2020 Innovators Awards: Meet the Platinum-level Honorees

LASERS & SOURCES | CARBIDE 80 W, 800 µJ laser with BiBurst

An advanced laser technology dubbed BiBurst offers improved process control and production throughput​ via enhanced light-matter interaction. With advantages in applications such as brittle material drilling and cutting, deep engraving, selective ablation, volume modification, hidden marking, surface functional structuring, and transparent flexible materials processing, this tunable GHz and MHz burst with burst-in-burst capability brings new production capabilities to high-tech manufacturing industries such as consumer electronics, integrated photonic chip manufacturing, stent cutting, surface functionalization, and future display manufacturing. A unique set of tunable parameters enable process optimization and flexibility to adapt to different machining processes. ​Light Conversion (Vilnius, Lithuania; lightcon.com)

OPTICS | MIRaGE: Multiscale Inverse Rapid Group-theory for Engineered-metamaterials

MIRaGE uses scientific knowledge developed from molecular spectroscopy on how the symmetry of a natural molecule affects its optical behavior and properties to design a metamaterial with comparable properties. By making the comparisons that molecules in chemistry are analogous to metamolecules in electromagnetics and that molecular modes of vibration are analogous to the fundamental resonant electrical current modes in a metamaterial, the principles of symmetry and point groups can be translated to electromagnetics. Serving as a basis for metamaterials design, MIRaGE facilitates the quest for unusual electromagnetic behaviors that can be associated with optical properties. Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM; sandia.gov)

DETECTORS & IMAGING | MV.X Embedded-Vision Hyperspectral Imaging System

Unlike conventional cameras, this embedded-vision imaging system does not require a separate computer to read and process imaging data. Instead, a small but powerful computer and solid-state memory inside the IP67-rated enclosure performs real-time classification and outputs the results over a GenICam-compliant GigE interface. Using modern machine-learning techniques, the MV.X captures hyperspectral data across the VNIR (400–1000 nm) wavelength range that is representative of the products it will see along the processing line, and an algorithm can be used to spectrally classify items such as food, plastic, stone, wood, textiles, paint/dye/pigment, or to grade products from bargain to premium. Headwall Photonics (Bolton, MA; headwallphotonics.com)