unsettle laser markets

Aftershocks

unsettle laser markets

ANNUAL MARKET REVIEW

AND FORECAST

2012

PAGE 42

www.laser focusworld.com Januar y 2012

International Resource for Technology and Applications in the Global Photonics Industry

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JANUARY 2012 ■ VOL . 48, NO. 1

International Resource for

Technology and Applications

in the Global Photonics Industry

January 2012 www.laserfocusworld.com Laser Focus World 2

d e p a r t m e n t sc o l u m n s

n e w s b r e a k s w o r l d n e w s

L A S E R S ■ O P T I C S ■ D E T E C T O R S ■ I M A G I N G ■ F I B E R O P T I C S ■ I N S T R U M E N T A T I O N

15 High-Speed Detectors Ultracompact 45 GHz Ge

photodiode features ultralow energy consumption

16 Environmental Research Non-Doppler lidar measures

two wind components

19 Polarimetry Sky conditions for Viking polarization

navigation are under test

24 Lithography Lithography beyond the diffraction limit

exploits Rabi oscillations

26 Optical Parametric Oscillators DIAL in the Alps

measures tropospheric water vapor

28 Interferometry Lagrange: The fi rst gravitational-wave

observatory?

9

Multicore optical fi bers could be

next-gen PON solution

Stacking OLEDs improves output

and lifetime

Flexible terahertz metamaterial is

useful in stealth applications

10

Hybrid photons are simultaneously

thermal and coherent

11

RXI LED collimator needs

no metalization

7 THE EDITOR’S DESK

2012: Confi dence amid uncertainty

W. Conard Holton

Associate Publisher/Chief Editor

33 BUSINESS FORUM

Does luck win out over persistence?

Milton Chang

35 SOFTWARE & COMPUTING

Ray-tracing model pinpoints cause of stray-light halos

Mike Larson

136 IN MY VIEW

Higgs boson: Now you see it, now you don’t

Jeffrey Bairstow

121 NEW PRODUCTS

131 MANUFACTURERS’ PRODUCT SHOWCASE

134 BUSINESS RESOURCE CENTER

135 ADVERTISING/WEB INDEX

135 SALES OFFICES



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3Laser Focus World www.laserfocusworld.com January 2012

f e a t u r e s



LFW on the Web Visit www.laserfocusworld.com for breaking news and Web-exclusive articles

42 COVER STORY

The An nual Review and

Forecast provides an

overview of current

worldwide laser and pho-

tonics markets, which

begs the question: Are

the alternating good

news-bad news reports

and their impact on global

markets evidence of af-

tershocks from “the big

recession” or foreshocks

of another yet to come?

(Cover illustration by

Chris Hipp)

42 Annual Review and Forecast

Economic aftershocks keep

laser markets unsettled

The fi nancial earthquake that rattled

worldwide economies in 2008/2009

has subsided, but aftershocks continue;

European debt and a possible slowdown

in China give laser companies pause

against the comparatively calm (and

lucrative) backdrop of 2010/2011.

Gail Overton, Tom Hausken, David A. Belforte,

and Conard Holton

75 Biophotonics

Super-resolution STED

microscopy advances

with yellow CW OPSL

The low noise of a 577 nm CW

optically pumped semiconductor laser

enables researchers to image cellular

structures and membrane dynamics

with unprecedented resolution using

blue/green fl uorophores. Alf Honigmann,

Christian Eggeling, Matthias Schulze, and

Arnaud Lepert

81 Fiber for Fiber Lasers

Matching active and passive

fi bers improves fi ber laser

performance

Fiber laser performance at the kilowatt

power level has been improved by the

careful matching of active and passive

fi bers, which has led to higher-power

operation while maintaining singlemode

beam quality. George Oulundsen, Kevin Farley,

Jaroslaw Abramczyk, and Kanxian Wei

87 Photonics Applied: Mid-IR Sensing

DFB laser diodes expand

hydrocarbon sensing

beyond 3 μm

Tunable diode laser spectroscopy

enabled by distributed-feedback laser

diodes with monomode tuning behavior

in the wavelength range exceeding

3 μm expands hydrocarbon sensing.

Lars Hildebrandt and Lars Nähle

93 Ultrafast Lasers

Free-space CPA approach uses

volume holographic gratings

Chirped volume holographic gratings

offer high damage threshold and

an ultracompact footprint for

improvements in chirped pulse

amplifi cation laser systems.

James Carriere and Frank Havermeyer

103 Photonic Frontiers: Frequency Combs

Frequency combs make

their way to the masses

Born at the cutting edge of ultrafast

spectroscopy a dozen years ago, now

frequency combs are being developed

for applications from astronomy to radar

and telecommunications. Jeff Hecht

109 Plasmonic Light Detectors

Optical nano-antennae

boost speed and effi ciency

of single-photon detectors

Integrated with metallic optical nano-

antennae, superconducting-nanowire

single-photon detectors become faster

and more effi cient. Xiaolong Hu

and Karl K. Berggren

113 Terahertz Instrumentation

Terahertz technology

enables systems for molecular

characterization

Smart terahertz scanning refl ectometer

and spectrometer systems exploit

the ability of terahertz radiation to

penetrate nonmetallic objects and

sense the motions of molecules.

Anis Rahman and Aunik K. Rahman

118 Slow Light

Laser radar steers beam

using slow light

A phased-array slow-light detection and

ranging setup relies on a tunable laser

source and fi ber sections that have

different dispersions; the result is a fast

and simple beam steerer. John Wallace

Coming in

February

Photonics in

forensics

does what

conventional

technology

cannot

Television shows such as CSI, Bones, and Forensic

Files have popularized the science of forensics. Once limited to archaic and destructive chemical and laboratory-intensive procedures, the processing of crime scene evidence is now possible on site using nondestructive light- and laser-based photonic and optical methods. This Photonics Applied article explores the newest photonics technologies that are playing a key role in solving the most challenging crimes.









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Blog: Opto Insider

Is the US wired Internet

infrastructure weak? Revisited.It’s time to weigh in on a pet peeve of mine. The

topic is the state of high-speed Internet in the

US, in a December 4 essay in the

New York Times. My peeve

is that once again the US

wireline infrastructure is

portrayed as somehow

way behind, whereas a reasonable

analysis presents a very different

picture. For a large country,

the US actually has a very

strong and affordable

infrastructure.

http://bit.ly/uBBkPG

®

www.laserfocusworld.compowering photonics technologies & applications on


laserfocusworld.online More Features, News & Products

t r e n d i n g n o w c o o l c o n t e n t

Breaking into the business

Photonics Business NewsVisit the Business News section on OptoIQ

to keep track of the latest M&A activity

in laser and photonics markets, company

investments, contracts, fi nancial

reports, and strategic moves.

http://bit.ly/uPhsVM

OSA Column:

Science & Technology Education

Highlighting the

International OSA Network

of Students (IONS)Launched in 2006, the International OSA

Network of Students (IONS) provides OSA

Student Chapter members with

opportunities to present and hear

cutting-edge scientifi c presentations,

develop valuable contacts, tour

international research centers, and

expand their horizons by visiting and learning

about optics research in other countries.

http://bit.ly/tkO3Bu

Read our Preview before the show!

SPIE Photonics West 2012 continues growth streak

After outgrowing the San Jose convention center and moving

to San Francisco in 2010, SPIE Photonics West

2012 will grow yet again, both in terms of number

of attendees as well as technical content and

exhibition size. Gail Overton, John Wallace, Conard Holton,

and Barbara Goode

http://bit.ly/roQmGB

EUV Lithography

Cymer’s EUV source moves closer to production

Cymer is aiming to capture virtually the entire

market for next-generation lithographic light

sources. In this case, though, “next generation”

means extreme UV (EUV), and more precisely,

the 13.5 nm wavelength. John Wallace

http://bit.ly/vqfCzH

Download the OptoIQ App

Get the latest news, products, and analysis about

optics and photonics delivered by OptoIQ.com, right

to your iPhone.

http://bit.ly/i00vLC

Smart surfi ng

You can use your smart phone to scan the QR codes on this

page and get instant access to all the content highlighted.

Download an appropriate app from your phone’s online store.

Editors’ Blog

Photon FocusOur editors talk about laser markets, solar

farms, and fl ying wafer-scale

cameras, just to name a few.

There is always something new

on Photon Focus!

http://bit.ly/pnxBmy




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editor’s desk


EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Stephen G. Anderson, SPIE;Dan Botez, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Connie Chang-Hasnain,UC Berkeley Center for Opto-electronic Nanostructured Semiconductor Technologies; Pat Edsell, Avanex; Jason Eichenholz, Ocean Optics; Thomas Giallorenzi, Naval Research Laboratory; Ron Gibbs,Ron Gibbs Associates;Anthony M. Johnson, Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County; Kenneth Kaufmann, Hamamatsu Corp.; Larry Marshall, Southern Cross Venture Partners; Jan Melles, Photonics Investments;Masahiro Joe Nagasawa, TEM Co. Ltd.; David Richardson, University of Southampton; Ralph A. Rotolante,Vicon Infrared; Samuel Sadoulet,Edmund Optics; Toby Strite,JDS Uniphase.

Christine A. Shaw Senior Vice President & Group Publisher,

(603) 891-9178; [email protected]

W. Conard Holton Editor in Chief, (603) 891-9161; [email protected]

Gail Overton Senior Editor, (603) 305-4756; [email protected]

John Wallace Senior Editor, (603) 891-9228; [email protected]

Carrie Meadows Managing Editor, (603) 891-9382; [email protected]

Lee Mather Associate Editor, (603) 891-9116; [email protected]

Susan Edwards Executive Assistant, (603) 891-9224; [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jeffrey Bairstow In My View, [email protected]

David A. Belforte Industrial Lasers, (508) 347-9324; [email protected]

Jeff Hecht Photonic Frontiers, (617) 965-3834; [email protected]

D. Jason Palmer Europe, 44 (0)7960 363 308; [email protected]

Adrienne Adler Marketing Manager

Suzanne Heiser Art Director

Sheila Ward Production Manager

Chris Hipp Senior Illustrator

Debbie Bouley Audience Development Manager

Alison Boyer Ad Services Manager

EDITORIAL OFFICES

Laser Focus World

PennWell Corporation

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(603) 891-0123; fax (603) 891-0574

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CORPORATE OFFICERS

Frank T. Lauinger Chairman

Robert F. Biolchini President and CEO

Mark Wilmoth Chief Financial Offi cer

TECHNOLOGY GROUP

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Gloria S. Adams Senior Vice President,

Audience Development and Book Publishing

Subscription inquiries

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e-mail: [email protected]

web: www.lfw-subscribe.com

W. Conard Holton

Associate Publisher/

Editor in Chief

[email protected]

2012: Confidence amid uncertaintySince the recession of 2008–09, the swings in global markets have alternately inspired and rattled con-

fi dence among manufacturers and users of photonics technologies and products. These economic after-

shocks have combined with rapidly evolving photonics technologies to create an atmosphere of constant

and diffi cult-to-predict change—and fortunately one in which photonics is more intrinsic to the success

of more applications than ever before.

As our Annual Review and Forecast in this issue notes, sales of lasers in 2011 stand at an all-time high

(see page 42). Although growth was lower than during the previous boom year, such sales encourage

confi dence. The view into 2012 is also positive, with the caveat that growth will be more modest, and

“unsettled” best describes the outlook.

The strategic view of photonics as a critical enabling technology remains the consistent source of opti-

mism for the future, and some of these developments are described in this issue. Advances in frequency

combs, for example, led to Nobel Prizes in 2005, and now, as described in our Photonic Frontiers article,

are being developed for applications ranging from astronomy to radar and communications (see page 103).

Indeed, the perspective in this issue is much broader than just these applications as we explore tech-

niques for matching fi bers for fi ber lasers (see page 81), tunable DFB diodes that extend spectroscopy

for hydrocarbon sensing (see page 87), stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy that is open-

ing new research windows (see page 75), and a terahertz spectrometer for molecular characterization

(see page 113).

Numerous other developments are described in this fi rst issue of 2012. Please let me know what you

think of the articles and other inspiring advances we might cover.

Best wishes for the New Year from all of us at



Laser Focus World..


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EML, RBGCGL

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Wavelength (nm)

Loss(dB/km)

1700165016001550150014501400135013001250

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

Center core

Outer core 5

Outer core 3

Outer core 1

Outer core 6

Outer core 4

Outer core 2

Average outer cores


newsbreaks

Multicore optical fi bers could be next-gen PON solution

The number of optical fi bers needed for access networks using pas-

sive optical network (PON) architectures is increasing demand for

high-density fi ber cables. An interesting solution to this congestion

could be multicore fi bers from OFS Laboratories (Somerset, NJ).

With an outer-glass cladding diameter of 130 μm (slightly larger

than conventional 125-μm-cladding-diameter communications fi -

ber), a fi ber containing seven individual cores has successfully trans-

mitted seven upstream 1310 nm and seven downstream 1490 nm

signals at 2.5 Gbit/s, each over distances of 11.3 km.

Designed for singlemode operation, the fi ber has seven 8-μm-

diameter fi ber cores arranged in a 38 μm core-to-core pitch hex-

agonal array. The 130 μm clad fi ber is acrylate-coated to a fi nal

outside diameter of 250 μm. Attenuation for the center core is

0.39/0.30 dB/km at 1310/1490 nm, and average attenuation for

the six outer cores is 0.41/0.53 dB/km at 1310/1490 nm. Maxi-

mum crosstalk—an extremely important parameter for data

transmission—is less than -38/-24 dB at 1310/1490 nm, more

than adequate to meet PON requirements. To couple the multi-

core fi ber to seven individual fi bers, a special tapered multicore-fi -

ber connector was developed by tapering and fusing the fi bers to

a dimension that matches the multicore fi ber structure, achieving

average splice loss values of 0.10 dB, comparable to conventional

singlecore fi bers. Contact Benyuan Zhu at [email protected].

Stacking OLEDs improves

output and lifetimeEngineers at Osram AG (Munich, Germany) have developed a stacked

organic light-emitting diode (OLED) architecture that improves output char-

acteristics and increases lifetime compared to conventional single-active-

layer OLEDs. In the stacked-OLED process, undoped and organic active

layers—the emissive layer (EML) with red/green/blue (RGB) layers—are

fi rst embedded in p-type and n-type doped layers to create a single p-i-n

diode or single-active-layer OLED. When three devices are stacked, for ex-

ample, electron-hole pairs are created at charge-generation layers (CGLs).

A twofold white-emitting stacked device achieves the same luminance

levels as a single p-i-n device at half the current and twice the voltage.

Because stacked devices have a much higher differential resistiv-

ity, stacking improves uniformity of large-area OLEDs without the need to

deposit thin metal bus lines on the

transparent conductive oxide layer.

And because the individual emission

values (and corresponding aging

mechanisms such as temperature

and current density) are lowered for

each layer in a stacked device, the

overall stacked OLED has a longer

lifetime. Contact Christian Boelling at

[email protected].

Flexible terahertz metamaterial

is useful in stealth applications

A fl exible metamaterial fi lm created by researchers at the

Technical University of Denmark (Lyngby, Denmark) and

Boston University (Boston, MA) drastically reduces refl ec-

tion of terahertz radiation, and can serve as a “stealth”

material to minimize objects’ radar cross-section at tera-

hertz frequencies. The material was wrapped around a

metallic cylinder for test, reducing the cylinder’s cross-sec-

tion by close to 400 times at 0.87 THz.

The fi lm consists of a 12-μm-thick polyimide (PI) layer,

a 200-nm-thick layer of gold (Au), a second 12-μm-thick

layer of PI, and a second 200-nm-thick layer of Au pat-

terned by photolithography. The pattern is a periodic array

of split-ring resonators with a unit cell size of 75 μm and

a resonator side length of 54.5 μm. Total active area is 20

× 10 mm, spanned by two 10 × 10 mm inactive areas so

the cylinder could be rotated to vary refl ectivity. For radar

tests, electro-optically generated terahertz pulses showed

a reduction in cross-section by an average factor of at

least 10 in the ±20° angular range. Contact Peter Uhd

Jepsen at [email protected].

Co

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MORE THAN A CATALOG

WE MAKE IT.

TECHSPEC® Aspheres

Temperature (K)

g(2)(0)

300250200150100

2.0

1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

newsbreaks

Hybrid photons are simultaneously thermal and coherent

Researchers at the Technischen Universität Darmstadt (Darm-

stadt, Germany) have demonstrated a state of light that is at the

same time incoherent in the fi rst order (spectrally broadband)

and yet coherent in the second order. Based on an electrically

pumped superluminescent diode (SLD), the intensity-stabilized

source could be ideal for optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Normally, lasers show a zero-lag (at

a Michelson delay time equal to zero)

intensity correlation of 1 accompanied

by Poissonian statistics, whereas ther-

mal or incoherent radiation exhibits

an enhanced correlation of g(2)(τ=0)

=2, thus showing photon bunching.

The TU Darmstadt quantum-dot (QD)

SLD emits at a wavelength around

1200 nm with a broad spectral band-

width of several tens of terahertz, originating from amplifi ed

spontaneous emission (ASE).

The emission spectrum is determined by the QD specifi cs, as

emission from a ground state and an excited state arising from

the quantized and strongly inhomogeneously broadened QD

energy scheme. A modern version of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss

second-order correlation experiment exploited the effect of two-

photon absorption in a photomultiplier tube, thus enabling highly

resolved temporal second-order coherence investigations of spec-

trally broadband sources. At room temperature, the SLD’s inco-

herent emission shows up as a second-order correlation of two.

However, when lowering the temperature, the Darmstadt

group found at a specifi c tempera-

ture a reduction of the second-order

correlation at zero delay to a value

of 1.3. The low temperature reduces

the interaction of the charge carri-

ers in the individual QDs (due to a

shrinkage of the Fermi distribution

in energy space), causing the charge

carriers to condense into the lowest-

lying QD ensemble states.

The accompanying higher optical gain produces a still-domi-

nant ASE process but with some components of a more stimu-

lated process such that the photon statistics resemble those of

a laser, therefore becoming less bunched—and yet keeping a

spectrally broadband character. Contact Martin Blazek at Mar-

[email protected].







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newsbreaks

RXI LED collimator needs no metalization

An RXI optical element, so-called because it produces ray de-

fl ections by refraction (R), refl ection (X), and total internal

refl ection (I), can be very effi cient at collimating or concen-

trating light with a high numerical

aperture for purposes not requiring

a good image (such as collimating

the light from an LED). Portions of

most RXI elements require a metal

coating for refl ection (see fi gure,

top and center), which raises the

manufacturing cost. Now, a group

from the Universidad Politécnica

de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and

LPI (Altadena, CA) has created a

plastic RXI collimator for LEDs that

does not require any metalization

(see fi gure, bottom).

The trick was to replace the nor-

mally metalized surface with a

surface containing 60 small verti-

cal grooves having a 90° bottom angle for retrorefl ection of

light. The light from medium to high angles from the LED

is collected and collimated by the RXI. The collimator also

contains a central lens that col-

lects low-angle light from the LED

and spreads it over an angle of

10° to 30°; because this RXI is in-

tended for use in fl ashlights, this

angular spread provides a smooth,

controlled, color-mixed intensity

pattern for background illumina-

tion. Testing with LEDs by Cree

(Durham, NC) confi rms that the

new device is more uniform and

less sensitive to LED nonuniformi-

ties than previous devices, allowing

easy LED dimming (LEDs change

uniformity as they dim). Contact

Dejan Grabovičkić at dejan@cedint.

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500 nm

world newsTechnical advances from around the globe

Got News? Please send articles to [email protected]


sky condition

testing

See page 20

H I G H - S P E E D D E T E C T O R S

Ultracompact 45 GHz Ge photodiode features ultralow energy consumptionTo maintain the bandwidth demands for future communica-

tions networks, integrated-photonics architectures based on

silicon photonics and other semiconductor platforms are be-

ing developed at numerous research institutions. A neces-

sary component recently developed by researchers at Sandia

National Laboratories (Albu-

querque, NM), IQE Silicon Com-

pounds (Cardiff, England), and

the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT; Cambridge,

MA) for Sandia’s complemen-

tary metal-oxide semiconduc-

tor (CMOS)-compatible sili-

con-photonics process is an

ultracompact, high-speed ger-

manium (Ge) photodiode with a

1.2 fF ultralow intrinsic capaci-

tance—so low that it could en-

able direct driving of a transis-

tor gate, eliminating the need

for a transimpedance amplifi er

(TIA), drastically reducing power

consumption in next-generation

communications links.1

Bottom-up approach

Unlike typical fabrication process-

es for Ge photodiodes on silicon

in which blanket epitaxy is used to grow layers followed by li-

thography and etching steps to remove material, the research-

ers instead used a bottom-up approach in which Ge is grown

selectively in oxide windows. The bottom-up approach reduc-

es the density of dislocations in the detector structure, as the

dislocations that do form can terminate at the window edge,

leading to an overall reduction in dark current.

The photodiode fabrication steps include selective in situ

growth of Ge doped with boron in an oxide trench on top of a

silicon pedestal (see fi gure). The Ge is overgrown prior to chem-

ical-mechanical polishing (CMP) to complete the waveguide

planarization process for a fi nal Ge thickness targeted at 0.6 μm.

Phosphorus is implanted to form the n-type layer and top con-

tact of the photodiode, followed by deposition of a capping ox-

ide to complete the vertical n-i-p structure. After adding electri-

cal contact features, a 2.5μm-thick

optical oxide cladding is added via

plasma-enhanced chemical vapor

deposition (PECVD).

Dark current, responsivity, 3 dB

bandwidth, and noise-equivalent

power (NEP) analysis on photo-

diodes fabricated with 1.3 to 5.3

μm waveguide widths and 4 to

64 μm lengths revealed that the

lowest dark-current density of ap-

proximately 40 mA/cm2 at 1 V re-

verse bias increased linearly with

waveguide width, but could be

reduced to the order of 1 mA/cm2

if an additional anneal step were

added to the fabrication process

in order to further reduce dis-

location defects. And although

responsivity improved for larger

waveguide widths and lengths,

the increase in dark current in-

creased shot noise more rapidly

than the responsivity, creating less sensitive photodiodes with

a higher NEP. Consequently, smaller photodiodes are more

sensitive and have lower intrinsic capacitance.

‘Ultra’ performance

Unlike other demonstrations of Ge on silicon photodiodes in

this class with dimensions on the order of 60 μm2, an ultra-

compact bottom-up fabricated Ge photodiode with dimen-

sions of only 5.2 μm2 (1.3 × 4 μm) exhibited a 45 GHz band-

width at 1 V reverse bias, 3 nA dark current, and 0.8 A/W

A transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cross-

section reveals a selective-area epitaxially overgrown

germanium (Ge) structure before chemical-mechanical

polishing (CMP); the bottom-up fabrication process for

this photodiode enables a low dislocation-defect density.

(Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratory)








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world news


responsivity. And with a 37 GHz band-

width at 0 V reverse bias and 30 μA of

photo-current, the devices are defi nite-

ly amenable to high-speed operation at

CMOS driving voltages.

“Sandia National Laboratory has

established a long history of leader-

ship in high-performance computing

(HPC),” says Christopher T. DeRose,

senior member of technical staff at

Sandia National Laboratory. “A critical

technology for future HPC systems is

ultralow-power optical communication

links connecting the CPUs of the ma-

chine. Extremely high bandwidth and

low capacitance (femtofarad) germani-

um photodiodes will ultimately enable

sub-100 fJ/bit optical communication

to become a reality.” —Gail Overton

REFERENCE

1. C.T. DeRose et al., Opt. Exp., 19, 25, 24897–

24904 (Dec. 5, 2011).

Non-Doppler lidar measures two wind componentsVarious methods exist to measure the wind

remotely with atmospheric light detection

and ranging (lidar) systems, with the most

popular technique involving the detection of

the Doppler frequency shift of the backscat-

tered laser radiation. Unfortunately, Doppler

lidar is only capable of detecting one wind-

velocity component from a given point-

ing direction, called the “radial” or “line-

of-sight” component; the components of

air motion perpendicular to the laser beam

cannot be detected directly. Therefore, Dop-

pler lidar systems can only directly sense a

third of the information needed to produce

a full wind-velocity vector.

But a lidar system called Raman-shifted

Eye-safe Aerosol Lidar (REAL), originally

developed at the National Center for At-

mospheric Research (NCAR; Boulder, CO)

and refi ned at California State Universi-

ty–Chico (CSU Chico; Chico, CA), images

the movement of atmospheric features to

determine two-component wind data and

horizontal wind-vector maps.1

Doppler defi ciencies

Air motion (a wind vector) has three com-

ponents in a Cartesian coordinate system:

east-west (x), north-south (y), and up-

down (z); in a lidar’s native spherical-coor-

dinate system they are azimuthal (ф), eleva-

tion (φ), and range (r). In most applications

requiring remote wind data, radial veloc-

ity alone is of limited value because wind

speed and direction, which require mea-

surements of at least two components, are

needed. One way to get around this limi-

tation of Doppler lidar is to scan the laser

beam, systematically redirecting it at many

angles to create a multidimensional image

of the radial velocity fi eld and obtaining

speed and direction by curve fi tting. How-

ever, the data used to fi t the curve do not

fall at the same location since the lidar has

to “look” in different directions to see the

different velocity components.

The Doppler method also requires full azi-

muthal scans and invokes the assumption

that the wind fi eld is spatially homogeneous

over the scanned area. For long-range lidar

systems, this could be several kilometers

from one side of the scan to the other.

The non-Doppler alternative

A long-standing lidar technique that has

languished until recently involves scan-

ning a non-Doppler, elastic backscatter

lidar over a region and applying image-

processing algorithms to the resulting

sequence frames to estimate the move-

ment of macroscopic aerosol features.

A primary challenge overcome by REAL

was the ability to transmit suffi cient pulse

energy to see far (several kilometers) and

scan rapidly (one scan per 20 s) and remain

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km

km

2.0

Elevation: 0.20°

2.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.00.01.02.0

world news

within the ANSI standards for

eye safety. The transmitter in

the REAL system uses a com-

mercially available Nd:YAG

pump laser and a custom

stimulated-Raman-scattering

wavelength shifter—a gas

cell that converts the 1 μm

pump beam to a 1.54 μm

eyesafe beam—that over-

comes traditional problems of sooting and

poor beam quality typically associated with

previous generations of Raman shifters.

A second concern was whether macro-

scopic aerosol features move with the wind

suffi ciently to be considered good tracers

of air motion. Unlike Doppler lidar, the fea-

ture-tracking technique depends on coher-

ent aerosol features in the image data that

may be tens to hundreds of meters in size.

To address this challenge, the researchers

collected REAL data coincident with tower-

mounted in situ sonic anemometers to test

the approach. In addition, an “optical-fl ow”

image-processing algorithm that may prove

more effective than traditional “cross-cor-

relation” techniques was tested.2 The re-

sults confi rmed the method’s functionality

(see fi gure). —Gail Overton

REFERENCES

1. S.D. Mayor et al., FiO/LS Joint Poster Session

11, poster JWA19 (October 2011).

2. P. Dérian et al., 25th ILRC, oral presentation

S3O-04 (July 2010).

A fi eld-transportable Raman-

shifted eye-safe aerosol lidar

(REAL) system (top) uses

algorithms to process aerosol

images. The data (bottom)

shows convergence lines and

vortices just above tree top

height for light winds with an

unstable atmospheric boundary

layer. The lidar scans were

separated in time by 17 s and a

cross-correlation block size of

1 × 1 km was used to compute

the vectors. (Courtesy of

California State University Chico)



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Photograph

S1

S5

0°–10°

α

10°–20° 20°–30° 30°–40° 40°–50° 50°–60° 60°–70° 70°–80° 80°–90°

180°–170° 170°–160° 160°–150° 150°–140° 140°–130° 130°–120° 120°–110° 110°–100° 100°–90°

S4

S3

S2

S6

S10

S9

S8

S7

S11

S15

S14

S13

S12

Angle ofpolarization

(α) Photograph


(α) Photograph


(α)

www.laserfocusworld.com Laser Focus World

world news

Sky conditions for Viking polarization navigation are under testA thousand years ago, Vikings regularly

sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean

between Greenland, Iceland, the Brit-

ish Isles, North America, and mainland

Europe. How they accomplished this in

cloudy weather is not fully known. It was

hypothesized almost 50 years ago that

the Vikings used birefringent crystals to

fi nd the direction of skylight polarization

that determined the position of the sun

behind clouds and fog. But is this reason-

able? A team of European researchers

has done both psychophysical laborato-

ry experiments and celestial polarization

measurements to investigate.

