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  • Volume 44, Issue 2

    • Volume 44, Issue 2

    Research

    Near-infrared photoacoustics enhance tissue and tumor imaging

    John Wallace
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Researchers in the Photoacoustic Imaging Group at the University College London (England) have developed a prototype photoacoustic imaging system that could significantly improve...
    Research

    Scanning-laser surface-profiling technique increases accuracy

    Feb. 1, 2008
    Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, MD) have developed a novel technique for measuring the roughness of surfaces that is casting...
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    Research

    Photonic crystals get fishy

    Feb. 1, 2008
    Photonic crystals in the skin of fish may enhance a fish’s light-reflecting properties, according to researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Hebrew University Faculty...
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    Optics

    Holographic lithography enables complicated 3-D photonic crystals

    Feb. 1, 2008
    To develop novel optical microstructures with potential in photonic, microfluidic, biomedical, and micromechanical applications, scientists at the State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic...
    Lasers & Sources

    Stimulated emission hits 474 nm from semipolar InGaN diodes

    Feb. 1, 2008
    Pure green light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have great potential in displays and as pump sources, and high-powered ones could become an alternative to expensive argon-ion lasers and...

    More content from Volume 44, Issue 2

    (Courtesy Daniel Gauthier)
    A sound wave in standard optical fiber may offer a novel approach to optical data storage in telecommunications networks. Counterpropagating pulses-one carrying data-in standard optical fiber interact through stimulated Brillouin scattering to create an acoustic wave in the fiber that carries the data (A & B). The process can be effectively reversed to retrieve the data pulses, as shown.
    Fiber Optics

    OPTICAL MEMORY: Sound may offer ‘optical RAM’ solution

    D. Jason Palmer
    Feb. 1, 2008
    As optical networks become more ubiquitous and data-transfer rates increase, there is one component that is ever more conspicuous by its absence—optical memory.
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    Lasers & Sources

    SOLAR LEDs: Solar-powered flashlight gets new design for those in need

    Valerie Coffey-Rosich
    Feb. 1, 2008
    When John Ellis, president of Optics for Hire (Arlington, MA) read a New York Times story on a U.S. diplomat delivering flashlights to Africans in need, he knew he wanted to help...
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    Lasers & Sources

    LASER MARKETPLACE 2008: Diode lasers track long-term trend

    Feb. 1, 2008
    As noted in last month’s Laser Focus World article “Laser Marketplace 2008, Part I”, the laser market is strongly influenced by global economic trends.
    (Courtesy of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
    Two-photon polymerization is used to create embedded structures within a three-dimensional photonic-crystal lattice structure. A final acid and ozone etching steps removes the polymer and silica colloids, and leaves complex structures (a), straight vertical cylinders (b), vertical “y” splitters (c), and planar cavities (d) within the cystal. Scale bars are 3 µm in length and the colloidal sphere diameters are around 725 nm in diameter.
    Research

    PHOTONIC CRYSTALS: 3-D photonic crystals embed cavities and waveguides

    Gail Overton
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Photonic-bandgap materials such as photonic crystals are important for their ability to manipulate photons.
    When nanorods containing folic acid are exposed to near-IR laser light, they heat up and induce blebs in the membranes of an adjacent cancer cell. Images left and center show the nanorods (red spots) before and after irradiation, respectively. The resulting opening of the membrane (red) can be seen (right), as well as an elevation in intracellular calcium ions that leads to production of the blebs.
    Research

    MEDICAL THERAPEUTICS: Lasers and nanorods combat cancer

    Peter Gwynne
    Feb. 1, 2008
    An interdisciplinary team from Purdue University has shown that a combination of laser technology and nanotechnology that it originally developed for medical imaging also has ...
    FIGURE 1. Crucial bandwidth-limited components in a high-speed transmitter are the electronic multiplexer, the amplifier that boosts the drive current to the external modulator, and the modulator itself.
    Optics

    PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: DATA TRANSMISSION: What is the speed limit for single optical channels?

    Jeff Hecht
    Feb. 1, 2008
    A pair of breakthroughs brought high capacity to today’s fiber-optic systems-single-mode transmission at 1300 nm in the 1980s, and the combination of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers...
    (Courtesy of Joseph Kovac/MIT)
    MIT researchers have developed a system for sorting cells that involves single-cell-size microwells in a silicone layer bonded to a microscope slide. Cells observed to have properties of interest are levitated out of their traps using the pressure of a beam of targeted light from a low-cost laser. A flowing fluid then sweeps the selected cells off to a separate reservoir.
    Research

    BIOPHOTONICS: Microfluidics and laser optics provide low-cost cell sorting

    Hassaun A. Jones-Bey
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, MA) are patenting a microscope-compatible device that combines microfluidics and laser optics in a potentially...
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    Research

    Polarized-light microscope facilitates major stem-cell advance

    Feb. 1, 2008
    A polarized-light microscope played a key role in a major turning point in stem-cell technology: the derivation of embryonic stem cells from reprogrammed monkey skin cells.
    (Courtesy of Vaisala Oyj)
    The DCS111 laser system installed on a pole monitors a roadway near Kouvola, Utti, Finland.
    Detectors & Imaging

    ROAD MONITORING: Laser system monitors slipperiness of roadways

    Valerie Coffey-Rosich
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Scandinavian motorists have a new tool for detecting dangerous road conditions. A laser-based road-monitoring system bounces light from the road to a detector and can sense when...
    FIGURE 1. The flow of the laser-writing process for the fabrication of micro-optical components starts with resist coating, laser exposure scan, and finally development. The inset illustrates the cross section of a lens array produced by the laser-writing process.
    Optics

    MICRO-OPTICS: Laser writing advances micro-optics fabrication

    Feb. 1, 2008
    At the core of the evolution in micro-optical manufacturing are the lithographic analog micro-optics fabrication techniques that provide robust design structures suitable for ...
    (Courtesy of John Hill/Large Binocular Telescope Observatory)
    FIGURE 1. Measurement of large optics, such as this 8 m primary mirror for the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (see http://lbtwww.arcetri.astro.it/) require metrology systems that can function despite vibration, turbulence, and other challenges.
    Test & Measurement

    INTERFEROMETRY: Dynamic interferometry ensures quality of large telescope optics

    Mike Zecchino
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Meter-scale optical elements present a set of unique challenges, not just in fabrication but also to ensure conformance to specification. Dynamic interferometry offers speed and...
    (Hughes Photo, courtesy of AIP Niels Bohr Library)
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    Research

    Irnee D’Haenens, laser pioneer, dies

    Jeff Hecht
    Feb. 1, 2008
    Irnee D’Haenens (right), a physicist who assisted Ted Maiman (left) in making the first laser at Hughes Research Laboratory (Malibu, CA) in 1960, died Dec. 24, 2007; he was 73...
    Lasers & Sources

    Fluorescent microspheres create white-light LEDs

    Feb. 1, 2008
    Most white-light light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are fabricated by coating phosphors onto blue LEDs; however, the patent situation related to phosphors is becoming more competitive...
    Optics

    Hollow, coated IR fiber withstands harsh environments

    Feb. 1, 2008
    Hollow fibers with interior coatings of metals and dielectrics are commonly used for laser power delivery.
    (Courtesy of Boeing)
    The aircraft that carries the Advanced Tactical Laser flies near Kirtland Air Force Base before the laser was installed; note the laser turret at bottom.
    Lasers & Sources

    LASER WEAPONS: Advanced tactical laser is ready for flight tests

    Jeff Hecht
    Feb. 1, 2008
    This year the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) will finally get off the ground carrying a six-ton chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) weapon module, for tests against ground targets...