-
ustry in Europe have any idea that it willneed such a production capacity? Of courseit does,” he told OLE. “Osram Opto Semi-conductors has built an LED plant in Ger-many that is capable of churning out4 billion LEDs per month. That’s why I amoptimistic about the prospects of the Euro-pean optoelectronics industry.”
Pearsall clearly believes that, given theappropriate support and investment, Europecan have a prosperous future and maintainits leading research position. And it’s notjust lighting where Europe has a criticalstrength – in the use of lasers as manufac-turing tools, firms such as Trumpf and RofinSinar dominate the market, meaning that50% of world sales of laser-manufacturingequipment go to Europe.
Another booming sector is Europeanmachine vision. This has grown at 10–30%per year in the past decade and looks set tocontinue to rise in the foreseeable future. Inaddition, the market for next-generation dis-plays based on organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs) is forecast to grow at 40% per yearover the next five years. In this area, Philips,Merck, Covion, Cambridge Display Technol-ogy and numerous other European firms areleading the development of materials andthe fabrication processes that are needed.
Action neededIn all of these areas, industry leaders are nowconvinced that action is needed to help toensure that Europe fights off the strong com-petition from abroad in the future. “Only acoordinated approach can make use of theeconomies of scale necessary to sustain eco-nomic production in Europe and reach thecritical mass of investment needed to addressthe big markets of the 21st century,” statesthe report. “Without strong European lead-ership in photonics technologies, manyindustries will be left vulnerable to strongcompetition from the US and Asia.”
At the time of writing, EPIC is waiting tohear back from the EC to see if the idea is to beimplemented and it will be having a meetingwith commissioners later this month. EPICalso hopes that by bringing firms together atits regular workshops, it can also help toaddress the situation.
Founded in 2003, the EPIC consortiumnow has 55 members and last held a work-shop on photonics in the automobile indus-try last November (OLE January 2005 p23).It has a second on OLEDs planned for June inCambridge, UK. Part of the aim of theseworkshops is to draw up technology road-maps for the different application areaswhere European photonics is being used.
“I don’t want to underestimate the diffi-culty in writing a good roadmap, but we arewell on the way to doing it, sector by sector,”said Pearsall. “I hope that, by the end of2006, we will have something that starts tolook like a photonics roadmap organized bymajor application areas, which identifies theopportunities and the technical develop-ments that need to happen.”
One of Pearsall’s chief concerns is the stateof the European optical communicationsindustry, which suffered during the recent
telecoms downturn. “This area has beendevastated. The threat is that a tremendousamount of know-how and skills that weredeveloped in Europe to pursue this technol-ogy are being lost with the downturn of busi-ness,” Pearsall commented. “We want to findways to help businesses to convert their tech-nology to other applications.” ■■
Further information: the report “Photonics for the21st century” can be downloaded from EPIC’swebsite at http://www.epic-assoc.com.
INTERVIEW
25OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Danish scientists have harnessed the power of lightbeams to manipulate 3D arrangements of particles at theclick of a mouse button. Rob van den Berg reports.
Optical manipulation plaASSEMBLY
26 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
A good description of Jesper Glückstad wouldbe an architect of the microscopic world.Over the past two years, he and his co-workers Peter John Rodrigo, Vincent Dariaand Ivan Perch-Nielsen have been develop-ing machinery to manipulate micrometre-sized particles into 3D structures at the clickof a mouse button. What’s more, theresearch team, from the Risø NationalLaboratory in Roskilde, Denmark, do thisusing nothing but focused beams of light.
The team’s apparatus opens up promis-ing new possibilities in the field of materialsscience and biomedical research – assem-bling photonic crystals, seeding crystalgrowth or sorting cell colonies are just a fewexamples. When OLE spoke to Glückstad,he was about to leave for the US to meetwith scientists from the National Institute ofHealth, who are keen to apply his techniqueto cancer and cell research.
Although the concept of the optical trap-ping of particles has been around for sometime (Alan Ashkin and his co-workers fromBell Labs in the US demonstrated opticaltweezers in the mid-eighties), Glückstad’sapproach allows many particles to be manip-ulated simultaneously in realtime.
Instead of using a single laser beam to trapa particle, which has the disadvantage that itcan escape if the beam is not tightly focused,the Danish team uses a pair of laser beams tomove each particle. “A particle can be trappedbetween two counter-propagating beamsthat have their waists slightly separated alongthe optical axis,” explained Glückstad.
This dual-beam approach, which Glück-stad fondly refers to as an “optical elevator”,has several benefits over conventional opticaltweezers and traps. “Optical tweezers requireobjective lenses with a very high numericalaperture (NA) to generate a sufficiently stronggradient force. If such a lens is used away fromthe design plane, the focus is smeared out andthe particle is lost,” said Glückstad.
“Also, when working with live cells, it isbetter not to focus too tightly in order not todamage the organelles inside the cell,” hecontinued. “We can work with much sim-pler optics and can also move them [the par-ticles] over a much larger depth, even out ofview of the microscope lens.”
By changing the relative powers of twoopposing, orthogonally polarized laser beams,Glückstad and his colleagues can vary theaxial position of a trapped particle by tens ofmicrometres. And, thanks to a highly efficientphase-and polarization encoding scheme,they can generate many simultaneous eleva-tors to trap and manipulate up to 80 particleswith less than 1W of near-infrared laser light.
The power of polarizationThe apparatus works as follows: an expandedTEM00 mode from a Ti:sapphire laser at830 nm illuminates a spatial light modulator(SLM) and becomes encoded with a 2D phase-distribution. “This phase distribution can berepresented by a spatial pattern of up to 256levels on a computer monitor, where eachgrey level represents a different phase-delaybetween 0 and 2 pi,” explained Glückstad.
“This is then projected onto the surface ofa spatial polarization monitor (SPM), whichacts as a variable waveplate,” he continued,“and endows each beam with varying com-ponents of s-polarized and p-polarizedlight.” Finally, a polarizing beamsplitter sep-arates the orthogonal (s and p) componentsof the beams before they are directed to thesample via microscope objectives.
The beauty of the process is that it alloccurs rapidly and with almost no opticalloss. The system is aligned in such a way thatthe s and p beams are focused along a com-mon optical axis, but have a slight axial sep-aration in order to perform the trapping.Controlling the relative intensities of the twobeams adjusts the position at which a parti-cle finds its equilibrium. In principle, thiscould be done with any two counter-propa-gating beams, but, as Glückstad explained:“We use orthogonal polarizations becausethe beams should not show any interference.We do not want them to see each other.”
User-friendly systemGlückstad’s team have developed the sys-tem to be as user-friendly as possible. “Thereis no need to calculate anything – [to oper-ate the traps] one just images the particleson the screen and superimposes them witha cursor. It is like clicking and draggingicons on your PC,” said Glückstad. “With
the left mouse button you can move themaround in the plane, and with the right but-ton you can determine the depth. The speedwith which we can move the particlesaround is tremendous – up to 25 µm/s.” Afurther benefit of the system is that it offersa 3D view of the location of the particleswhile they are being manipulated. “Thiscapability is unique, since it allows us fullvisualization and precise position and veloc-ity control,” commented Glückstad.
To demonstrate the potential of the tech-nique, the team have assembled 2–3 µm-diameter polystyrene and silica spheres into
“We have made awonderful tool.Now we want toapply it.”Jesper Glückstad
The Danish team has used its system to organize tiny 2–3 µm-diampatterns, including a pyramid. Particles manipulated to form the different heights (middle right, bottom). Schematic of the particl
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all kinds of 3D arrangements (see above),such as a pyramid and a series of letters(Applied Physics Letters, 14 February 2005).
Real-world applicationsSignificantly, the wavelength of 830 nm isnot absorbed by living tissue, so living biolog-ical matter can be manipulated without anyrisk of damage. In an upcoming paper in thejournal FEMS Microbiology Letters, the Dan-ish team also reports the first “real-world”application of the technique: a study of thegrowth of different yeast species.
“It has been found that, when mixing twotypes of yeast – S cerevisiae (S101) andH uvarum – the strong S101 cells surroundthe weaker uvarum cells and stop them fromgrowing. With our traps, we were able tocontrollably surround the individual cells ofone species with those of another [andanalyse the affect on growth],” said Glück-stad. “We found that the average generationtime of surrounded cells was 15% longerthan that of non-surrounded cells, therebyshowing that confinement inhibits growth.”
In a further paper in the online journalOptics Express, Glückstad and his teamdescribe experiments with low-NA opticsand a long working-distance of more than10 mm. The result is not only a much widermanipulation region, but also a larger field-of-view for imaging.
“We can observe the trapped particlessimultaneously from the top and from theside. Such visual data could, in principle, beobtained using a confocal microscope, butwe can now capture images from twoorthogonal planes simultaneously and inrealtime,” said Glückstad. “This enables us tocalibrate and fine-tune the counter-propagating beams and observe the dynam-ics of particles that lie well outside the focalplane of an ordinary top-view microscope.”
