Features
- LASER MARKETPLACE 2010: How wide is the chasm??
  We all know 2009 was a bad year for the worldwide economies, and a bad year for the laser industry.
- QUANTUM-DOT DETECTORS: Dual-band QDIP is wavelength-selectable
  The major limitation of multicolor detectors—inability to choose response peaks without using optical filters or multiterminal electrical contacts—can be avoided with bias-selectable multicolor detectors.
- PICOPROJECTION DISPLAYS: Laser-LCOS microdisplays make for tiny, low-cost picoprojectors
  Lasers combined with liquid-crystal-on-silicon technology enable picoprojectors with very high efficiency (lumens per watt), high brightness and resolution, reduced speckle, and focus-free operation that are affordable and small enough to embed in cell phones and cameras.
- PHOTONICS APPLIED: BIOMIMETICS: Optical biomimetics emerge from a deep, dark past
  While optical engineers formulate designs with very precise photonic devices in mind, the very same devices are coming together in the animal kingdom through random trial and error—genetic mutations that have allowed animals to evolve a plethora of optical reflectors, fibers, and photonic crystals that aid their survival.
- PLASMONIC OPTICAL STRUCTURES: Tilted FBGs excite optical-fiber plasmons
  A plasmon-based sensor created from a standard single-mode optical fiber uses tilted Bragg gratings and gold coatings to form a biological sensor useful under a wide range of conditions.
- OPTICAL SURFACE PROFILING: Profilometer advances benefit surface analysis, film-thickness measurement
  The incorporation of high-resolution CCD imaging, sophisticated image processing, and advanced optomechanical design are enabling enhanced capabilities and usability of optical profilers.
- PRODUCT FOCUS: INTERFEROMETERS: What to look for in interferometer systems
  While numerous interferometry applications have made only small advances over the years, big leaps have occurred in vibration isolation and form measurement of aspheres.
Newsbreaks
- Kodak Truesense color filter improves on standard Bayer pattern
  Conventional color image sensors are typically designed using the "Bayer Pattern"—an arrangement of red, green, and blue (RGB) pixels, invented by Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY) scientist Bryce Bayer in 1976, in which half of the pixels on the sensor detect green light, with the other pixels evenly split to detect red and blue light.
- PAIR spectroscopy brings new capabilities beyond FTIR
  Researchers at the University of Delaware and PAIR Technologies (both in Newark, DE) have developed a planar-array IR (PAIR) spectroscopy instrument that performs at a level not possible with Fourier-transform IR (FTIR) technology in terms of speed, reproducibility, and convenience.
- Green laser pulses create sound in the inner ear
  Hearing-impaired people may one day benefit from a method of stimulating operation of the inner ear using laser light.
- Sandwiched ZnO LED is promising for lighting
  An alternative to conventional gallium nitride (GaN)-based blue- and UV-emitting LED materials is found in zinc oxide (ZnO), which has a high direct bandgap energy, making it potentially useful in high-intensity LEDs for lighting.
- Graded antireflection grating lowers PC lens reflections
  Because the characteristics of photonic-crystal (PC)-based optics are so complex, figuring out the best avenue for experimentation requires intricate numerical modeling first.
- Time-of-flight sensors revolutionize 3-D data analysis
  A collaborative effort between researchers at the University of Siegen (Siegen, Germany), the University of Lübeck (Lübeck, Germany), Christian-Albrechts-University (Kiel, Germany), and the Technical University of Denmark (Copenhagen, Denmark) is advancing revolutionary time-of-flight (TOF) camera technology.
World News
- SPECTROSCOPY: Femtosecond spectroscopy of QCLs reveals carrier dynamics
  Because of their mid- to far-IR emission wavelengths, high output powers, and high wall-plug efficiencies, quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) have been used for applications in trace-gas sensing, breath analysis, and environmental detection since they were invented in 1994.
- LASER-SPECKLE IMAGING: Simple optical setup detects speech remotely
  Some technically savvy people know that light can be used as a tool for eavesdropping: if a beam from one arm of an optical interferometer is reflected off a window, the interferometer can sense sounds—including human voices—that make the window vibrate.
- BIOSENSING: Photonic-wire biosensor array is sensitive, label-free
  A photonic biosensor-array chip created by scientists at the National Research Council Canada (NRC; Ottawa, ON, Canada) contains array sensor elements that can independently and simultaneously monitor different molecular binding reactions.
- QUANTUM-CASCADE LASERS: Single laser emits beams at two angles
  A new member of the quantum-cascade laser (QCL) family has some impressive characteristics—like lasing at two or more wavelengths, or in multiple directions.
- OPTICS FOR DISPLAYS: Waveguide-based wedge creates collimated display backlight
  Micro-optics and diffusion materials are often used to spread light from fluorescent tubes uniformly across a display for backlighting; however, these optical materials are typically filled with diffusive particles and cause reflections and refractions that limit light transmission.
- BIREFRINGENT OPTICS: Biological quarter-wave plate is highly achromatic
  Quarter-wave retarders (quarter-wave plates) are very useful in optical systems, in particular because they can convert linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light, or vice versa.
Columns
- The Editor's Desk
  - Lighting the way
    It's been 50 years since Theodore Maiman demonstrated the first laser at Hughes Research Labs.
- Business Forum
  - How can I get hired as a CEO of a startup?
    I will be interviewing for a CEO position in a start-up company.
- In My View
  - Take my gift back...please!
    Cost of shipping: $9, time expended: about three hours. All this for an item priced at $20!
Departments
- New Products
  The iBeam smart diode laser measures 100 × 40 × 40 mm³ and is a true one-box solution for a compact OEM diode-laser module.
- Manufacturers' Product Showcase
  Model AVRF-7A-B generates amplitudes of up to 750 Volts, with 7.5 ns rise and fall times.
Exclusive Features
- PHOTOVOLTAICS: New lasers advance efficiency and manufacture of silicon-wafer-based photovoltaic solar cells
  The cost and efficiency of PV cells is becoming increasingly important as manufacturers address an ever-more-competitive marketplace.
- OPTICAL SURFACE PROFILING: 3-D surface characterization improves solar-cell efficiency
  Optical profilers can increase yield and lower the overall production cost of solar cells through quantification, qualification, or monitoring.
- FIBER-BASED SENSING: Optical fibers tackle weapons of mass destruction
  Commercially available high-OH-content optical fibers that use neutron-capture-induced differential absorption in the near-IR provide suppression of gamma and other background radiation for detecting nuclear materials.
- LIGHTING & ILLUMINATION: Innovation in LEDs has plenty of runway to go
  Advances in efficiency, light intensity, and cost have allowed LEDs to achieve widespread application, but more innovation will be required for the technology to overtake conventional lighting.
- PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: ANTIMONIDE LASERS: Antimonide lasers fill hole in the mid-infrared spectrum
  Development of III-V diode lasers based on GaSb and related compounds promises new mid-infrared sources at 2 to 4.2 µm for applications including gas sensing, medicine, and infrared countermeasures.
- SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION: Braincake.org focuses on girls in math and science
  Carnegie Science Center's website works toward gender equality for girls from 11 to 17.
- Photonics products online
  For the latest in new products, see Photonics Products Online on our home page and at www.laserfocusworld.com/exclusives/highlights.html