The hypothesis is that the Vikings used

a crystal, which they called a sunstone, as

a linear polarizer. Rayleigh scattering of

sunlight creates a pattern of light polariza-

tion across the sky; when the sky is clear,

rotating a polarizer darkens portions of the

sky periodically. The Vikings could have

looked at clear patches of sky with their

sunstone, or they could have measured re-

sidual polarization on a cloudy day. They

would have then used the data in combi-

nation with a sundial gnomon (a known

Viking device) to fi nd the sun’s position.

The researchers—who hail from Eöt-

vös University (Budapest, Hungary), the

University of Girona (Spain), Jacobs Uni-

versity of Bremen (Germany), the Uni-

versity of Oulu (Finland), the University

of Zürich (Switzerland), and the Univer-

sity of Würzburg (Germany)—carried out

experiments with test subjects in the lab,

who were shown full-sky photographs of

skies with an occluded sun or at twilight

P O L A R I M E T R Y

Full-sky photographs and polarization-angle measurements at a 450 nm wavelength were

taken for totally overcast skies and snow-covered ground on the Arctic Ocean (S1 to S8)

and in Hungary (S9 to S15). The measured angle of polarization was similar to that of a clear

sky, but with a much lower degree of polarization. (Courtesy of G. Horváth)



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world news

Laser Focus World

with varying degrees of partial clouds.

The subjects were told to guess the po-

sition of the sun; these data provided a

reference showing how well sun position

could be determined without a sunstone.

The data, which show average errors of a

few degrees or more and maximum val-

ues up to 163°, showed rather inaccu-

rate guesses of sun position that would in

many cases not be useful for navigation

(although the test subjects were not ex-

perienced navigators).

In addition, a wide-fi eld-of-view im-

aging polarimeter was used to examine

150,000 points in the sky (on an experi-

ment in the Tunisian desert relating to

polarization navigation by ants) for vary-

ing degrees of cloudiness, and the num-

ber of points determined for which the

polarization was different from the theo-

retical clear-sky Rayleigh-scattering-in-

duced polarization by less than 5°. The

portion of the sky usable for polarization

navigation was always higher for lower

sun elevations. It was found that large

parts of partly cloudy skies usually accu-

rately follow Rayleigh’s theory.

In Hungary, as well as on an expedi-

tion to the North Pole, similar measure-

ments were taken in fog, showing that

if the fog, even if totally obscuring, is lit

from above by direct sunlight, then the

polarization pattern is similar to that of

a clear sky. However, the degree of po-

larization is sometimes low enough to

make polarization navigation in these

cases improbable.

Polarization in overcast skies

Also in Hungary and in the Arctic, po-

larization measurements were taken un-

der totally overcast skies; the research-

ers were surprised to discover that large

portions of the sky showed polarization

direction similar to that of clear skies, al-

though the degree of linear polarization

was low enough to make polarization

navigation diffi cult (see fi gure).

While the relevant meteorological con-

ditions and polarization mappings have

been produced, whether or not naviga-

tors with sunstones can steer a ship using a

sunstone under these conditions has yet to

be verifi ed. More psychophysical labora-

tory work may determine how well people

can sense polarization direction using bi-

refringent crystals such as cordierite, tour-

maline, or calcite, and how accurately they

can take employ the information and use

a Viking sundial on a cloudy or foggy day.

The experiments are in progress; once com-

plete, computer processing of the results

will determine under which adverse condi-

tions Vikings could have used a sunstone

to fi nd due north, and thus accurately span

stretches of open ocean. —John Wallace

REFERENCE

1. G. Horváth et al., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 366,

772 (2011).



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1.0

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0.80.6x

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world news


Lithography beyond the diffraction limit exploits Rabi oscillationsAccording to the Rayleigh criterion, dif-

fraction effects limit optical-lithography

feature sizes to half the wavelength (λ/2)

of the light used (semiconductor chip-

makers who use optical lithography to

create chip features smaller than λ/2 rely

on multiple exposures and other special-

ized techniques). However, researchers

continue to fi nd ways to perform sub-

wavelength lithography (without resort-

ing to chipmakers’ tricks) to obtain even

smaller feature sizes using unconvention-

al nanolithography and immersion lithog-

raphy techniques.

Many attempts have been made to ad-

vance this fi eld beyond the current limit

set by the wavelength of the laser used.

These methods are usually based on multi-

photon processes, multiple beams, and/or

quantum entanglement, making the im-

plementation of these schemes extremely

diffi cult. But a new technique from Texas

A&M University (TAMU; College Station,

TX) and The National Center of Math-

ematics & Physics (KACST; Riyadh, Saudi

Arabia) that uses two lasers and exploits

molecular oscillations in the lithographic

photoresist material is simple to implement

and achieves arbitrarily small feature sizes.1

Rabi oscillations

When light is incident on an atom or mol-

ecule, the electrons within undergo oscil-

lations between the ground state and an

excited state. These oscillations are called

Rabi oscillations, and their frequency is

directly proportional to the intensity of

the incident light. In the method pro-

posed by the TAMU-KACST team, a

laser at one frequency that is resonant

with the energy difference between the

ground and an excited state of the at-

oms within the photoresist material is

launched into the photoresist to induce

Rabi oscillations. Next, a second laser

with a different frequency dissociates the

molecules in the excited state, but does

not affect those in the ground state. The

/λ

y/λ

f(x,y)

L I T H O G R A P H Y

A two-dimensional photoresist pattern spells

out the words TAMU KACST using the

Rabi oscillation-based lithography method.

(Courtesy of Texas A&M University and KACST)










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world news

effect on the dissociated molecules is a

change in their chemical properties, espe-

cially their solubility. The resulting photo-

resist patterns are then dependent on the

spatial distribution of the excited state in-

duced by the fi rst laser pulse.

The Rabi oscillations induced in the pho-

toresist (by a standing wave created by a

laser beam) modulate the number of at-

oms in the excited state, resulting in a sub-

wavelength spatial pattern in the photo-

resist with a resolution on the order of the

wavelength divided by the number of Rabi

cycles. By increasing the intensity of the in-

cident fi eld, the number of Rabi oscillations

can be increased, thereby increasing the

resolution of the lithographic pattern.

Implementation

To use the Rabi oscillation model in an

actual physical lithography setup, the re-

searchers have explored some possible

photoresist materials and laser parameters

(see fi gure). For 1-bromonaphthalene, for

example, with a 5 ps decoherence time

and laser peak power values of 2.17 GW/

cm2 for the beam responsible for Rabi os-

cillations and 0.13 MW/cm2 for the disso-

ciation laser, feature sizes on the order of

λ/10 are possible for a region with dimen-

sions around 10λ. Creating larger patterns

in, say, a 1000λ-sized region is possible

at those same laser powers using a phase

mask and a mask containing 10λ holes.

“Our method for sub-wavelength lithog-

raphy is only a single preparation step away

from the currently implemented lithographic

process,” says M. Suhail Zubairy, professor

of physics at Texas A&M University. “The

beauty of this method is that it is possible to

generate nanoscale patterns, and at present

efforts are underway at TAMU to imple-

ment this scheme in NV [nitrogen vacancy]

diamond structures.” —Gail Overton

REFERENCE

1. M. Suhail Zubairy, FiO 2011, paper FTuM1,

(October 2011).

DIAL in the Alps measures tropospheric water vaporWater vapor accounts for somewhere

around two-thirds of the greenhouse ef-

fect in Earth’s atmosphere; thus, accurate

information on the distribution of wa-

ter vapor in the atmosphere is crucial for

models of Earth’s climate. In particular,

more accurate knowledge of the vertical

distribution of water vapor in the upper

troposphere, which radiates longwave-

infrared radiation into space, is needed.

Researchers at the Environmental Re-

search Station Schneefernerhaus (Um-

weltforschungsstation Schneefernerhaus,

or UFS), high in the German Alps, have

developed a high-power differential-ab-

sorption lidar (DIAL) that can measure

the vertical distribution of water vapor in

the free troposphere (3 to 12 km above

sea level; the free troposphere is the por-

tion of the troposphere above by the

temperature-inversion layer at approxi-

mately 2 km above sea level).

Accessible by cable car, the UFS is sited

2675 m above sea level near the sum-

mit of the Zugspitze, Germany’s high-

est mountain, and was once a hotel; an

avalanche in 1965 caused the decline of

the hotel, which was fi nally converted to

a research station in the 1990s. Now it

serves as a center for meteorological and

geological research, among others.

Two alternating wavelengths

The DIAL system emits at two close-

ly spaced wavelengths at approximate-

ly 817 nm, which is a weak absorption

band of water vapor: One of the wave-

lengths falls within the absorption band,

while the other one does not. Intense

pulses of alternating wavelengths are

sent up into the sky; the backscattered

light for both wavelengths, and thus the

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world news


differential absorption, is collected and

integrated over several thousand pulses.

The researchers note that their system is

fully capable of daytime measurements,

unlike Raman lidar techniques.

In the laser system, two singlemode

optical parametric oscillators (OPOs)

seed a fl ashlamp-pumped Ti:sapphire

ring laser. The OPOs are pumped at

a 100 kHz pulse-repetition rate with a

diode-pumped solid-state laser from In-

noLas (Krailling, Germany), the SpitLight

DPSS 250, which contains an injection-

seeding (SLM) option and can produce

250 mJ pulses at 1064 nm and 125 mJ

pulses at 532 nm. The output wave-

length of the OPO is tunable from 750

to 900 nm with a wavelength stability

of ±35 MHz; the OPO emits 2 ns puls-

es at a repetition rate of 220 MHz and

has a spectral purity better than

99.9%. The pulse energy is 250 mJ

at 800 nm and will eventually be

increased to 700 mJ.

A Newtonian telescope with a

0.65 m aperture collects the back-

scattered light, which is fi ltered by

narrowband fi lters (5 and 0.5 nm)

to block background light. Because

the return signal has a large fi ve-de-

cade dynamic range, the collected

light is split into near-and far-fi eld

channels before detection by ava-

lanche photodiodes and digitized at

a range resolution of 7.5 m.

The researchers note that the

UFS site on the Zugspitze is above

Earth’s moist boundary layer, en-

abling measurement of the free

troposphere with reduced interfer-

ence. The resulting data has a mea-

surement error that is usually less

than 5%. —John Wallace

A high-power DIAL system is sited at the

Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus

on Germany’s Zugspitze, above most of the

atmosphere’s lower-level moisture. Backscattered

light from the DIAL collected by a Newtonian

telescope (white dome) provides information on

the vertical water-vapor distribution in the free

troposphere. (Courtesy of InnoLas)

Lagrange: The fi rst gravitational-wave observatory?A group of scientists has come up with a

new space gravitational-wave-observatory

design called Lagrange (LAser GRavitation-

al-wave ANtenna at GEo-lunar Lagrange

points) that would be half the cost of the

now-abandoned Laser Interferometer

Space Antenna (LISA). Lagrange combines

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alternatives, with the ESA’s Next

Gravitational-Wave Observatory (NGO)

currently in the lead. But the time is ripe

for alternate designs such as Lagrange,

conceived by scientists from Stanford

University (Palo Alto, CA), NASA Ames

Research Center (Moffett Field, CA), King

Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), CrossTrac

Engineering (Sunnyvale, CA), Lockheed

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Martin Space Systems Co. (Palo Alto, CA),

and SRI International (Menlo Park, CA).

Triangular arrangement

As does LISA, Lagrange consists of three

spacecraft arrayed in a triangular “constel-

lation” that forms a laser interferometer

for gravitational-wave detection. LISA’s

constellation would be placed in Earth’s

orbit trailing Earth by 20° and with arms

5 × 109 m long; the Lagrange constella-

tion would be much closer to us, placed at

the L3, L4, and L5 Earth/Moon Lagrange

points and with arms 6.7 × 108 m long (see

fi gure). All three Lagrange spacecraft would

be launched on a single Falcon 9 rocket.

Lagrange is designed to measure gravi-

tational-wave perturbations in the 1 mHz

to 1 Hz range at a strain sensitivity of 3

× 10-20. It includes a single gravitation-

al reference sensor—a 70-mm-diame-

ter spherical test mass (TM) rotating at 3

to 10 Hz (spun up to speed magnetical-

ly) and contained in a chamber so that it

won’t be affected by drag. The interfer-

ometer is made up of a single 1 W laser

linked via optical fi ber to an optics bench

(LISA had two lasers and two gravitation-

al reference sensors); the laser frequen-

cy is stabilized using high-fi nesse optical

cavities and/or iodine molecular clocks.

The reduction in hardware complexity

and the geocentric orbit (which enables a

cheaper launch and a higher communica-

tions bandwidth) make Lagrange poten-

tially less expensive, easier to implement,

and less risky than LISA.

Two possible confi gurations

The Lagrange interferometer must measure

both the distance from the optics bench

to the TM (which are both in the same

spacecraft) and the distances between the

spacecraft. The combined TM-to-TM one-

way measurement accuracy is 8 pm Hz-1/2;

the external interferometer handles Dop-

pler shifts up to about 150 MHz due to dis-

tance changes between the spacecraft.

Two interferometer confi gurations

are being considered. One is based on

a double-sided polarization-selective

diffraction grating that serves as both the

main reference surface and a beamsplitter;

this cuts down the number of optical

components and separates the long-

and short-arm interferometers with a

single reference surface. The other (a

back-up confi guration) is more like LISA’s,

with bonded components and more

complexity.

The two-stage Lagrange telescope

has a 5° “fi eld of regard”; the optical

path length of the entire system must be

stable to 5 pm. Each spacecraft has two

telescopes. Within the TM-containing

spacecraft, superluminescent LEDs moni-

tor the position of the TM to a sensitivity

of 1 nm Hz-1/2. To ensure that accumu-

lation of electrical charge doesn’t cause

position problems with the TM, a small

RF mercury source with UV-LEDs for

ionization can produce ions to neutral-

ize charge.

Lagrange is designed to detect gravita-

tional waves arising from mergers of mas-

sive black holes, mergers of stellar-mass

compact objects with massive black holes,

and orbits of stellar-mass binary systems

(containing black holes or neutron stars)

within the Milky Way. —John Wallace

REFERENCE

1. J.W. Conklin et al., arXiv:1111.5264v1 [astro-ph.

IM] (Nov. 22, 2011).

The three Lagrange spacecraft would form

a triangle with its vertices at the Earth/Moon

L3, L4, and L5 Lagrange points—the most

stable geocentric confi guration.




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BusinessForum

M I LT O N C H A N G

Q

A

A

choices, go forward, and execute. You will see more opportunities if you

network with a wide range of people and are willing to take a fresh look at

what you encounter. And you are more able to see the pros and cons of each

opportunity clearly if you are knowledgeable and have an open mind. At the

same time, validate your assumptions by doing thorough homework, which

means seek data for making informed decisions.

Sometimes a change of scene, a break from everyday routine, and talk-

ing to knowledgeable people can provide a different point of view. Then you

have to decide to take the plunge. All too often we let the opportunity pass

by because we see the risk and are afraid to fail. Instead, be positive and also

be defensive. Argue against yourself and fi nd ways to overcome the diffi cul-

ties you may encounter to ultimately make the decision rationally. And if still

in doubt, then tiptoe into it to give it a try—build what I call a “prototype

business” before making a major commitment.

Be resilient. Life is never perfect and regret-free. Go for opportunities and

learn from mistakes. And even though some serendipitous opportunities slip

away, there are always new ones coming along. 2012 could be your year!

We are writing a business plan to commercialize fi ber lasers in the low- to

mid-power range as a part of the fi nal deliverable for a research grant. We

found the market for these lasers fragmented. Any suggestions?

A fragmented market means you can divide and conquer, which is better

than butting heads with well-established 800 lb gorillas in the high-power

end. Use the model I prescribed in my book, which is to start small: Work

closely to serve a few customers who need what you have to offer, would be

my recommendation.

The abilities to customize and be very responsive to a customer’s special

needs are your major competitive advantages when you are starting off. This

approach can get you launched and then you will have the business infra-

structure to grow gradually when you encounter additional opportunities.

Do you think luck is a factor

in business?

I don’t know. I have always believed

you have to work hard doing what

you are really good at because “you

create your own luck” and “the hard-

er you work the luckier you get” in

business. For example, you won’t get

a big order because you are lucky, but

because you have a very good prod-

uct. There is no denying there is luck

involved, for example, in winning a

lottery because that is entirely ran-

dom, statistical, not within your

power to infl uence.

I went to the web and found con-

siderable research has been done on

creating your own luck (see http://

www.psychologytoday.com/arti-

cles/201005/make-your-own-luck,

(http://www.fastcompany.com/mag-

azine/72/realitycheck.html, and

there is a book written by Professor

Richard Wiseman—The Luck Factor:

Changing Your Luck, Changing Your

Life: The Four Essential Principles

[Miramax, 2003]).

According to these texts, there are

several principles for making your

own luck: See serendipity everywhere,

prime yourself for chance, slack off,

say yes, and embrace failure. We can

apply them to business. The point is

that you can do something about it

when comes to business.

Put in the context of what I have

been writing about business, every-

one encounters opportunities; you

just have to see them, make the right

Does luck win out over persistence?

MILTON CHANG of Incubic Management was president of Newport

and New Focus. He is currently director of Precision Photonics, mBio,

and Aurrion; a trustee of Caltech; a member of the SEC Advisory

Committee on Small and Emerging Companies; and serves on advisory

boards and mentors entrepreneurs. Chang is a Fellow of IEEE, OSA, and

LIA. Direct your business, management, and career questions to him at

[email protected], and check out his book Toward

Entrepreneurship at www.miltonchang.com.



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Software&Computing


Ray-tracing model pinpoints cause of stray-light halos

M I K E L A R S O N

All imaging optics have stray-

light issues, which usually appear as

ghost images or refl ections from non-

optical surfaces that degrade the fi -

nal image. To optimize image quality,

camera modules must minimize this un-

wanted light in the image. During the

development of our OptiML wafer-level

camera (WLC) technology, we encoun-

tered unusual light artifacts such as ha-

los that came from places not intuitive-

ly obvious, and that had not appeared

in the initial performance simulations.

Analysis of these phenomena led to en-

hancement of the simulation model, due

to the discovery that light well outside

the apertures and fi eld of view (FOV)

was signifi cantly affecting the image.

Conventional camera modules and

WLC modules are commonly used in

cell phones, with each type of module

based on different optical fabrications

and assembly methods. Conventional

camera modules are built using lenses

that are typically individually made

injection-molded plastic or molded glass.

The lenses are mounted into a barrel

and the barrel is mounted onto a sen-

sor; then, the lenses are hand-focused by

adjusting the barrel. The barrel assembly

is designed with internal stops that can

be next to the lens surface or between

lenses to block unwanted light.

Wafer-level camera modules are con-

structed much differently. The lenses are

made on wafers using semiconductor-

based technologies, which creates thou-

sands of lenses at once on a single glass

wafer. The wafer can have a lens on

one side or both sides, depending upon

design requirements. When multiple

lenses are required, the lens wafers are

bonded together to create a lens-wafer

stack in which the lenses are built in

their fi nal position, with no alignment

or focus adjustment required. The lens-

wafer stack is diced into optical mod-

ules that are each picked and bonded

to a sensor, producing a camera module

that is already in focus. WLC modules

have the distinct advantage of requir-

ing no barrels and no manual focusing,

but they do require a method to block

undesired light. One method is deposit-

ing and patterning metal directly on the

glass wafer before the lenses are created,

resulting in aperture stops.

Characterization of stray light

The characterization and evaluation of

stray light in the OptiML camera sys-

tem is an important step in the reduction

of stray light. This is done using a black

box with an adjustable (for intensity and

brightness) LED light source and a 360°

rotational stage on which the camera

module and demo board sit. The gam-

ma-correction curve in the image signal

processing (ISP) is set to a linear curve

and the LED is adjusted such that the

stray-light images on the camera are

not oversaturated. The camera module

is then rotated through 90°. The light in-

tensity of each pixel on the camera sen-

FIGURE 1. Two images have different stray-light amounts and corresponding

average intensities per pixel. The fi rst, with default gamma, has an average intensity

per pixel of 12.201 (left); the second, with linear gamma, has an average intensity

per pixel of 6.139 (right).








Software&Computing

sor is captured and the data from the satu-

rated light source is removed. The average

intensity per pixel is then calculated to pro-

vide an objective value for the amount of

stray light in the image (see Fig. 1).

Impact of metal thickness

on stray light

The WLC design uses a patterned chrome

metal layer on the wafer to create F-stops

and limit the aperture at each lens surface.

While evaluating the image, a bright, un-

expected halo, which was unaccounted

for in the ray-tracing analysis and sim-

ulations, occurred in the image (see Fig.

2). The standard models did not predict

a halo. To determine the source of the ar-

tifact, a set of experiments revealed that

the metal aperture was not blocking the

light as originally expected. The hypoth-

esis for this gap between standard mod-

els and WLC results was that the optical

properties of chrome did not match those

based on available information. This was

verifi ed by allowing the metal layer in the

simulation to be a partial transmitter.

With this change, the model accurately

predicted the images which were taken

in the lab. After experimenting with dif-

ferent chrome thicknesses, it was deter-

mined that the chrome thickness needed

to be doubled for the metal layer to block

the light completely. With this change, the

halo was completely eliminated.

The halo was no longer visible, but

there were other light artifacts that the

thicker chrome did not eliminate (see Fig.

3). This led to the idea that the artifacts

were resulting from light outside the fi eld

of view (FOV) of the lens. Modifi cations

were made to the ray-tracing model that

included areas outside the aperture of the

lens and FOV that previously had not

been a source of stray light. The images

were analyzed and compared to simula-

tion results using a more rigorous model.

Analysis discovered that the chrome was

specularly refl ecting light outside the FOV

FIGURE 2. An unexpected halo appears

in the original VGA WLC image (top). A

simulation using partially transparent

chrome reproduces the halo (bottom).







a) b) c)

e)d)

and degrading the image. To eliminate this

undesirable light, black chrome was intro-

duced as the aperture stop. Black chrome

has the blocking properties of conventional

chrome, and also suppresses refl ected light.

Once the black chrome process was imple-

mented, most of the stray-light artifacts

were eliminated from the image.

Impact of blend zone

on stray light

Another difference between a conven-

tional camera system and a WLC sys-

FIGURE 3. a) Other stray-light artifacts

remained in the VGA WLC module image;

b) an adjusted model duplicated these

other artifacts; and c) simulation with regular

chrome and d) black chrome showed the

superiority of black chrome, which was

clearly verifi ed in e) the resulting VGA image

using thick black chrome.



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Software&Computing


tem lies in the way the lenses are made.

Conventional optics are made one op-

tical element at a time; the area outside

the clear aperture generally follows the

design curvature and is minimal. Wafer-

level optics require a monolithic mold,

which can require a blend zone—the

transition between the optical design’s

clear aperture and the fl at region out-

side the aperture. This is the area be-

tween lenses that can be used to bond

and/or dice lens wafers (see Fig. 4). The

transition area is smooth to eliminate

sharp transition zones from lens to wa-

fer, or from lens to lens. Because the

blend zone is outside the clear aperture,

placing it on top of the chrome layer, it

was not initially considered to contrib-

ute to stray light.

During the work on a mul-

tielement, 3 Mpixel WLC

module, signifi cant stray-light

artifacts were again observed

in the image. These artifacts

were unaccounted for in the

enhanced simulation model. It

was determined that the light

outside the FOV, which hit

the camera at certain discrete

angles, caused the large stray-

light pattern in the image.

These regions of off-axis light

were very small and included

only 5° to 7° of FOV, but were at angles

that made the defect very noticeable in

normal usage.

The simulation model was further

upgraded to include all blend zones in

detail. Only a small portion of the blend

zone, located outside the clear aper-

ture, was responsible for the problem.

This location was much farther from

the aperture than one would typically

look in conventional lenses. Many rays

were analyzed to identify the offending

regions, which revealed that there was

a straight-through path involving highly

refracted rays through multiple blend

zones that was not obvious in the initial

analysis. With a more accurate model,

the blend zones were redesigned to elim-

inate all stray light caused by this issue

(see Fig. 5).

As we discovered through advanced

analysis, both the metal-aperture optical

properties and the unique characteristics

of the regions well outside of the lens

FIGURE 4. Monolithic molding of WLC lenses

produces a blend zone between lenses.




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Software&Computing


aperture caused unforeseen stray-light

artifacts. Using a more sophisticated

model and applying systematic failure

analysis, problems were identifi ed and

eliminated to remove stray-light sources

and obtain excellent images.

Mike Larson is a senior process engineer at

DigitalOptics Corp. (a wholly owned subsidiary

of Tessera Technologies Inc.), San Jose, CA;

e-mail: [email protected]; www.doc.com.

FIGURE 5. Shown are a) and b) display images from

a 3 Mpixel camera; c) and d) are the corresponding

simulations of the stray light from that lens; and e)

and f) are images of the same lens design taken in

the same location and lighting conditions, but with a

different blend zone on a single lens surface.




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CO

VE

R S

TO

RY

Nondiode

Diode

Total

Worldwide commercial laser revenues

20122011201020092008

49%

51%

50%

50%

50%

50%

50%

50%

48%

$6.57B

$7.57B$7.46B

$6.55B

$5.07B

52%


GAIL OVERTON, TOM HAUSKEN, DAVID A. BELFORTE, and CONARD HOLTON

The laser markets survived “the big one”—

the global economic recession of 2008/2009—and re-

covered nearly all their losses by the close of 2010. By

all measures, 2010 and early 2011 were more favor-

able for laser manufacturers than anyone could have

predicted. But just in the last quarter of 2011, or-

ders began slipping out for some customers, and

worldwide stock markets continued their wild

vacillation on alternating good- and bad-news re-

ports surrounding the European sovereign debt

crisis and a possible slowdown in China just to

name a few: aftershocks from the big one, or fore-

shocks of another recession to come?

“Fears of a recession in Europe and a signif-

icant slowdown in China are cer-

tainly well-founded, but depending

of the severity of a downturn in

these regions, there should still be pos-

itive developments in other regions of

the world, particularly the US,” says

Mark Douglass, senior equity analyst–

industrial technology, for Longbow

Research (Independence, OH). “More

specifi cally, domestic industrial mar-

kets will likely continue to invest in

automation equipment, where lasers

and photonics oftentimes are enabling

technologies, with companies looking

to improve productivity while limit-

ing hiring. Unlike banking and hous-

ing, the industrial economy is fl ush with cash, ready

and willing to invest not only in M&A but also in

upgrading existing facilities—they’re certainly not

getting any benefi t having it sit in a bank.

“Markets like automotive continue to invest sig-

nifi cantly in lasers and even expand addressable

markets with new applications, while oil and gas,

agriculture, construction equipment, medical

device, and food and beverage industries continue

to spend on photonics technology,” Douglass adds.

Worldwide laser sales reached $7.46 billion dol-

lars in 2011, growing 14% compared to 2010—3%

higher than our 11% growth forecast last year. But

for 2012, we see aftershocks from the great recession

continuing for a while longer, with negative news sto-

ries hopefully balanced by a continuing increase in

personal electronics sales, as well as growth in man-

ufacturing cost-reduction and automation strategies

that welcome more machine-vision and laser tools.

For 2012, Laser Focus World forecasts laser sales

to grow a modest 1.2% to $7.57 billion.

Déjà vu?

Our Laser Focus World Annual Re-

view and Forecast report published

in January 2009 was appropriate-

ly titled “Photonics enters

a period of high anxi-

The fi nancial earthquake that rattled worldwide economies in 2008/2009

has subsided, but aftershocks continue; European debt and a possible

slowdown in China give laser companies pause against the comparatively

calm (and lucrative) backdrop of 2010/2011.

