• Back Issues >
  • Laser Focus World >
  • Volume 33, Issue 7

    • Volume 33, Issue 7

    More content from Volume 33, Issue 7

    New 42-in. plasma display features 16:9 aspect ratio, 16.7 million colors, and a brightness of 350 cd/m2.
    The Hynes Convention Center in Boston was the venue for the annual Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition.
    July 1, 1997
    Edinburgh Instruments (EI; Edinburgh, Scotland) has formed a joint-venture company with the newly formed company StAlight (St. Andrews, Scotland)--Tunable Laser Technology Ltd...
    July 1, 1997
    Daryl Inniss adjusts controls on Lucent Technologies fiber laser. Research suggests even higher diffraction-limited CW output power can be produced in the 1050-1700-nm wavelength region.
    BALTIMORE, MD--It was a battle of the fiber lasers at the post-deadline session at CLEO `97.
    July 1, 1997
    Hand-held computer display shows the colorful presentation possible with a white holographic reflector. The device is not yet on the market.
    During the past year, monochrome holographic reflectors have brightened displays in pagers and other hand-held devices. The latest development is a white holographic reflector...
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30745 20
    BALTIMORE, MD--A wide range of products and attitudes was represented throughout the technical exhibition of this year`s Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and Quantum Electronics...
    July 1, 1997
    Blue Sky Research (Santa Cruz, CA) formed a partnership with Point Source Ltd. (Winchester, England) to coproduce a new line of fiber-coupled laser diodes. The FiberBrite devices...
    July 1, 1997
    Surface acoustic wave (SAW) arrives at the pump region at the same time as laser pulse. The lateral piezoelectric field of the SAW polarizes the optical exciton into electron-hole pairs that travel with the acoustic wave. When the wave reaches a metal-coated region that screens the electron-hole pairs from the lateral piezoelectric field of the SAW, they recombine to generate photoluminescence (see curve).
    The energy of a light-induced surface acoustic wave in a solid can be stored as energy and subsequently converted back into photoluminescence.
    July 1, 1997
    Modulator based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer can transmit cable-TV signals.
    New modulators fabricated with electro-optic polymers can handle enough near-infrared (IR) optical power to make them practical for transmission of cable-television (CATV) signals...
    July 1, 1997
    Quasi-phase-matching with periodically poled lithium niobate has allowed engineers at Aculight to develop a robust, diode-pumped, computer-controlled optical parametric oscillator...
    July 1, 1997
    FIGURE 1. Compensation film made by Fuji is designed to 'unwind' the polarization skew introduced by light passing through a twisted-nematic liquid-crystal cell at the wrong angle. The film contains a structured, negatively birefringent discotic compound, crosslinked for durability.
    Twisted-nematic liquid-crystal displays (TN-LCDs) have two major disadvantages when being viewed by more than one person.
    July 1, 1997
    Prototype tiny time-of-flight mass spectrometer is part of a program to produce a highly sensitive, field-portable system capable of biological sensing.
    Biological warfare agents and explosives on the battlefield may one day be sniffed out by a compact time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer under development by researchers at ...
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30758 11
    The recently installed Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) inside the Hubble Space Telescope is proving that it is relatively simple to see a black hole in a galaxy, even...
    July 1, 1997
    FIGURE 1. Compact laser-based gas sensor contains Nd:YAG laser, diode laser, and periodically poled lithium niobate in package measuring only 1 × 1 × 2 ft. Difference-frequency generation produces 4.6-µm radiation that was used in field tests in which this instrument was capable of monitoring CO concentrations at the parts-per-billion level.
    Difference-frequency generation in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) provides 4.6-µm infrared radiation for a compact laser-based sensor developed to measure real-time...
    July 1, 1997
    False-color computer model shows the 'whispering gallery' modes in the disk that propagate from the waveguide through the disk into another adjacent waveguide (left; simulation by Susan C. Hagness and Allen Taflove of Northwestern University). A scanning-electron-microscope image of the actual device with a waveguide-coupled 10.5-µm-diameter disk shows the 0.1-µm spacing, 0.5-µm-wide waveguides, and deep etch depths of the device (right).