The long working-distance also makes itpossible to manipulate particles in devices likemicrofluidic (lab-on-a-chip) systems that aretoo cumbersome to fit into a microscopeequipped with high-NA immersion objectives.
In the near future, Glückstad hopes to doexperiments with stem cells. These are
embryonic cells that can develop in differentways depending on the cells that surroundthem. By surrounding them selectively withspecific cell types, he would like to check theirdevelopment in a controlled way. He alsowants to investigate cancer cells and is cur-rently drafting several project proposals withscientists from the US.
Apart from finding promising applicationsfor his technique, Glückstad has workedhard to design and build a commercial sys-tem, and has been talking to manufacturerswho are interested in marketing anupgraded version of the set-up.
“It [the new version] will be much simpler,more robust and faster than our current one.There have been new developments in SLMtechnology,” said Glückstad. “The ones weare using are based on nematic liquid crys-tals, which are relatively slow and offer arefresh rate of some 5 fps. Nowadays, this canbe done several orders of magnitude faster.”
Rob van den Berg is a freelance science andtechnology journalist based in the Netherlands.
27OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
ays tricks with particles
computer
phase-only spatiallight modulator polarizing
beam-splitter
spatialpolarizationmodulator CCD
camera
dichroic mirror
relayoptics
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microscopeobjective
dichroic mirror
illuminator
CW Ti:salaser
Nd:YVO4laser
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meter polystyrene and silicon dioxide spheres (far right) into 3Dletters GPC in a single plane (middle right, top) and at threele manipulation system (right).
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French firm ActiCM’s high-speed, vision-based co-ordinate measuring machine isgrabbing the attention of big names in the car industry. James Tyrrell finds out why.
Optical sensor helps tospeed up car production
METROLOGY
29OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
ActiCM’s robot-mounted imaging systempromises to slash car body-inspection timesby a factor of five or more. French car-maker Renault is so impressed with thecompany’s vision-based co-ordinate meas-uring machine (CMM) that it plans to pur-chase a system in 2005.
“Renault’s problem is like that of every carmanufacturer using traditional mechanicalCMMs,” Antonio Mendes Nazare of ActiCMtold OLE. “To inspect and validate an assem-bled car body involves measuring about2000 elements. With a traditional mechani-cal CMM, this takes about 10 h.”
Considering that Renault was applying aseries of mechanical, probe-based meas-urements to every one of the thousands ofvehicles rolling off its production line, it isclear that the car-maker has a great deal togain from a faster way of validating carbody shape. “[About two years ago] theylaunched a benchmarking process with allthe big names in CMM to try and find someother solutions,” explained Mendes Nazare.“The firms came to Renault and demon-strated what they had to sell, but none ofthem were satisfactory.”
At that time, ActiCM, which was foundedin 2000 by two former French AtomicEnergy Commission (CEA) engineers, wasstill developing its vision-based alternative.From its Moirans location near Grenoble,France, the firm was busy investigating theidea of combining digital-image processingwith photogrammetry – a technique forextracting 3D co-ordinates from 2D images.
ActiCM was so confident in its new tech-nology that it took its optical sensor conceptto Renault. Interested, the car-maker askedthe firm to assemble a pilot system that couldbe put through its paces at the plant.
As part of its benchmarking process,Renault requested that machines deliver anaccuracy of 300 µm over the whole carbody on the production-line site. “This isimportant because [although] the bigCMMs can achieve 50 µm, when you putthem in a factory environment they are notbetter than 300 µm,” said Mendes Nazare.“With a vision-based non-contact system
we can achieve the same accuracy as tradi-tional CMMs on the whole volume of thecar body, but much, much faster.”
Mendes Nazare boasts that ActiCM’s pilotsystem has cut the time taken to perform the2000-element validation from 10 h down to2 h, with multiple sensors offering furtherreductions. “With four sensors they [car-makers] can get down to 30 min for thewhole car measurement,” he explained, “20times faster than conventional CMMs.”
System detailsPlaced on a robot, up to eight of ActiCM’ssensors can work together simultaneouslyon the same part. The first step is to capturean image and the second is to process thisimage to extract 3D co-ordinate information.To validate the part, these co-ordinates arereferred to a computer-aided-design file andcompared with original specifications.
Dubbed an intelligent vision device (IVD),each sensor unit has two high-definition(multi-megapixel) CCD cameras, a visibleLED illumination source and a white-lightprojector. The system can also operate underambient lighting conditions if they providesufficient contrast. “It is called an intelligentvision device because it knows what lightsource to use,” said Mendes Nazare. “Thesystem switches between different lightsdepending on what it has to measure.”
The IVD’s onboard cameras are able toimage a part from two different and knownpositions. These two views can then be geo-metrically manipulated by the device softwareusing photogrammetry, a method whichdates back to the 1850s, to extract 3D data.
“Today, photogrammetry is a well-knowntechnique, but actually it was not used verymuch until 15–20 years ago because of theamount of calculation it requires,”
In the driving seat: ActiCM’s non-contact, fully automatic 3D optical measuring system accelerates thevalidation of car body shape using a mix of digital image-processing and photogrammetry.
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commented Mendes Nazare. “Only withincreases of computing power has it becomepossible to use it in industry.”
AdvantagesAlthough the IVD is robot-mounted, themechanical arm is simply there to guide thesensor around the car body and enable aninitial camera calibration. “The robot isreally just a way of transporting the IVD. Icould [in principle] guide the IVD by hand,”said Mendes Nazare.
The sensor’s CCD images provide all neces-sary distance and depth information. This isa big advantage as it means that the accu-racy of the device, unlike many conventionalCMMs, is not related to the positional accu-racy of the robot. What’s more, an imaging-based approach is much faster.
“A [camera] picture covers 1 × 1 m, andevery element within this picture will bemeasured,” explained Mendes Nazare.“This means that, if you have 50 elementswithin the picture, in around a second you
will have 50 acquisitions, which is why oursystem is so fast.”
Imaging technology offers further advan-tages over conventional CMMs when itcomes to re-examining data. “When youhave a CMM, you have to make a sequencetree,” said Mendes Nazare. “You have to tellthe system what elements you want to meas-ure.” In effect, once the car-body measure-ment has been performed, co-ordinate datawill exist only for elements that have beenspecified within the tree, unless you happento be using ActiCM’s device.
The firm’s “all-seeing” CMM allowsdesigners and engineers to go back to thesensor’s original images and reprocess themto measure elements missing from the origi-nal sequence tree. “This is something verynew [for the industry], because, previously, ifyou didn’t think of measuring something atthe time, it was lost,” explained MendesNazare. “Now, even if you think an elementis unimportant [today] you can still find itsposition [tomorrow] on the image library.”
Attracting interestWith such a powerful system in its hands, itis no surprise that ActiCM has attractedinterest from a number of major auto-motive firms. Although working closelywith Renault, ActiCM also has relationshipswith Hyundi, Toyota and Nissan. MendesNazare stresses that every car-manufac-turing plant is a potential deployment sitefor the company’s vision-based technology.
“We are manufacturing two systems,”said Mendes Nazare, “a fully portable unit[Acturis] and a second high-speed non-contact CMM [Advent] for production-linecontrol and inspection.”
The firm has taken great strides to com-mercialize the technology from its origins atthe CEA. “It took about three or four years toindustrialize, because at the CEA it wasmainly theory,” revealed Mendes Nazare.“We came up with the first product [Acurist]at the end of 2003 and, at the same time, wewere ready to start the Advent, which iswhen Renault purchased the pilot.”
The pilot system took ActiCM one year tomake and was delivered to Renault last year,passing its validation in December. MendesNazare estimates that, depending on thenature of the application and the measure-ment speed required, the purchase price ofits Advent system will be somewhere withinthe 7200 000–500 000 range.
“The first application was for car-bodymeasurement, but now we have requestsfrom manufacturers for doors andbumpers,” Mendes Nazare said. “[Outside ofthe automotive sector] we have had requestsfrom the aerospace industry.” ■■
METROLOGY
OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
PRODUCT GUIDE
31OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
It is widely recognized that high-power diodelasers (HPDLs) are compact, portable andhighly reliable. Recent advances in their out-put power and the efficiency of their electrical-to-optical power conversion (more than 50%)are making them increasingly attractive for awide range of industrial applications.
The main focus of this article will be diode-laser bars, which are made from broad-areaedge-emitting semiconductor chips, and gen-erate high-power continuous-wave (CW) orquasi-CW light. The aim is to provide newusers of HPDLs with an understanding oftheir basic technical aspects and guidance onhow to specify devices when purchasingthem. Commonly used rules of thumb withinthe industry are also presented.
The basics explainedHPDLs are designed for three distinct modes ofoperation: classical CW; quasi-CW; andpulsed or high peak-power. Their typical oper-ational characteristics are defined in the box(right). HPDLs can be constructed as single-emitter devices, 1D arrays (called bars), or 2Darrays of stacked bars.