LASER MARKETPLACE 2012

Economic aftershocks keep

The Laser Focus World

annual review and

forecast of the laser

marketplace is conducted

in conjunction with

Strategies Unlimited

(Mountain View, CA; a

PennWell company) with

additional input from

Industrial Laser Solutions.









ety.” By late 2008, worldwide stock mar-

kets had already tumbled 30% in advance

of the great recession that would follow,

and laser sales would drop an unprece-

dented 23% in 2009. Fortunately, 2010

saw worldwide stock markets and laser

sales recover very nicely, just in time for

the upbeat 50th anniversary of the laser

celebrated in 2010. And even though the

laser market growth trend continued into

2011, the European debt crisis is front

and center and 4Q11/1Q12 is looking a

little like pre-recessional 3Q08.

Most economists agree that the great

fi nancial recession was triggered by the

US housing crisis and magnifi ed by credit

default swaps and other high-risk deriva-

tives—the total value of which, by some

estimates, exceeds global gross domestic

product (GDP) by a factor of ten.

But despite the admissions, have any

fi nancial lessons been learned? In his

Oct. 19, 2011 address at the Federal

Reserve Bank of Boston’s 56th Economic

Conference, that bank’s president and

CEO Eric S. Rosengren said, “Credit

default swap (CDS) rates for many coun-

tries are now very high by historical stan-

dards—meaning the cost of insuring

against a sovereign default has

risen appreciably.” Essentially,

Rosengren says that the asset

size of many national

banks is still a danger-

ously large percentage of that home coun-

try’s GDP. Despite worldwide attempts at

fi nancial regulation, Rosengren warns,

“Significant challenges remain to be

addressed if we are to have a global bank-

ing system where no bank is too big to fail

given the collateral damage it would cause

to economies and citizens.”

That fi nancial markets remain risky and

credit for new product development is dif-

fi cult to obtain has many in the photon-

ics industry on alert. “The days of NINJA

laser markets unsettled

For more in-depth analysisMuch more detail on the laser markets is available from

Strategies Unlimited in its recent report, “Worldwide Market for

Lasers 2012” (www.strategies-u.com). Details include forecasts

to 2015 of units, average prices, and revenues by segment;

estimates of market share; and discussion of the dynamics

within each laser segment. The report is the only comprehen-

sive report on the laser market, and the tenth in a series that

includes fi ber lasers and industrial lasers. Special topics reports

in the series cover mid-IR lasers and ultrafast lasers.




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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

loans—No Income, No Job, no Assets—

are over,” says Philip Crowley, CEO of

MarketTech (Scotts Valley, CA). “Banks

aren’t lending because they’re being told

to build reserves; and the smaller the com-

pany, the bigger the perceived lending risk

for the banks. It feels like the mid-1990s

when banks treated you like a small com-

pany if your revenues were below $10 mil-

lion.” But Crowley does acknowledge that

not all lending resources are tight: “There

is a lot of private capital out there if you

have a winning technology with a compel-

ling story—just be ready to give up a big

equity stake in your company.”

Lending troubles aside, we learned all

too painfully in the great recession that

laser markets are heavily tied to consumer

spending and overall GDP trends. So what

do the latest GDP statistics tell us? In

Europe, Eurostat (epp.eurostat.ec.europa.

eu) reported that Euro-area (16 coun-

tries) GDP growth rate will hold relatively

steady, with 2010 growth rates at 1.8%

and forecast at 1.6% and 1.8%, respec-

tively, for 2011 and 2012—a phenome-

nal improvement considering the negative

(-4.2%) growth rate for 2009. And in

August 2011, industrial new orders rose

by 0.7% compared to the previous month

and a full 5.0% compared to August 2010

(excluding more volatile ships, railway, and

aerospace equipment orders)—a positive

trend that bodes well for laser materials

processing markets going into 2012.

Across the Atlantic, the US Bureau of

Economic Analysis (BEA; www.bea.gov)

says GDP in the US bounced back into

positive territory after 3Q09 and saw

quarterly increases into 2010 at around

3.8%; however, it has fl uctuated ever

since. It nearly approached negative ter-

ritory in 1Q11 before rebounding at a

slower pace to an anticipated growth

rate of 2.5% for 3Q11, with 2011 over-

all GDP growth rates revised down to

1.6–1.7% as of November 2011 from

the more optimistic growth rates of 3.4–

3.9% of January 2011. The US Federal

Reserve attributes its downward revi-

sion—which reduces the 2012 and 2013

GDP growth rates nearly a percentage




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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

point from earlier estimates to 2.5–2.9%

and 3.0–3.5%, respectively—to weak-

ness in overall labor market conditions

and the elevated unemployment rate.

So yes, the US jobless recovery contin-

ues, with unemployment estimated by

the Federal Reserve to still be as high as

7.8–8.2% by 2013. And even though the

US Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)

showed growth as of October 2011 for the

27th consecutive month at 50.8% (perhaps

due to the falling value of the dollar), the

JPMorgan Global PMI was nearly fl at at

50.0%, indicating worldwide manufactur-

ing stagnation for the third straight month.

Even higher than the US, Eurostat

reported Europe’s unemployment rate

at 10.3% in October 2011. And while

Trading Economics (New York, NY)

reported that Japan’s unemployment rate

actually fell from around 5% in early

2011 to a low 4.1% by October 2011,

Japan’s 2011 quarterly GDP growth

rates hover in negative territory between

-0.5 and nearly -1.0% in large part due

to the very real and tragic March 2011

earthquake and ensuing tsunami.

The GDP and employment picture

for emerging nations is less scary but

should keep laser manufacturers on

edge. For 2011, the National Bureau

of Statistics of China reported that GDP

(which at nearly $5.9 trillion exceeds

Japan’s approximate $5.5 trillion and

only trails the US and Europe GDP

totals at nearly $14.6 and $12.5 tril-

lion, respectively) grew at an annual-

ized rate of 9.4% from 1Q–3Q11.

While still outpacing nearly all other

countries, GDP growth rate in China,

according to Trading Economics data,

has been in steady decline since its post-

recessional recovery to around 10%. If

you consider that as of 3Q, India’s (GDP

around $1.7 trillion) and Brazil’s (GDP

nearly $2.1 trillion) 2011 GDP growth

rates are forecast to hold at about 8%

and 4% following pre-recessional highs

of nearly 10% and 6%, respectively, the

worldwide GDP trend beyond 2011 is

either fl at or in decline.

Made in China

“To understand how the economy will

fare beyond 2011, watch China,” says

Larry Marshall, a managing director of

Southern Cross Venture Partners (Palo

Alto, CA) and author of the Larry’s VC

About the numbersThe estimates and forecasts of laser shipments were based on both supply and

demand side analyses by Strategies Unlimited (www.strategies-u.com), a PennWell

business. Strategies Unlimited has been conducting market research in photonics

products for more than 30 years, with specialties in lasers and high-brightness LEDs.

The analyses used information gathered from interviews conducted throughout the

year by Laser Focus World and Industrial Laser Solutions, as well as from fi nancial statements

and news reports. The demand side analysis focused on the relevant trends in 2011 and

in recent years for sales of laser-based systems and the buying trends of customers of

those systems. The supply side analysis focused on the corresponding trends of suppli-

ers of lasers and their suppliers. The effort considered both quarterly trends and long-term

historical trends; results were then compared and adjusted to correct for known errors.

The Laser Focus World quantitative market survey remains the only comprehensive market

survey of the laser industry. More information will be available from Strategies Unlimited

and at the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar (www.marketplaceseminar.com) held

in conjunction with Photonics West in San Francisco on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012.




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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

View blog for Laser Focus World. “Chi-

na over-spent and over-invested; some

factories are sitting empty, and Chinese

workers are demanding higher salaries—

all raising the probability of a double-dip

US recession.”

Marshall is not alone in his senti-

ment. “If you really want to know what

could blow up your portfolio for years to

come, forget Europe. What you should

really be concerned about is a potential

Chinese bust,” said Reuters contributor

Chris Taylor in a Yahoo! Finance arti-

cle. Taylor points out that the Chinese

stock market is near its two-year low,

GDP growth is in the low 9% range

after years of double-digit gains, and

the government’s stockpiling of foreign-

exchange reserves has been slowing to a

crawl. “Bearish observers single out the

twin trends of easy credit and rampant

overbuilding—sound familiar?—that

have led to ‘ghost cities,’ a blizzard of

new developments and skyscrapers that

have been erected and now lie virtually

empty,” adds Taylor, noting that the situ-

ation “… can’t be sustainable.”

Research and Markets (Dublin,

Ireland) says that China’s laser equipment

market reached $582 million dollars in

2010, with a compound annual growth

rate (CAGR) of 21.7% from 2001–2010.

High-power laser equipment for cutting,

marking, and welding accounts for 67%

market share, and there are approxi-

mately 200 enterprises—foreign and

domestic—involved in assembling laser

equipment in China. Clearly, a slowdown

in the Chinese economy would have a

negative impact on worldwide laser sales.

Now the good news

Mirroring worldwide stock market and

GDP recoveries in 2010 and 2011, most

laser companies saw double-digit growth

during this period. But more importantly,

TRUMPF (Ditzingen, Germany), Rofi n-

Sinar Technologies (RSTI; Hamburg, Ger-

many and Plymouth, MI), IPG Photonics

(Oxford, MA), and Coherent (Santa Clara,

CA) were among the many laser and pho-

tonics manufacturers that saw record sales

through calendar 2Q and 3Q11.

For the period ended June 30, 2011,

TRUMPF saw the largest revenue

increase in its entire history—a 51%

sales increase compared to the prior fi s-

cal year to $2.78 billion dollars (€2.024

billion). “Following the major declines

during the recession years, we now

have strong growth in all the world’s

regions—most particularly in China, but

also in Germany and the American mar-

kets,” says Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller,

TRUMPF president and chairwoman of

the Managing Board. Looking ahead to

the current fi scal year, says Leibinger-

Kammüller, “We’re expecting dou-

ble-digit growth. However, there are

also signs that because of the Euro cri-

sis, growth will be far slower than last

year.” TRUMPF is currently doubling its

production capacity in China with the

extension to its factory in Taicang near

Shanghai to open in the spring of 2012.

Rofi n-Sinar, who—like TRUMPF—

plays primarily in the laser materials

processing markets, saw 41% net sales

growth to nearly $598 million dollars

for its fi scal year ending Sept. 30, 2011,

compared to $424 million for the previ-

ous fi scal year. “We achieved fi nancial

results equivalent to the pre-economic cri-

sis levels of 2008 with improved sales in

all our key regions, primarily driven by

the machine tool, automotive, electron-

ics, and medical device industries,” says

Günther Braun, RSTI president and CEO.

“We believe that our backlog and expand-

ing product portfolio, especially in fi ber

lasers, provide us with a solid platform for

a successful fi scal year 2012 in spite of the

current challenging market conditions.”

Speaking of fi ber lasers, “IPG delivered

another quarter of record revenue and

net income,” says IPG Photonics CEO

Valentin Gapontsev of its 3Q for the period

ending Sept. 30, 2011. “Third-quarter rev-

enues grew by more than 62% year over

year [to $129.1 million], with continued

strength from high-power lasers for mate-

rials processing applications.”

In the instrumentation and R&D sec-

tor, Coherent also saw record sales in 2011,



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up more than 32% with net sales of nearly

$803 million for its fi scal year ended Oct. 1,

2011, compared to $605 million in the pre-

vious fi scal year. “A solid fourth-quarter

performance capped off a record-setting

year for Coherent including all-time highs

for sales, orders, operating income, and

earnings per share,” says John Ambroseo,

Coherent’s president and CEO. Although

backlog for its fi scal 4Q was down to $356

million from $369 million in the previous

quarter, Ambroseo continued, “While we

have the usual puts and takes in various

markets, the reduction in fourth-quarter

bookings is almost entirely related to the

timing of orders in the FPD [fl at-panel dis-

play] market for annealing systems. We

are working with a number of customers

throughout Asia on adding new capac-

ity for FPD production and we expect to

receive meaningful orders in fi scal 2012.”

And while it’s true that credit and

investment funds are still diffi cult to

obtain for small and medium-sized laser

fi rms, the largest companies have cash to

acquire complementary laser technology.

And let’s face it, the laser market is still

maturing, products are reaching com-

modity status in many areas, and the con-

solidation trend we fi rst reported in our

2009 Laser Marketplace summary will

continue into 2012. In late 2010, Gooch

& Housego (Ilminster, England) acquired

EM4, and by summer 2011, Newport

Corp. (Irvine, CA) had acquired High Q

Technologies and Ophir Optronics; IDEX

Corp. (Northbrook, IL) acquired CVI

Melles Griot; and Halma (Amersham,

England) acquired Avo Photonics.

In summary, the laser business—for

companies both big and small—boomed

in 2010 and 2011. But was the boom that

big sound that sometimes accompanies

a series of earthquakes? Only time will

tell. For now, Laser Focus World would

like to maintain its technology focus on




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Laser revenues by application

2011

Communications31%

Materialsprocessing

26%Excimer lithography 11%

Data storage 11%

Scientific & military 5%

Medical & aesthetic 7%

Instrumentation & sensors 4%

Pumps 4% Image recording 1%

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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

the exciting laser applications and potential new markets that

keep many of us involved in this business year after year.

More gadgets and 50 years of laser diodes

The semiconductor industry may be in a cyclical downward

trend as evidenced by SEMI’s latest forecast calling for global

fabrication equipment spending to fall 3% in 2012, but much

of what fueled the outstanding rise of the semiconductor in-

dustry to an all-time high fab equipment spending level of $41

billion in 2011 was sales of “smart” electronic devices such as

iPhones and iPads (and other tablets)—good news for the lasers

that cut, mark, anneal, and pattern nearly all the components

that these high-tech electronic gadgets comprise. As Karlsruhe

Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, Germany) professor

Juerg Leuthold said in his “Hot Topics in Optics” presentation

at Frontiers in Optics 2011 in San Jose, CA, “There are now

more connected devices than people on the planet.”

The year 2012 also marks the 50th anniversary of the laser

diode. “Alfalight is bullish about the future for diode lasers,”

says Ron Bechtold, Alfalight (Madison, WI) VP of sales & mar-

keting. “In military peace-keeping environments, new technol-

ogy allows lasers to safely limit the risk of civilian injuries. One

example is the use of a 330 mW green laser combined with a

rangefi nder for eye-safe engagement of individuals approach-

ing checkpoints. In addition,” adds Bechtold, “Europe’s WWW.

BRIGHTER.EU project and companies like TeraDiode and

Laserline are making steady headway in improving direct-diode

beam quality for materials processing applications.”

The days of the laser being a technology in search of an

application have ended. More commonly, press releases regu-

larly announce new capabilities that only laser technology can

deliver. A recent example is the laser drilling of tiny holes in the

Apple iPhone—holes so small that they are nearly invisible to

the human eye, yet let green light shine through the aluminum

housing of the iPhone just above the screen to indicate when the

camera is on. It turns out that those tiny laser-drilled holes are

also playing a role in improving LED performance: Gem Hsin

Electronics (Taipei, Taiwan) is using laser-precision technology to

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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

for heated air to escape to the heatsink,

improving LED effi ciency and lifespan.

Like last year’s Kinect, you never know

what new applications are just waiting to

bolster laser sales!

THE MARKET SEGMENTS

Materials processing

and excimer lithography

Uncertainty was a familiar word in 2011

that was used by economic analysts, busi-

nessmen, and the media to such a degree

that by the end of the year it was a mean-

ingless description of the attitudes of buy-

ers in the laser system capital equipment

market, which, despite yo-yo gyrations

in the European economy, disastrous ca-

lamities in Japan, and a sudden reversal

of a government-mandated slowdown

in China, enjoyed continued strong dou-

ble-digit growth after a remarkable and

record-breaking comeback in 2010. All

year long the industrial laser market in

the US waited for the expected and pre-

dicted other “shoe”—a double-dip reces-

sion—to drop, which it never did. Instead,

quarter after quarter, the three-dozen

international companies that Industrial

Laser Solutions tracks reported strong

revenues and their forward-looking ob-

servations remained positive.

As 2011 came to a close it was obvi-

ous that the global manufacturing sector

was countering conventional wisdom by

racking up sales in all sectors of the econ-

omy led by seemingly recession-impervi-

ous markets such as aerospace, energy,

transportation, medical devices, and fab-

ricated metal products. A 38% growth in

fi ber laser systems sales led by the rapid,

unanticipated surge in high-power units

for sheet-metal cutting was a major con-

tributor, even as the long-established CO2

laser sales also experienced 14% growth.

And a 16% increase in sales of ultrafast-

pulse solid-state lasers helped to revive

moribund solid-state sales hit hard by

growing acceptance of fi ber lasers in the

marking and microprocessing sectors.

Industrial laser revenues in 2011 came

close to the magic $2 billion level show-

ing a 19% increase over the previous year.

Carbon-dioxide (14%), solid-state (4%),

and fi ber laser (48%) sales increases were

joined by a 17% growth in sales of diode

and excimer lasers (grouped in the “other

materials processing” category). A modest

forecasted 5% growth will vault industrial

laser sales above $2 billion in 2012.

Laser system revenues in 2011 tracked

laser numbers and are estimated to set a

new high with a signifi cant 16% increase

over the previous year. A strong rebound

in the sheet-metal-cutting market is the

main contributor to this record-setting

performance as both high-power CO2

and fi ber lasers pushed unit sales up

more than 15% over 2010. This market

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Lasers for manufacturing exceeded expectations,

as companies upgraded equipment. Electronics

was particularly strong, especially for making

smart phones and tablet computers. Automotive

and other heavy manufacturing were also

strong. China continues to be an important

customer for industrial lasers. Most materials

processing segments will see flat to modest

growth in 2012, but excimer lasers for

microlithography will decline in the latest

downturn in semiconductor fab spending,

pulling down the combined revenues.

Includes lasers used for all types of metal

processing (welding, cutting, annealing, drilling);

semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing

(lithography, scribing, defect repair, via drilling);

marking of all materials; and other materials

processing (such as cutting and welding organics,

rapid prototyping, micromachining, and grating

manufacture). Also includes excimer lasers for

lithography.

Year

Revenues

($M)

Materials processingand excimer lithography

2805 27922415

1655

2374

2008 2009 20122010 2011


LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

Metal processing continues to lead laser

application revenues at 68% of all units

sold. This is followed by marking/engrav-

ing systems at 17% and microprocessing

at 8%. Other applications grouped totals

7%. On a unit basis, marking /engraving

accounts for 59% of all industrial lasers

sold even though revenues do not top

$332 million in 2011.

At least in the US, enthusiasm over the

role of lasers for materials processing

of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells was not

helped by the Solyndra bankruptcy. But

the solar industry is still growing, with

solar installations in China recently match-

ing demand levels currently seen within

the US and worldwide tool capex reaching

a record $13 billion in 2011 according to

Solarbuzz (San Francisco, CA). “However,

laser-based tools continue to struggle to

gain any signifi cant levels of widespread

adoption in the industry, with limited signs

of any collective technology roadmap




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LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

being adopted by the leading PV manu-

facturers,” says Solarbuzz analyst Finlay

Colville. “The pull from thin-fi lm tech-

nologies for laser-based patterning tools

has offered strong revenue opportuni-

ties for Asian-based laser-tool integrators,

with thin-fi lm turn-key production line

growth coming primarily from domes-

tic equipment suppliers in China and

Korea.” Colville adds, “The 2011 market

for laser-based tools used in the PV indus-

try reached a record level of $340 million,

with 70% coming from thin-fi lm based

laser tooling. But the overcapacity in the

industry today is likely to prompt a capex

downturn that may last into 2014.”

Industrial laser systems revenues have

been on a roll since the recovery started in

2010. From a low of $4.6 billion in 2008

they have grown 53% to $7.1 billion in

2011, despite the extremely uncertain eco-

nomic climate. Some industry suppliers,

reading their tea leaves, are looking for a

very modest growth in 2012, with a vocal

minority predicting a fl at year. Leading

suppliers of high-priced laser cutting sys-

tems interviewed at the attendance-record-

breaking Fabtech show held in November

2011 were for the most part very cautious

in their 2012 projections, with only indus-

try leader TRUMPF suggesting double-

digit growth for 2012. Consequently the

Industrial Laser Solutions 2012 forecast

shows a 5% increase in laser revenues and

a 4% increase in system sales.

Medical and aesthetic

The laser market for medical (ophthal-

mic, surgical) and aesthetic (wrinkle and

hair removal, liposuction, skin resurfac-

ing) applications continues to grow steadi-

ly, despite aesthetic laser sales unfavorably

tracking GDP trends. Revenues in this seg-

ment are expected to reach $518 million in

2012, for 3.9% growth compared to 2011.

While solid-state lasers still comprise the



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��

��

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Many exciting developments continue to appear

in ophthalmic and surgical applications, but it is

difficult to get on the list of procedures that can

be reimbursed through insurance, and that slows

the market. Growth is therefore slow but steady

in those segments. On the other hand, cosmetic

laser equipment sales continue to languish

following the recession. Over-the-counter

products are finally on the market, but sales are

not as strong as hoped.

Includes all lasers used for ophthalmology

(including refractive surgery and

photocoagulation), surgical, therapeutic, or

cosmetic applications.

Revenues

($M)

Medical and aesthetic

518507

413

453

498

Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011


LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

lion’s share of the total laser revenues in the

medical and aesthetic laser category, laser

diodes garner 13% of the total and rep-

resent by far the largest number of units

(hundreds of thousands of diodes com-

pared with thousands of lamp-pumped

solid-state lasers, for example, in 2011).

New entrants such as femtosecond lasers

are being researched by companies includ-

ing Carl Zeiss Meditec (Dublin, CA),

Abbott Medical Optics (AMO; Santa Ana,

CA), and OptiMedica (Santa Clara, CA),

to replace excimer lasers in both corneal

incision and vision correction, and for cata-

ract surgery, respectively, owing to reduced

cavitation bubbles and thermal damage.

And mid-infrared (mid-IR) lasers (primar-

ily holmium:YAG) are fi nding new niches

in surgery, dentistry, and dermatology.

In the laser aesthetics market, health-

care hedge-fund manager and Seeking

Alpha contributor Paul Nouri says that

now may be an excellent time for aesthet-

ics industry consolidation. Because many

of these laser aesthetics companies, includ-

ing Cutera (Brisbane, CA), Cynosure

(Westford, MA), Palomar (Burlington,

MA), Solta (Hayward, CA), and Syneron

(Yokneam, Israel), are not profi table—

largely due to the huge amount of money

spent on convincing doctors to use their

technologies—but are sitting on a lot of

cash, consolidation could help these com-

panies to reduce overlapping management

and R&D project duplication costs and

improve profi tability.

Upside in the aesthetics portion of

the market could come from over-the-

counter handheld wrinkle and hair

removal products if they gain traction

with consumers; however, substantial

sales increases are unlikely unless costs

(and corresponding consumer price lev-

els) can be dramatically reduced: $395

for Tria Beauty’s (Dublin, CA) in-home

hair removal system is probably not a

wise purchase for the unemployed.

Scientifi c research and military

Laser sales into scientifi c research mar-

kets should be helped in the next few

years by some large scientifi c projects

such as the Extreme Light Infrastructure

(ELI). Companies like Continuum (Santa




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Shaping the future of

the ultrafast laser world

Automated Ultrashort Pulse Characterization, Compression and Shaping

Visit us at the

Photonics West

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www.biophotonicsolutions.com • +1 517 580 4075 • [email protected]

Stimulus spending helped R&D funding through

2011, but now the segment is expected to settle

back to a more normal, modest growth rate as

government budgets react to financial realities.

Military procurement budgets are at a peak after

many years of growth, but funding for new laser

solutions has been growing. Hot areas are

mid-IR countermeasures, eye-safe ranging and

illumination, lidar/ladar for UAVs and other

vehicles, and directed-energy weapons

development.

Includes lasers used for fundamental research and

development, such as by universities and national

laboratories, and new and existing military

applications, such as rangefinders, illuminators,

and directed energy weapon research.

Revenues

($M)

Scientific research and military

419

310344

376408

Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011

LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

Clara, CA) “have a hat in the ring” for

the ELI project, says Curt Frederickson,

Continuum VP of sales and marketing,

who anticipates that the laser industry

should see some serious money for this

project between now and 2015. “It’s an

election year, and we see scientifi c laser

growth fl at to slightly up,” says Freder-

ickson, with the usual caution on Europe-

an debt and China’s potential slowdown.

US government science funding for

2012 to the National Science Foundation

(NSF) and the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) grew

modestly by $173 million and $33 mil-

lion, respectively, to levels of $7 billion

for the NSF and $751 million for NIST.

Funding to the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) was cut

$648 million to $17.8 billion compared to

2011 funding levels. Most notably for the

photonics community, the James Webb

Space Telescope (JWST)—with oversight

measures added—will be funded in 2012.

An end to stimulus funding in the US

for 2012 is another concern for the laser

industry. “Part of the stimulus package

introduced two years ago was a tem-

porary change to the tax code know

as Section 179,” says Ken Dzurko, gen-

eral manager of SPI Lasers (Santa Clara,

CA). “In 2010, this allowed businesses

to claim 50% of new capital equipment

spending as a tax deduction; in 2011, the

program was further bolstered to allow

100% tax deduction on qualifying capi-

tal expenditures. The present climate in

Washington looks to completely elimi-

nate this deduction going forward.”

But Dzurko is optimistic. “Through

the recession, we saw companies pause

to reconsider their manufacturing equip-

ment and process choices, and subse-

quently choose lasers—and in particular

fi ber lasers—as a means of emerging

more competitive as a result of higher

throughput, better yields, lower operating

costs, and reduced downtime for main-

tenance and process setup. We’ve seen

many traditionally nonlaser processes

[such as plasma and waterjet cutting of

metals] embrace fi ber-laser-based pro-



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Blue Sky Research

When Performance Matters

Semiconductor Laser Modules and Systems

It’s crucial to have a partner you can rely on to help you succeed. For over 20 years,

Blue Sky Research has been supplying semiconductor laser modules and systems to

successful companies worldwide.

With over a half million lasers produced, rest assured that we are a partner that

can meet your volume needs. Our engineering teams can work with you to solve

your most complex laser problems, and optimize optical system designs to meet your

instruments’ demanding requirements.

Managing a business has many challenges; worrying about suppliers shouldn’t be

one of them. Trust Blue Sky Research to help you achieve greater success and reach

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Reach new heights with a partner you trust.

www.blueskyresearch.combl k h

cesses.” Dzurko concludes, “I believe this

to indicate a fundamental expansion of

the addressable market for laser materi-

als processing, not simply a market share

change from one laser type to another.”

Colin Seaton, global VP of sales and

marketing for Fianium (Southampton,

England), echoes Dzurko’s enthusiasm.

“We grew through the recession, fi nding

new applications and customers for our

supercontinuum and fi ber lasers in sci-

entifi c, medical, and industrial markets.

The scientifi c market is almost a pure

GDP play, going up and down with the

economy. But smaller companies offer

unique, targeted technologies—not

commodity items, but critical compo-

nents to complete a research experiment

often with no second source.” Seaton

concludes, “In line with reduced scien-

tifi c budgets for 2012—we see reduced

growth, but growth nonetheless.”

The R&D funding and investment pic-

ture is more positive in China and Europe.

China overtook Japan in 2011 R&D fund-

ing at an estimated level of nearly $154

billion and now ranks second only to the

US at $405 billion, and Mercom Capital

(Austin, TX) estimates that Chinese banks

lent $40 billion alone to Chinese solar

companies over the past two years.

In 2011—the 25th anniversary

year of the National Natural Science

Foundation of China (NSFC)—an

International Evaluation Committee

(IEC) offi cially reviewed the NSFC fund-

ing process for the fi rst time, in part to

determine how well the Chinese gov-

ernment’s extensive efforts to boost the

support of scientifi c research measure up

to international standards. The report

commended the NSFC’s peer-reviewed

funding process, and revealed that R&D

investment in China since 1987 has seen

an average annual growth rate of 21.6%,

with nearly 70% of that share in recent

years coming from private enterprise.

