January 26, 2005, San Jose, CA--As in years past, a number of vendors are using Photonics West as a platform for launching new products, new strategies, and new ideas. Leading the pack are the fiber-laser vendors.
"Fiber lasers can do anything solid-state lasers can do," said R&D manager John Clowes from the UK company Fianium, which is displaying several fiber-laser products at Photonics West 2005.
--Nufern debuted its line of continuous-wave fiber laser modules, ready for integration into OEM laser applications for industrial and manufacturing environments. Three power ranges are covered (2-15 W, 15-25 W, and 25-50 W), with ~ 1 micron output. Nufern also introduced a PumpGuard optical fiber for multimode diodes, a PANDA-style fiber for visible and near-IR wavelengths, and a thulium-doped double clad fiber for operation around the eye-safe 2-micron wavelength region.
--Aculight premiered its new model PF1550-36 pulsed fiber laser in the eye-safe region near 1.54 micron, for applications in laser range-finding, sensing, and micromachining.
--Polychromix revealed preliminary device specifications for their near-infrared spectrometer. Polychromix's spectrometer solutions use a single InGaAs detector and range in wavelength from 0.9-2.5 micron, with a 4000:1 signal-to-noise ratio.
--Coherent introduced next-generation Fiber Array Package (FAP) diode lasers, now available at 940 and 980 nm and delivering 40W of CW power through an 800-micron fiber bundle with a numerical aperture of <0.11. The new lasers are primarily targeted at medical applications and fiber-laser pumping. Coherent is also introducing the CUBE family of lasers, available in five wavelengths: 375, 405, 440, 635, and 785 nm. The CUBE lasers are designed for commercial, industrial and research, including bioinstrumentation, reprographics, life sciences, and metrology.
--Southampton Photonics announced the latest additions to its range of redPOWER fiber lasers: 2-20W compact laser module; the 20-25W continuous wave/modulated (CWM) system; the enhanced 100W CWM fiber laser; the 1550nm 5-10W laser module/system; and the 1550nm redENERGY pulsed laser module.
--CVI Laser is featuring six new products at Photonics West, including a series of F-Theta lenses for the industrial materials processing market. F-Theta lenses are used to collimate the output of scanning mirror systems in laser marking, welding, and cutting applications. The company has also developed a long-lifetime 2.5J/cm2 coating for 193-213 nm wavelengths and has decided to make this the standard coating for windows and lenses for deep UV application products, according to Cailong Bao, Research and Development Manager.
--OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is showcasing new infrared laser and LED technology, including the OSRAM Sirilas SPL LG81, a new cost-effective, high-reliability laser for solid-state pumping, material processing, illumination and industrial applications that features a unique micro-channel cooler and higher output power of up to 30W CW. The company's LED exhibits include the OSTAR, a compact, high-power LED designed for miniature projection, head-up automotive displays and industrial applications; and the Golden DRAGON LED, a 2-W lead-free, surface-mount package LED that provides brighter light in an extremely low thermal resistance package.
--nLight introduced Cascades diode laser stack arrays, available in wavelengths ranging from 790 to 980 nm and from 1435 to 1570 nm, for direct-diode materials processing, medical applications, and as a pump source for a wide range of diode-pumped solid-state lasers. nLight also introduced a new fiber-bundled array product, the FBA 800, and a line of high-brightness single-emitter diode lasers in wavelengths ranging from 635 to 1600 nm.