An HPDL bar consists of a thin piece ofsemiconductor that features multiple broad-area emitters arranged in a line, with a smallgap between each one. Bar dimensions aretypically 140 µm high by 1 mm deep by10mm wide, and contain between 10 and 60emitters precisely spaced along the bar.
The laser light is actually generated withina small (less than 1 µm high by 150 µm wide)active region in each emitter called the diodejunction, and exits through the edge of thesemiconductor. The result is that an array ofsmall parallel light beams called “beamlets”are generated by the emitters and propagateaway from the bar.
An important factor in bar design is itsfill-factor. This describes the percentage ofthe bar that is occupied by emitters, andequals the width of one emitter divided bythe centre-to-centre spacing between emit-ters. A typical bar might have 19 emitters,each 150 µm wide, on 500 µm centres,resulting in a 30% fill-factor. Commerciallyavailable conduction-cooled bars with a
30% fill-factor and 1 mm-long cavity canproduce up to 40 W of total CW power,while water-cooled versions with an 80%fill-factor can provide up to 100 W CW.
When output powers of more than about100 W are required, bars can be stacked in a2D array. In this case, bar pitch refers to thecentre-to-centre spacing between bars alonghorizontal spacing or a vertical stacking
direction. These 2D arrays potentially emitincredible amounts of CW power from a verycompact package. For example, a 10-bar 2Dvertical stack array with a pitch of 1.8 mmmight have an emission region measuring16.2 ×10 mm. If each bar consists of 64emitters generating 100 W, then the 2Darray will have 640 emitters and a totalpower of 1 kW CW.
High-power diode bars that are highly efficient and boast output powers of hundreds ofwatts are now commercially available. Merrill Apter gives a tutorial on the technology.
Mode of operation CW Quasi-CW PulsedPulse width n/a hundreds of µs hundreds of ns
Duty cycle 100% less than 5% 1 kHz
Rated output power 50 W 100 W peak 30–50W peak-from a conduction- power/bar power devicecooled package
Operational characteristics
High-power diode lasersoffer efficient answer
An HPDL mounted on a heatsink to remove waste heat that is generated during high-power operation.
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Beam characteristicsTo describe the beam characteristics of adiode bar, it is useful to visualize the beampropagating in the z-direction, with theheight of the active region along the y-axisand its width along the x-axis. Owing to theasymmetric shape of each emitter’s activeregion (typically 1 µm high by 150 µm wide),the output beam from a bar is elliptical andastigmatic (beam-waist occurs at differentlocations in the x- and y-axes).
The beam in the y-axis is usually single-transverse-mode or diffraction-limited. Asthe height of the active region is so small,beam-divergence is usually very high – up to30–40° full-angle at half-maximum powerpoints. For this reason, the y-axis is alsooften called the fast axis of beam divergence.
In contrast, the beam in the x-axis ishighly multimode, i.e. it has many trans-verse modes, and usually has a smallerbeam-divergence of about 10° FWHM. Thedivergence is reduced because the width ofthe active region is so much larger than itsheight. Owing to the reduced beam-diver-gence, this axis is often referred to as theslow axis of beam divergence.
How to specify HPDLsWavelength: One of the first questions toconsider when purchasing an HPDL is thewavelength of operation. Devices are com-mercially available with wavelengths span-ning the 635–1600 nm range, but withsome gaps in coverage. Semiconductormaterial systems include:● AlGaInP/GaAs (635–700 nm)● AlInGaAsP/GaAs (780–1000 nm)● InGaAsP/InP (1250–1700 nm).
However, it is important to specify not justthe desired centre-wavelength, but also theacceptable tolerance, as this strongly influ-ences price. A useful rule of thumb is that thebroader the centre-wavelength tolerance,the lower the price of the HPDL as the pro-duction yield increases. A standard toleranceon peak wavelength might be:● ±3 nm for an 800 nm laser● ±5 nm for a 900–980 nm laser and reddiode laser● ±10 nm for a 1400 nm or longer-wave-length diode laser.
When emission bandwidth is important,one may specify the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the output beam. Thisis the spectral width, in nanometres, of thelaser at the 50%-of-peak-power points. Alter-natively, one might specify the full-width at10% of peak, or the 1/e2 width, which is thefull-width at 13.5%-of-peak-power points.
High-power bars at 6xx, 8xx and 9xx nmusually have spectral widths of 2–3 nmFWHM, while the spectral width in the
14xx nm and longer range is considerablybroader, sometimes by a factor of 5–8.Lifetime: Another important parameter isthe lifetime of the diode laser. This is a meas-ure of its reliability and describes how long atypical device will operate before it fails.
Today, the latest high-quality manufac-turing techniques ensure that most manu-facturers quote figures of tens of thousandsof hours. However, it is important toremember that these lifetime figures areonly valid for a particular set of operatingconditions, which specify drive current,device temperature and output power. Devi-
ations from the specified values are possiblewithout catastrophically damaging thelaser, but usually reduce its lifetime.
A further rule of thumb is that diode-laser lifetime halves for each 10 °C increasein case temperature above room tempera-ture. Conversely, diode-laser lifetime can beincreased by reducing the drive current,output power and temperature. Don’t coolthe device too much as condensation form-ing on the mirror facets could adverselyaffect the laser operation.Output power: In general, output powerscales linearly with increasing emitter
PRODUCT GUIDE
33OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
CS mount package for a laser-diode bar: the 1 cm-long bar is attached to a heatsink to remove waste heatand the package measures around 1 ×1 ×0.25 inches (above). A timeline of the affordability and outputpower of 1 cm laser-diode bar (below). Improvements have enabled the devices to become industrial tools.
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width. For semiconductor materials thatlase at 800 and 900 nm wavelengths, out-put power facet density is around20–30 mW/µm of emitter width. Red diodelasers achieve about 5 mW/µm of emitterwidth, and lasers of 1400 nm or longerachieve 10–15 mW/µm. Lengthening thecavity of the emitter enhances its poweroutput. Cavity lengths are typically in the0.6–1 mm range. Polarization: A parameter that is often over-looked is the laser’s emission polarization.Transverse-electric (TE) means that the emit-ted beam’s electric-field polarization vector isparallel to the x-axis (plane of the diode junc-tion). Transverse-magnetic (TM) means themagnetic-field vector is parallel to the diodejunction plane, and the electric-field vector liesin a perpendicular direction along the y-axis. Packaging and cooling: Conduction-cooleddiode-laser bars are usually mounted on anopen heatsink and can be enclosed in an envi-ronmentally sealed package to protect it andease handling. Depending on the level ofintegration and sophistication, these enclosedpackages can include internal thermoelectriccoolers (a means to cool the diode) and ther-mistors (a means to measure and monitor thediode laser’s case temperature). Water-cooledor actively cooled bars mounted on micro-channel “coolers” can also be housed in thesame types of sealed packages.
Low-power diode bars can also be con-ductively cooled using a CS package orsomething similar. A CS package is anindustry-recognized package in which asingle 1 cm × 1 mm diode bar is soldered tothe heatsink or anode. A typical CS packagemeasures 1 ×1 ×0.25 inches thick.
For higher-power bars emitting more than50W CW, water cooling is required to removethe heat that is generated. In this case, thesolid copper block of the CS package isreplaced by one with water channels thatenable a turbulent flow of water to get close tothe diode-bar junction and remove heat.
Water-cooled packages include coppermacrochannel coolers (thermal resistanceof ±0.5–0.6 °C/W) and copper micro-channel coolers (0.2–0.3 °C/W). Siliconmicrochannel packages – not yet commer-cially available – replace the copper with asilicon mounting-plate, and have etchedmicrochannels that bring waterflow towithin 100 µm of the diode bar, to achievethermal resistance of 0.1–0.15 °C/W.
The temperature of the diode laser mayneed to be actively stabilized to maximize itslifetime, or to stabilize its peak-emissionwavelength. The emission wavelength shiftsto longer wavelengths as the temperaturerises. The shift is material-dependent andtypical values are:
● 0.18 nm/°C for red diode-lasers.● 0.28 nm/°C for 800 nm devices● 0.34 nm/°C for 900 nm devices● 0.4 nm/°C for 14xx nm devices
Optics/output options for diode barsMicrolens: Diode bars can be purchased witha microlens that is the same length as the barand collimates all of the diverging beamlets inthe fast-axis plane simultaneously. The diam-eter of the collimated beam roughly equalsthe focal length of the microlens and is usu-
ally 300–1000 µm FWHM. Residual divergence after collimation is
typically 0.2–3° FWHM, depending on thetype of microlens used and how accuratelyit is aligned. Microlenses are available in avariety of shapes, such as circular andaspheric cross-sections. Some manufactur-ers supply diode bars with micro-optics tocollimate emission in the slow-axis plane aswell, but this is less common.Multimode fibre: It is possible to purchasediode bars with an attached multimode
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35OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
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optical-fibre bundle. The individual fibreswithin the bundle (at the launch end) arearranged in a linear array to enable one-to-one butt-coupling to the diode emitters.