Estimated 2011 R&D funding for

Europe was nearly $277 billion—holding

at around 1.7% of GDP compared to 1.4%

for China and 2.7% for the US. Early 2011

R&D budget discussions for 2012 called

for growth levels as high as 13%; however,

the European sovereign debt crisis is forc-

ing a review of R&D spending in light of

the austerity measures being evaluated for

certain at-risk EU countries like Greece

and Italy. Fortunately, a European Union

Parliament vote in October 2011 still called

for a 10.35% increase in R&D funding.

According to the Stockholm

International Peace Research Institute

(SIPRI), worldwide military spending

in 2010 alone was estimated at $1.63

trillion, or 2.6% of world GDP—a much

higher percentage than most countries

spend on R&D and a whopping increase

of 50% compared to 2001 spending lev-

els. But military spending is at the peak

of a cycle, most notably in the US, and

we anticipate worldwide military laser

spending to increase just 3.6% to about



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Instrumentation continues to do well, especially

in CW visible lasers and ultrafast lasers for

biomedical instruments, including fluorescence

imaging. There is a strong effort toward

handheld products, and new domains, such as

Raman and mid-IR. Finger navigation and

gesture recognition (such as in the Microsoft

Kinect) represent new possibilities for inexpensive

laser sensors. Sales of narrowband lasers for fiber

sensors are growing steadily, but slowly, aimed at

oil and gas extraction, perimeter security, and

smart structures.

Includes lasers used within biomedical instruments,

analytical instruments (such as spectroscopy),

wafer and mask inspection, metrology, levelers,

optical mice, gesture recognition, lidar, barcode

readers, and other sensors.

Revenues

($M)

Instrumentation and sensors

313

207 205

270304

Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011

$195 million in 2012 as many laser tech-

nology platforms transition from mili-

tary to civilian applications as they have,

for example, in the case of infrared coun-

termeasure or IRCM systems.

Worldwide, our forecast for 2012 laser

sales into scientifi c research and military

markets is $419 million, representing

2.7% growth compared to 2011.

Instrumentation and sensors

Encompassing lasers for spectroscopy,

diagnostic imaging, sensing, and bio-

medical instrumentation, the laser in-

strumentation and sensors market is

forecast to grow in sales from $304 in

2011 to $313 in 2012. Analytical in-

strumentation companies like Bruker

(Billerica, MA), who introduced the In-

nova-IRIS system in late 2011 that inte-

grates atomic force microscopy with Ra-

man spectroscopic imaging, saw healthy

35% revenue increases for 3Q11 (ending

Sept. 30) compared to the same quarter

in 2010. Bruker expects to continue dou-

ble-digit growth in 2012 despite what its

president and CEO Frank Laukien calls

“a slowing macro environment next year.”

For the same 3Q period as Bruker, Bio-

Rad (Hercules, CA) revenues were up

9.5% overall and up 11.9% in their Life

Science segment, refl ecting strong growth

in their imaging instrumentation and Bio-

Plex suspension array product, which ana-

lyzes up to 100 biomolecules in a single

patient sample. Bio-Plex uses a liquid sus-

pension array of 100 sets of 5.6 μm beads,

each dyed with different ratios of two

spectrally distinct fl uorophores assigned

a unique spectral address. The sets of

beads are conjugated with a different

capture molecule and react with specifi c

analytes. Two lasers illuminate the beads,

one exciting the dyes in each bead to iden-

tify its spectral address, the other excit-

ing the reporter molecule associated with

the bead to quantify the captured analyte.

The fl uorescence information is then ana-

lyzed with high-speed digital signal pro-

cessors to identify the constituent proteins

and peptides in a sample as small as 12 μl.

“A growing trend for life science appli-



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Cylinder Optics.

Toric Optics.

Flat Optics.

Special Optics.

Hellma USA Inc.

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phone 516-939-0888

fax 516-939-0555

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solutions to turn your unique

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is the worldwide choice of the

most demanding customers.

Traffic continues to grow, stoking demand for

optical communications in network backbones

and data center backplanes. Hot segments are

40G and 100G transceivers, fiber-to-the-home,

and active optical cables. In contrast, the optical

storage segment recovered in 2010–2011, but it

will not return to its former levels in its present

form. Many factors are responsible: the

recession, a trend toward downloading of music

and videos, the slow uptake of Blu-ray players,

and steeply falling blue-violet laser prices. The

next big thing might be heat-assisted magnetic

recording—using lasers in hard drives to expand

the capacity another generation or two.

Includes all laser diodes used in

telecommunications, data communications, and

optical storage applications, including pumps for

optical amplifiers.

Revenues

($M)

Communications and optical storage

31462894

2214

2721

3080

Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011


LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

cations is the need for multiple, yet dis-

crete laser wavelengths for narrowband

fluorescence excitation,” says Amr

Khalil, product manager for lasers, laser

optics, and mechanics at Edmund Optics

(Barrington, NJ). “Broadband sources

and fi lters are adequate for some appli-

cations, but the high powers needed to

excite the particular wavelengths to

match the commercially available fl uoro-

phores in medical research often require

individual, higher-power laser sources.”

Good examples of multiwavelength, life-

science-targeted sources are Coherent’s

established CUBE and OBIS diode and

optically pumped semiconductor laser

(OPSL) platforms with modular units

emitting in at least a dozen discrete wave-

lengths between 375 and 785 nm, and the

Mobius Photonics (Mountain View, CA)

Rainbow source with outputs switchable

between individual wavelengths at 557,

571, 585, 600, and 616 nm to target par-

ticular fl uorescent markers.

Communications

and optical storage

“Challenging economic times may cause

telecom providers to consider holding off

on some investments to their optical net-

works, but rapid growth in bandwidth

demand is here to stay,” says Sinclair

Vass, JDSU (Milpitas, CA) senior direc-

tor of marketing. “Providers will need to

upgrade capacity in order to keep pace

with the popularity of multimedia and

video-rich applications used by consum-

ers. This will continue to drive long-term

growth opportunities for optical compo-

nent vendors like JDSU.” In 2011, laser

sales into communications and optical

storage applications grew to $2.26 bil-

lion and $0.82 billion, respectively, for

combined sales of $3.08 billion. Sales are

expected to rise to $3.15 billion in 2012

as telecom markets return to long-term

growth rates of 6–10% and optical stor-

age, at least for now, continues its decline.

The decline in optical data storage reve-

nues for CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc lasers

after 2012 refl ects falling prices, market

maturity, and the uptake of fl ash memory



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and Internet-based or “cloud” data stor-

age; however, revenues for 780 or 870 nm

laser diodes could increase if heat-assisted

magnetic recording (HAMR) technol-

ogy takes hold. Seagate (Cupertino, CA)

favors HAMR—in simple terms, using

laser diodes to heat the drive material and

alter its chemistry to enable higher-capac-

ity storage—while Hitachi GST (San Jose,

CA) favors alternative non-laser-based

patterned media to achieve storage lev-

els of 50 terabits per square inch.

In an EE Times article, International

Disk Drive and Materials Association

(IDEMA; San Jose, CA) chairman Mark

Geenen said of the HAMR/patterned

media debate, “… the big shift appears to

be a consensus on heat assisted being fi rst

and in the future moving to bit patterning

…” The article said that in early 2011, the

two sides in the road-map debate quietly

converged on HAMR as their next step. But

Keenen added, “… mainstream [HAMR]

products won’t ship until 2014 or 2015.”

For the laser communications markets,

traffi c growth continues to drive demand,

but unit sales and performance are grow-

ing faster than the non-GAAP revenues

and profi ts that go to component ven-

dors; both net and operating profi t mar-

gins are small and even negative for many

suppliers. Finisar (Sunnyvale, CA) reve-

nues grew 5.8% to $241.5 million for

the quarter ended Oct. 30, 2011 com-

pared to the previous quarter, but non-

GAAP operating margin fell to 9.8%

from 17.0% in the same quarter of 2010

(with comparable revenue); Oplink and

OpNext (both in Fremont, CA) revenues

for the period ended Sept. 30, 2011 were

down slightly to $43.4 million and $86.0

million, respectively, with net income at

just $3.1 million (7.1% of revenues) and

adjusted EBITDA of only $0.1 million;

and Oclaro (San Jose, CA) revenues for

the period ended Oct. 1, 2011 were also

LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued



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PolymicroOptical Fiber

The prepress equipment business has faced a

triple whammy: the digital (online) revolution,

the recession, and new Chinese equipment

vendors. But the equipment market stabilized in

2010. Direct laser printing has fared better, but

the lasers are commodity products. Both offset

and direct laser printing compete with inkjet

printing, in different ways.

Includes lasers for commercial prepress systems

and photofinishing, as well as conventional laser

printers for consumer and commercial applications.

Revenues

($M)

Image recording

48

62

4347 48

Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011

Laser Focus World

down slightly to $105.8 million compared

to $109.2 million for the previous quar-

ter (and largely impacted by the fl oods in

Thailand), while operating loss was $9.6

million or 9% of revenues. JDSU fared

a little better in non-GAAP operating

margin at 10.9% although net revenues

declined to $421.1 million for the quarter

ended Oct. 1, 2011 compared to $472.3

million for the previous quarter.

Communications laser suppliers are

hopeful that components for high-

speed 100 Gbit/s and coherent commu-

nications schemes that command higher

prices will improve both revenues and

profi tability in 2012. One thing is cer-

tain; such 2011 milestones as 100 Tbit/s

fi ber transmission and the 1 Tbit/s pho-

tonic integrated circuit (PIC) from

Infi nera (Sunnyvale, CA) illustrate that

the thirst for high-speed, high-band-

width optical communications shows

no signs of subsiding.

Image recording

With commercial release imminent, a

new handheld laser-enabled inkjet print-

ing device called PrintBrush—invented

by Swedish engineer Alex Breton and re-

portedly taking 11 years and $10 million

dollars to develop—is simply swiped

across a sheet of paper, delivering the

printed image. Mouse-like IR laser di-

ode sensors track the printer’s movement

and pinpoint its position (both velocity

and direction of motion) by measuring

the scatter and power fl uctuations of the

refl ected beams. The ability to navigate

across the paper using photonics elimi-

nates the age-old condition that a printer

could never be narrower than its paper.

Beyond this new laser application,

RGB lasers—typically DPSS with 473

and 532 nm for blue and green, respec-

tively, from companies like Cobolt (Solna,

Sweden)—are still being used in laser

recorders for digital photofi nishing to

print digitally stored images on photo-

graphic paper, and in laser scanners to

transfer fi lm images to digital format. “In

the last few years, a major evolution of

the global printing market shows con-

tinuous shrinking of the traditional off-

set market [globally -15%] and strong



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Year 2008 2009 20122010 2011

The sweet spot for laser projection is in larger

displays: conference room projectors, home

cinema, digital cinema, and as always, laser light

shows. If green laser diodes can be

commercialized soon, there is still an opportunity

for lasers in portable projectors. But there is

competition from LEDs and, more recently,

tablets with touch-screen LCDs. Even digital

cinema is moving slowly; an important safety

approval was won in the US, but widespread

adoption is still years away.

Includes lasers used for light shows, digital cinema,

front and rear projectors, picoprojectors, and laser

pointers.

Revenues

($M)

Entertainment and display

33

22 2325

30


LASER

MARKETPLACE

2012 cont inued

growth of new digital printing methods

like inkjet [+15%] or Xerography [+14%],”

says Guido Hennig, head of R&D laser

engraving technology at Daetwyler

Graphics AG (Bleienbach, Switzerland).

Although traditional printing markets

are suffering in some areas due to evolv-

ing digital media and the Internet, Hennig

says that new laser applications are devel-

oping as a result of this digital revolu-

tion. “Today’s digital printing methods

like inkjet or Xerography require mostly

expensive special inks or special substrate

materials and consumables that dominate

the costs of printing and stress the envi-

ronment. A direct-writing process under

development at Daetwyler called laser-

induced backward transfer of ink (LIBT)

enables digital printers to work with nor-

mal, inexpensive inks commonly used in

today’s rotogravure processes.” Hennig

adds, “Moreover, water-based ‘green’

inks or dry (solvent free) inks are suited

for the LIBT process, and won’t stress the

environment with harsh solvents.”

Revenues for lasers in the image record-

ing industry reached $48 million in 2011

and are forecast to stay fl at for 2012.

Entertainment and displays

Consumers have fallen in love with their

media tablets: According to InfoTrends

(Weymouth, MA), worldwide tablet ship-

ments will grow at a compound annual

rate of nearly 60%, increasing from 17

million units in 2010 to more than 175

million units in 2015. This proliferation

of electronic displays is not just a personal

obsession; digital signage is popping up in

department stores and restaurants, giving

customers new, interactive ways to review

merchandise and order goods and services.

Emerging laser-based offerings that

will benefi t from the growing digital sig-

nage trend include Casio’s (Tokyo, Japan)

LASER & LED HYBRID light engine

for projection applications and Prysm’s

(San Jose, CA) low-power-consumption

Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technol-

ogy, which is interactively welcoming

customers with Twitter messages as part

of Lady Gaga’s 2011/2012 holiday win-

dow display at Barney’s Madison Avenue,

New York fl agship store—good news for

all the “Little Monsters” out there.

In the entertainment industry, lasers

continue to dazzle. At the 2011 MTV

Video Music Awards, YLS Entertainment

(Los Alamitos, CA) used four 12 W green

Nd:YAG lasers controlled by Pangolin’s

(Orlando, FL) LD2000 laser system to

accompany the performance of Miami

rapper Pitbull. YLS also used six KVANT

laser projectors—0.5 W of green DPSS

laser power in each—to enhance the per-

formance of Enrique Iglesias at the 2011

American Music Awards.

In 2011, sales of lasers used in enter-

tainment and displays reached $30.4

million. Growth of 9% will take sales

to $33.0 million for 2012.

Pump and other lasers

Lasers used to pump DPSS and fi ber

lasers will account for $297 million in

sales for 2012. While sales numbers

have historically been larger for DPSS

pump lasers, sales for fi ber laser pumps

will surpass DPSS pumps by 2014 and

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Laser 1:

Excitation

Phase plate

Excitation

Observation

>200 nm

<<200 nm

a) STED

+

=

Scan

yx

z

Objective

200

100

00 100 200

c) Observing diameter (nm)

STED power (mW)

DCDCF

Detector

Fluorescence

Laser 2:

STED

0

1

0

On

Off

100 200

b) Fluorescence

STED power (mW)

y

x

Exc. Flu. Stim. em.

S1

S0


Super-resolution STED microscopy

advances with yellow CW OPSL

ALF HONIGMANN, CHRISTIAN EGGELING, MATTHIAS SCHULZE, and ARNAUD LEPERT

Researchers have a growing need to

push optical microscopy beyond the

diffraction limit to answer key ques-

tions in biology, and stimulated emis-

sion depletion (STED) has proven to

be a fl uorescence imaging technique

that can accomplish this goal.1 Initial-

ly demonstrated with ultrafast pulsed

lasers, STED with continuous-wave

(CW) lasers is much

simpler and less costly

to implement.2 When

combined with a gat-

ed detection scheme,

it subjects the samples

to much lower laser

powers, which helps

minimize cell photodamage when per-

forming live cell imaging.3

This article describes the fi rst use

of a CW, 577 nm OPSL, which offers

the lowest output noise in this biologi-

cally important spectral region for the

STED effect. It also reviews the use of

this system for combining STED with

fl uorescence correlation spectroscopy

(FCS), which for example allows the

observation of the nanoscale move-

ment and interaction of molecules in

cell membranes.4

STED nanoscopy

Biologists are currently seeking to

connect molecular behavior to mac-

roscopic behavior—for example, de-

termining how cells signal with each

other, and how signaling at the cellu-

lar/organism level is then relayed back

to DNA/RNA level control to regu-

late single genes. This means connect-

ing chemistry, activity, and structure

at the highest possible spatial resolu-

tion, and with suffi cient temporal res-

The low noise of a 577 nm CW optically

pumped semiconductor laser (OPSL)

enables researchers to image cellular

structures and membrane dynamics

with unprecedented resolution using

blue/green fl uorophores.

FIGURE 1. Principle of STED. a)

Schematic drawing of the setup

of a STED nanoscope with phase

plate, objective lens dichroic mirror

(DC), fl uorescence fi lter (F), detector,

scanning device and excitation, and

STED lasers with their focal intensity

distribution (right) and a representative,

sub-diffraction-sized observation

area. b) STED nanoscopy is based

on inhibiting fl uorescence emission

by de-exciting the excited S1 state

to the S0 ground state via stimulated

emission. The probability to switch

off fl uorophores is increased with

increasing STED power. c) This power

dependence delivers sub-diffraction-

sized observation volumes: The

volume in which fl uorescence emission

is still allowed (green, insets) decreases

with increasing STED laser power.

BIOPHOTONICS








a) b)

1 μm 1 μm


BIOPHOTONICS cont inued

olution to follow dynamic sub-cellular

events in real time.

Fluorescence microscopy underpins

much of this important research – using

dyes, labels or fl uorescently tagged gene

products to map the location and move-

ment of specifi c molecules and/or ions

(e.g., Ca2+). However, the spatial reso-

lution of optical microscopy is limited

by diffraction to a level of detail roughly

equal to half the wavelength of the light

source being used.

Techniques including multiphoton

excitation, structured illumination, or

4-Pi microscopy have pushed this bar-

rier in spatial resolution as given by dif-

fraction to its absolute limits, but they

cannot truly break it and cannot deliver

unlimited resolution. STED microscopy

has emerged as the fi rst approach that

can in principle deliver 3D images with

unlimited spatial resolution, and which

has broad applicability and speed.1 As

a result, STED can be implemented in

experiments that probe nanoscale bio-

logical events in real time. More impor-

tantly, it is now showing the potential to

enable these studies in live cells.

The STED technique

A STED nanoscope uses two laser

beams. The fi rst is the excitation laser,

which as in confocal microscopy is usu-

ally focused to a near-diffraction-limited

spot within a fl uorescently labeled sam-

ple. The excitation wavelength of this

laser is chosen to match the absorption

peak of the target fl uorophore(s).

In a confocal microscope, an aperture

is used so that the photodetector can only

“see” fl uorescence excited at the x-y-z

point coincident with the focused beam.

A 3D image is then built up by x-y raster-

ing this spot at successive z-axis depths.

In STED, the x-y-z volume from which

molecules are detected is defi ned by the

overlay of the excitation laser with a sec-

ond (STED) laser beam, rather than a con-

focal aperture. Specifi cally, a phase mask

is used to produce a focal intensity dis-

tribution with one or more zero-intensity

points such as a donut-shaped beam with

a dark (zero intensity) center (see Fig. 1).

The STED laser wavelength is centered at

a longer wavelength than the excitation

laser and serves to inhibit the fl uorophore’s

excited state via stimulated emission.

When applying a high enough STED

laser power above a certain threshold,

all the excited fl uorophores in the path

of the STED beam emit at the STED

wavelength making them unavailable

for (spontaneous) fl uorescence. As a

result, fl uorescence excited by the fi rst

laser can only occur in the dark hole

in the middle of the STED donut. The

reason why fl uorescence inhibition can

be used to defi ne a sampling region that

is smaller than the diffraction limit fol-

lows from its dependence on the laser

intensity. So as the STED laser inten-

sity is increased relative to the threshold

FIGURE 2. gSTED imaging with a 577 nm OPSL. Scanning confocal and gSTED images

of (a) 40 nm fl uorescent yellow-green beads and (b) microtubule in mammalian cells

immunostained with Alexa 488. Spatial resolution in (a) is 50 nm.



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a)

Detection area (μm2)

c) Transit time (ms)

0.07

0.2

0.0

tau (s)

b) Normalized G (tau)

10-210-310-410-5

0.060.050.040.030.020.010

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

D = 5 μm2/s

1.1

1.0

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

1.7

1.8

1.9

2.0

ConfocalgSTED

Single molecule diffusion5 nm

Coverglass

Tuning

detection area

via gSTED

Lipid bilayer

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FIGURE 3. gSTED-FCS with a 577 nm OPSL. a) Schematic of the membrane model system; the diffusion of fl uorescently labeled

phosphatidylcholine (BODIPY-FL) is probed in a fl uid lipid bilayer deposited on glass. b) Correlation curves of BODIPY-PC recorded in a

typical gSTED-FCS measurement. With gSTED the infl ection point is shifted to shorter times, indicating a decrease in the detection area. c)

FCS diffusion law: The mean transit times are plotted against the size of the detection area (diameter-squared). The linear relation passing

through the origin indicates free Brownian motion on all spatial scales tested with a diffusion constant of D = 5 μm² (solid red line).



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Fermionics

4555 Runway St. • Simi Valley, CA 93063

Tel (805) 582-0155 • Fax (805) 582-1623

w w w . f e r m i o n i c s . c o m

• Analog bandwidth to 8 GHz.

• FC, SC, and ST receptacles.

• Active diameter from 50 μm to 5 mm.

• Standard and custom ceramic submounts.

• TO-style packages available with flat

AR-coated windows, ball lens and dome lens.

• Standard axial pigtail packages and

miniature ceramic pigtail packages, all

available with low back-reflection fiber.

Communications

Opto-Technology

Medical

Instrumention

Imaging / Sensing


BIOPHOTONICS cont inued

for fl uorescence inhibition by stimu-

lated emission, the area in which fl uo-

rescence is still allowed (i.e., the area

sampled by fl uorescence detection) is

effectively shrunk.

Depending on the setup and phase

mask, STED can reduce the sampled

volume just in the x-y plane or in all

three spatial (x-y-z) axes.1 A 2D or 3D

image is then built up by scanning the

sample volume across the sample, just as

with a confocal microscope. As already

noted, the reduction in fl uorescence vol-

ume and thus spatial resolution of the

acquired images is in principle unlim-

ited. In experiments so far, STED images

have been acquired with a resolution

down to 20 nm in cells and 5 nm in

solid materials; i.e., with observation

areas 1600-fold smaller than in the dif-

fraction-limited confocal case.

Continuous-wave STED

Initially, STED was implemented using

pulsed lasers where the STED pulse im-

mediately follows the excitation pulse.

This confi guration realizes the most ef-

fi cient fl uorescence inhibition, since it

ensures the most appropriate STED ac-

tion in terms of high laser peak inten-

sity and timing. However, these pulsed

confi gurations usually require carefully

synchronization of the lasers and require

complex and costly laser systems such as

modelocked laser systems.

These challenges are particularly

true in the case of many live-cell exper-

iments, where fl uorescent labels such

as the green or yellow fl uorescent pro-

tein (GFP, YFP) are often used. Because

these common fl uorophores are opti-

mized for blue excitation around 488

nm, this requires an optimum STED

laser wavelength around 560–600 nm.

For ultrafast pulses, this must be sup-

plied by a optical parametric oscillator

(OPO) pumped by a Ti:sapphire system.

Therefore, an important development

in STED was to switch to the use of CW

lasers. Combined with fast scanning,

this allowed the recording of live-cell

nanoscopy images.2, 5 Here, scan rates

of several kilohertz avoid building up a

population of fl uorophores in the triplet

or other (“photo-unstable”) dark states,

thereby minimizing photodamage.

Still, a disadvantage of such CW

recordings is the continuous excitation

during fl uorescence detection, and hence

a less pronounced fl uorescence inhibi-

tion at the slopes of the zero-intensity

point. The limitation is manifested as

an additional blurring in the CW-STED

images, compromising the separation of

object details.3

This problem can be surpassed by

implementing pulsed-laser excitation in

combination with a CW-STED laser and

time-gated detection. Importantly, this

gated detection scheme allows the use

of lower STED laser powers to realize

enhanced spatial resolution, thus min-

imizing the photostress on the sample.

In fact, gated CW-STED (gSTED) and

fast scanning now enable the recording

of live-cell images with CW-STED laser

powers of less than 100 mW.3

gSTED requires

low-noise CW laser

Fast-scanning gSTED nanoscopy puts

rather specifi c demands on laser perfor-

mance in terms of wavelength, power, and

noise. An important prerequisite is the use

of CW lasers with low noise, since any

fl uctuations in the power level compro-

mise the performance.3 In terms of power,

studies to date have needed between 100

and 250 mW of STED light at the sample.3

Because of losses in the phase mask and

other optics, as well as the need for a nor-

mal experimental overhead, this translates

into a requirement for a yellow laser with

at least 2 W of power.

We therefore recently switched to an

OPSL for this purpose—a Coherent

Genesis, which is an OPSL delivering

up to 3 W of output at 577 nm. This



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Opto-Technology


laser produces very low noise and results

in a corresponding high degree of sys-

tem sensitivity and data quality. This can

be seen in the gSTED images obtained

using the OPSL to deliver a power of 150

mW at the sample (see Fig. 2).

Shown are 40 nm yellow fl uorescent

beads and the microtubule of mamma-

lian cells labeled with the organic dye

Alexa 488. Both the yellow fl uores-

cent beads and the dye Alexa 488 were

excited with a pulsed laser system at 488

nm and their emission bands are simi-

lar to GFP or YFP, i.e., optimized for

the 577 nm OPSL system. These images

illustrate the superior resolution of the

gSTED technique over conventional dif-

fraction-limited confocal images.

Combining gSTED with FCS

Many questions in cell biology require

dynamic imaging. One of the authors’

research interests is studying the move-

ment of lipid and protein molecules in

cell membranes and investigating what

role (if any) this movement plays in cell

signaling. In layman’s terms, signaling

means determining how a cell knows

that it has touched another cell, how

a nucleus knows what is happening at

the outer cell membrane, or how a cell

knows what an adjacent cell is doing.

While STED has proved well suited

to imaging at speeds up to 80 frames/s1,

this speed is still not high enough to fol-

low all of the dynamics of the lipid mem-

brane organization. A more sophisticated

approach is to use fl uorescence correla-

tion spectroscopy (FCS) techniques to

analyze the fl uctuating intensity data as

labeled lipids (or proteins) move in and

out of the measurement volume.

This approach enables us to observe

how these molecules interact on the

nanoscale, and to observe any hetero-

geneity in their diffusion characteristics.

For example, previous experiments on

the use of STED in conjunction with

FCS have delivered the spatial and tem-

poral resolution to observe differences

between free and hindered motion of

fl uorescently labeled lipid molecules,

and revealed new information about

the spatial and temporal scale of their

interactions.4

These first STED-FCS measure-

ments were done using pulsed STED

lasers; however, the combination of CW

lasers and gated detection has proven

to be advantageous for FCS studies.3

Measuring fl uctuations in the fl uores-

cence signal using FCS or STED-FCS

requires the use of very low noise lasers.

Therefore, we again used the 577 nm

OPSL to enables gSTED-FCS measure-

ments of BODIPY-labeled lipids in a sup-

ported lipid membrane (see Fig. 3).

The recording of accurate gSTED-

FCS data is possible for observation

areas down to 50 nm in diameter (by

increasing both the STED power as well

as optimizing the timing of the gated

detection3). The transit times of the lip-

ids through the observation area depend

linearly on the area’s size, indicating free

Brownian diffusion as expected in these

kind of model systems.4

REFERENCES

1. S.W.Hell, “Far-Field Optical Nanoscopy,”

Science, 316, 1153–1158 (2007).

2. K.I. Willig, B. Harke, R. Medda, and S.W. Hell,

“STED microscopy with continuous wave

beams,” Nat. Methods, 4, 915–918, (2007).

3. G. Vicidomini et al., “Sharper low-power STED

nanoscopy by time gating,” Nat. Methods, 8,

571–573 (2011).

4. C. Eggeling et al., “Direct observation of the

nanoscale dynamics of membrane lipids in a

living cell,” Nature, 457, 1159–U1121 (2009).

5. G.R. Moneron et al, “Fast STED microscopy

with continuous wave fi ber lasers,” Opt. Exp.,

18, 1302–1309 (2010).

