Spectrum Detector and NIST receive FLC award for excellence in technology transfer

May 12, 2008--Don Dooley, president of standard and custom detector manufacturer Spectrum Detector (Lake Oswego, OR), and John Lehman of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Boulder, CO) received a 2008 Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC; www.federallabs.org) for their efforts to bring an optical TRAP detector into the commercial marketplace. They were selected, along with 20 other recipients, out of over 300 national labs.

The optical TRAP designs had been developed over several years to satisfy a need for low uncertainty (less than 0.05%) spectral calibration transfer standards for the calibration of fiber optic power meters in the 0.25 to 1.8 micron range. Since the initial technology transfer occurred, Spectrum Detector has developed a large number of optical TRAP detectors and instruments that include both silicon and pyroelectric detectors that cover the spectrum from 0.2 to 15 microns. They include analog TRAP instruments for use with lock-in amplifiers and a family of digital TRAPs powered through a USB connection and supported by LabView software. According to Dooley "We've taken excellent, precision detector calibration technology out of the national lab and made it available to any company that makes or uses lasers and/or laser power meters."

One of the most coveted awards in the field of technology transfer, the FLC Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer recognize laboratory employees who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring federally developed technology to the marketplace. A panel of experts from industry, state, and local government, academia, and the federal laboratory system judge the nominations.

For more information, please visit www.spectrumdetector.com.