The delivery end of the fibre bundle usuallyhas the fibres arranged in a close-packedhexagonal configuration that enables theoutput beam to be coupled into a single mul-timode optical fibre or other circular-shapedaperture. The fibre bundle may be terminatedwith an SMA or other fibre connector. Forexample, emission from the fibre bundle
might have a diameter of 0.8 mm and anumerical aperture of 0.12 (full-angle beam-divergence of 14°). Using an appropriatelens, the light from the bundle can be coupledinto a single multimode fibre with a core sizeof 0.4 mm and numerical aperture of 0.25. Quasi-CW output: Although diode bars canalso be operated in a CW or quasi-CW emis-sion mode, the term quasi-CW is used mostoften in the context of 2D laser-diode arrays.
For quasi-CW emission, drive current tothe diode array is modulated on and off in a
repetitive fashion so that each “emissionon” interval is followed by an “emission off ”interval. The duty factor of the quasi-CWemission is the percentage of time that theemission is on.
For example, if the “on” time is 1 ms, andthe “off ” time is 4 ms, then the duty factor is20%. Peak power refers to the emittedpower level when emission is on, whereasaverage power refers to power averaged overmany on/off cycles. Average power is calcu-lated by simply multiplying the peak powerby the duty factor.
2D diode-laser arrays designed for quasi-CW operation can generate much higherpeak-power levels than those designed for CWoperation. This comes from the use of diodebars with much higher fill-factors – 80–90%instead of the 30–50% fill-factors used for CWbars. The higher fill-factor roughly doublesthe peak power compared with a CW arraywhich uses the same number of bars. Cost and pricing: Factors that influence theprice of HPDLs include required lifetime,output power and brightness (W/unit emis-sion area and per-unit solid-angle of beam-divergence), wavelength and wavelengthtolerance, and the need for water-cooling.Purchase quantity is another very impor-tant cost factor. Per-unit pricing may bereduced by 30–50% when purchasing involumes of 100–1000 units.
Packaged diode bars generally cost$1000–3000 (7770–2300), depending onoutput power, package design and the man-ufacturer. A 40 W bar usually costs$1500–2500, depending on volumes andspecifications, while fibre-coupling can eas-ily increase price by 50–100%.
The pricing of 2D arrays scales in terms ofthe number of bars. Copper microchannel-cooled arrays are priced at $1000–2000/bar.The good news for users is that, over the lastdecade, as manufacturing processes havebecome more robust, competition has grownand diode lasers have steadily reduced in price.
Today, there are many options for design-ing and specifying diode-laser bars.Although there is some standardizationwithin the HPDL industry, it is more theexception than the rule. For the most part,every manufacturer provides a slight prod-uct variant which may not be obvious atfirst glance. Potential purchasers mustmake sure that they understand how aspecification has been described and mea-sured in order to get the best deal. ■■
Merrill Apter is vice-president of sales andmarketing at nLight Corporation, a volumemanufacturer of high-power laser diodes based inVancouver, Washington State, US. For moreinformation visit www.nlight.net.
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36 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
your European destination for optics and electronics
www.ELCAN.com/europe
Synthetic sapphireRUBIS-PRECIS
French materialsspecialist RUBIS-PRECIS can now supplya range of syntheticsapphire opticalcomponents such aslenses, windows, balls,
tubes and rods. The parts suit a variety ofscientific and industrial applications includinglasers, sensors and precision bearings. Secondonly to diamond in hardness, sapphire is agood electrical insulator, resists acidic andalkaline conditions, and is stable at hightemperatures (2000 °C). It is also able totransmit light across the ultraviolet, visible andinfrared bands from 0.2 to 5 µm. RUBIS-PRECISsays that it can supply parts from individualprototypes in quantities of up to hundreds ofthousands of units.www.rubis-precis.com
Machine visionFirstsight Vision
The NetSight II DCLfrom Firstsight Vision isan embeddedmachine-vision enginewith dual CameraLink
interface. The unit, an alternative to the PC-typeframegrabber, provides asynchronousacquisition of images from up to two cameras –an area or linescan camera and a FireWirecamera equipped with an IEEE-1394 port. Withbuilt-in Ethernet connectivity and compatibilitywith IP and Modbus protocols, the vision engineis said to be easy to integrate into an existingfactory network. According to the firm, the DINrail-mounting kit and rugged enclosure makethe NetSight II DCL extremely robust inindustrial environments.www.firstsightvision.co.uk
Optical profilerVeeco
Veeco has introduced ahigh-performanceoptical profiler toaddress metrologychallenges in therapidly growing printed
electronics industry. This sector includesorganic LEDs, radiofrequency identificationtags, biosensors and other flexible circuitry.According to the firm, its new profiler is able toanalyse semiconductor-on-plastic devices withfeature sizes ranging from tens to hundreds ofmicrometres. The Wyko NT4800 allegedlycombines high-speed, high-resolution optical
profiling with large format staging to determinesurface shape and texture. Using interferometry,the unit is able to map 3D surface features fromnanometre-scale roughness through to 2 mmstep heights. The NT4800 includes visionsoftware that provides the user with over 200analysis tools and data-logging for realtimefeedback and statistical process control.www.veeco.com
Laser diode modulePhotonic Products Ltd
UK laser diodespecialist PhotonicsProducts has added a405 nm (blue-violet)laser diode to its rangeof Photon Lasermodules. Versionsemitting either a 4 mWelliptically shaped(4 ×1.5 mm) beam, or0.9 mW circular (2 mm-
diameter) beam are available. The lasers aresupplied in a cylindrical aluminium housingcontaining the drive circuitry and a lens. Anoptional 25 mm mounting flange can be
supplied on request. The glass antireflection-coated optical lens may be adjusted to give afocused spot or a collimated beam. Powered by6.5–12 V DC, the laser operates over a –10 to50 °C range and features a TTL input formodulating the laser up to 1 kHz. www.photonic-products.com
Low-profile LEDLEDtronics
Low-profile, surface-mount LEDs from USfirm LEDtronics areavailable with a tinyfootprint measuring2.4 ×3.3 mm. DubbedSML070, the devicessuit densely packed
printed circuit boards and are available insingle- or bi-colour versions. The yellow(590 nm), green (570 nm) and red (620 nm)single-colour versions all have clear lenses,whereas the bi-colour green/red devices aresupplied with a milky-white lens. Luminousintensities range from 1.2 to 2.3 mcd at 20 mAcurrent, according to the colour.www.ledtronics.com
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37OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
PIV systemOxford Lasers
Oxford Lasers haslaunched its VisiVector Erange of particle imagevelocimetry (PIV)apparatus. Thecompany claims that it
has reduced the cost of its PIV systems by morethan a factor of two, making the low-cost,compact units an attractive and affordablechoice for small companies or researchers.Featuring integral light sheet optics and framerates of 12–5000 fps, the system suits thecapture of transient or non-reproducible events.