Alf Honigmann and Christian Eggeling are

with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical

Chemistry, Department Nanobiophotonics,

Göttingen, Germany; e-mail: ceggeli@gwdg.

de. Matthias Schulze and Arnaud Lepert

are with Coherent, Santa Clara, CA, e-mail:

[email protected]; www.

coherent.com.



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Dopedcore

Pump lightfrom diode

Inner cladding(silica)

Outer cladding(polymer)

b)a)


Matching active and passive fi bers

improves fi ber laser performance

GEORGE OULUNDSEN, KEVIN FARLEY, JAROSLAW ABRAMCZYK, and KANXIAN WEI

In this article, we review some of the

methods used to match fi bers and dis-

cuss how measurements play an im-

portant role in the manufacturing of

matched fi bers. We also show how

matched fi bers can improve overall la-

ser performance, enabling singlemode

beam quality at high powers. Finally,

we present the methodology and re-

sults of matching active and passive

fi bers and discuss the key measure-

ments necessary for fi ber matching.

Advances in fi ber technology are a

key factor in fi ber lasers oper-

ating at high power levels.

These fi bers are most

commonly based on

the double-clad fi ber

geometry, commonly

with an octagon-

shaped inner clad-

ding to increase pump

absorption (see Fig. 1).

More recent improve-

ments in the fiber

technology include

the optimization of

the glass composition to eliminate

photo-darkening and improvements

to the low-index polymer coating used

in double-clad fi bers to form the pump

waveguide.

Together these steps enable com-

mercially available double-clad fi bers

that operate reliably at the 1 kW power

level without degradation of the sin-

glemode beam quality while main-

taining lifetimes in line with industrial

laser standards. A more recent chal-

lenge has been sustaining this perfor-

mance at the multikilowatt level.

A typical kilowatt-level fi ber laser

is based on a large-mode-area (LMA)

Yb-doped double-clad fi ber, pumped

by multiple laser diodes and operating

either in a grating-based laser oscilla-

tor or a master oscillator power ampli-

fi er (MOPA) architecture with the

LMA fi ber deployed in the amplifi er

stage. In either case, a series of passive-

to-active (Yb-doped) fi bers are spliced

to form a monolithic chain of fi ber

components (gratings, couplers, pas-

sive delivery fi ber). Industry-standard

Yb-doped LMA fi ber is a 20/400

design, based on a 20-μm-diameter,

low-NA core (0.065, typically) with a

400-μm-diameter shaped inner clad-

ding for the pump waveguide.

The challenge has been to operate

this chain of fi bers and components at

the multikilowatt power level without

deteriorating the output beam qual-

ity, while maintaining the required

level of system reliability. In particu-

Fiber laser performance at the kilowatt

power level has been improved by the

careful matching of the active and

passive fi bers, which has led to more

repeatable splices with lower loss, better

thermal management by minimizing

stray light, and the ability to operate

at higher powers while maintaining

singlemode beam quality.

FIGURE 1. Optical

fi bers are most

commonly based on

the double-clad fi ber

geometry (a), commonly

with an octagon-

shaped inner cladding

to increase pump

absorption (b).

FIBER FOR FIBER LASERS








Splice

Round 395-μmPassive fiber

Octagon 400-μmActive fiber

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FIBER FOR FIBER LASERS cont inued

lar, there have been reports on the ten-

dency of higher orders in the LMA core

to propagate and deteriorate the beam

quality at high power levels above 1 kW.

To achieve high powers reliably

and repeatedly, the fi ber components

within the fi ber laser need to be care-

fully matched, beyond the tolerances of

the previous generation of LMA fi ber

technology. With the correct selection

and matching of the

entire chain of active

and passive fi bers, we

have demonstrated a

stable singlemode

beam from the lat-

est generation of

commercially avail-

able matched dou-

ble-clad LMA fi bers

at the 2 kW output

power while main-

taining singlemode

beam quality.

Matching

active and

passive fi bers

In a double-clad fi -

ber there are two waveguides: the Yb-

doped core that forms the signal wave-

guide and the inner cladding waveguide

for the pump light. The inner cladding of

active fi ber is often shaped to scramble

the cladding modes and increase pump

overlap with the doped core.

The matching of active and passive

fi bers for improved signal integrity

requires optimization of the core/clad

concentricity, and the mode fi eld diam-

eter (MFD) through the core diameter

and NA, which reduces splice loss. This

is primarily done by tightening all of the

pertinent fi ber specifi cations.

Matching fi bers for improved pump

coupling requires optimization of the

clad diameter for both the passive and

the active fi ber. To maximize the amount

of pump power coupled into the active

fi ber, the active fi ber is designed with a

slightly larger clad diameter than the

passive fi bers delivering the pump power.

As an example, passive fi bers with clad

diameters of 395 μm spliced to active

octagon-shaped fi ber with clad diame-

ters of 400 μm improve the coupling of

the pump power into the active fi ber (see

Fig. 2). Note the increase in the cladding

diameter at the splice of the passive fi ber

to the active fi ber.

The matching of active and passive

fi bers can be optimized in several ways.

The easiest method for matching the

signal carrying light is to have identi-

cal NA and core diameters for each

fi ber. However, this does not account

for all the refractive-index profi le fea-

tures. Matching of the MFD is also a

method used to create matched signal

carrying fi bers.

We found matching all three of t hese

components provides the best set of

fi bers to build high-power amplifi ers and

lasers. Essentially, the MFD is modeled

and the resulting target NA and core

diameter are developed. The core-rod is

made and before being drawn into fi ber

its core diameter and NA are checked.

Based on the refractive index measure-

ments, the fi nal core/clad ratio is deter-

mined and adjusted to the target MFD.

This approach accounts for details of

the refractive index profi le, which can

be measured easily and with high accu-

racy on the preform, before it is drawn

FIGURE 2. Passive fi bers with clad diameters of 395 μm spliced

to active octagon-shaped fi ber with clad diameters of 400 μm

improve the coupling of the pump power into the active fi ber.




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MFD (μm)

Power loss due to splice (%)

20.4019.63

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

18.8518.0817.3116.5315.76

Unmatchedfiber

Matchedfiber


into fi ber. The splice loss (as a percent of

total power) vs. different MFD specifi ca-

tions based on modeling results can be

shown (see Fig. 3). It demonstrates when

the MFD specifi cation is larger (15.76 to

20.4 μm)—typical of unmatched fi bers—

the splice loss due to MFD mismatch can

be much greater than matched fi bers with

tighter MFD specifi cations. The shaded

area is an example of splice loss for preci-

sion matched fi bers where the MFD spec-

ifi cation is much tighter

(16 to 18.5 μm).

In addition to the

parameters described

above, other optical and

geometrical parameters

have been tightened in

matched fi bers. Through

processing improvements

and tighter control of the

core NA, the spectral

core attenuations and the

bending loss have been

reduced. The core/clad

offset of these fi bers has

also been minimized,

making splicing of the

active and passive fi bers

more repeatable and easier. Additionally,

tightening of the cladding and coating

diameters has further reduced variation

and created a more reliable product.

Testing and measurement

for matched fi bers

Accurate testing and measurement, and

a reproducible and repeatable manufac-

turing process are vital to providing well-

matched LMA fi bers. The key parame-

ters that need to be measured for feedback

and process control are NA, core and clad

diameter, core/clad offset, MFD, and

core and cladding attenuation.

Only fi bers meeting specifi c match-

ing requirements are sold as matched

sets, having fi rst satisfi ed our criteria

for repeatability and yield as demanded

in high-volume manufacturing. Testing

is done on both commercially available

benches and home-built machines.

Spectral core attenuation and clad-

ding attenuations are measured on com-

mercially available metrology equipment.

To effectively measure the core back-

ground losses in LMA fi bers, a high-order

mode fi lter consisting of approximately

100-mm-diameter loop is necessary. Using

loops larger than 100 mm diameter will

cause the higher-order modes to skew the

FIGURE 3. Relative splice loss dependence as a function of

MFD equivalence.

Home-built fi ber geometry bench vs.

two commercial geometry benches

ParameterBench A 1-σspecifi cation

Bench A 1-σtypical values

Home-built 1-σtypical values

*Bench B 1-σspecifi cation

Core diameter 0.02 0.012 0.007 0.05

Core noncircularity 0.5 0.203 0.038 1.00

Clad diameter 0.01 0.004 0.002 0.05

Clad noncircularity 0.05 0.005 0.001 0.1

Core/clad offset 0.01 0.008 0.003 0.04

*Note: Typical 1-σ values for Bench B were not available



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Launched pump power (W)

Output signal power (W)

2500

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

200015001000

y = 0.889x – 11.099

5000

FIBER FOR FIBER LASERS cont inued

results. Conversely, placing the fi ber in a

smaller-diameter loop would signifi cantly

increase the fundamental mode macroben-

ding losses, increasing measurement noise

in the higher wavelength region.

Measuring the core background atten-

uation also requires an effective cladding

mode stripper. One effective method

to remove cladding mode power is to

replace the fi ber coating on both fi ber

ends with index matching fl uid.

Two important parameters to control

for optimal fi ber matching are the core

and clad geometries, especially the core/

clad offset. A fi ber geometry bench capa-

ble of measuring a wide range of fi ber

diameters that offers exceptional repeat-

ability is necessary to best match active

and passive fi bers.

There are limited commercial mea-

surement devices available, but devel-

oping a home-built bench capable of

measuring larger clad fi bers repeatedly

is feasible. The table shows the stan-

dard deviations of a home-built bench

and two commercially available benches

(Bench A and Bench B). All of these

benches are capable of measuring the

core and clad diameters, core and clad

noncircularity, and the core/clad offset.

The home-built bench was designed

and functions based on the principles

of FOTP-176. It is important the repeat-

ability be superior to

best match active and

passive fi bers. Based

on the standard devi-

ations reported in

the table, the repeat-

ability of the home-

built bench is better

than the commercial

benches.

We believe the

core diameter varia-

tion caused by mea-

surement is primarily

related to variations

in the modal power distribution of the

light source. Uniform core illumination

must be used to reduce the modal power

distribution, both spatially and angu-

larly. Nonuniform core illumination

causes some modes of the few-moded

LMA fi bers to become the dominant

modes. Therefore, if the source NA is

unstable and illuminates the core differ-

FIGURE 4. Power effi ciency plot for a 2 kW co-pumped MOPA

fi ber laser with matched fi bers.



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ently each time, then the modal power

distribution in the fi ber core will change.

Consequently, the intensity profi le of

the core will change, which changes the

measured core diameter value.

We found one way to stabilize the

core diameter measurement is to fi x the

launch NA and launch spot size. Equally

illuminated step index fi ber is used to

deliver the light from the source to the

fi ber under test.

The other improvement in the home-

built bench was reducing the wavelength

of the illumination. The wavelength of

the source was decreased from 850 nm

to 530 nm. Decreasing the wavelength of

the source light introduces more modes

into the core and helps stabilize the mode

power distribution and intensity profi le

of the core, improving the core geometry

measurement performance. Using these

techniques reduced the core diameter

standard deviation by a factor of 1.7 com-

pared to commercially available benches.

Test results

As a demonstration of the laser perfor-

mance improvement using matched fi -

bers, a power effi ciency curve is shown in

Fig. 4 for a 2 kW co-pumped fi ber MOPA

system using matched 20/400 LMA fi bers.

The effi ciency is around 89% and a sim-

ilar laser system using unmatched fi bers

would have higher splice losses, lower effi -

ciency, and not provide a singlemode beam

at power levels greater than 1 kW because

of the presence of higher-order modes.

Figure 5 shows the power intensity

map for a similar laser to that shown in

Fig. 4. Note the symmetry of the beam

output and power density look good.

The M2 value for this laser is 1.1.

High-power double-clad fi bers are

commercially available that operate

at the 2 kW power levels. Precision

matched LMA double-clad passive and

active fi bers are now

becoming available

and improve laser

performance by

reducing the loss,

confi ning the light

better, and pro-

viding good beam

quality at high oper-

ating powers. Such

improvements fur-

ther enhance the

capabilities of fi ber

laser technology and

have facilitated the

growth of high-power

fi ber lasers. In coming

years, as precision-matched fi bers con-

tinuously improve and become more

available, fi ber lasers operating above

10 kW will become readily available.

REFERENCES

1. FOTP-176 - IEC 60793-1-20 Optical Fibres

Part 1-20: Measurement Methods and Test

Procedures - Fibre Geometry (ANSI/TIA-455-

176-A-2003).

2. FOTP-78 - IEC 60793-1-40 Optical Fibres

Part 1-40: Measurement Methods and Text

Procedures - Attenuation (ANSI/TIA-455-

78-B-2002).

George Oulundsen, PhD, is fi ber product

line manager; Kevin Farley, Ph.D., is

scientist–research & development; Jaroslaw

Abramczyk is technical manager–fi ber test

and measurement; and Kanxian Wei is

senior scientist–research & development at

Nufern, 7 Airport Park Rd., East Granby, CT

06026; e-mail: [email protected];

www.nufern.com.

Tell us what you think about this article. Send an

e-mail to [email protected].

FIGURE 5. Power intensity plot of co-pumped MOPA fi ber laser;

M2 value for this laser is 1.1.



Berliner Glas KGaA Herbert Kubatz GmbH & [email protected]

SwissOptic [email protected]

www.berlinerglasgroup.com


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Wavelength (nm)

Absorbance (× 10-3)

3600

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0350034003300320031003000

Methane

Propane

Ethane

Ethene

Propene

Acetylene


LARS HILDEBRANDT and LARS NÄHLE

DFB laser diodes expand

hydrocarbon sensing beyond 3 μm

Tunable diode laser spectroscopy is

a versatile technique for the detailed

characterization of gas compositions.

The types of constituents and their

concentrations, for example, can be

determined with high accuracy by

making use of the unique absorption

features of each gas species. However,

TDLS is critically dependent on the

availability of suitable laser sources

for the designated gas-sensing appli-

cations. Monomode DFB laser di-

odes in the near-infrared (NIR) wave-

length range up to around 3

μm have successfully been

used in a multitude of indus-

trial applications in the past,

and technologically relevant

gas species in those applica-

tions include water (H2O),

carbon monoxide (CO),

carbon dioxide (CO2), and

ammonia (NH3).

Application-grade mono-

mode lasers for TDLS

beyond the 3 μm limit

have—until recently—

been unavailable, posing a

severe limitation for sens-

ing applications especially

considering the detection

of hydrocarbons.

Many hydrocarbons

have strong absorp-

tion features in the

mid-infrared (MIR)

wavelength range

between 3.0 and 3.5

μm where their fun-

damental absorption bands can be

situated (see Fig. 1).1 Performing

TDLS on the basis of those absorp-

tions, with line strengths often orders

of magnitude stronger than those

of corresponding NIR absorptions,

enables hydrocarbon detection with

formerly unattained precision.

One of the most interesting

hydrocarbon applications is accurate

process control in the petrochemical

industry, which can lead to higher

energy efficiency and pollutant

reduction. A major advantage

of using laser spectroscopy on

hydrocarbons in the MIR compared

to currently used techniques such as

gas chromatography is the possibility

of real-time analysis with TDLS.

Thanks to recent developments

by nanoplus within the European

project SensHy (www.senshy.eu),

DFB lasers with application-grade

performance for highly sensitive

TDLS hydrocarbon detection in the

3.0-to-3.5-μm MIR wavelength range

are now commercially available.

DFB laser technology

To fabricate its monomode DFB laser

diodes, nanoplus uses a proprietary

technology based on lateral metal

grating structures.2 The gratings—

with dimensions on the order of 100

nm—are defi ned next to the

sidewalls of etched ridge wave-

guide structures using high-pre-

cision electron beam lithogra-

phy (see Fig. 2).3 The feedback

structures are then patterned by

metal evaporation, resulting in

DFB laser devices.

This cost-effective DFB laser

diode fabrication approach has

been used for more than 10

years and eliminates the need

for epitaxial overgrowth in

the device layers, thus avoiding

impaired laser performance due

to patterning-induced defects

near the active region. Now

nanoplus has commercialized

Tunable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS)

enabled by distributed-feedback (DFB)

laser diodes with monomode tuning

behavior in the wavelength range

exceeding 3 μm expands hydrocarbon

sensing applications.

FIGURE 1. The absorbance spectra are shown for

selected hydrocarbons in the 3.0-3.6 μm mid-infrared

region. Data are provided by the HITRAN molecular

database. (Adapted from P. Kluczynski et al.1)

P H O T O N I C S A P P L I E D : M I D - I R S E N S I N G




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Normalized intensity (dB)

Wavelength (nm)

Current (mA)

Output power(mW)

180

2.0

-50

Voltage(V)

1.5

3.0 3.0

2.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

2.0

1.5

2.5

1.0

0.5

0.01601401201008040200 60

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

3400336033203280

SMSR45 dB

10°C

13°C

15°C

17°C

19°C

21°C

10°C

10°C /160 mA

L-I

V-I


PHOTONICS APPLIED: MID-IR SENSING cont inued

application-grade DFB laser diodes

with operation wavelengths up to 3.5

μm (in the MIR wavelength range).

For optimum operation in TDLS

applications, an epitaxial process

based on active type-I quantum wells

embedded in quinary barrier material is

used. In addition, DFB device process-

ing based on this material is custom-

ized for high performance; namely, the

laser ridge waveguides are surrounded

by a gold layer of high thermal conduc-

tivity for improved heat removal and

equipped with a highly refl ective back-

side metal coating for increased optical

output effi ciency (see Fig. 2 inset).

The long-wavelength DFB devices

are exactly matched to their desig-

nated applications in TDLS sensing and

subsequently mounted on TO headers

with internal temperature controllers.

Hermetic sealing of the headers in a dry

nitrogen atmosphere yields application-

ready, packaged DFB laser devices that

are typically capped with a sapphire

emission window, which is transpar-

ent in the wavelength range of interest.

Hydrocarbon detection

beyond 3 μm

Representative L-I curve data at dif-

ferent Peltier-controlled chip temper-

atures for the DFB devices at 3.36 μm

(see Fig. 3)reveal continuous-wave,

room-temperature operation compara-

ble to devices operating at lower wave-

lengths, with output powers in the mil-

liwatt range. The DFB devices suppress

side modes by more than 40 dB (for

one example of monomode operation

at 10°C and 160 mA; see Fig. 3 inset),

making them well suited for accurate

TDLS sensing.

By adjusting the Peltier controlled

chip temperature, the DFB emission

wavelength of the lasers can be coarsely

FIGURE 2. A 100 kV

electron-beam lithography

system is used for the

fabrication of laterally coupled

DFB laser diodes, which have

a metal grating structure and

a thick gold layer (inset).

FIGURE 3.

The L-I and V-I

characteristics of a

DFB laser at 3.36

μm in continuous-

wave operation are

shown at different

chip temperatures.

The inset shows the

spectrum of the laser

at 10°C and 160 mA.



_____________







Designed to MeasureDesigned to Measure

The barometer was invented in Italy in 1643

to measure atmospheric pressure and has been

serving mankind ever since.

No one needs a laser beam profiler

until they see what their beam

really looks like.

Here are four beams from the

same laser model. It’s well

known that:

� Beams change over time.

� Focus spot shifts over power

changes

� Intensity distribution changes

with aging optics

See for yourself, on

your laser, at your

site. Call for a demo.

www.ophiropt.com/photonics

1-866-755-5499

Now Part of theNewport Corporation

Family of world-classphotonics brands

Wavelength (μm)

Transmission

3.0633.0623.0613.0603.0593.058

0.90

0.85

1.00

0.95

0.80

0.75

0.70

C2H2 1000 ppm

CH4 100 ppm

C2H4 65%

C2H6 33%

C2H2

C2H2 C2H2


tuned to the desired value for the designated application with

a tuning rate of approximately 0.28 nm/K. Single absorp-

tion lines and their shapes may then be scanned with very

high precision and speed by current modulation of the emis-

sion wavelength (approximately 0.025 nm/mA) to sense gas

absorption features in a range of several nanometers.

In one example, TDLS of acetylene was performed with

a 3.06 μm DFB laser. Acetylene (C2H2) is an impurity in

the cracking process used to manufacture ethylene (C2H4),

the hydrocarbon produced in the largest volume worldwide.

For the petrochemical industry, it is important to monitor

the acetylene content with high accuracy to ensure a certain

purity and thus quality of the produced ethylene.

The acetylene fraction can be removed through a hydro-

genation process by converting it to ethylene in the follow-

ing reaction:

C2H2 + H2 → C2H4

To avoid an incomplete conversion of the C2H2 or an

undesired continuing conversion of the C2H4 to ethane

(C2H6), the optimum conditions for the hydrogenation

process may be determined by real-time monitoring of the

C2H2 concentration.

According to spectroscopic data, acetylene absorption lines

around 3.06 μm are isolated and free from interfering absorp-

tions due to a hydrocarbon background typical of a hydro-

genating reactor (65% C2H4, 33% C2H6, 100 ppm CH4). A

computed absorption spectrum in this range for 1000 ppm

FIGURE 4.

The computed

absorption

spectrum of

1000 ppm

acetylene is

shown in a

hydrocarbon

background

typical of a

hydrogenating

reactor.

One of the most interesting hydrocarbon

applications is accurate process control

in the petrochemical industry, which

can lead to higher energy effi ciency and

pollutant reduction.




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NanoScan provides NIST-Traceable Beam Profile and

Pointing Measurements

Designed to Measure

Made for Accuracy

The CRT oscilloscope was invented in 1897 in

Germany by Braun to allow observation of exact

waveforms of an electrical signal and has been

serving mankind ever since.

g

www.ophiropt.com/photonics

1-866-755-5499

Frequency (GHz)

Signal amplitude(ppm*m C2H2)

50

0

-50

0

1

2

3

40302010

2010

0-10

C2H2 in

ethylene (67%) and

ethane (33%)

Ethylene (67%)

and ethane (33%)

Differential TDLS of C2H2


PHOTONICS APPLIED: MID-IR SENSING

cont inued

C2H2 in the reactor background for an interaction length

of 10 cm at a temperature of 25°C indicates that this wave-

length region can therefore be used for the monitoring of

C2H2 (see Fig. 4).1

In the experiment, the temperature of an appropriate DFB

laser was set to 10°C to address the strongest acetylene line

around 3059.56 nm. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy

was performed by varying the laser current between 143 and

156 mA with a frequency of 6 kHz. Detected signal ampli-

tudes were compared when passing the laser beam through a

15-cm-long absorption cell fi lled with the hydrocarbon reac-

tor background alone and then with an additional concen-

tration of C2H2 (see Fig. 5).1 Subtracting the signals yields

the differential TDLS spectrum of C2H2 at a detection con-

centration of 3 ppm*m, enabling highly accurate control of

this particular hydrogenation process.

In addition to hydrocarbon sensing for the petrochemical

industry, real-time monitoring of explosive gas concentrations

has huge implications for an improvement in workplace safety.

The early detection of gas leaks in the industrial and private

sector is just one of many applications that will benefi t from

longer-wavelength MIR DFB devices.

REFERENCES

1. P. Kluczynski et al., Appl. Phys. B: Lasers and Opt., 105, 2, 427–434 (2011).

2. W. Zeller et al., Sensors, 10, 2492–2510 (2010).

3. L. Nähle et al., Electron. Lett., 47, 46 (2011).

Lars Hildebrandt is director of sales and Lars Nähle is a research

and process development engineer at nanoplus GmbH, Oberer

Kirschberg 4, D-97218 Gerbrunn, Germany; e-mail: lars.hildebrandt@

nanoplus.com; www.nanoplus.com.

FIGURE 5. Signal amplitudes are recorded for a laser beam

that is passed through a 15-cm-long absorption cell fi lled with

hydrocarbon reactor background alone (green) and with an

additional concentration of acetylene (blue). The inset shows the

resulting differential TDLS spectrum for acetylene.




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Femtosecondseed laser

Amplifiedfemtosecond

pulse

Polarizingbeamsplitter

Polarizingbeamsplitter

λ/4 plate

λ/4 plate Chirped VHG compressor

OR

30 mm long

Chirped VHG stretcher

Dispersive grating compressor

Dispersive grating stretcher

Amplifier~300 ps

10s of cm long


Free-space CPA approach uses

volume holographic gratings

JAMES CARRIERE and FRANK HAVERMEYER

Over the last two decades, high-pow-

er ultrafast lasers have become an en-

abling technology for numerous in-

dustrial, scientifi c, and biomedical

applications. Typical approaches for

producing very high peak powers with

diffraction gratings or fi ber Bragg grat-

ings (FBGs) are either bulky or limited

in their power-handling capability.

Achieving high

powers in short pico-

second or femtosec-

ond pulses can be

diffi cult due to non-

linear effects that

occur when concen-

trated high-power

pulses propagate

inside the gain medium of the ampli-

fi er. For many applications, chirped

volume holographic gratings (VHGs)

are able to provide the perfect com-

bination of high power-handling

capability with an extremely com-

pact size, and are now enabling new

ultrafast laser designs in a variety of

applications.

Chirped pulse amplifi cation

The chirped pulse amplifi cation (CPA)

technique was developed by Strick-

land and Mourou in 1985 to reduce

the localized intensity of the pulse dur-

ing amplifi cation.

The most common approaches to

CPA use diffraction grating pairs,

FBGs, or chirped VHGs. In each

case the low-energy seed pulse is

stretched to hundreds of picoseconds,

greatly reducing the power density

of the beam during amplifi cation

so that higher total pulse energies

can be achieved. Recompression of

the amplifi ed pulse then restores the

initial pulse length, with a greatly

increased peak power.

To produce very high-peak-power,

ultrafast laser pulses, chirped volume

holographic gratings (VHGs) offer

both high damage threshold and an

ultracompact footprint for dramatic

improvements in chirped pulse

amplifi cation (CPA) laser systems.

FIGURE 1. A diagram shows a typical CPA system using either VHGs or dispersive gratings as both the stretcher and

compressor. The VHG-based system is an order of magnitude smaller than the dispersive grating confi guration. An

equivalent FBG-based system would be similar to the VHG confi guration with dimensions limited by the minimum bend

radius of the fi ber. (Courtesy of Ondax)

ULTRAFAST LASERS








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ULTRAFAST LASERS cont inued

A typical confi guration for a CPA

system uses either VHGs or dispersive

gratings as the stretcher and compressor

elements (see Fig. 1). The length of the

grating region written in the fi ber for an

FBG is comparable to the length of the

VHG, but the total length of the fi ber

is typically meters long, meaning that

the system dimensions are determined

by the minimum bend radius of the fi ber,

which can easily be several times larger

than the length of the VHG.

The stretcher and compressor ele-

ments are designed to apply a linear

phase delay across the bandwidth of the

pulse. The stretcher elements increase

the pulse length to approximately 300

ps so it can be more effi ciently amplifi ed.

The phase delay of the stretcher and

compressor elements have opposite signs

such that short wavelengths are delayed in

one grating (normal dispersion for positive

chirp) while long wavelengths are delayed

in the other (anomalous dispersion for neg-

ative chirp). By matching the dispersion

profi le of the stretcher and compressor, the

amplifi ed pulse will have the same spectral

and temporal characteristics as the seed

pulse but with much higher power.

Comparing CPA technologies

Diffraction gratings, FBGs, and VHGs

each have their own advantages and dis-

advantages when it comes to CPA of ul-

trafast lasers.

Diffraction gratings are able to with-

stand very high pulse energies since they

are free-space elements and the light can

be distributed over a large area. This

makes them rather bulky (often tens of

centimeters in size) compared to FBGs

and VHGs. In addition, ordinary dif-

fraction gratings can easily lose 50% of

the energy after four refl ections in a typ-

ical grating stretcher/compressor system.

To reduce this loss, special transmission

gratings must be fabricated with electron-

beam lithography that add signifi cantly

to the cost. Grating compressors also

introduce higher-order phase errors that

can limit the quality of recompression.

Fiber Bragg gratings are more compact

but confi ne the pulse energy to the fi ber

core during propagation, resulting in very

high power densities. If the pulse energy

exceeds around 1 μJ of energy, nonlinear

effects such as self-phase-modulation or

Raman scattering begin to signifi cantly

affect the spectral properties of the pulse

and limit their ability to recompress it.