    Two groups of researchers have developed integrated waveguiding ring and disk resonators that show promise as versatile elements for optoelectronic integrated circuits.
    July 1, 1997
    The development of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is spawning a wide range of components such as this Add/Drop WDM cassette. Standard pigtailed package combines two three-port filter wavelength division multiplexers for use with 1310-,1480-, 1510-, or 1625-nm signals to bypass a fiber amplifier or regenerator.
    To exploit the potential capacity of optical fibers, networks must use more bandwidth; wavelength division multiplexing—now being used commercially—sends many signals on a single...
    July 1, 1997
    Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill) researcher Linn F. Mollenauer received the Charles Hard Townes award at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. The award, presented...
    July 1, 1997
    The Series 300 CCD imaging system provides cooled CCD arrays interfaced to PCI-bus-based computers, including Pentium IBM-compatibles and Macintosh PowerPCs, as well as to UNIX...
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30749 5
    An integrating sphere developed by Labsphere (North Sutton, NH) will allow scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, MD) to standardize...
    July 1, 1997
    In an effort to hasten the evolution of the all-optical network layer, Alcatel Network Systems (Richardson, TX) is creating an optical networks product group. The new division...
    July 1, 1997
    Prism polarizers in a variety of materials are available for use in laser systems or for beamsplitting in spectrometers and other optical instruments. Materials include magnesium...
    July 1, 1997
    The Fibre Channel Association (FCA; a division of the American National Standards Institute; New York, NY) gave final approval to a new fiberoptic interface that incorporates ...
    July 1, 1997
    Image-analysis software program, WiT, produced by Logical Vision Ltd., is capable of volumetric projection. This allows construction of three-dimensional views that permit fine...
    July 1, 1997
    The Communications Division of Pirelli Cables North America (Lexington, SC) was selected as one of the recipients of the Pacific Bell (Walnut Creek, CA) prestigious 1996 Gold ...
    July 1, 1997
    SpecTran Specialty Optics (Avon, CT) introduced PhotoSil, a photosensitive fiber, at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) in May. The fiber is specially designed...
    July 1, 1997
    Thirty years ago, I was a "down-sized" engineer, the victim of contract cutbacks by NASA. I took a job as a very junior editor with Electronic Design magazine which, at that time...
    July 1, 1997
    As I write this in early June, the morning heat promises the third straight 90 day, with an ultraviolet index of 8 or 9, which the weather forecasters say is "high."
    July 1, 1997
    Scanning spectrophotometers, capable of measuring the absorption of samples in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectral regions, are used for a wide range of industrial and scientific applications.
    Simple absorption measurements using a spectrophotometer are important for a wide range of optics applications.
    July 1, 1997
    I read with interest your editorial on government hel¥for the laser industry in the May issue of Laser Focus World ("Does the laser industry really need government help?" ...
    July 1, 1997
    Room-temperature operation of an electrically pulsed gallium nitride (GaN) based blue-emitting (403-nm) semiconductor laser has been demonstrated by scientists at Cree Research...
    July 1, 1997
    Custom high-density passive circuits or compact flexible assemblies for consumer product applications are possible using the company`s expertise in electroforming and other photolithogr...
    July 1, 1997
    High-purity quartz photomask containing precision image of an integrated circuit is used to pattern the circuit image onto a semiconductor wafer.
    Photomasks are the fundamental component of optical lithography, the element that actually produces the pattern projected on the wafer.
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30774 44
    Despite attempts to replace it with alternatives, mercury cadmium telluride remains the most important material for infrared photodetectors.
    July 1, 1997
    The TS 1000 and TSC 1000 automatic laser-diode test stations are available with menu-driven software. The systems can provide fast analysis of L/I, V/I, and L/IPD with full 16...
    July 1, 1997
    Visible-wavelength organic semiconductor lasers on a variety of substrates--including flexible plastic films--have lifetimes of at least several days (see Laser Focus World, May...