A range of lenses and laser line-filters isavailable from the firm as an optional extra.Applications include the study of turbulence,blood-flow, spray characterization, vortexshedding and particle tracking.www.oxfordlasers.com
DPSS laserBavarian Photonics
The Aion Industrial1064-24-V fromBavarian Photonics, asubsidiary of TuiLaser,is a 24 W diode-pumped solid-statelaser emitting pulses at1064 nm. With pulse
widths ranging from 20 to 50 ns, the Nd:YVO4
based unit is able to deliver an energy-per-pulseof up to 800 µJ. A modular design and longlifetime are said to ensure reliability and reducemaintenance time. Applications include thesurface micromachining of various metals, deepengraving and solar-cell structuring. www.bavarian-photonics.com
Surface-mount LEDsAgilent/Lumileds
Agilent Technologiesand Lumileds Lightinghave introduced high-brightness surface-mount LEDs for interiorand exteriorautomotiveapplications such asinstrument panel and
control backlighting, and high-mounted stoplights. Dubbed Envisium Power and availablein red, red-orange and amber, the LEDs fill theneed for mid-power illumination betweenAgilent’s PLCC-4 devices (up to 200 mW ) andLumileds Lighting’s Luxeon products (1 W andabove). Envisium Power LEDs are said toperform reliably over the –40 to 100 °Ctemperature range and come supplied in aplastic-leaded chip carrier.www.agilent.com/www.lumileds.com
Digital cameraJAI PULNiX
The TM-6710CL fromJAI PULNiX is a CameraLink version of itspopular TM-6710machine-vision camera.Measuring
46.1 ×39.6 ×140 mm, the digital devicedelivers non-interlaced quad-speed 120 fpsvideo at full VGA resolution and features a1/2 inch Kodak KAI-0330D CCD sensor. Thecamera has simultaneous analogue and digitalvideo output and shutter speeds ranging from1/60 to 1/32 000 s. Its CameraLink interfaceallows easy connection to other equipment andprovides software control of gain,analogue–digital conversion, and shutter andmode selection parameters. Typical applicationslisted by the firm include motion analysis, high-speed online inspection and surveillance.www.jaipulnix.com
Thermal cameraBAE Systems Avionics
UK-based BAE SystemsAvionics has launcheda longwave version ofits SiGMA thermal-imaging camera. Usinga 640 ×512 pixel focalplane array from US
firm QWIP Technologies, the SiGMA Longwavedevice provides high-resolution, high-sensitivitythermal imaging across the 8–10 µm band. Thisrange is particularly useful for target acquisitionin battlefield or smoky conditions and extremecold weather. The unit is said to provide state-of-the-art passive infrared imaging in day, nightand poor visibility, to suit land, sea and airborneoperations worldwide. www.baesystems.com
Spectrometer softwareAvantes
Dutch firm Avantes hasreleased version 6.2 ofits AvaSoftspectrometer software.Multiple versions ofAvaSoft can runsimultaneously on a
single PC, with each version controlling aspectrometer, thanks to a multiple-USBconnection facility. According to the firm, thisset-up enables spectra from more than eightspectrometer channels to be takensimultaneously. To prevent users fromobtaining false spectral readings inabsorbance, transmission or irradiance modes,the updated software automatically indicatessaturation of the detector. Another feature ofversion 6.2 is the addition of a progress bar for
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long integration readings.www.avantes.com
Beam-profiler softwarePhoton Inc
Beam-profiling expertPhoton Inc hasdeveloped an ActiveXserver interface for itsNanoScan product.Featuring the US firm’sscanning-slit
technology, NanoScan measures beam size andposition with sub-micrometre resolution. TheActiveX interface, which allows Windowsprograms to communicate and share data witheach other, should make it easier for users todevelop custom test routines and integratebeam-profile data with software.www.photon-inc.com
Nd:YAG laserContinuum
Continuum, a USprovider of flashlamp-pumped solid-stateNd:YAG lasers, hasintroduced Inlite – anindustrial Nd:YAGproduct. Designed foroperation in harshenvironments, the
device features a robust structure to ensurelong-term thermal and mechanical stability,and includes a modular power supply.Harmonic generators that enable emission at532, 355 and 266 nm fit directly inside thelaser head. Applications listed by the firminclude materials processing, laser-inducedbreakdown spectroscopy, range finding,particle detection and remote sensing.www.continuumlasers.com
SpectrometerBecker & Hickl
German firm Becker &Hickl has introduced amulti-spectral lifetimedetector module calledPML-Spec. The device
features 16 simultaneous wavelengthchannels, a spectral range of 300–850 nmand a useful count-rate of more than 2 MHz.Using the firm’s proprietary time-correlatedsingle photon-counting technique, light is splitinto its spectrum by a polychromator anddetected by a multi-anode photomultipliertube. Distributed in the UK by PhotonicSolutions and in the US by Boston Electronics,the device is said to suit applications such astime-resolved laser scanning microscopy andbiomedical fluorescence.www.becker-hickl.com
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OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
LED spotlightB&M Optik
B&M Optik of Germanyis offering a white-lightLED spotlight thatdelivers constantluminous intensity overapproximately 80% of
its diameter. The LED has an estimated lifetime ofaround 50 000 h when operated at 700 mA.Under these conditions, the luminance of thelamp measured at a distance of 1 m anddivergence angle of 17° is equal to 420 lx, fallingto 370 lx at a divergence angle of 33°.www.bm-optik.de
Infrared cameraSensors Unlimited
Sensors Unlimited hasadded a series of lineardigital video linescancameras to its range ofshortwave infraredsensors and near-infrared imaging
systems. Suitable for high-resolution machinevision and spectroscopy, the low-noise devicesare said to work with any of the firm’s standardlinear- (800–1700 nm) or extended-wavelength(1100–2200 nm) arrays. The cameras operate
at room temperature using indium galliumarsenide technology and feature 14-bit digitaloutput with continuous or triggered scanningmodes. Supplied with a 25 or 50 µm pixel pitch,several detector array geometries are availablewith pixel counts of 256, 512 or 1024.www.sensorsinc.com
Machine visionDVTDVT, an expert in machine vision, is entering thesemiconductor market with the launch of its newwafer reader. The product combines the firm’ssmart camera technology with an extensivealgorithm library from its recent acquisition ofMTI Machine Vision. By recording and analysingimages from wafers throughout their fabricationprocess, the device is said to enable producttraceability and realtime validation. Integratedlighting and optics are said to manage changesin target appearance such as contrast andcolour. The firm plans to offer its wafer reader atan introductory price of $4995 (73850).www.dvtsensors.com
Infrared detector SofradirSofradir says that it has improved theperformance of its 288 ×4 infrared (IR)detector. The French firm claims to have
extended the lifetime of its mercury cadmiumtelluride-based scanning array from 3500 h to7000 h by enhancing key components,including the unit’s microcooler and Dewar. Byreducing thermal losses, the company has beenable to lower power consumption by 30%. Thedetector suits use in devices such as handgoggles, IR cameras and airborne thermalimagers, where it provides enhancedperformance and reliability. www.sofradir.com
Diode-laser systemTOPTICA PhotonicsTOPTICA Photonics of Germany has updated itsiPulse and iBeam diode-laser systems. The unitshave been designed with a beam diameter of
1 mm (1/e2) to providea direct replacement forgas lasers. Systems areavailable in 375, 405,440, 473, 640, 660and 675 nm
wavelengths for applications such as opticaldata storage, computer-to-plate printing,microlithography and fluorescence. The iPulsedevice offers digital modulation of up to 200 MHzand analogue modulation in the kHz range.www.toptica.com
SpectrometerB&W TekThe BTF112E miniature array fluorometer fromB&W Tek is a user-configurable spectrometer forfluorescence applications in the 270–700 nm
range. The unit’s opticalcollection system hasbeen devised to enablehigh-efficiencyfluorescence detection.User-friendly softwareprovides instrumentcontrol and data-
analysis functions. The spectrometer’s compactmechanical design is said to aid portableapplications both in the field and in a laboratoryenvironment.www.bwtek.com
Laser diodeLaserex
Australian firm Laserexhas released a robust,sealed laser-diodemodule that suits harshindustrial environmentssuch as those found in
mines, crushing plants and rolling mills.Measuring 40×20×20 mm, the compact LDM-3 unit operates over a –10 to 40 °Ctemperature range. Modules are available withoutput powers ranging from 1 to 50 mW and from635 nm up to 850 nm. The electrically isolated
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40 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
device comes with a steel housing that protectsthe laser source. A pulsing option of up to100 kHz is available and all of the firm’s lasermodules come with a 12-month warranty.www.laserex.net
Visible laserHigh Power Devices
High Power Devices hasreleased an RS232interfaced version of itsModel 7401 visiblelaser system for OEMapplications. Model7403 has half the
footprint of the 7401 version with full functionalcontrol provided through a PC. Power levels ofup to 2 W are available at 635 nm or 650 nmwavelengths, and up to 5 W at 670 nm or690 nm. The US firm is also able to offercustom wavelength and power options to suitspecial applications. The system comes with aone-year standard warranty. www.hpdinc.com
Ultraviolet lensResolve Optics
Resolve Optics of theUK has announced ahigh-performance60 mm focal-lengthultraviolet (UV) lens foruse with reflected-UV
imaging systems. Because the lens operates inboth UV and visible wavebands, users canidentify and focus on a target in the visible andthen, by sliding across a UV filter, captureimages in the UV without refocusing. Atelescopic focusing-mount gives the lens largemovement in a compact form. Without usingadd-on adapters, the lens can image objectsfrom infinity to 1:1.25 magnification. The UVlens could benefit forensic applications such asimaging human skin damage.www.resolveoptics.com
MEMS motion analyserPolytec
Polytec, a specialist inscanning vibrometersand light-basedmeasurement systems,has introduced a tool
for characterizing the 3D motion ofmicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) andmicro-optoelectromechanical systems. The MSA-400 uses laser Doppler vibrometry tocharacterize out-of-plane vibrations andstroboscopic video microscopy to monitor in-plane displacements. An optional second laseris available for measuring differential out-of-plane vibrations between scanned and fixedlocations. Simple to set up and ready to take
data within minutes, the instrument is said tobe easy to integrate with probe stations forwafer-level measurements.www.polytec.com
Pulsed laser diodeLaser Components
Laser ComponentsInstrument Group cansupply pulsed laserdiodes with a peakpower of more than210 W at 905 nm. The
devices are based on the firm’s nanostacklaser technology, which includes multipleintegrated emitters with a total aperture of200 × 10 µm. A peak output power of at least75 W is obtained using single emitters at apulse length of 100 ns, with higher powersachieved by stacked devices. The emitting areafor the double stack is around 200 × 125 µm,rising to 200 × 250 µm for a triple stack.Devices can be supplied in a TO-18 packageand also as a chip on a ceramic carrier.Applications listed by the firm include LIDAR ortelemetry at great distances.www.lasercomponents.com
Fibre-coupled laser diodeCoherent
Coherent’s fibre arraypackaged diode lasersare now available in940 nm and 980 nmversions with a wall-plug efficiency ofgreater than 50%. The
devices deliver 40 W of continuous-wave outputthrough an 800 µm fibre bundle with anumerical aperture of less than 0.11. They areconduction-cooled and are primarily targeted atmedical applications and fibre-laser pumping.Medical uses include laser-enabled cardiacsurgery and, as pump lasers, the devices suitboth erbium- and ytterbium-doped fibre lasers.www.coherent.com
Infrared cameraThermoteknix
Thermoteknix haslaunched a range ofinfrared camerasdubbed MIRICLE. TheMIRICLE 110 K camerasare said by the firm to
achieve 44% more image resolution thanindustry standard 320 ×240 detectors.Incorporating uncooled microbolometer infrareddetectors, embedded software and a range ofexchangeable germanium lenses, units can beconfigured as ultra-compact cameras or modularinfrared imaging cores for OEM applications.www.thermoteknix.com
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41OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Laser ablation systemNew Wave Research
US firm New WaveResearch has releasedan all-solid-state193 nm laser ablationsystem designedspecifically for ICPmass spectrometersolid-sampling analysis.The UP193 Solid-Statefeatures deep UVabsorption and short-
pulse length performance, and generates aselection of 13 pre-calibrated spot sizes down to2 µm. The system uses its proprietary laserdesign and beam-conditioning optics to produceflat, uniform craters. Applications include bulkand microfeature analysis of metals, analysis ofbiological tissues, tree rings and gels, and theforensic analysis of plastics, ceramics, paint,glass and quartz.www.new-wave.com
PhotometerOptronic Laboratories
The OL 730 series ofradiometers andphotometers from US-
based Optronic Laboratories is said to provideresearch-grade precision and accuracy. Usingstate-of-the-art digital signal processing, theOL 730D is capable of performing measurementsover all or part of the UV/VIS/IR spectrum andincludes a photon-counter for extremely low-light-level measurement. The basic version, OL 730C,has an internal preamplifier and a sensitivity of1 ×10–14 A, and model OL 730CV can becontrolled via the user’s PC.www.olinet.com
LIBS systemOcean Optics
The LIBS-ELITE fromOcean Optics is a fullyintegrated laser-induced breakdownspectrometer (LIBS)platform that providesrealtime, high-
resolution spectral analysis of elements in avariety of materials. The system covers the200–980 nm spectral range at 0.1 nm full-widthat half-maximum (FWHM) in a single laser pulseand has parts-per-billion sensitivity.