At very high power levels, catastrophic

breakdown of the fi bers will occur. To

minimize these nonlinear effects in the

fi ber amplifi er, long stretched pulses on

the order of 1 ns are required.

Volume holographic gratings are free-

space elements that overcome some of the

space- and power-handling limitations of

the other techniques, but have some limi-

tations in terms of bandwidth and pulse

length. Typical VHGs have dimensions

on the order of 2 × 5 × 30 mm3, making



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for Night Vision, Instrumentation,

Scientifi c Imaging and Research

HIGH PERFORMANCE

OPTICAL SHUTTERS

www.cvimellesgriot.com

SHUTTERSLENSES TABLES OEM

� Multimillion cycle design life

� Extremely low power consumption

� Easilly customized for new and

existing configurations

� Designed for extreme vibration and

temperature conditions

How can we help make your project a success?


cvimellesgriot.com/

ShutterBrochure

Pulse duration (fs)

Average power (W)

100,00010,000100010010

100

10

1

0.1

0.01


them much more compact than diffrac-

tion grating pairs and providing much

higher effi ciency (approximately 90%).

The free-space operation of VHGs also

enables much higher power densities (on

the order of tens of watts or hundreds of

microjoules) than FBGs. However, their

range of operation is somewhat con-

strained by the physical dimensions of

the glass and the maximum index change

that can be induced during recording of

the grating. For example, the length of

the grating determines the maximum

stretched pulse length. This translates

to approximately 300 ps in single-pass

confi guration for a 30-mm-long grat-

ing. The functional spectral band-

width is determined by both the length

and achievable induced index modula-

tion, which currently limits the min-

imum compressed pulse duration to

roughly hundreds of femtoseconds.

Ultimately, VHG-based CPA systems

require fewer components, are simpler

to align, and are less expensive to imple-

ment and operate.

CPA-based ultrafast

laser applications

High-power ultrafast lasers are espe-

cially useful in laser machining and cold

ablation of nearly any material. Tradi-

tional millisecond to nanosecond lasers

rely on localized heating, melting, and

vaporization of the material, limiting

their use on thermally sensitive mate-

rials. The applied thermal stresses also

produce uneven edges and micro-cracks

that can create failure mechanisms. But

the pulse duration of ultrafast lasers is

short enough that there is minimal ther-

mal transfer to the material (or a small

“heat-affected-zone”), while the peak in-

tensity is high enough to create multi-

photon absorption interactions that can

be used to ablate nearly any material.

FIGURE 2. Many ultrafast

lasers currently use CPA to

achieve higher pulse powers.

The shaded area indicates

the region where CPA is

most useful as longer pulse

lengths and lower powers

typically do not need CPA.

The area enclosed by the

dashed line indicates the

current functional operating

range of VHG-based

stretchers and compressors.

(Courtesy of Ondax)



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Custom Solutions for any Atmosphere.

UNDER PRESSURE TO

FIND STABLE MOUNTS?

www.cvimellesgriot.com

OPTICAL MOUNTSLENSES TABLES OEM

� Vacuum compatible actuators

� Thermal and Vibrational analysis

� Mounted optics flatness testing

� Special cleaning and packaging

� Cleanroom assembled and tested

� Size 12 to 450 mm18 inch mirror mount

Vibrational stability

Select your vacuum compatible product by visiting

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a) SH-intensity (a.u.)

Time delay (ps)4 53210

200

100

0

b) SH-intensity (a.u.)

Time delay (ps)4 53210

200

100

0


A common application is ophthalmic

surgery where ultrafast lasers are currently

being used as microkeratomes to create a

fl ap in the cornea for laser-assisted in situ

keratomileusis (LASIK) procedures and to

perform anterior capsulotomy, lens frag-

mentation, and corneal incisions for cata-

ract surgery. The ability to ablate organic

materials combined with the precision

machining properties of ultrafast lasers

also enables medical device manufactur-

ing such as the creation of polymeric bio-

resorbable cardiovascular stents.

Ultrafast lasers also fi nd wide use in

semiconductor and microelectronic man-

ufacturing applications. For example,

they are used in the dicing of thin silicon

wafers that are so fl exible they become a

challenge for traditional dicing machines.

Flat-panel display and solar panel manu-

facturing pose similar challenges in the

machining and patterning of ultrathin

panels and integrated thin fi lms. Laser

cutting and drilling of printed circuit

boards presents another opportunity for

ultrafast lasers to enable further minia-

turization of electronic devices.

Beyond microelectronics, there are

also heavy industrial applications for

ultrafast lasers, which include opti-

mizing fuel injection systems in the

automotive industry and fabrication of

microstructures to help reduce friction

on ship hulls for antifouling. This wide

range of applications has created suffi -

cient demand for dozens of companies

to provide ultrafast lasers and support-

ing products (see Fig. 2). While VHG-

based CPA systems are only applicable

to a portion of this applications space

at present, the performance is suffi cient

for many important applications that

FIGURE 3. Measured autocorrelation traces with curve fi ts at high repetition rates are

shown for a) a dispersive-grating-based CPA system (2 mJ pulses, 2 kHz repetition rate, 4

W average power) and b) a VHG-based system using Ondax PicoPulse gratings as both the

stretcher and compressor elements (140 μJ pulses, 100 kHz repetition rate, 14 W average

power). (Courtesy of Amplitude Systemes)



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AC signal (r.u.)

AC delay (fs)1000 20000-1000-2000

2.0

2.5

1.5

1.0

AC trace

Gauss fit


signifi cantly benefi t from their compact

form factor and high effi ciency.

Chirped VHG performance

VHGs can enable a signifi cant increase

in the average power of CPA systems

while maintaining both pulse duration

and mode quality. A performance com-

parison for a sub-picosecond laser using

a dispersive-grating-based CPA system

and a VHG-based system containing

Ondax PicoPulse pulse stretcher and

compressor gratings shows almost iden-

tical near-transform-limited pulses after

recompression (see Fig. 3).

The dispersive grating system oper-

ated at a repetition rate of 2 kHz with

2 mJ pulse energy (4 W average power)

achieved a recompressed pulse length of

910 fs, while the VHG system showed

comparable recompressed pulse dura-

tion and shape even at a moderately high

power level (14 W). The beam quality of

the VHG-based system was measured

to be M2 <1.2, indicating that the VHG

elements do not signifi cantly impact the

beam quality of the pulse. And the mea-

sured compressor effi ciency of >80%

represents a signifi cant improvement

over an ordinary dispersive-grating sys-

tem with <50% throughput or compa-

rable performance to an e-beam written

dispersive-grating system.

Typical CPA systems with VHG

stretchers and compressors are also

able to achieve near-transform-limited

performance (see Fig. 4). For a 250 fs

input pulse that is stretched and recom-

pressed using two VHGs with nearly

identical spectral profi les, the output

pulse duration of 530 fs demonstrates

that VHGs are the ideal solution for

compact, high-power handling ultra-

fast systems in the hundreds of femto-

seconds to low picosecond range.

James Carriere is director of business devel-

opment and Frank Havermeyer is director,

advanced technology development at Ondax,

850 E. Duarte Rd., Monrovia, CA 91016; e-

mail: [email protected]; www.ondax.com.



FIGURE 4. In autocorrelation

measurements of femtosecond pulses

using two-photon absorption, the near-

transform-limited 250 fs incident pulse (1029

nm, 8 nm spectral full-width half maximum

or FWHM) is stretched and recompressed

with two nearly identical 6 nm FWHM

(rectangular spectral response) 50 ps/nm

dispersion chirped VHGs to a fi nal FWHM

pulsewidth of 530 fs. (Courtesy of Ondax)



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Time domain - femtosecond pulses

Frequency domain - frequency comb

Time

Fourier transformation

Phase shift 2× phase shift

Offset frequency Repetition frequency


JEFF HECHT contributing editor

Frequency combs make

their way to the masses

The fi rst optical frequency combs

were produced from trains of ultra-

short pulses in the late 1970s, but they

attracted little attention because their

bandwidths were limited and their ab-

solute frequencies could not be mea-

sured. Two decades later, a series of

advances extended frequency combs

to an octave and measured their fre-

quencies precisely. That huge advance

in metrology earned John Hall and

Theodor Hänsch the 2005 Nobel

Prize in physics.

Now frequency combs are being

developed for new frontiers in

metrology, from calibrating tunable

lasers and improving the precision

of coherent laser radars to searching

for Earth-sized planets around other

stars. Meanwhile, development of

more compact and robust frequency

combs could lead to a wider range

of applications, including high-speed

telecommunications and space-based

instruments.

Types of frequency combs

A frequency comb is a series of evenly

spaced optical frequencies, the Fourier

transform of a train

of short optical pulses.

The shorter the pulses,

the wider the range

of frequencies they

contain, and thus

the broader the fre-

quency comb’s band-

width. Femtosecond

frequency combs can

span an octave. The frequency spac-

ing in the comb equals the pulse rep-

etition rate. Each tooth in the comb is

a continuous beam, with power that

varies across the spectrum, as shown

in Fig. 1.

The fi rst octave-spanning frequency

combs were based on Ti:sapphire

lasers, which are still widely used.

Ti:sapphire lasers directly emit ultra-

short pulses at high repetition rates

and high peak and average powers.

They also have the lowest noise of any

frequency comb. But they are bulky,

sensitive, and require expensive green

pump lasers.

Born at the cutting edge of ultrafast

spectroscopy a dozen years ago,

femtosecond frequency combs earned

John Hall and Theodor Hänsch a Nobel

Prize in 2005. Now new frequency

combs are being developed for

applications from astronomy to radar

and telecommunications.

P H O T O N I C F R O N T I E R S : FREQUENCY COMBS

FIGURE 1. A frequency comb (bottom) is the Fourier transform of a train of

modelocked pulses (top). The frequency spacing of the teeth of the comb equals

the pulse repetition rate. The spectral bandwidth of the pulse train, which can be

enhanced by nonlinear effects, determines the frequency range of the comb. The

comb frequencies are an integral multiple of the comb separation, plus an offset

frequency, as shown at bottom.








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FREQUENCY COMBS cont inued

Fiber lasers have lower inherent spectral bandwidth, so they

can’t generate pulses as short as Ti:sapphire, but passing their

output through nonlinear fi bers can stretch their bandwidth

to an octave or more. Both erbium- and ytterbium-fi ber lasers

can produce frequency combs, and both also can be frequency-

doubled to shorter wavelengths. Although they can’t match the

peak power or repetition rate of Ti:sapphire, fi ber lasers are

easier to use, less expensive, and more robust. That combina-

tion makes fi ber lasers more attractive for applications outside

the laboratory. And they are being developed for zero-gravity

experiments in space.

Microresonator frequency combs

Frequency combs also can be generated by four-wave mixing

in a high-Q-factor microresonator. As in an optical paramet-

ric oscillator (OPO), pairs of photons from a pump laser com-

bine in a nonlinear material to produce two photons with the

same total energy, like the pump and idler in an OPO. How-

ever, the comb-generation process uses a tunable continuous

beam to pump a microring resonator that oscillates on mul-

tiple whispering-gallery modes.

Typically the pump beam is amplifi ed before being coupled

into the microresonator, where it generates intensities of giga-

watts per square centimeter. That triggers degenerate four-

wave mixing, which produces a pair of frequencies, one above

the pump line and one below, as shown in Fig. 2. In principle,

that shift can be by any amount, but in the microresonator only

frequencies matching one of the whispering-gallery modes are

amplifi ed, producing lines in a frequency comb, which may be

offset by one, two, or more steps from the pump. The addi-

tional comb lines then interact with each other by nondegen-

erate four-wave mixing to produce other comb lines, as shown

in Fig. 2, producing a broader frequency comb.

The maximum width of a microresonator comb is limited by

chromatic dispersion in the resonator material. The four-wave

mixing process produces lines that are sidebands, equally off-

set in frequency. However, any chromatic dispersion present

in the nonlinear material causes the whispering-gallery modes

to shift with wavelength, so they drift away from the sideband

lines as the wavelength changes, reducing the line strength.1

Tobias Kippenberg, now at the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland), and colleagues

produced the fi rst broadband microresonator frequency combs

in 2007.2 The resonator modes in that experiment were

850 GHz apart, a frequency too high for processing by the

microwave electronics needed to measure optical frequency.

Developers now are pushing to reduce microresonator combs

with line spacing of tens of gigahertz, compatible with micro-

wave electronics, says Scott Diddams of the National Institute

of Standards and Technology (Boulder, CO).

Developers dream of putting a microresonator comb gen-

erator onto a chip, says Diddams, and are exploring many



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possible designs. Silicon nitride is attractive because it can be

fabricated photolithographically on silicon and requires little

post-processing. Figure 3 shows one possible SiN structure,

along with three other possibilities: silica waveguides on a

glass chip, an ultrahigh-Q toroidal silica resonator on silicon,

and an ultrahigh-Q millimeter-sized crystal resonator.

Yet microresonator frequency combs may not be able to

match the low noise of laser combs. Atomic motion at room

temperature can make microresonators vibrate, inducing ther-

mal noise into their output. Researchers now are trying to

understand the noise limitations of microresonator combs and

to develop ways to control them.

Growing diversity of applications

The fi rst frequency combs made a huge change in the exact-

ing process of connecting microwave atomic clocks to optical

frequencies. Before combs, NIST needed a large laboratory

full of equipment for the task, Diddams recalls. Ti:sapphire

frequency combs shrink the setup to a square meter, and er-

bium-fi ber combs reduced size somewhat further and greatly

improved the robustness of experiments.

Now the applications are multiplying, as Nathan Newbury

of NIST (Boulder, CO) described in the April 2011 Nature

Photonics.3 At the top of his list is frequency measurement




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Frequency

Power(a.u.)

FWM: Degenerate

(1) (1)

(2)

Energy

f0

fr

νpump

Non-degenerate

(2)



of optical clocks, with accuracy of one

part in 1017 possible by locking a laser

comb to the transition being measured.

Combs also can calibrate tunable lasers a

thousand times more precisely than con-

ventional etalons or gas cells. That pre-

cision comes at a cost in complexity, but

developers are working on smaller and

simpler comb sources.

The calibration application most likely

to make future headlines is in astronomy.

The search for planets outside the solar

system requires detecting tiny Doppler

shifts caused by an Earth-sized planet

orbiting a star. Frequency combs could

calibrate stellar spectra three to four

orders of magnitude better than conven-

tional techniques, Diddams says, with-

out needing the extreme precision for

atomic clocks. Reducing comb cost and

complexity could pay huge dividends for

astronomy.

Combs also could provide a new class

of spectroscopic sources. Benefi ts would

include “a spectral coverage potentially

larger than available using tunable lasers,

a collimated single-mode beam, and

teeth that can be coupled to a matched

cavity for long effective path lengths,”

Newbury writes. Taking full advantage

of frequency combs requires resolving

individual teeth after the light interacts

with the sample, but that has already

been demonstrated.

Phase coherence and broad bandwidth

make combs attractive for transferring

frequency and time signals precisely to

distant sites. Frequency signals can be

sent through hundreds of kilometers of

Doppler-compensated fi ber with uncer-

tainty of one part in 1019, but time sig-

nals from optical clocks are harder to

transfer and the feat has yet to be dem-

onstrated. Optical combs could improve

precision of laser ranging, either by using

the comb as the light source or by using

FIGURE 2. A microresonator frequency comb is produced by four-wave mixing in the ring.

First degenerate four-wave mixing produces new lines offset by identical increments above

and below the pump line. Then nondegenerate four-wave mixing produces additional lines.

(Adapted from Kippenberg et al.1, top)



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10 μm 20 μmInput

Drop

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Add

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it to measure the spectrum of a conven-

tional coherent lidar. Combs also can

generate microwaves with phase noise

much lower than from conventional

microwave oscillators, promising better

radar and interferometric measurements.

And combs could even synthesize arbi-

trary optical waveforms for research by

modulating the phase amplitude of indi-

vidual teeth.

In recent months, two groups have

demonstrated that relatively narrow-

band frequency combs can transmit

high-speed optical data for communi-

cations. At CLEO in May 2011, Jacob

Levy of Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

and colleagues reported transmitting 10

Gbit/s on each of six lines from a micro-

resonator frequency comb. They said that

the technique could be extended to an

integrated system generating data rates

above 1 Tbit/s.4 But they were soon out-

done by David Hillerkuss and colleagues

at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

(Karlsruhe, Germany), who built up a sin-

gle super-carrier by combining 325 teeth

of an erbium-fi ber comb spanning 1533

to 1565 nm. That allowed them to trans-

mit 26 Tbit/s through 50 km of fi ber.5

Matching technology to

applications

Formidable challenges remain. The tech-

nology is young. Both frequency combs

and their applications are largely in the

research stage, and developers are work-

ing to match their capabilities with appli-

cation requirements. “Each application

has its own requirements,” says New-

bury. Some applications are

extremely demanding, but

he says others “probably

don’t need a comb stabilized

to the best optical clock in

the world.” Astronomy

combs are a good example.

They don’t need a 17-digit

accuracy to spot an Earth-

like planet orbiting anoth-

er star, but that feat would

FIGURE 3. Four microresonator structures being studied for frequency comb generation. The two at

left are shown with waveguides that couple to them; the two on right do not show coupling optics. From

left to right, they are silica ring waveguides on glass, silicon-nitride ring resonator on silicon, toroidal

microresonator on silicon, and a millimeter-sized crystalline resonator. (Courtesy of Kippenberg et al.1)



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make headlines. The challenge is to

develop combs rugged enough to op-

erate in space.

And that challenge is being met.

Menlo Systems (Garching, Germany),

the only company that produces a

complete frequency-comb system

commercially, has delivered a fully

phaselocked frequency comb sys-

tem to the Center of Applied Space

Technology and Microgravity at

the University of Bremen (Bremen,

Germany).6 That system is playing

an important role in experiments

studying atom interferometry, in

which the instrument drops 120 m

in a drop tower at Bremen, shown

in Fig. 4. The fi ber laser not only

survives microgravity, it withstands

deceleration by a mound of styro-

foam beads at the base of the tower.

Menlo Systems has adopted features

from the drop-tower system in its

standard frequency comb systems,

and is developing a special version to

meet the more stringent requirements

for operation in space.

REFERENCES

1. T.J. Kippenberg, R. Holzwarth, and S. Diddam,

“Microresonator-based optical frequency

combs,” Science, 332, 555 (Apr. 29, 2011).

2. P. Del’Haye et al., “Optical frequency comb

generation from a monolithic microresona-

tor,” Nature, 450, 1214–1217 (Dec. 20, 2007);

doi:10.1038/nature06401.

3. N. Newbury, “Searching for applications with

a fi ne-tooth comb,” Nature Photon., 5, 186–

188 (April 2011).

4. J.S. Levy et al., “High-Performance Silicon-

Based Multiple Wavelength Source”;

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1106.2834.

5. D. Hillerkuss et al., “26 Tbit s21 line-rate

super-channel transmission utilizing all-optical

fast Fourier transform processing,” Nature

Photon., 5, 64 (June 2011); doi:10.1038/

NPHOTON.2011.74.

6. http://www.zarm.uni-bremen.de/

space-science/fundamental-physics/projects/

primus.html



FIGURE 4. Capsule containing Menlo Systems’

frequency comb system is prepared for tests in an

evacuated 120-m drop tower at the University of

Bremen. The optical head is the black module at

center; electronics for the comb system are above

it. The three lower platforms carry other equipment

used in the experiment. (Courtesy of Menlo Systems)



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NbN

Au

HSQ

Sapphire


Optical nano-antennae boost speed

and effi ciency of single-photon detectors

XIAOLONG HU and KARL K. BERGGREN

Many applications in communications

and quantum optics need fast and ef-

fi cient single-photon detectors. Super-

conducting-nanowire single-photon

detectors (SNSPDs, also referred to

as SSPDs) are an emerging technology

for fast and effi cient single-photon de-

tection. A typical device is composed

of a 4-nm-thick, 70–100-nm-wide,

several-hundred-microns-long nio-

bium nitride (NbN) wire wound in

a meander structure. To operate the

detector, the nanowire is cooled be-

low 4K and biased close to its critical

current. One absorbed incident visible

or infrared (IR) photon can quench

its superconductivity and generate a

voltage pulse. Then, the absorbed en-

ergy is dissipated as thermal energy

and superconductivity is restored. The

nanowire is ready to detect a second

photon, and the detector is therefore

running in a free-running mode.

Researchers have

been continuously

improving the per-

formance of the tech-

nology since it was

invented in 2001.1 In

particular, a 57% device effi ciency

was demonstrated by integrating the

detector with a top refl ector and an

antirefl ection coating on the back of

the substrate.2 But that detector was

only 3 × 3 μm in size, too small to per-

mit effi cient light coupling.

Later, researchers fabricated a

large-area detector with 30% device

effi ciency and put four small detec-

tors together to cover an area suffi -

cient for light coupling.3-5 More than

20% system-detection effi ciency was

demonstrated in fi ber-coupled, close-

cycled cryocooler systems. Another

signifi cant advance was the demon-

stration of photo-number-resolving

capability by using multiple nano-

wires either biased individually4 or

connected in parallel.6

However, a tradeoff exists between

speed and effi ciency of an individual

SNSPD because on the one hand, the

speed is limited by the kinetic induc-

tance, which is proportional to the

length of the nanowire, so shorter

Integrated with metallic optical nano-

antennae, superconducting-nanowire

single-photon detectors become faster

and more effi cient.

FIGURE 1. A schematic illustrates

the optical antenna effect. The

yellow arrows represent photon

fl ux, which is “funneled” into the

gold-HSQ-gold channel in the

near fi eld by the surrounding gold

structures.

PLASMONIC LIGHT DETECTORS








NbN

Au

EHSQ

Sapphire

600 nm

9 μm

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PLASMONIC LIGHT DETECTORS cont inued

wires result in faster device reset; while

on the other hand, a longer nanowire

is desirable for good system detection

effi ciency because the nanowire needs

to cover an area large enough to permit

photon coupling.7 For this reason, past

demonstrations of high system-detec-

tion effi ciency sacrifi ced speed. A simul-

taneously fast and effi cient SNSPD had

remained a technological challenge.

Optical “funneling,” interfer-

ence, and surface scattering

The speed/effi ciency tradeoff has been

dramatically improved by integrating

the nanowire with metallic optical

nano-antennae.8, 9 We have used

a short nanowire to form a sparse

meander and added gold structure in

the gaps and on top of the nanowire.

This gold structure can behave as

an optical nano-antenna to collect

and “focus” the light to the NbN

nanowire and thus enhance the optical

absorption and detection effi ciency.

The nano-antenna effect can be

heuristically explained as a combina-

tion of three optical effects. The fi rst

effect is the optical funneling by the

gold-hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ)-

gold structure, which enhances the

transmission of transverse-magnetic

(TM)-polarized incident photons and

refl ects transverse-electric-(TE-) polar-

ized photons. This optical funneling

is nonresonant (see Fig. 1). In the deep

subwavelength regime, such a structure

behaves as a wire-grid polarizer. Once a

majority of TM-polarized incident pho-

tons are funneled into the gold-HSQ-

gold waveguide, the second effect plays a

role: The gold on top of HSQ serves as a

refl ector to refl ect the fun-

neled light. Optical inter-

ference between incident

and refl ected light creates

an optical anti-node at

the location of the NbN

nanowire, maximizing its

absorption. Finally, the

interface between the sap-

phire substrate and the

nanostructured gold scat-

ters the incident light; the

scattering adds additional

FIGURE 2. A cross-

section schematic shows an

optical-antenna-integrated

superconducting-nanowire

single-photon detector and

illumination (top panel). The

yellow arrows represent

photon fl ux in the far fi eld

and the white arrow shows

the polarization. Cross-

section (middle panel)

and top-view (bottom

panel) scanning-electron

micrographs are also shown.

The fi gure is from Reference

9 with copyright permission

from Optical Society of

America. (Courtesy of X. Hu)



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Carl Zeiss spectrometer modules for industrial use

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Phone: (516) 939-0888

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absorption enhancement for the NbN

nanowire.

A careful design predicts that a device

with a 600-nm-pitch meander covering

a 9 × 9-μm active area can achieve 47%

absorptance. The total length of the

nanowire is 135 μm, as opposed to 371

μm in an old design covering a similar

active area.

To integrate optical nano-antennae,

we performed 30 kV electron-beam

writing on 300-nm-thick HSQ to pat-

tern NbN. The rest of the HSQ after

etching served as the fencelike struc-

ture. Gold was evaporated and self-

aligned with the HSQ structure; prior

to gold evaporation, 6 nm of silicon

dioxide (SiO2) was evaporated to elec-

trically insulate the gold from the NbN

nanowire and 3 nm of titanium to pro-

mote adhesion between gold and SiO2

(see Fig. 2).

With optical-antenna integration,

the detectors became faster and more

effi cient. We obtained 47±5% and

3.5±0.4% device effi ciency for TM- and

TE-polarizations, respectively, on this 9

× 9-μm device. The polarization sen-

sitivity is a key feature of the antenna

effect. The kinetic inductance was mea-

sured to be 100 nH; correspondingly,

the reset time was calculated to be 5 ns.

In order to compare this detector with

other detectors, we defi ned a fi gure of

merit as (active area × device effi ciency/

reset time). This fi gure of merit has been

enhanced by a factor of 4.5 by the opti-

cal nano-antennae, compared to the

SNSPD with cavity integration.

The enhancement effect and polariza-

tion sensitivity were observed on several

devices; however, the enhancement fac-

tors varied in a large range and the device

yield was low. Improving the robustness

of the fabrication process is the next step

after this initial demonstration.

Other applications of

optical nano-antennae

Optical nano-antennae and metallic

nano-structures can not only boost the

speed and effi ciency of SNSPDs, but can



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also enhance the performance of various

other optoelectronic components and

add additional functionalities. For

example, a bow-tie antenna has been

integrated with a laser diode to confi ne

light on the nanoscale10, and a dipole

antenna has been used to enhance

the photocurrent of a germanium

photodetector.11 More interesting

physics are still being discovered and

applications being developed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was sponsored by IARPA, the Na-

tional Science Foundation under NSF award

No. ECCS-0823778, and the Centre for Ex-

citonics, an Energy Frontier Research Center

funded by the US Department of Energy, Of-

fi ce of Science, Offi ce of Basic Energy Sci-

ences.

REFERENCES

1. G.N. Gol’tsman et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 79,

705 (2001).

2. K.M. Rosfjord et al., Opt. Exp., 14, 527 (2006).

3. X. Hu et al., Opt. Lett., 34, 3607 (2009).

4. E.A. Dauler et al., J. Modern Opt., 56, 364

(2008).

5. S. Miki et al., Opt. Exp., 17, 23557 (2009).

6. A. Divochiy et al., Nat. Photon., 2, 302 (2008).

7. A.J. Kerman et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 88,

111116 (2006).

8. X. Hu et al., IEEE Trans. on Appl. Superconduc-

tivity, 19, 336 (2009).

9. X. Hu et al., Opt. Exp., 19, 17 (2011).

10. E. Cubukcu et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., 89, 093120

(2006).

11. L. Tang et al., Nat. Photon., 2, 226 (2008).

Xiaolong Hu obtained his PhD from the Depart-

ment of Electrical Engineering and Computer

Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-

nology and is currently working as a postdoc-

toral research fellow in the University of Michigan,

Room 2223 EECS, 1301 Beal Avenue, Ann Ar-

bor, MI 48019; e-mail: [email protected]. Karl K.

Berggren is an associate professor in the De-

partment of Electrical Engineering and Computer

Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-

nology, 77 Massachusetts Ave. 36-219, Cam-

bridge, MA 02139; e-mail: [email protected].



PLASMONIC LIGHT DETECTORS cont inued



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Terahertz technology enables systems

for molecular characterization

ANIS RAHMAN and AUNIK K. RAHMAN

In addition to its nonionizing nature

and its ability to penetrate nonmetallic

objects, terahertz radiation is sensitive

to the motions (vibrational, rotational,

torsional, and translational) of mole-

cules, allowing high-sensitivity spec-

tral probing of molecular events in

areas of practical importance.

