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  • Volume 44, Issue 10

    • Volume 44, Issue 10

    Research

    ’Too many people are going to college‘

    Jeffrey Bairstow
    Oct. 1, 2008
    If half of our high school graduates can squeeze into a four-year program and emerge clutching a BA or a BS, what is the value of such a diploma?
    Fiber Optics

    Ultrafast makes its move

    Stephen G. Anderson
    Oct. 1, 2008
    Ultrafast lasers have long been “confined to a sleepy corner of the laser market and reserved for the most exotic R&D applications,” says Tom Hausken of Strategies Unlimited in...
    Ultrafast laser processes are athermal or have low thermal damage (the strip on the left); accomplishing some processes more slowly. As interaction time increases for lasers directed onto a material, the more thermal is the effect, as in Q-switched and CW laser processes (to the right of the ultrafast regime).
    Lasers & Sources

    Defining ultrafast fiber lasers is a tricky business

    Dr. Tom Hausken
    Oct. 1, 2008
    Ultrafast lasers have long been confined to a sleepy corner of the laser market, reserved for the most exotic R&D applications.
    Th New P 01
    Optics

    New Products

    Oct. 1, 2008
    The IndyStar compact industrial excimer laser is built on the RoHS-Almeta tube design, which delivers several billion pulses.
    Research

    Photonics design leverages the power of multiphysics modeling

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Multiphysics modeling, the modeling of coupled-field phenomena, has become a standard research and design tool in industry and academia.

    More content from Volume 44, Issue 10

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    Lasers & Sources

    VCSELs are fully integrated into and planarized with silicon CMOS ICs

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) have integrated 850-nm-emitting gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) vertical-cavity surface-emitting...
    FIGURE 1. Photon energy absorbed by optical filter glass with a semiconducting dopant is re-emitted either nonradiatively, or as fluorescence.
    Optics

    OPTICS FOR MICROSCOPY: Fluorescence of colored-glass filters can be stronger than expected

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Colored glass may seem to be an easy way to help block excitation and other out-of-band wavelengths in fluorescence microscopy, but care must be taken to minimize effects of fluorescenc...
    Lasers & Sources

    Quantum-dot LEDs exhibit mid-IR emission at room temperature

    Oct. 1, 2008
    While quantum-dot (QD)-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have made much progress recently, few reports exist of success at mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths, despite their promise...
    (Courtesy of Drexel University)
    A standard rear-view mirror has a field of view of only 15° to 20°, which results in the familiar blind spot (top). A properly shaped free-form reflector placed in exactly the same orientation (bottom) has a 45° field of view, eliminating the blind spot without producing the distorted scene that other wide-angle mirrors create.
    Optics

    REFLECTIVE OPTICS: Free-form reflector eliminates driver’s blind spot

    John Wallace
    Oct. 1, 2008
    Just as a flat mirror is a nonimaging optic, so are most free-form reflectors. And, just as a flat mirror can be a very important visual aid, so can a properly designed free-form...
    (Courtesy of Aculight)
    FIGURE 1. Power as a function of wavelength is shown for three Aculight Argos modules, showing both signal and idler output branches. Three optical parametric oscillator (OPO) interchangeable modules are used to provide wavelength coverage (inset).
    Research

    TUNABLE SOURCES: High-power CW OPOs span the spectrum

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Continuous-wave optical parametric oscillators producing multiwatt powers are established in the near- to mid-infrared region. New nonlinear materials promise to extend their ...
    Fiber Optics

    Laser writes 3-D Bragg sensor network within bulk glass

    Oct. 1, 2008
    The use of individual Bragg grating or long-period grating structures for sensing temperature, strain, refractive index, and other physical or chemical parameters in their vicinity...
    Th 297161
    Fiber Optics

    FIBER FABRICATION: Phosphate glass fibers advance fiber-laser capabilities

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Multicomponent phosphate glasses are excellent host materials for amplifiers and lasers, offering high solubility for rare-earth ions, excellent optical properties, and resistance...
    Th 300203
    Research

    Femtosecond pulses create broadband light in diamond

    LFW Staff
    Oct. 1, 2008
    Although broadband sideband generation has been observed in certain crystals and in chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) diamond using stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) with nanosecond...
    Th 300257
    Research

    FOCAL-PLANE ARRAYS: Nanohole arrays enable multiple-point-source imaging

    Oct. 1, 2008
    A new type of focal-plane array made of a nanoscale metal screen mimics the function of a lens, focuses light (and plasmons) into subwavelength hot spots, and achieves high-resolution...
    Research

    Test looks at ‘Spooky action at a distance’

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Researchers at the University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland) have determined a minimum speed for Albert Einstein’s hypothetical “spooky action at a distance” (see Salart et al...
    Research

    Stark-effect method creates polarization-switchable single-photon source

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Physicists at the University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, CA), have demonstrated an on-chip, polarization-switchable, single-photon source using the Stark effectthe...
    FIGURE 1. Focusing a femtosecond pulse through a high-NA lens avoids damage to the surface, but produces an intense zone within the bulk material. Nonlinear interactions occur above a sharp threshold, as shown at right, limiting pulse effects to a subwavelength area.
    Research

    PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: APPLICATIONS OF ULTRAFAST LASERS - Ultrashort pulses write sharp, tiny features and perform microsurgery

    Jeff Hecht
    Oct. 1, 2008
    Sharply focused femtosecond pulses create strong nonlinear effects inside solids that can alter the properties of materials on subwavelength scales, writing waveguides and gratings...
    Software

    Lumus creates discreet display eyewear

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Lumus (Rehovot, Israel) says it has created the first natural-looking, truly discreet and lightweight transparent-display eyewear that permits users to watch TV, read an e-mail...
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    Research

    Opal photonic-crystal structures may realize tunable single-mode lasing

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Photonic-crystal-based technology is a hot research topic for its ability to enable tiny, controllable circuits, laser sources, and other optoelectronics devices.
    Research

    Analysis establishes 36 kW upper limit on diffraction-limited fiber-laser output

    Oct. 1, 2008
    Existing material and other constraints preclude the creation of diffraction-limited continuous-wave fiber lasers or amplifiers with an output of greater than about 36 kW, according...