Features of the product include a high-powerNd:YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm, samplemapping and targeting functions, precise x–ysample positioning, laser-spot diameter controlfrom 20 to 1200 µm, high-resolution samplemagnification and a sample chamber with a gaspurge for increased sensitivity.www.oceanoptics.com
Optical simulation softwareBreault Research OrganizationBreault Research Organization (BRO) hasreleased ASAP 2005 – the next generation of itsoptical simulation software. Featuring more than20 years of continuous development by thefirm’s optical engineers, software engineers andphysicists, the software functions as a virtual-prototyping tool. Product designers can use thepackage to predict the real-world performanceof automotive lighting, bio-optic systems,coherent systems, displays, imaging systems,lightpipes, luminaries and medical devices. The2005 version has enhanced interoperability withother industry standard engineering softwarepackages. BRO’s software can be configured toinclude a CAA V5 plug-in for CATIA by DassaultSystemes, an API-based plug-in for Solidworksby Solidworks Corp and an ASAP-specific IGESimport profile for Rhinoceros by McNeel &Associates.www.breault.com
Laser machining systemJ P Sercel Associates
J P Sercel Associateshas introduced the IX-3000 micromachiningsystem – an industrial-grade, class 1 UVexcimer laser-basedablation set-up forprocessing a wide
range of materials. The high-throughput unit isusually supplied with lasers operating at 248 nmor 193 nm wavelengths, although a variety ofother sources are available on request.Surrounded by a cleanroom enclosure, thesystem features roof-mounted HEPA filtrationunits. Applications listed by the firm include themanufacture of inkjet-nozzle arrays, wafer-scaleprocessing, micromachining, large-areapatterning and general drilling – all with aresolution down to 1 µm.www.jpsalaser.com
MDT crystalVision Crystal Technology
Vision CrystalTechnology of Germanyproduces small-diameter monoclinicdouble tungstate (MDT)
crystals that can transform monochromaticGaussian beams into polarized hollow-lightcylinders. MDT is highly transmissive (T >98%)from 350–5000 nm and suits a broad range oflaser sources. The diameter of the resulting lightcylinder depends linearly on the crystal length.For example, a 20 mm-long crystal wouldproduce a hollow-light cylinder of about 0.9 mmdiameter (at 633 nm). The light cylinderspromise to be an efficient tool for trapping or
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42 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
moving small particles or atoms. www.vct-ag.de
Diode laserEagleyard PhotonicsEagleyard Photonics of Berlin, Germany, hasintroduced a broad-area laser diode with a200 µm strip emitting at 7 W at 808 nm. Thedivergence angle of the product is 20°/10° full-width at half-maximum (FWHM). The firm saysthat the laser’s high brilliance, low operating-power and long lifetime mean it suits numerousindustrial and scientific applications, includingpumping Nd-based solid-state lasers or fibrelasers. Eagleyard also supplies a range of laserdiodes emitting from 735 to 1120 nm withoutput powers of up to 5 W.www.eagleyard.com
OLED displayOSRAM
OSRAM OptoSemiconductors hasexpanded its range ofPictiva polymer-basedorganic LED (OLED)displays. With a 1 inch
diagonal display size, the 96 ×36 pixel devicesare now available in the new colours of galaxy-white and glacier-blue, for mobile phone sub-display applications. A 1.2 inch format having128 ×48 pixels has been released to suit smallelectronic devices such as MP3 players. To aidproduct designers, the OLED display is availablein seven brilliant colours – lime green, junglegreen, light green, tiger orange, clarity orange,scarlet red and elegance yellow. With a 160°viewing angle, the firm says that its Pictivadisplays could also be used in portable medicalequipment and industrial devices.www.osram-os.com
Plane-grating spectrometersCarl Zeiss
Two plane-gratingspectrometers (PGS) forthe near-infraredspectral region are nowavailable from CarlZeiss. The PGS1.7covers 960–1690 nm
and features an InGaAs detector with 512 pixelsand a resolution of 5 nm. The PGS2.2 covers1100–2200 nm and uses a 256 pixel InGaAsdetector with a resolution of 11 nm.
Both modules combine a collimator and afocusing lens with a plane grating and are saidto offer excellent wavelength stability andwavelength accuracy. Carl Zeiss says theproducts suit layer-thickness measurements inthe semiconductor field and offer a goodprice:performance ratio.www.zeiss.de
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OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
SpectroradiometerGlen Spectra
Glen Spectra is nowoffering the OL756, aportable UV-VIS(200–800 nm)spectroradiometer fromOptronic Laboratories.The product features aUSB port, doublemonochromator for
stray-light rejection, narrow bandwidth variablefrom 1 to 5 nm and a temperature-stabilizedautoranging PMT detector spanning six decadesfor high-sensitivity and dynamic range.
The product is said to be ideal for performingsolar spectral measurement over the full rangein less than 6.5 s. It also operates on 12 V DCpower for portable or remote measurements.Input optics available for the OL756 includecosine-corrected integrating spheres forspectral irradiance studies and telescopes andmicroscopes for spectral radiancemeasurements.www.glenspectra.co.uk
Linescan cameraDALSA
DALSA has released itsPiranha3 range oflinescan cameras. Therange includes what issaid to be the world’sfirst 12K camera with a5 µm pixel pitch. An 8K,7 µm camera is alsoavailable.
Specifications include data rates of 320 MHz(8 ×40 MHz); line rates of up to 33.7 kHz (8K)or 23.5 kHz (12K); ±50 µm sensor alignmentaccuracy and flat-field correction. Complete witha CameraLink interface, the cameras are said tosuit applications such as flat-panel and printedcircuit-board inspection, parcel sorting and high-performance document scanning.www.dalsa.com
Fizeau interferometer4D Technology
The FizCam1500 is thelatest addition to 4D Technology’sFizCam range ofdynamic Fizeauinterferometer systems.
The product uses a single camera and a high-speed optical phase sensor, making itinsensitive to vibration and air turbulence.
According to 4D, the FizCam1500 makes fullwavefront measurements in 30 µs, offersmagnification imaging of 16× optical/digitalzoom, wavelengths from 638 nm to 1.06 µmand aperture options from 100 to 600 nm.