Applied Research & Photonics

has leveraged these attributes

to utilize broadband (approx-

imately 30 THz), high-pow-

er (>5 mW) continuous-wave

(CW) terahertz radiation gen-

erated from an electro-optic

dendrimer that enables smart

spectrometer and scanning re-

fl ectometer systems for molec-

ular characterization.

Electro-optic terahertz

generation

The electro-optic (EO) meth-

od of terahertz generation is

advantageous because the

pump-terahertz conversion

is not limited either by emis-

sion saturation or heat dissi-

pation. The EO route main

mechanisms include EO recti-

fi cation (EOR) and difference

frequency generation

(DFG). Of these, EOR

depends on the intro-

duction of an ultrafast

(femtosecond) laser

pulse into the lattice

of an electro-optical-

ly active material; the

lattice acts as a rectifi er to convert the

very high frequency derived from the

ultrafast laser pump to a relatively low-

er frequency pulse that falls in the tera-

hertz range—the so-called EOR effect.

The EOR method usually uses an

800 nm pulsed femtosecond laser,

although other wavelengths such

as 1064 nm may be used. The diffi -

culty here is that two vital parame-

ters—output power and the terahertz

range—are completely dependent on

the characteristics of the femtosecond

laser. As a result, only low average

power and a range of several terahertz

(up to 5 THz) has been possible, mak-

ing it diffi cult to uniquely characterize

many materials systems.

In contrast, the DFG techniques not

only eliminates the use of an expensive

femtosecond laser, but can also produce

both CW and pulsed terahertz radia-

tion, as well as higher out-

put power and broad-range

tunability. Nobel Laureate

Robert F. Curl, Jr. and col-

leagues reported generation

of tunable far-infrared (IR)

radiation by means of two

singlemode laser diodes by

focusing the overlapped

beam in silver gallium sul-

fi de (AgGaS2) crystal.1 Our

earlier work showed that

chromophore-doped and

-poled poly(amido amine)

dendrimer can produce

approximately 3.4 mW of

terahertz power (PTHz)

when pumped by two fi ber-

coupled laser diodes with

a combined pump power

of around 5.5 W (Ppump).2

Thus the terahertz fi gure of

merit [PTHz/(Ppump)2] of this

source is 1.124 × 10-4 W-1.

Smart terahertz scanning refl ectometer

and spectrometer systems exploit the

ability of terahertz radiation to penetrate

nonmetallic objects and sense the

vibrational, rotational, and translational

motions of molecules.

TERAHERTZ INSTRUMENTATION

THz source

Drop

Substrate

Sample holder

Beamsplitter

Detectionsystem

Off-axis reflector

1Dmotioncontrol

FIGURE 1. An experimental setup shows the terahertz

scanning refl ectometer. A fi ne-pitch, one-dimensional

motion control system is used to move the substrate

(sample holder) in and out of the focal point while the

detection system acquires data in real time. For kinetics

measurements, the specimen is kept fi xed and focused.









TERAHERTZ INSTRUMENTATION cont inued

This value was achieved by means of the

higher EO coeffi cient of the EO den-

drimer: 130 pm/V.

Using DFG, the resulting terahertz fre-

quencies are given by the difference of

the pump laser frequencies, or νTHz is

proportional to ν1 - ν2, meaning one can

choose appropriate pump frequencies

to obtain the desired output terahertz

bandwidth. In practice, however, both

ν1 and ν2 are not single-frequency lasers

because laser diodes always have a band-

width distribution around their main

peaks; that is, when a stationary beam

of the generated terahertz radiation is

scanned by a moving beam derived from

the same source, a wide frequency dis-

tribution will result. This mechanism is

a variation of two-photon excitation.3

The terahertz scanning

refl ectometer

Measurement of the concentration gra-

dient of a biological or other fl uid in a

noninvasive (and nondestructive) fash-

ion is important in several areas, includ-

ing penetration of an active ingredient

through human skin or other tissues. But

to our knowledge, there was no direct

method—until now—to obtain two crit-

ical factors in such studies: 1) the concen-

tration gradient of the permeating ingre-

dient across the thickness of a substrate

and 2) the kinetics (or rate) of such per-

meation. These two factors are essen-

tial for quantitative analysis, for exam-

ple, via Fick’s laws of diffusion.4

In one dimension, Fick’s fi rst law

relates the fl ux, J, directly to the concen-

tration gradient via J = -D(∂C/∂x), where

C is the concentration and D is the diffu-

sion coeffi cient. Fick’s second law relates

the kinetics of diffusion with the second

derivative of concentration gradient or

∂C/∂t = D(∂2C/∂x2). Therefore, direct

measurements of the quantities ∂C/∂x

and ∂C/∂t are possible. Our terahertz

scanning refl ectometer (TSR) is there-

fore capable of measuring both the con-

centration gradient and the kinetics of

diffusion in real time, enabling life sci-

ence and physical science advances in

cell characterization, transdermal drug

delivery, personal care products, and

substrate/active ingredient characteriza-

tions where the effect of an active sub-

stance on a substrate is important.

For our TSR, CW terahertz radiation

is generated from an electro-optic den-

drimer via the DFG method (see Fig. 1).

The terahertz beam is focused onto the

specimen at a 90° angle using an off-axis

parabolic refl ector (normal incidence).

The beam refl ected by the substrate is

directed to the detection system using a

beamsplitter/combiner and the specimen

cell is comprised of a scanning platform

that is controlled by a one-dimension

motion controller.

To make a direct measurement, the off-

axis parabolic refl ector is adjusted such

that (initially) the terahertz beam remains



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Depth (μm)

Counts

0 5 10 15 20 25

Blank SC6.30E+6

6.20E+6

6.10E+6

6.00E+6

5.90E+6

5.80E+6

5.70E+6

5.60E+6

3.17E+5

3.12E+5

3.07E+5

3.02E+5

2.97E+5

2.92E+5

2.87E+5

Delta (counts)

SC + N0915

Delta


focused on the substrate surface. At this

position, the motion controller is engaged

to scan the substrate and interrogate the

refl ectance across its thickness; this gives

the ∂C/∂x parameter when the blank sub-

strate refl ectance is subtracted from the

refl ectance of the same substrate treated

with a desired ingredient. However, when

the beam remains focused at the surface

and the motion control is locked at that

position, then the ingredient is applied on

the substrate to let it permeate across the

thickness while the refl ectance is mea-

sured in real time. In this case the refl ec-

tance is directly proportional to the rate

of permeation of the ingredient across the

substrate, or ∂C/∂t.

Terahertz scanning refl ectometer mea-

surements of the stratum corneum—the

outermost layer of the skin’s epidermis—

were characterized to obtain the perme-

ation parameters for N-0915, a chemical

known as a permeation retarder (see Fig. 2).

First, the refl ectance is measured for a blank

stratum corneum and then, for the stratum

corneum treated with N-0915. The differ-

ence of the two profi les determines the

gradient ∂C/∂x and thus is a direct mea-

surement of the concentration profi le.

We also measured the diffusion kinetics

of water into photographic paper. The

paper was mounted on the refl ectometer

and 25 μL of deionized water were dis-

pensed (see Fig. 3). Here, the kinetics of

penetration was measured in real time.

The time-dependent change of refl ec-

tance is assumed to be a direct measure

of the penetration kinetics, thus quanti-

fying ∂C/∂t. Knowing both ∂C/∂t and

∂C/∂x, the diffusion coeffi cient can be

calculated directly from Fick’s second

law. All measurements are controlled

from the front-end user interface with

a Windows-based personal computer.

FIGURE 2. Concentration

gradient ∂C/∂x (triangles)

is obtained for an

ingredient (N-0915) across

the stratum corneum,

calculated from the

difference between the

blank stratum corneum

measurement (diamonds)

and the same stratum

corneum treated with

N-0915 (squares). (Skin

sample courtesy of Dr.

Bozena Michniak-Kohn of

Rutgers University)



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Time (s)

Reflected beam (counts)

30 50 70

DI water applied

90 110 130 150

4.0E+4

3.0E+4

2.0E+4

1.0E+4

5.0E+4

0.0E+0

C0

C(t)

Time (s)

Countsa) b)

0 50 100

DI water applied

150 200 250

1.0E+4

8.0E+3

6.0E+3

4.0E+3

1.2E+4

2.0E+3


TERAHERTZ INSTRUMENTATION cont inued

Terahertz spectroscopy

In common techniques such as Raman or

IR spectroscopy, a sample is illuminated

with a laser beam and the light is collect-

ed by a lens and passed through a mono-

chromator. Wavelengths close to the laser

line, due to elastic Rayleigh scattering, are

fi ltered out while the rest of the collected

light is dispersed onto a detector.

Modern Raman instruments use notch

or edge fi lters for laser rejection and spec-

trographs—either axial transmissive

(AT), Czerny-Turner (CT) monochro-

mator, or Fourier transform (FT) spec-

troscopy based—and CCD detectors. But

because spontaneous Raman scattering

is typically very weak, it is diffi cult to

resolve the weak, inelastically scattered

light from the intense Rayleigh-scattered

laser light. This fundamental limitation of

Raman spectroscopy makes it diffi cult to

resolve many molecules, especially those

with closely spaced spectral lines.

When terahertz radiation interacts

with molecules, it may stimulate many

resonances such as molecular vibrations,

phonons, and/or other resonances in the

system, affecting the terahertz photons

by characteristic amounts based on a spe-

cifi c interaction or event. The change in

energy and/or frequency yields informa-

tion about the molecular nature of the

interaction. While IR and Raman spec-

troscopy yield similar information, they

cannot detect as many resonant states as

can terahertz spectrometers because tera-

hertz photons are sensitive to the vibra-

tional states of the entire molecule as

opposed to just a bond or charge state.

Molecular simulation, especially molec-

ular dynamics, reveals the numerous vibra-

tional and conformational states possible

when a molecule is not at its lowest energy

state. Because most material remains at

FIGURE 3. A terahertz scanning refl ectometer measures the kinetics of penetration of

deionized water into a photographic paper substrate (a). Using the same technique, water

applied to the top surface of two separate paper substrates shows the clear demarcation

between the two layers in the permeation graph (b).



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Absorbance (dB norm.)

Time (s)0 4E+12 8E+12 1.2E+13 1.6E+13

A

A+C

B+C

B

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0


its lowest energy state under normal and

steady state conditions, terahertz pertur-

bation will stimulate possible available

states in these regions. For example, tera-

hertz spectroscopy can be used to ana-

lyze the single nucleotide polymorphism

(SNP) of two single-stranded DNA mol-

ecules; SNP is a DNA sequence variation

that occurs when a single nucleotide (A,

T, C, or G) in the genome differs between

members of a biological species or paired

chromosomes in an individual (see Fig. 4).

The detection of SNP has

major implications in diag-

nostics and personalized

medicine: It has been discov-

ered that if one’s gene has

one kind of SNP then cer-

tain drugs will be effective,

whereas the lack of that SNP

type means that the same

drug will not work. If a doc-

tor is able to easily identify the

presence or absence of a given

SNP in one’s gene, then they

can prescribe the right drug.

Scientifi c studies reveal that

DNA always goes through a

process of switching between

single- and double-stranded

modes to create new proteins or to inter-

act with enzymes/other proteins. The tera-

hertz spectrometer is so sensitive, it can

discern between single-stranded DNA and

double-stranded (hybridized) DNA, mak-

ing the instrument crucial to a number of

biological studies.

REFERENCES

1. U. Simon et al., Opt. Lett., 18, 13, 1062 (1993).

2. A. Rahman, “Stimulated emission of terahertz

radiation from electro-optic Dendrimer,” Proc.

SPIE 7601: Terahertz Technol. and Applications

III, San Francisco, CA, 76010C (Feb. 18, 2010).

3. A. Rahman, “Dendrimer Based Terahertz Time-

Domain Spectroscopy and Applications in Mole-

cular Characterization,” J. Molecular Structure,

1006, 59–65 (2011).

4. E. De la Barrera, Nat. Structural & Molecular

Bio., 12, 280 (2005).

Anis Rahman is CEO and CTO and

Aunik K. Rahman is a senior engineer at

Applied Research & Photonics (ARP), 470

Friendship Rd., Ste. 10, Harrisburg, PA 17111;

e-mail: [email protected]; www.

arphotonics.net.

FIGURE 4. A terahertz spectrometry system measures

two single-stranded DNA molecules (spectra A and

spectra B). The absorbance spectra exhibit clear

differences when thymine (T) is substituted by guanine

(G), as shown by the A+C and B+C hybridized state

spectra. Characteristic spectral peaks allow distinguishing

between the hybridization states without labeling.



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Wavelength (nm)

Relative delay (ns)

1560155515501545154015351530

3

2

1

0

-1

-2

1.1 km of DCF (-145.6 ps/nm)

0.55 km of SMF +

0.55 km of DCF (-64.3 ps/nm)

1.1 km of SMF (18.2 ps/nm)


Laser radar steers beam

using slow light

JOHN WALLACE

“Slow light” devices, which slow and

control the group velocity of light in

a medium by some means, come in

many forms. These range from the

straightforward (dispersive optical fi -

ber) to the extremely complex (tem-

perature-controlled atomic vapors).

While the latter can have large ef-

fects, it usually requires a large and

fragile setup and is normally reserved

for the laboratory. In contrast, the for-

mer, while producing small effects, is

rugged and simple enough for use in

the fi eld.

A team of researchers from the

University of Rochester (Rochester,

NY) and the University of Ottawa

(Ottawa, ON, Canada) is using a

combination of standard singlemode

fi ber and highly dispersive fi ber to

create a tunable slow-light effect

that is the basis of a phased-array

beam steerer for a light detection

and ranging (lidar) system.1 Termed

slow-light detection and ranging (sli-

dar), the approach contains a slow-

light tunable delay element in each

of the three channels of the phased

array. The three delays are tuned

relative to each other by changing

the wavelength of the tunable laser-

diode source.

A simple

phased array

The traditional way

to steer a lidar beam

is to mount its optics

on a gimbal. The high

rotational inertia of

this type of setup has led to the devel-

opment of phased-array lidar, where

a row of individual emitting channels

has a linear delay across the elements

that can be varied to steer the optical

beam. Various approaches to phase

delay have included the use of elec-

tro-optic modulators and liquid-crys-

tal phase-control elements.

The Rochester-Ottawa approach

is different, and simpler as well.

Three different sections of fi ber serve

as the three variable-delay channels:

a 1.1 km length of standard single-

mode fi ber (SMF), a 0.55 km sec-

tion of SMF spliced to a 0.55 km

section of dispersion-compensating

fi ber (DCF), and a 1.1 km length of

DCF. These fi bers and their lengths

are chosen such that their relative

delay is zero at a chosen wavelength

(for example, 1550 nm), as their

refractive index is the same at that

wavelength. Due to the fi bers’ dif-

ferent dispersions, their refractive

indices all change at different rates

(although all approximately linearly)

as a function of wavelength over the

1530–1560 nm region (see Fig. 1). As

A phased-array slow-light detection

and ranging (“slidar”) setup relies on a

tunable laser source and fi ber sections

that have different dispersions; the

result is a fast and simple beam steerer.

FIGURE 1. Three slidar channels, each having a different dispersion, produce

three different relative delays, varied by tuning the wavelength of the source. Their

dispersions are given in ps/nm.

SLOW LIGHT








~6 m

Collection lens

Detector

Emitters

Retracted positionsto simulate

angle scanning

Scanningfar field target

Scanning slit

CCD


a result, the phase variation across the three-channel phased

array is a linear function of wavelength.

In the optical setup, an optical reference channel is fi rst

split off from the laser output and shifted

in frequency by 55 MHz by an acousto-

optic modulator; the rest of the signal is

“carved” into 1–4 ns pulses by an inten-

sity-modulating electro-optic modulator

(EOM), then split into three and fed into

the sections of variable-delay optical fi ber.

Each channel also includes a phase-mod-

ulating EOM for phase control and an

erbium-doped fi ber amplifi er (EDFA) to

increase the output.

The researchers would like to ultimately

create a slidar with a 1 m aperture and a

range of at least 1 km; however, their fi rst

prototype is considerably smaller and fi ts

within a laboratory. After collimation,

the three channels each have 2.1-mm-

diameter apertures, forming a full effec-

tive aperture of 6.6 mm, and the target is

placed 6 m away, resulting in a distance/

aperture ratio similar to that of the pro-

posed full-scale system. To control the phases of the channels,

each of the three channels is independently phase-locked to

the 55-MHz-shifted reference channel and the beat signals

FIGURE 2. Two of the three emitters are placed on translation stages (left) and retracted to

different positions to create an adjustable phase delay across the channels (note that light from

two of the emitters was bounced off mirrors, combining with light directly emitted from the third).



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SWIR OCT scan

SWIR image oflaser pointers at dusk

Visible image of Forest Fire

SWIR image of Forest Fire

SWIR sees through silicon

Object position (mm)

Signal strength (a.u.)

0.500.250-0.25-0.50

1

2

0

Two emitters

Three emitters


SLOW LIGHT cont inued

processed to produce an error signal to

ensure that the phase-modulating EOM

locks the phase to the reference signal.

Testing shows high accuracy

To test the phased array’s effectiveness,

two of the three output collimators are

put on translation stages and moved to

create the proper phase delays; the sys-

tem is then phaselocked and wavelength-

tuned to cancel out the mechanically

induced phase delays (see Fig. 2). Six me-

ters away, the far-fi eld light is divided

by a beamsplitter, with part go-

ing to a CCD camera that images

the far-fi eld pattern, and the other

entering a retrorefl ective scanning

element containing a 0.44 mm

slit, with the retrorefl ected light

collected by a 3 GHz photodetec-

tor back near the source. (The tar-

get is a retrorefl ector rather than

a scatterer due to the low-energy

pulses produced by the fi rst pro-

totype, say the researchers.)

A carved pulse is fi rst imaged

without phaselocking, producing

what looks like a low-intensity

fringe pattern but what is really

a higher-intensity fringe pattern

that is shifting rapidly around.

When phaselocking is initiated,

the fringes sharpen and the intensity

of the return pulse stabilizes, as hoped

for. Next, a linear phase delay across

the aperture is mechanically induced,

imitating an angular beam shift of 20°,

shifting the fringe pattern and lowering

the intensity of the return beam. Finally,

the system is wavelength-tuned to bring

the beam back to 0°, which is achieved

by changing the wavelength from 1550

to 1542 nm. The 8 nm wavelength

change corresponds to a relative pulse-

delay adjustment of 1.14 ns.

In addition, the range-measurement

accuracy is determined by measuring the

return time of the emitted pulses while

translating the retrorefl ective scanning

element in 1 cm steps. The fi tted data

show a second-order moment of 0.38

mm. The lateral measurement accu-

racy should improve as the number of

emitters (of the same size) is increased:

Indeed, the central lobe of the far-fi eld

pattern narrows when three emitters are

used instead of two (see Fig. 3).

The design easily accommodates

more than three emitters. The

researchers say that a nonuni-

form spacing of emitters across

the aperture could help to reduce

the size of the fringe pattern’s side

lobes. A full-scale system would

also need to emit higher-energy

pulses; this would be achieved

by using more-powerful EDFAs.

The concept could be extended to

scanning in two dimensions by

creating a 2D array of emitters,

the researchers add.

REFERENCE

1. A.Schweinsberg et al., Opt. Exp., 19,

17, 15760 (Aug. 15, 2011).

Tell us what you think about this article.

Send an e-mail to LFWFeedback@

pennwell.com.

FIGURE 3. A slit scanned across the far-fi eld beam of the

slidar output shows the resulting interference fringes for two

emitters (top) and three emitters (bottom). The emitters are 2.1

mm in diameter. Note the narrowing of the central lobe when

three emitters are used. For future systems with more emitters,

the spacing of the emitters can be made nonuniform in a way

that decreases the sizes of the side lobes.




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been introduced, including achromatic

doublets. These precision, micro-min-

iature optical components—some as

small as a grain of salt—can be cus-

tom-engineered, ground, and polished

to micron tolerances. They can be used

in optical imaging applications such as

endoscopes and other medical devices.

Bern Optics

Westfi eld, MA

[email protected]

High-power fi ber laser

A high-power, modelocked fi ber laser

in the 2 μm spectral region features

>10 kW peak power, picosecond

pulses, 1 W average power, and a near

diffraction-limited beam. It is suited for

mid-IR generation, nonlinear frequency

conversion, spectroscopy, sensing, and

materials processing investigations.

AdValue Photonics

Tucson, AZ

[email protected]

Spectrophotometer

The new PHOTON RT spectropho-

tometer offers polarization depen-



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Phone +49 9645 9222 0

[email protected]

www.curamik.com

curamik electronics GmbH

Am Stadtwald 2

D-92676 Eschenbach

A division of

desi

gnho

use

efficiency solutions

by direct bond copper

High thermal conductivity

Excellent for chip on board

Optimized heat spreading

Highly integrated cooler

Outstanding thermal

performance

Customized design

DBC COOLER

DBC SUBSTRATE

21 – 26 January 2012

SPIE PhotonicsWest

The Moscone Center San Francisco

Visit us at booth 4228


New products

dent refl ection and transmission

measurements in wide angular and

spectral range. The device operates

with spectral resolution up to 1.2

nm, a wide 200–4200 nm range, full

automation, and no extra fi xtures. It

is designed for fast measurement of

parts with multilayer coatings, includ-

ing thin-fi lm polarizers, beamsplitters,

and cut-off fi lters.

EssentOptics

Minsk, Belarus

www.essentoptics.com

Diode laser module

The Deep Violet Laser provides output

radiant fl ux for CW diode lasers at

398–401 nm. Operating at 401 nm, it

provides an output power of 400–500

mW with a power input of 2 W at 100–

240 VAC and 50–60 Hz. The collimated

output appears as TEM00 with a focal

point of 500 μm. Applications include

dye laser pumping, fl uorescence lifetime

studies, and spectroscopy.

Elk Industries

Melbourne, FL

[email protected]

3D laser scanning

microscope

Combining the capabilities of an opti-

cal microscope, profi lometer, and SEM,

the VK-X 3D laser scanning micro-

scopes are able to perform noncon-

tact profi le, roughness, and thickness

measurements with a 0.5 nm z-axis

resolution. Designed to reduce user

error and analysis time, the microscope

has a new high-speed scan mode and

one-touch automated operation, with

no sample preparation needed.

Keyence

Singapore

[email protected]

QWIP photodetector

A 320 × 256 quantum well infrared

photodetector (QWIP) sensor has its

peak wavelength at 10.55 μm to meet

requirements from customers devel-

oping leak detection systems for the

greenhouse gas SF6 (sulfur hexafl uo-

ride) from power stations. The detec-

tor’s peak wavelength can be tailored

to detect several different gases.

IRnova

Kista, Sweden

[email protected]

Short-pulse lasers

The AOT compact, high-repetition-rate,

short-pulse solid-state lasers (nano-

second and picosecond) operate with

high energy in the UV, VIS, and NIR.

Proprietary high-speed switching tech-

nology allows the Q-switched lasers to

deliver kHz pulses below 1 ns duration,

which can be synchronized to external

events with sub-nanosecond accuracy.

InnoLas Laser

Munich, Germany

[email protected]

Toroidal mirrors

Custom toroidal mirrors are manufac-

tured from Zerodur, BK7, and fused

silica with typical surface accuracy

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New products

20:10 scratch dig. Plano-convex and

plano-concave toroidal mirrors are

made in a range of shapes with dimen-

sions up to 400 mm.

Optical Surfaces

Surrey, England

[email protected]

Multichannel polarization

controller

The Firebird “plug and play” multichan-

nel polarization controller manages up

to four independent channels simul-

taneously. Features include micropro-

cessor-based control of each individual

waveplate; USB, RS-232, GBIB, and

Ethernet interface options; programma-

ble waveforms; and a random scram-

bling option.

Phoenix Photonics

South Croydon, England

www.phoenixphotonics.com

Fiber-coupled multibar

modules

Fiber-coupled, multibar modules oper-

ate at 1940 nm and deliver 30 W

through 600-μm-core-diameter fi ber

with NA of 0.22 and WPE >10%.

Requiring only industrial water for cool-

ing, they are suited for direct diode

applications, such as welding of trans-

parent plastics, medical, or defense.

DILAS

Mainz, Germany

www.dilas.com

Direct-drive rotary stages

AccuRing series direct-drive rotary

stages feature up to 300 rpm continu-

ous rotation, angular contact bearings,

and a precision-machined mounting

shaft to minimize wobble. The large

aperture stages use brushless modu-

lar RotoLinear motor technology and

provide encoder resolutions up to 0.18

arc-sec for position accuracy.

Intellidrives

Philadelphia, PA

[email protected]

CMOS camera platform

The CMOS camera platform transmits

image data directly to the monitor via

HDMI/DVI or is directly saved on the

memory card. The processor and the

embedded Linux operating system

are directly on-board. The platform

provides high-defi nition live streams,

up to 5 Mpixels, with a maximum 20

frames/s. Facial recognition and motion

detection may also be implemented.

Kappa optronics

Gleichen, Germany

[email protected]

Analog galvanometer

The MPM30K galvanometer is

designed specifi cally for mirror aper-



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��High-Power (kW)

High Efficiency >55%Speckle Free

Low Cost Lasers

Applications:• Illumination (works like LEDs, but with small size and high efficiency)

• Solid-state laser pumping (chips, high power modules for end and side pumping)

• Sensor applications, single mode devices (to >100mW) and arrays –high volume available

• Automotive- low cost ranging

www.princetonoptronics.com

Our VCSEL Key Differentiators:• High power (10~1000W) from a single chip, 6kW from a module

• Low Cost (single device, arrays)• High temperature operation to 950C• Excellent wavelength stability (<0.07nm/0C)

• Speckle-free illumination-see below • 780, 795, 808, 976, 1064nm devices• Custom wavelengths (780~1100nm)

4kW-side pumping module

Speckle Free Illumination

[email protected]

(609) 584-9696 ext. 107Visit us at Photonics West

Booth # 5040


New products

tures from 30 to 50 mm. It uses an

advanced highly stable optical position

detector, with 5 μrad/°C stability over

temperature and long-term stability.

The analog galvanometer combines

stator construction with “tapered” mir-

ror-mount technology and an optical

analog position detector for large-aper-

ture applications.

Cambridge Technology

Lexington, MA

www.cambridgetechnology.com

End-pumping module

A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser

(VCSEL)-based end-pumping module

is designed for pumping Nd:YAG lasers.

The module delivers >900 W of QCW

power and operates at temperatures

above 50°C. The module has four

small VCSEL chips, each delivering

230 W of output power, connected in

series. Applications include solid-state

laser pumping, pulsed illumination, and

medical applications.

Princeton Optronics

Mercerville, NJ

www.princetonoptronics.com

Laser sensor

The L-GAGE LH Series laser sensor is

a noncontact measurement sensor

for precision displacement and thick-

ness measurements, developed to

solve measurement and quality control

inspections on materials such as wood,

metal, rubber, ceramic, and plastic

parts. It features a 1024 pixel CMOS

linear imager that can achieve up to 1

μm resolution.

Banner Engineering

Minneapolis, MN

[email protected]

Single-frequency fi ber laser

The high-power BoostiK single-fre-

quency fi ber lasers offer output up to

10 W at 1.55 μm and 15 W at 1.06 μm.

Suited for atomic physics, sensing, and

lidar applications, the air-cooled lasers

are fi ber monolithic- and maintenance-

free. They feature low phase noise and

narrow linewidth.

NKT Photonics

Birkerød, Denmark

[email protected]

Data transceiver

The ZonuF4 single-fi ber, full-duplex,

CWDM, and smart SFC transceiv-

ers include a μOTDR fast fi ber fault

fi nder. The SFC transceivers work

with any CWDM to support up to 10

business-class SONET/SDH or GigE

customers on a single fi ber with full-

duplex operation up to long-reach link

distances of 80 km.

