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  • Volume 45, Issue 10

    • Volume 45, Issue 10

    Th Manu P 1009 01
    Optics

    Manufacturers’ Product Showcase

    Oct. 1, 2009
    Siskiyou top-adjust components let you put many degrees-of-freedom in a small volume.
    Research

    Science & Technology Education

    Oct. 1, 2009
    The Emil Wolf Outstanding Student Paper Competition was established by the OSA Foundation to recognize the contributions of Dr.Wolf, a professor of optics at the University of...
    Th New Prod 1009 01
    Optics

    New Products

    Oct. 1, 2009
    Thin-film plate polarizers from Alpine Research Optics are optimized for use with Nd:YAG, Nd:YVO4, and Nd:YLF lasers operating at 1064, 1053, 532, 355, and 266 nm.
    Research

    Kepler examines its first exoplanet

    Oct. 1, 2009
    The 0.95-m-diameter Kepler telescope—a photometer—was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit on March 6 to detect Earth-size exoplanets.
    Lasers & Sources

    Bridging the green gap

    Stephen G. Anderson
    Oct. 1, 2009
    The announcements earlier this year by Sumitomo (Kyushu, Japan) and Osram Opto Semiconductors (Regensburg, Germany) that they each have developed green-emitting laser diodes (...

    More content from Volume 45, Issue 10

    FIGURE 1. Specialty fiber is made with various coatings and dual claddings to ensure that it can withstand harsh conditions (below). Fiber with polyimide coatings (above) are designed for applications that involve high-temperature.
    Fiber Optics

    FIBERS FOR HARSH ENVIRONMENTS: Special fibers address environmental challenges

    Oct. 1, 2009
    The properties of optical fibers can be tailored to match specific operating conditions and enable fiber-optic systems to operate in a broad range of hostile settings.
    (Courtesy of Kerry Vahala)
    Ion-luminescence images of an atom show the transition from random to coherent motion.
    Research

    LASER COOLING: Single atom performs as a ‘phonon laser’

    D. Jason Palmer
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Researchers in Germany have demonstrated the long-postulated “phonon laser”—a system for the resonant oscillation and coherent amplification of vibrational energy packets in perfect...
    Th 327680
    Research

    Two research groups build tiny plasmon lasers

    Oct. 1, 2009
    Just after researchers at Norfolk State University (Norfolk, VA), Purdue University (Purdue, IN), and Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) announced a tiny laser fabricated from a ...
    (Courtesy of CBrite)
    Detectivities of Si, InGaAs, and polymer photodetectors are plotted as a function of wavelength. Note that high detectivities of the InGaAs detectors require cooling the devices to 4.2 K. Detectivities of the polymer photodiodes were calculated at λ = 500 nm (point A) and λ = 800 nm (point B) biased at -100 mV. The solid blue curve was obtained from the measured photoresponsivity data with absolute magnitude determined by points A and B.
    Detectors & Imaging

    DETECTORS: Polymer photodetectors span the 300 to 1450 nm range

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2009
    In September, Laser Focus World reported on quantum-dot-infused polymer photodetectors with responsivity from 300 to 1250 nm.
    FIGURE 1. Newport’s new benchtop MS257 can be configured as a spectrometer or a spectrograph that covers the UV/VIS/NIR range using three different gratings optimized for the wavelengths of interest and various detectors.
    Detectors & Imaging

    PRODUCT FOCUS: SPECTROMETERS: Shopping for a spectrometer starts with your application

    Valerie Coffey-Rosich
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Used in nearly every physical science, from astronomy to zoology, spectrometers present buyers with a wealth of choices.
    Th Thin 1009 01
    Research

    Thin-film III-V lasers bonded to silicon have low threshold-current densities

    Oct. 1, 2009
    In a step that brings practical on-chip optical interconnects closer to reality, researchers at Duke University (Durham, NC) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed...
    (Courtesy of the University of Illinois)
    A stretchable ILED display consists of an interconnected mesh of printed micro-ILEDs bonded to a rubber substrate.
    Research

    LED FABRICATION: ILED array is a true flexible display

    John Wallace
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Flexible displays are not known for their durability. Often based on organic LED (OLED) technology, they suffer from a fundamental problem: if the display is to bend, the light...
    Research

    Silica aerogel holds tapered fibers for sensing

    Oct. 1, 2009
    By embedding thin tapered silica optical fibers in a silica aerogel, researchers at the University of Bath (Bath, England) and the University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia) have...
    (Courtesy of Akela Laser)
    In a simple illustration of laser-assisted initiation, a collimated 2 W laser-diode module operating at 1.68 µm ignites a match.
    Research

    LASER IGNITION: COD prediction optimizes laser-assisted initiation sources

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Technology once relegated to secret defense laboratories is finally seeing the light.
    (Courtesy of Australian National University, Canberra)
    FIGURE 1. Split-ring resonators are shown arranged in a uniformly spaced array in a negative-index metamaterial for microwave frequencies. Optical metamaterials use nanometer-scale elements.
    Optics

    PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: METAMATERIALS AND TRANSFORMATION OPTICS: Newest metamaterials promise customized optical properties

    Jeff Hecht
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Tailoring the internal structure of metamaterials to vary optical properties controls how they transform light—leading to applications from optical cloaking to the optical counterparts...
    Th Silicon 1009 01
    Detectors & Imaging

    AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES: Silicon photonics reinvents avalanche photodetectors

    Oct. 1, 2009
    Monolithically grown germanium/silicon APDs have high sensitivity, low noise, and world-record gain-bandwidth product.
    (Courtesy of the University of Cologne and Purdue University)
    A holographic optical-coherence-imaging (HOCI) technique records depth-resolved photons scattered coherently from a tissue sample in a photorefractive polymer. Here, individual holographic images (top) are stacked to create a three-dimensional (3-D) volumetric representation of an 800-µm-diameter spheroidal rat tumor (center). The tumor can be analyzed as a whole or through a series of vertical cuts (bottom).
    Research

    BIOMEDICAL IMAGING: Holographic live-tissue imaging uses photorefractive polymer

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2009
    Collection of three-dimensional (3-D) data from confocal scanning microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) is lengthy due to the sequential acquisition of image pixels...
    Research

    Terahertz system exploits 1550 nm telecom technologies

    Oct. 1, 2009
    The primary advantage of continuous-wave (CW) terahertz generation as opposed to femtosecond-pulse terahertz generation is the simplicity and tunability of its optical source:...
    Research

    Broadband exterior cloaking could prevent sonar detection

    Oct. 1, 2009
    Mathematicians at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT) have theoretically demonstrated a new broadband exterior cloaking technique that uses active wave-emitting devices...
    (Courtesy of RPI)
    FIGURE 1. Electroluminescence spectra are shown for polar c-plane (left) and nonpolar m-plane (right) LED structures on bulk GaN. With increasing current density, peak emission blue-shifts in the polar structure, while it remains stable at 490 nm in the nonpolar one. This stability allows predictable laser-diode cavity design and is expected to result in lower threshold densities.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    SHORTWAVE SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS: Improved epitaxy and crystal quality forges the greenest laser diodes

    Oct. 1, 2009
    With blue laser diodes in wide use in BlueRay DVDs, bridging the green gap from the blue end is a lingering challenge that is being met through improved epitaxial semiconductor...