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44 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Applications include optical testing in aproduction environment, as well as themeasurement of moving parts such as scannermirrors and spinning disks.www.4dtechnology.com
Multimode fibreIRphotonicsIRphotonics, a Canadian supplier of mid-infraredoptical materials, has introduced a multimodefibre dubbed XTEND-FiBER that is said to offer asmooth transmission window from 300 to5500 nm. The firm uses a proprietary chemicalcomposition and patented manufacturingprocess to extend the product’s spectral rangeby more than 1 µm in the mid-infrared region,compared with other fibres.www.irphotonics.com
Imaging spectrometerPrinceton Instruments
The MicroSpec seriesof imagingspectrometers fromPrinceton Instrumentsand Acton Research isdesigned for micro-spectroscopyapplications. Theproduct uses a fullyreflective design thateliminates the varying
effects of chromatic aberrations in transmissivesystems.
MicroSpec comes with a variety ofinterchangeable wavelength-dispersionmodules and an entrance aperture, all of whichcan be computer-controlled to allowautomated selection of spectral range andresolution. The firms say the MicroSpec allowsUV-VIS-NIR spectroscopic studies inapplications such as fluorescence,absorbance, transmission and scattering.www.piacton.com
Motion controllerNewport
Newport hasintroduced theSMC100CC, a single-axis motion controllerfor DC servo-motors ofup to 48 VDC at1.5 A rms at a cost of
under 7600, including power supply. The SMC100CC uses an integrated RS-232-C
interface or a USB port that requires an externalSMC-USB adapter for a Windows operatingsystem. Windows-based software supports allconfigurations and enables basic motion.Advanced application programming issimplified by an ASCII command interface anda set of two-letter mnemonic commands. Up to
31 controllers can be networked through theinternal RS-485 communication link. TheSMC100CC also features advanced “multi-axes” commands, such as “stop all” or “start amotion of all axes” and communicates at a57 600 baud rate.www.newport.com
Laser-safety eyewearPro-Lite Technology
Pro-Lite Technology,UK, has added theFlexSeal goggle to itsrange of laser-safetyeyewear from GPTGlendale. The FlexSealgoggle is lightweight,fits neatly over
prescription eyewear and offers a wide field ofview. It also has a soft silicone goggle bodyand an adjustable headband so that thewearer is assured of the highest level ofcomfort as well as a secure fit.
Available from stock, the FlexSeal is currentlyon offer with filters for protection againstNd:YAG, CO2 and diode lasers. Additional filtersfor other wavelengths are continually beingadded to the range as they complete theEN207 certification process.www.pro-lite.uk.com
Mid-IR OPOAculightAculight of the US has developed a fibre-laser-pumped singly resonant optical parametricoscillator (OPO) that provides continuous tuningin the mid-infrared wavelength range. Currentlyat the prototype stage, the system has beendesigned for use in absorption spectroscopyapplications such as methane gas detection.
The fibre-pumped OPO operates at roomtemperature and is said to generate over 1 W ofcontinuously tunable output in the 2–4 µm range.According to Aculight, this development will givespectroscopists a tool with which to conduct awide variety of high-precision experiments.www.aculight.com
FBG interrogatorFOS&SBelgian firm FOS&S has released theSpectralEye Interrogator 600, a hand-helddevice for studying fibre Bragg gratings. Typicalapplications include the monitoring of pipelinestress, oil-well temperature and pressure, andsecurity fences. The SpectralEye operatesbetween 1527 and 1565 nm with a launchpower of 500 µW. Other features include awavelength accuracy of 10 pm, a resolution of1 pm, a scan time of 1 s and a 20 dB dynamicrange. The portable devices weighs 1.3 kg andhas a battery life of 90 min.www.fos-s.be
PRODUCTS
45OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
Parabolic mirrorOptical Surfaces
UK-based OpticalSurfaces, a supplier ofaspheric opticalcomponents, canprovide high-precision,off-axis parabolicmirrors for a range of
applications such as high-power laser focusing.Possibilities include off-axis parabolic mirrorsup to 600 mm in diameter with a surfaceaccuracy of up to λ/20 peak-to-valley,depending upon off-axis angles. A range ofcoatings from metallic, with or without aprotective overcoat, through to multilayerdielectrics and ultra-hard coatings is available.www.optisurf.com
Laser-diode current sourceILX Lightwave
According to ILXLightwave, its LDX-3232 high-compliance laser-diodecurrent source has
been developed specifically for controlling high-compliance voltage devices such as quantum-cascade laser diodes. The unit delivers up to4 A of low-noise current at up to 15 V with astability of better than 20 ppm. Featuresinclude dual-current ranges, constant powercontrol, fine/coarse set-point control, lasercurrent and voltage measurement, forward-voltage adjustment and measurement, and anexternal modulation input.
The current source offers a number ofprotection strategies such as slow start,adjustable current limits and compliancevoltage, intermittent contact protection andshorting relays. In addition, the LDX-3232accepts a TTL input that can be configured toturn off the output to the laser if it gets too hot.www.ilxlightwave.com
Laser-pattern generatorsMicronicSwedish company Micronic has introduced twolaser-pattern generators for photomaskproduction. The Omega6800 is a raster-scanlaser writer for semiconductor reticles down tothe 130 nm design node. Featuring the firm’slatest technology, the laser writer reducesmicroscopic systematic deviations inCCD/CMOS image-sensor masks, masks forsmall displays, DRAM, SRAM and other mura-sensitive devices. New optics provide improvedcritical-dimension linearity and clear-field/dark-field deviation.
The firm’s second tool, dubbed Omega6080,is configured to produce reticles down to the250 nm design node and is said to offer amodern, accurate and a cost-effective
alternative to legacy e-beam systems.www.micronic.se
TEC controllerAOS Technology
AOS Technology of theUK has launched anOEM controller forPeltier coolers capableof temperature controlof ±0.005 °C. Designedto take a temperature
sensor input from a standard NTC thermistor,the PC1 is said to be ideal for use with manylaser-diode and SLED packages. The compactunit measures 62 ×40 mm and provides up to±3 A Peltier drive-current with very little heatdissipation from the circuit. Temperature set-point control is provided by a combination oftwo fixed-value resistors and a high-stability 13-turn potentiometer. The PC1 also incorporates alogic-level shutdown input and an analogueoutput for monitoring TEC current.www.aost.co.uk
SpectrometerStellarNet
US firm StellarNet isoffering low-cost, high-resolution fibre-opticspectrometers thatcover the wavelengthranges 0.9–1.7 µmand 1.5–2.2 µm.Portable and with nomoving optical parts,
the devices connect to a PC via a USB2 orparallel port. The unit features cooled InGaAsdetectors with a choice of 512 or 1024 pixels,and acquires spectra in 1 ms. An optionallithium-ion battery allows instrument operationfor up to 6 h. Supplied in a rugged housing, thedevices are said to suit portable or laboratory-based spectroscopy applications.www.stellarnet-inc.com
LensesSill Optics
A range of telecentric f-theta lenses forscanning applicationsis currently availablefrom Sill Optics ofGermany. According tothe company, the laserbeam is always
perpendicular to the working field, making thelenses suitable for producing the high-densityinterconnect boards that are used in productssuch as mobile phones.
A popular lens is the S4LFT4160/075, whichhas an effective focal length of 167 mm and ausable image field-size of 60 ×60 mm. The
PRODUCTS
High power laser diode collima-tion arraysLaser beam homogenizing arraysTelecom laser collimation lensesFibre coupling lens arraysShack-Hartmann sensor lens arraysCustom lens arrays for your application
Leister Process TechnologiesAxetris Microsystems DivisionCH-6060 Sarnen, SwitzerlandPhone +41 41 662 74 [email protected]
Axetris is a leading provider of highperformance standard and custommicro-optical components. We provideOEM partnership from initial opticaldesign support via prototypes tovolume production.
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46 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
company also offers a range of f-theta objectivessuitable for use with wavelengths of between193 nm and 10.6 µm.www.silloptics.de
Femtosecond laserHigh Q LaserThe femtoTRAIN Ti:sapphire laser from High QLaser emits sub-50 fs pulses at wavelengthsbetween 780 and 900 nm and repetition ratesof 20–120 MHz. Measuring just530 × 200 × 75 mm, the unit houses a greenpump laser and a semiconductor-saturableabsorber mirror, creating a cost-effectivesource in a sealed housing.