Optical Zonu

Los Angeles, CA

www.opticalzonu.com

Metrology

inspection system

The Benchmark system provides

micron-level in-line (or off-line), real-

time part measurement and confor-

mance to specifi cation for any part or

material. The system provides accuracy

exceeding 5 μm. Using a Centralized

Inspection Point Technology (CIPT)

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High Performance

Lasers by Cobolt.

www.cobolt.se

Cobolt Headoffice, Sweden

Phone +46 8 545 912 30, E-mail [email protected]

04-01 Series Compact SLM DPSSLs

457, 473, 491, 515, 532, 561, 594 nm

CW power up to 300 mW, rms<0.25%

05-01 Series High power single frequency DPSSLs

355, 491, 532, 561, 660, 1064 nm

CW power up to 2000 mW, rms <0.1%

MLD Series Compact diode laser modules

405 - 660nm

Fast and deep direct modulation

Fully integrated control electronics

• Fluorescence imaging and analysis• Raman spectroscopy• Interferometry

HTCure™ manufacturing for ultra-robust lasers and ensured reliability!

Meet us at SPIE BiOS, booth n. 8632

and SPIE Photonics West, booth n. 1500

• Semiconductor metrology


New products

parts changeover with an automated

set-up and self-calibration capability.

Boulder Imaging

Boulder, CO

[email protected]

Adjustable beamsplitters

This high-power variable beamsplit-

ter has a position-dependent refl ection

profi le. By moving the beamsplitter,

the user may obtain a refl ection value

around +5%, depending on posi-

tion. The values can be continuously

adjusted. It has an ion beam sputtering

(IBS) coating, which makes it suitable

for high-power lasers and low temper-

ature drift.

Laser Components

Hudson, NH

[email protected]

Uncooled pump laser

An 500 mW, 980 nm uncooled pump

laser in a SFF 10-pin butterfl y package

operates in the -5° to 75°C tempera-

ture range, is wavelength-stabilized,

qualifi ed to Telcordia GR-468-CORE,

and RoHS 6/6 compliant. Suitable for

metro-cross-connect, single- or multi-

channel applications, the pump can

also be used for SFF single-channel and

40 Gbit/s per-channel amplifi ers with

higher power requirements.

Oclaro

San Jose, CA

www.oclaro.com

SLED

The SLED EXS210010 is a fi ber-coupled

and cooled superluminescent light-

emitting diode (SLED) that is centered

around 1060 nm. It provides a typical 3

dB bandwidth of 70 nm and an optical

output power of 20 mW. The SLED is

suited for optical coherence tomography

(OCT) or other imaging applications

requiring a light source in the near-IR.

Exalos

Zurich, Switzerland

[email protected]

Miniature linear

positioning stages

The MPS50SL miniature linear posi-

tioning stage measures 50 mm wide,

with travels of 25 or 50 mm. It pro-

vides multiaxis confi gurations, 0.1 μm

resolution, +0.75 μm repeatability,

and +1.5 μm accuracy. Its DC ser-

vomotor is equipped with a rotary

encoder and crossed-roller linear bear-

ings offer payload capabilities up to

5 kg, with a stage mass of 0.85 kg. A

vacuum-prepped version to 10-6 torr

is available.

Aerotech

Pittsburgh, PA

[email protected]

40G transceiver module

A 40G CFP transceiver module is

designed for high-speed Ethernet client

side applications. The new pluggable

transceiver increases the data rate per

module from 10G; in the case of XFP or

SFP+ transceivers, to 40G. Compared

to a traditional 10G approach, the new

module transmits four times the data

over singlemode fi ber at distances up

to 10 km.

NeoPhotonics

San Jose, CA

www.neophotonics.com




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New products

Prism assemblies

Custom prism assemblies enable con-

struction of compact beam multiplex-

ing systems for aerospace, defense,

bioinstrumentation, analytical instru-

ments, and telecommunications appli-

cations. They allow multiple beams

to be combined, split, or redirected

based on differences in wavelength

and/or polarization. Transmitted

wavefront distortion values are as low

as λ/10 at 633 nm.

REO

Boulder, CO

www.reoinc.com

USB 3.0 camera

The Flea3 USB 3.0 camera series mea-

sures 29 × 29 × 30 mm and is designed

for machine and computer vision appli-

cations. The fi rst available models are

based on monochrome and color ver-

sions of the Sony IMX036, a CMOS

sensor that generates 3.2 Mpixel

images at 60 frames/s.

Point Grey

Richmond, BC, Canada

www.ptgrey.com

Ellipsometers

The UNECS-2000 spectroscopic ellip-

someter measures thickness and opti-

cal constants of thin fi lms. Its emit-

ter and sensor heads have a built-in

light source and controller. It comes

with computer control and analysis

software. The UNECS-3000A has an

automated mapping function that

measures 106 points on a 300 mm

substrate in 2 min.

Ulvac Technologies

Methuen, MA

[email protected]

Light guide for

IR curing systems

A multilegged fi ber light guide,

designed for the iCure line of IR spot

curing systems, distributes light energy

to multiple cure sites simultaneously

from a single light source, allowing

fl exibility in the curing process. The

iCure curing system delivers precise

heat to photosensitive and heat-cured

adhesives.

IRPhotonics

Hamden, CT

[email protected]

Microscope software

μManager software controls confocal

microscope systems, allowing users to

perform common microscope image

acquisition protocols such as time

lapses, multichannel imaging, z-stacks,

and various other combinations of

techniques. μManager works with

microscopes from all four major



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*Inquire

NEW PRODUCT!

MID-IR ISOLATORS4 μm to>14 μm

• 5 mm aperture• Tunable• Transmittance*• Isolation* • Low and High power models• Request Catalog

62 Depot St., Verona, NJ 07044ph: 973-857-8380 / fx: 973-857-8381www.innpho.com / [email protected]


New products

manufacturers (Leica, Nikon, Olympus,

and Zeiss). It can be used with Stradus

laser modules.

Vortran Laser

Sacramento, CA

[email protected]

High-speed camera

The Fastcam SA6 HD camera is

available in both 36 bit color and

12 bit monochrome. It provides up

to 1500 frames/s at high-defi nition

resolution (1920 × 1080) from

the 1920 × 1440 native resolution

CMOS sensor. Applications include

automotive, military, broadcast,

particle velocimetry, and digital

image correlation applications.

Photron

San Diego, CA

[email protected]

Ultrashort pulse lasers

The Wildcat line of ultrashort pulse

(USP) lasers is designed for the micro-

machining industry. The lasers’ high-

energy photons break molecular

bonds in materials, resulting in direct

“cold” material removal, or ablation,

leading to cleaner, faster, more precise

micromachining processes. USP lasers

can process hardened steels, semi-

conductors, ceramics, quartz, sap-

phire, diamond, polymers, and other

diffi cult-to-machine materials without

the thermal damage caused by slower-

pulsed lasers.

Applied Energetics

Tucson, AZ

www.appliedenergetics.com

CO2 optics

A line of CO2 laser optics allows

direct OEM replacements for high-

power, steel-cutting lasers. They are



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Sapphire windows up

to 15” in diameter

Optical wave fronts of 1/10

wave peak to valley and better

No bubbles or thickness

restrictions

Industry’s best homogeneity

of refractive index

Sapphire quality begins with GT Advanced Technologies

GT Crystal Systems, a subsidiary of GT Advanced

Technologies, is recognized worldwide as

a leading producer of high quality sapphire

material. GT’s HEM sapphire is known for its high

purity levels (>99.996%), crystalline perfection

and large diameter crystals. Learn why the

world’s most demanding optical applications

begin with GT HEM sapphire. Contact us at

[email protected] or call +1.978.745.0088.

POLYSILICON PHOTOVOLTAIC SAPPHIREgtat.com

Visit us at Photonics West

Booth #5327 - North Hall

BEGINS

HERE

GROWTH


New products

optimized for 10.6 μm, with diameters

of 1.5 to 2.5 in. and focal lengths

from 3.5 to 12 in. Lenses are A/R

coated with <0.2% total absorption,

while the silicon mirrors and refl ectors

provide >99.5% average refl ectance

at 10.6 μm and 45° AOI.

Laser Research Optics

Providence, RI

[email protected]

Assembly station

The LAS-BT is a 96-lb benchtop assem-

bly station for cementing doublets or

aligning lenses during assembly into

a lens barrel. It comes with a 4 in. air-

bearing and 15 in. of linear travel. The

visible laser diode measures tilt smaller

than 5 arcs and provides linear centra-

tion accuracy <5 μm.

Opto-Alignment Technology

Charlotte, NC

www.optoalignment.com

Power alignment kits

The LAKIT Series of laser power align-

ment tuning kits includes a 1917-R

laser power meter and a broad selec-

tion of optical detectors to match the

laser type with corresponding mount-

ing assembly. They use silicon, ger-

manium, or thermopile detectors and

operate in ranges from 200 nm to

10.6 μm, up to 100 W average power.

Newport

Irvine, CA

www.newport.com/LAKIT-PR05

Variable backrefl ector

The OSICS BKR variable backrefl ector

module provides a controllable back-

refl ection up to 55 dB over the 1250–

1650 nm wavelength range. It can

be integrated with other test instru-

ments such as light sources, optical

switches, and variable attenuators,

and can be controlled manually or via



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Earth ObservationPatterned Filter Coatings for Spectral Imaging Applications

Optics Balzers AG Balzers/Liechtenstein

Optics Balzers Jena GmbH Jena/Germany

www.opticsbalzers.com

BiOS Booth 8222 Photonics West Booth 4133

San Francisco from January 21– 26, 2012

Cover glassAR coating

Patterned Filter Coating

Image Sensor

APE Angewandte Physik & Elektronik [email protected] | www.ape-berlin.com

worldwide available via authorized APE distributors

Intrinsically jitter free and low noise

your partner in ultrafast

Perfect pulse overlapp in space and time with all-internal sensors

Up to 20 MHz modulation possible for videorate imaging

Fully remote controlled

EMERALD 2pico

The hands-free one-box lightsource for CARS / CRS microscopy

See you atPhotonics WestBooth #5209

Entire coverage of RAMAN fingerprint region

Picosecond pulses for best resolution


New products

GPIB and RS-232 interfaces.

Yenista Optics

Lannion, France

[email protected]

Beam profi ling

The CINCAM CMOS + Ray-Ci system

for laser beam profi ling from Cinogy

Technologies GmbH combines a 1.3

Mpixel CMOS sensor with beam pro-

fi ling software for analysis of CW and

pulsed laser systems in the 350–1100

nm band. The software offers ISO

standards and complex analysis such as

M2 measurements.

Axiom Optics

Cambridge, MA

[email protected]

Ray-tracing software

Version 7.1 of TracePro illumination and

optical analysis software features new

visualization capabilities, new path-

sorting, enhanced ray sorting, and a

new multicore thread setting. The 3D

visualization feature displays irradiance,

illuminance, CIE, and true color plots

directly on selected curved and planar

surfaces and parts in the system view.

Lambda Research

Littleton, MA

[email protected]

Insertion loss meter

The OP930 meter measures inser-

tion loss and return loss on fi ber-optic

components. It uses the “no mandrel”

method to measure return loss, so nei-

ther matching gel nor mandrel wraps

are required. A precision optical power

meter is included for measuring inser-

tion loss. It works with a USB interface,

and comes with turnkey application

software.

OptoTest

Camarillo, CA

[email protected]

Current driver

The A011 FlexBlock LED driver is con-

fi gurable in either boost only or buck-

boost modes for driving high-bright-

ness, high-power LEDs and arrays. It is

available in 350 and 700 mA versions.

It measures 2 × 1.2 × 0.38 in. and




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Manufacturers’ Product Showcase

New products


operates from an input voltage of 10

to 32 VDC, providing maximum output

voltage of 48 VDC. In many applica-

tions, it needs no additional heatsinking.

LEDdynamics

Randolph, VT

[email protected]

Trajectory tracking

The Trajectory Tracker 2 video tracking

system can precisely correlate high-

speed video data with 3D visualization

and measurement in ballistics studies. It

offers full motorized three-axis remote

control and pseudo-real-time scan cor-

rection. It can observe objects over

more than 100 m with tracking accu-

racy better than 0.2° over the full scan.

Specialised Imaging

Tring, England

[email protected]

Strain sensor

The ODiSI Optical Distributed Sensor

Interrogator provides fully distributed

strain or temperature measurements

of structures and vehicles, using optical

fi ber as a continuous sensor. It pro-

vides insight into performance, tol-

erances, and failure mechanisms of

structures without a fi ber Bragg grat-

ing. Applications include design and

model verifi cation, design improve-

ment, structural health monitoring, and

performance optimization.

Luna Innovations

Roanoke, VA

www.lunainnovations.com

Digital cameras

The Phantom v-series line of digital high-

speed cameras now includes v1210

and v1610. The 1 Mpixel cameras have

widescreen 1280 × 800 CMOS sen-

sors. The v1610 can acquire more than

16,000 frames/s at full resolution and

up to 1 million frames/s at reduced reso-

lution. The v1210 captures more than

12,000 frames/s.

Vision Research

Wayne, NJ

www.visionresearch.com

Assembly stations

The NanoGlue series are partly or

Wavelength Meter / Spectrum Analyzer

The 721 Series Laser Spectrum Analyzer is for researchers

who need a precise understanding of the spectral

characteristics of their CW or high-repetition rate pulsed

lasers that operate from 375 nm to 12 μm. Absolute wave-

length is measured to an accuracy as high as ± 0.0001 nm,

and spectral properties, such as linewidth and longitudinal

mode structure, are determined to a resolution as high as

2 GHz. The 721 system uses Bristol Instruments’ proven

wavelength meter technology, which includes continuous

calibration with a built-in wavelength standard. The result is

the reliable accuracy that is required for the most demanding

applications.

(585) 924-2620 • [email protected] • www.bristol-inst.com

Nanosecond Laser Diode Drivers

With Butterfl y Diode Sockets

Each of the 19 models in the Avtech AVO-9 series of pulsed laser diode drivers includes a replaceable output module with an ultra-highspeed socket suitable for use with sub-nanosecond rise time pulses. Models with maximum currents of 0.1A to 10A are available with pulse widths from 400 ps to 1 us. GPIB, RS-232, and Ethernet control available.

Pricing, manuals, datasheets at

http://www.avtechpulse.laser

More information: [email protected]

To TEC

Controller

To Pulse

DriverOutput module with

a socket-mounted

butterfl y-packaged

diode installed.

Model AVO-9A-B

40 mA/DIV

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Manufacturers’ Product Showcase

Beam Cube for Consistent

Medical Device Manufacturing

Ophir-Spiricon,

the world’s

leading

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Neo sCMOS camera

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-40°C, critical to maintaining the low noise advantage, and

a minimal pixel blemish specifi cation across all exposure

conditions. The vacuum architecture enables a single

window design for maximum photon throughput.

Project partly fi nanced by the European Regional Development Fund under the

European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

www.andor.com

a

e,

e

ocoo iateed

DD dedetectorors.s

Photodiode Transimpedance Amplifi er

The PDA-750 Photodiode Amplifi er is a low-noise, high-gain

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Avantes spectrometers plug into the Ethernet —

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Our latest innovation, the

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The AvaGigE consists

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High power 14XXnm and 15XXnm

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[email protected]

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The FISBA Beam Twister™

The FISBA Beam Twister™ (FBT) is an innovative beam

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New products

Business Resource Center

Resource Category Used Equipment


fully automated production stations

for alignment and assembly of opti-

cal devices with UV-curable resin. The

linear axes work with 20 nm resolution,

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automation of loading and alignment.

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Gross-Umstadt, Germany

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FBG measurement

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Micron Optics

Atlanta, GA

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Diode laser

Compact 445 nm diode lasers, cooled

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Laser Coherent

Cocoa, FL

445nmlaser.com

Optics / Coatings Manufacturing

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www.latticeoptics.com

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ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES

Advertiser index


MAIN OFFICE

98 Spit Brook Road, LL-1, Nashua, NH 03062-5737(603) 891-0123; fax (603) 891-0574

Senior Vice President & Group Publisher

Christine A. Shaw (603) 891-9178 [email protected]

Executive Assistant & Reprint Sales

Susan Edwards(603) 891-9224; [email protected]

Digital Media Sales Operations Manager

Tom Markley(603) 891-9307; [email protected]

Ad Services Manager Alison Boyer(918) 832-9369; fax (918) [email protected]

Director, List Sales Kelli Berry(918) 831-9782; [email protected]

NORTH AMERICA

New England, Eastern Canada & New Jersey

Diane Donnelly, (508) 668-1767: fax (508) 668-4767 [email protected]

Midwest, MidAtlantic, Southeast

Jeff Nichols, (413) 442-2526; fax (413) 442-2527 [email protected]

West and Western Canada

Paul Dudas, (949) 489-8015; fax (949) [email protected]

Inside Sales—Business Resource Center/Classifi ed,

Focus on Products, Product Showcase

Katrina Frazer, (603) 891-9231: fax (603) 891-0574 [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL

UK and Scandinavia Tony Hill44-1442-239547; fax [email protected]

France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Greece,

Portugal, Southern Switzerland

Luis Matutano (Paris) 33-1 3076-5543; fax 33-1 [email protected]

Germany, Austria, Northern Switzerland, Eastern

Europe, Russian Federation

Holger Gerisch49-8801-302430; fax [email protected]

Hong Kong/China Adonis Mak852-2-838-6298; fax 852-2-838-2766 [email protected]

India Rajan Sharma91-11-686-1113; fax [email protected]

Israel (Tel Aviv) Dan Aronovic972-9-899-5813; [email protected]

Japan Masaki Mori81-3-3219-3561; [email protected]

Taiwan Diana Wei886-2-2396-5128 ext. 270; fax: [email protected]

For all other international sales, please contact:

Christine Shaw, Senior VP & Group Publisher

(see contact info. above)

This ad index is published as a service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

Send all orders & ad materials to: Ad Services Specialist, Laser Focus World, 1421 S. Sheridan, Tulsa OK 74112

Laser Focus World Copyright 2012 (ISSN 1043-8092) is published 12 times per year, monthly, by PennWell, 1421 S. Sheridan, Tulsa OK 74112. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Tulsa, OK 74101 and additional mailing offi ces. Subscription rate in the USA: 1 yr. $162, 2 yr. $310, 3 yr. $443; Canada: 1 yr. $216, 2 yr. $369, 3 yr. $507; International Air: 1 yr. $270, 2 yr. $435, 3 yr. $578. Single copy price: $17 in the USA, $22 in Canada and $27 via International Air. Single copy rate for March issue which contains a Buyers Guide Supplement: $135.00 USA, $168.00 Canada, $200.00 International Air. Digital edition $60.00 yr. Paid subscriptions are accepted prepaid and only in US currency. SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: phone: (847) 559-7520, fax: (847) 291-4816. (POSTMASTER: Send change of address form to Laser Focus World, POB 3425, Northbrook, IL 60065-3293.) Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: P.O. Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON L2E 6S4. We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information, please let us know by contacting us at List Services, Laser Focus World, 98 Spit Brook Road, LL-1, Nashua, NH 03062.

GST No. 126813153 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40052420

Laser Focus World is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted.Bulk reprints can be ordered from Susan Edwards, PennWell, Laser Focus World,98 Spit Brook Road, LL-1, Nashua, NH 03062, tel. (603) 891-9224; FAX (603) 891-0574, Attn. Reprint Dept.; [email protected].

AdValue Photonics ..............................................72

Aerotech, Inc. .....................................................54

AFL .......................................................................41

Andor Technology ............................................. 132

Ape Angewandte Physik & Elecktronik GmbH ..130

Apollo Instruments, Inc. ...................................106

Applied Energetics ........................................... 112

Applied Image Group ..........................................66

Archer OpTx ...................................................... 107

Argyle International, Inc. .................................. 110

Armorline ............................................................25

Avantes BV .................................................. 77, 133

Avtech Electrosystems, Ltd. .............................131

B&W Tek, Inc. ..................................................... 31

Berliner Glas .......................................................85

Biophotonic Solutions, Inc. ................................62

Blue Sky Research .............................................65

Bristol Instruments, Inc. ......................26, 88, 131

BWT Beijing Ltd. ............................................... 124

Cambridge Technology ......................................50

Castech Inc. ........................................................ 18

CEDIP Infrared System ....................................... 67

Cobolt ................................................................126

Coherent Inc. ................................................ 17, 80

Conoptics Inc. ................................................... 127

Continuum ..........................................................96

Crystal Systems Inc. ........................................129

Curamik Electronics, GmbH .............................123

CVI Melles Griot ......................................21, 97, 99

DataRay, Inc........................................................ 51

Deposition Sciences, Inc. ................................... 61

Dilas Diode Laser, Inc...................................23, 86

Discovery Semiconductors, Inc. ..........................6

DRS Technologies RSTA ..................................... 47

Eagleyard Photonics GmbH ...............................53

Edmund Optics .............................................. 10-11

Electro-Optical Products Corp. ..........................28

Electro-Optics Technology, Inc. .........................58

EMCO High Voltage Corp. .................................128

Energetiq Technology, Inc. .................................48

Fermionics Corporation ...............................78, 79

Fisba Optik AG ..................................................133

FJW Optical Systems, Inc. ............................... 116

Frankfurt Laser Company ................................ 101

G-S Plastic Optics...............................................83

Gentec Electro-Optics, Inc. .............................. 115

Hellma USA ..................................................68, 111

Heraeus Quartz America .................................... 27

ILX Lightwave .....................................................63

Incom, Inc. ............................................................ 4

Innovation Photonics ........................................128

IPG Photonics Corp. ............................................C3

IXYS Colorado .....................................................60

L-3 Communications Infrared Products ............70

Labsphere, Inc. .................................................129

Lambda Research ............................................133

Laservision .........................................................56

Lasos Lasertechnik GmbH ............................... 119

The LED Show ................................................... 102

Lee Laser, Inc. ..................................................100

LightMachinery, Inc. ....................................16, 44

Martek Power Laser Drive, Inc. ......................... 14

Master Bond, Inc. .......................................40, 122

Micro Laser Systems, Inc. ............................... 114

Mightex Systems ................................................40

Nanoplus GmbH ..................................................84

Newport Corp. ...............................C1, C2, 105, C4

NM Laser Products, Inc. .......................... 115, 122

Nufern ...........................................................45, 92

OFS Specialty Photonics Division ......................46

OPCO Laboratory, Inc. ...................................... 110

Ophir-Spiricon, Inc. ...............................89,91, 132

Optical Building Blocks Corp. ............................44

Optics Balzers AG .............................................130

Optimax Systems, Inc. .......................................95

Opto Diode ..........................................................69

Optometrics Corporation...................................111

OptoSigma Corp. ...........................................12-13

Osela Inc. ..........................................................105

OSI Optoelectronics ............................................59

P.E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG .................................94

PCO AG .............................................................. 112

Photop Technologies, Inc. .................................. 24

Pico Electronics, Inc. ..........................................56

Polymicro Tech, Inc. ........................................... 71

Power Technology, Inc. ........................................ 1

Precision Photonics ..........................................104

Princeton Optronics, Inc. ................................. 125

Qioptiq, Inc. .........................................................34

Quantronix Corporation ...................................... 32

Raptor Photonics, Ltd. ...................................... 119

Roithner LaserTechnik GmbH .......................... 116

RSoft Design Group, Inc. ......................................8

Scanlab AG ......................................................... 52

Schneider Optics ...............................................117

Schott North America, Inc. ................................38

Seminex Corp. ..................................................133

Semrock, Inc. .....................................................58

Sensofar-Tech, SL .............................................. 82

Sensors Unlimited, Inc. ....................................120

Sill Optics GmbH & Co. KG .................................70

Society of Vaccum Coaters ..............................108

Spectral Instruments .........................................39

Spectrogon US, Inc. ............................................68

Stanford Research Systems .............................. 74

StellarNet, Inc. ....................................................22

Strategies in Light Europe .................................98

Synopsys, Inc. .................................................... 19

Terahertz Technologies, Inc. ............................ 132

Thermo Fisher Scientifi c ....................................64

Thin Film Center, Inc. .........................................117

Time-Bandwidth Products .................................76

TOPTICA Photonics, Inc. ...............................20, 29

Toshiba America - IVP ........................................ 57

Trioptics GmbH ...................................................30

Trumpf, Inc. .........................................................49

VLOC/Subsidiary of II-VI, Inc. ....................... 36-37

Vuemetrix ............................................................55

Wavelength Electronics ................................... 114

Xi’an Focuslight Technologies Co., Ltd. .............73

Yenista Optics ..................................................... 51

Zygo Corporation ................................................90









IN MY

VIEWB Y J E F F R E Y B A I R S T O W

Jeffrey Bairstow

Contributing Editor

[email protected]

Higgs boson: Now you see it,

now you don’t

Here’s the latest on the tanta-

lizingly ephemeral Higgs boson. We’re

talking about “The Missing Link, The

God Particle, etc., etc.” and other sig-

nifi cant labels used by the popular press.

You may not have seen the somewhat

exuberant press releases generated by

the recent Higgs boson seminar and

broadcast around the world. So here are

the more signifi cant releases with some

minor editing. (As of the fi rst of this year,

we have not yet seen any particles that

could be classifi ed as Higgs bosons—

sigh. All italic comments are mine.)

At a seminar held last December at the

huge CERN research center near Geneva,

Switzerland—home of the Large Hadron

Collider (LHC)—experimenters pre-

sented the status of their research for the

Standard Model Higgs boson. (Editor’s

note: There are two 3000-person teams

working independently on the Higgs

boson research with CERN’s LHC).

Their results are based on the analysis of

considerably more data than presented at

earlier conferences, suffi cient to make sig-

nifi cant progress in the search for the Higgs

boson, but not enough to make any conclu-

sive statement on the existence or nonexis-

tence of the elusive Higgs particle. (So why

bother with this weak statement now?)

The main conclusion is that the

Standard Model Higgs boson, if it exists,

is most likely to have a mass constrained

to the range 116–130 GeV by one experi-

ment, and 115–127 GeV by a second

experiment. Tantalizing hints have been

seen by both experiments in this mass

region, but these are not yet strong

enough to claim a discovery.

Higgs bosons, if they exist, are very short

lived and can decay in many different ways.

Discovery relies on observing the particles

they decay into rather than the Higgs itself.

Both experiments have analyzed several

decay channels, and the experiments see

small excesses in the low mass region that

has not yet been excluded.

Taken individually, none of these

excesses is any more statistically signifi -

cant than rolling a die and coming up

with two sixes in a row. What is interest-

ing is that there are multiple independent

measurements pointing to the region

of 124 to 126 GeV. It’s far too early to

say whether the scientists have discov-

ered the Higgs boson, but these updated

results are generating a lot of interest in

the particle physics community. (So why

the premature half-assed discovery?)

Over the coming months, both experi-

ment teams will be further refi ning their

analyses in time for the winter particle

physics conferences in March. However, a

defi nitive statement on the existence or

nonexistence of the Higgs will require more

data, and is not likely until later in 2012.

The Standard Model is the theory that

physicists use to describe the behavior of

fundamental particles and the forces that

act between them. It describes the ordinary

matter from which we, and everything vis-

ible in the universe, are made extremely

well. Nevertheless, the Standard Model

does not describe the 96% of the universe

that is invisible. One of the main goals of

the LHC research program is to go beyond

the Standard Model, and the Higgs boson

could be the key. (Even then the Standard

Model may not be the defi nitive answer to

problems with particle physics.)

A Standard Model Higgs boson would

confi rm a theory fi rst put forward in the

1960s, but there are other possible forms

the Higgs boson could take, linked to

theories that go beyond the Standard

Model. A Standard Model Higgs could

still point the way to new physics through

subtleties in its behavior that would only

emerge after studying a large number of

Higgs particle displays.

A non-Standard Model Higgs, currently

beyond the reach of the LHC experiments

with data so far recorded, would imme-

diately open the door to new physics,

whereas the absence of a Standard Model

Higgs would point strongly to new phys-

ics at the LHC’s full design energy capac-

ity, set to be achieved after 2014. Whether

ATLAS and CMS show over the coming

months that the Standard Model Higgs

boson exists or not, the LHC program is

opening the way to new physics. (We’ll

see about that!).You may not have seen the

somewhat exuberant press

releases generated by the

recent Higgs boson seminar

and broadcast around the world.










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