    July 1, 1997
    Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI; Troy, NY) researchers demonstrated a free-space electro-optic sampling system capable of detecting frequencies u¥to 37 THz. Based on...
    July 1, 1997
    Optoelectronics Research Centre (Southampton, England) researchers have demonstrated efficient short-cavity distributed-Bragg-reflector (DBR) and distributed-feedback (DFB) single...
    July 1, 1997
    An all-solid-state Ti:sapphire oscillator/amplifier with a hollow-fiber/chirped-mirror pulse compressor that produces 5-fs pulses with peak powers of 0.1 TW at a 1-kH¥repetition...
    July 1, 1997
    A monolithic device based on aperiodically poled lithium niobate (LiNbO3) simultaneously compresses and frequency-doubles ultrafast pulses. Stanford University (CA) researchers...
    July 1, 1997
    In CLEO `97 paper #CPD32, Markus Pollnau from the Optoelectronics Research Centre (Southampton, England) reported producing an average output power of 450 mW at 473 nm from a ...
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30739 38
    Matching micron-sized tolerances, maximizing coupling efficiencies, and minimizing retroflections are essential to successful optoelectronic package design.
    July 1, 1997
    The OFC2000 cleaver can be used right-handed or left-handed and can be mounted on a benchtop or tripod or held by hand.
    July 1, 1997
    A full line of reconditioned gas-laser systems are available that are completely refurbished, including the paint. New tubes for common HeNe lasers are also available, including...
    July 1, 1997
    (Photo courtesy of MITLL; used by permission)
    FIGURE 1. Fused silica samples are irradiated with an argon fluoride excimer laser beam to evaluate performance in 193-nm lithographic systems. Visible fluorescence is indicative of the absorption of 193-nm radiation, though the correlation between the two is not straightforward.
    Projection optics for lithographic steppers are typically complex, expensive systems formed of precision components and cost in excess of $1 million. These objectives must provide...
    July 1, 1997
    Engineers at Schwart¥Electro-Optics Aerospace Sensor Division (Orlando, FL) together with researchers at Fibertek (Herndon, VA) developed an eye-safe optical parametric oscillator...
    July 1, 1997
    C. Brent Dane and associates at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) developed a 120-J/pulse Nd:glass amplifier system based on a single Nd:YLF oscillator beam...
    July 1, 1997
    Custom optics manufacturer Ferson Optics Inc. (Ocean Springs, MS) is moving into the stock-optics market with the release of its first catalog.
    July 1, 1997
    The XCaliper 4 is a software package for machine-vision-system integrators that provides real-time industry vision capability. The software packages 32-bit industry-standard OCX...
    July 1, 1997
    Facing debts on the order of $0.5 million with no established income stream, HOLOS Corp. (Fitzwilliam, NH) has ceased trading. Established by H. John Caulfield of Alabama A&M ...
    July 1, 1997
    The Westinghouse Savannah River Site (Aiken, SC) and MetroLaser Inc. (Irvine, CA) have signed a cooperative research and development agreement to develo¥an optical metrology...
    July 1, 1997
    Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ) claims to have demonstrated the first laser-based semiconductor sensor that operates at room temperature and at high power. The...
    July 1, 1997
    Optical fabrication and metrology house Zygo Corp. (Middlefield, CT) has won a contract from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA) to build and equi¥a 35,...
    July 1, 1997
    The Video Electronics Standards Association, a project of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, MD), is developing a flat-panel-display measurements...
    July 1, 1997
    Th Lfw30773 29
    Raman instruments with near-infrared diode lasers and enhanced CCD cameras can minimize problems of sample fluorescence and low sensitivity.
    July 1, 1997
    Raytheon Amber has completed transfer of the microbolometer-production technology from Honeywell Corp.to the company`s new in-house manufacturing facility.
    July 1, 1997
    High-quality imagery collected and processed from the CA-236 DarkStar sensor, developed by Recon/Optical Inc. (Barrington, IL), exceeded initial expectations on its maiden flight...
    July 1, 1997