According to High Q, the femtoTRAIN seriesoffers turnkey operation as well as high spatialand temporal stability. The laser is said to be aperfect 800 nm source for applications requiringreliability and stable modelocking.www.highqlaser.at
Excimer laserLambda Physik
The OPTex Pro-T is thefirst compact entry-level excimer laser tooffer high spatial andtemporal coherence,according to itsdeveloper Lambda
Physik. Available at 193 nm and 248 nm, theair-cooled lasers deliver pulse energies of up to2 mJ, a linewidth of less than 5 pm, repetitionrates of up to 200 Hz and a burst mode of upto 500 Hz. This coherence and tunability aresaid to be the result of a high-efficiency opticsmodule comprising a prism beam-expanderand dispersion grating. Lambda Physik says ithas designed the OPTex Pro-T for applicationssuch as interference lithography, remotesensing and laser-induced fluorescence incombustion analysis.www.lambdaphysik.com
Video microscopeMoritex
UK-based MoritexEurope has released aCCD microscopesystem that integratesfibre-optic and CCDcomponents. TheMS804 micro-inspection stationfeatures the firm’sproprietary honeycombCCD cameratechnology andincludes multi-exposurehigh-intensity LEDlighting. Powerfulsoftware enables the
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47OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
delivery of sharp images with 1280 ×980 pixelresolution. The microscope is available with a16–200× range of zoom lenses, X–Y and Zstages and camera mounts to suit linear, angleand area measurement.www.moritex.com
Laser diode stackThales Laser Diodes
Thales Laser Diodeshas introduced a seriesof devices based onmicrochanneltechnology that coversthe 795–980 nmrange. The high-power,reliable diode lasersare arranged in a stackof up to 25 bars. A fastaxis collimation lens
reduces beam divergence to below 1°. Operating in the kilowatt range in
continuous-wave mode, the sources are said tosuit the pumping of solid-state lasers forcommercial or defence applications.www.thales-laser-diodes.com
Laser-marking systemPrecision Technology GroupPrecision Technology Group has introduced“Fiber Tower” – a series of Q-switched fibre-laser-marking systems that provide a safe,state-of-the-art, low-cost alternative to Nd:YAGlasers. Systems include a fibre laser, scanhead, PCI control-board and graphical-basedprogramming software. The units have a wall-plug efficiency of 20% or more, and benefitsinclude a low-voltage power source, smallfootprint, reduced utilities and air cooling. Easyto install, the systems are said to offer quickstart-up and simple production-line integration.Applications listed by the firm include ITOremoval and IC chip-package marking.www.ptgindustries.com
Ytterbium-doped fibresLiekki Liekki of Finland has released highly dopedytterbium fibres based on its direct nanoparticledeposition (DND) technology. The fibres are saidto have a significantly improved photodarkeningperformance. According to Liekki, its DND fibresshow less then half of the photodarkeningdegradation of conventional fibres with similardoping density made by MCVD.
Liekki measured a significant improvementin photodarkening in its new ytterbium fibreswith 1200 dB/metre core absorption at976 nm. A white paper entitled“Photodarkening: understanding andmitigation” is available from the company anddescribes the breakthrough in more detail.www.liekki.fi
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PEOPLETo advertise your job vacancies, contact Cadi Jones (tel: +44 (0)117 930 1090; e-mail: [email protected]).
49OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
UK
Failes joins Intense aschief operations officer
Graham Failes hasjoined UKoptoelectronicsspecialist Intense asits chief operationsofficer. Previously aBAE Systems directorand general manager,Failes replaces Don
McDonald, who will move back to the US andsupport Intense on a consultancy basis.
UK
CDT strengthens boardwith displays specialistCambridge Display Technology (CDT), adeveloper of light-emitting polymers, hasappointed Joseph Carr to its board ofdirectors. Carr was formerly president andchief executive officer of Osram OptoSemiconductors, North America, and bringsconsiderable knowledge of electronic display
technologies to the UK-based company. Hisresponsibilities at CDT include chairing thefirm’s compensation committee.
US
Heimer heads Gamma’sEast Coast operations
Former NIST scientistTodd Heimer is to headGamma Scientific’snew East Coast officein Massachusetts, US.“My experience inretroreflectionmeasurement andphotonics overall is
ideally suited to solving our customers’ light-measurement needs,” said Heimer.
US
Radiant hires Chittim tomanage growth phase Radiant Imaging, a US expert in light andcolour measurement, has hired KevinChittim as vice-president of marketing and
sales. His role includes formulating anexpansion strategy as the firm looks to growkey market sectors such as display, lightingand surface measurement. An industryveteran with more than 20 years ofexperience in management and businessdevelopment, Chittim has held seniorpositions at Melles Griot, Newport, Spectra-Physics and Labsphere.
SWITZERLAND
French-speaking salesexpert moves to LASAG
Swiss Nd:YAG lasermanufacturer LASAGhas appointed MichelNormandon as itsregional salesmanager for France,Spain, Portugal,Benelux and French-speaking parts of
Switzerland. Normandon brings 20 years ofsales and systems-engineering experience tothe firm and has previously held positions atGSI Lumonics and MLS.
Innovation doesn’thappen in the dark
Share your research in light-based technologies andapplications—and share in the 50th Anniversary of SPIE—with engineers, scientists, managers and end-users fromover 40 countries. Plan now to participate!
Building a BetterWorld with Light
Tel: +1 360 676 3290 • [email protected]
spie.org/events/am
31 July–4 August 2005San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, California USA
Conferences • Courses • Exhibition
spie.org/events/am
Normandon: sales focus.
Heimer: technical sales.
Failes: keeping pace.
Apollo Instruments Incwww.apolloinstruments.com 32
Avantes BV www.avantes.com 12Bandwidth Semiconductor LLCwww.bandwidthsemi.com 19
Berliner Glas Group www.berlinerglas.com 39BFi OPTiLAS www.bfioptilas.com 35Breault Research Organization www.breault.com IFCCobolt AB www.coboltab.se 38CVI Laser Corporationwww.cvilaser.com/international 4
Eagleyard Photonics www.eagleyard.com 12Edmund Industrial Opticswww.edmundoptics.com 24
EKSPLA www.eksma.com 20ELCAN Optical Technologieswww.ELCAN.com/europe 16, 36
ESCO Products www.escoproducts.com 14FEMTO Messtechnik GmbH www.femto.de 44Fiberguide Industries www.fiberguide.com 48Flexible Optical BV www.okotech.com 20Fujian Castech Crystals Inc www.castech.com 37
GPD Optoelectronics Corp www.gpd-ir.com 24GWU Lasertechnik Vertriebs GmbHwww.gwu-group.de 7
Hamamatsu www.sales.hamamatsu.com 9HC Photonics Corp www.hcphotonics.com 13i-Chips www.i-chipstech.com 18JENOPTIK Laserdiode www.jold.com 43Lambda Research Corporationwww.lambdares.com 25
Laser Components (UK) Ltdwww.lasercomponents.co.uk 17
Laser Lines www.laserlines.co.uk 40Leister Process Technologies www.axetris.com 46LIMO Laser Systems www.limo.de 14Mad City Labs Inc www.madcitylabs.com 19Master Bond Inc www.masterbond.com 20Melles Griot www.mellesgriot.com OBCNewport Corporation www.newport.com 8nLight Photonics www.nLight.net 34Ophir Optronics Ltd www.ophiropt.com IBCOptics & Photonics www.spie.org/events/am 49Optikos Corporation www.optikos.com 24
PCO AG www.pco.de 45Photon Inc www.photon-inc.com 42Photon Lines www.photonlines.com 47Photonic Products www.photonic-products.com 47Photonics West www.spie.org/events/pw 28Quantel Big Sky 39Sill Optics www.silloptics.de 6SPI www.spioptics.com 30Spiricon Power Products Incwww.spiriconpower.com 43
Stanford Research Systems www.thinkSRS.com 10StockerYale Inc www.stockeryale.com 14TeraXion www.teraxion.com 19Thales Laser Diodeswww.thales-laser-diodes.com 32
Thales Optical Coatings Ltdwww.toc-thinkagain.com 41
Trade Fair Support www.tradefair.co.uk 20Umicore Coating Serviceswww.coatingservices.umicore.com 44
WAHL optoparts GmbHwww.wahl-optoparts.com 12
50 OLE • May 2005 • optics.org
May 10–12 Sensor and Test 2005 Nürnberg, Germany AMA Service GmbH www.sensor-test.de/
May 11–15 International Conference on Coherent St Petersburg, Russian St Petersburg congress.phys.msu.ru/and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO) Federation SUITMO icono-lat-2005
May 16–18 Blue 2005/Advanced LEDs in Solid- Hsinchu, Taiwan Compsemi Online, www.blue2005.comState Lighting Solid State Lighting Net
May 16–20 Andean Spectroscopy School Lima, Peru NCSTTI www.concytec.gob.pe/espectroscopia/
May 22–27 SID 2005 Boston, Massachusetts Society for www.sid.org/conf/sid2005/US Information Display sid2005.html
May 22–27 CLEO/QELS/PhAST 2005 Baltimore, Maryland, US OSA www.cleoconference.org/
May 23–27 17th International Conference on Bruges, Belgium OFS-17 Secretariat www.ofs17-bruges2005.be/Optical Fibre Sensors bruges2005/
June 6–7 Workshop on Building European Cambridge, UK EPIC, SPIE Europe spie.org/events/eolOLED Infrastructure
June 7–9 Introduction to Optomechanical Design Kent, UK Sira www.sira.co.uk/courses
June 13–16 LASER 2005 Munich, Germany Messe München www.global-electronics.net/id/35070/
June 8–11 Photonics Prague 2005 Prague, Czech Republic Czech and Slovak www.photon-czsk.orgSociety for Photonics
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CALENDARFor a more comprehensive list of events, including links to websites, visit optics.org/events.
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