SPIE (Bellingham, WA), the international society for optics and photonics, and Laurin Publishing (Pittsfield, MA), named Luxtera's (Carlsbad, CA) Blazar 40 GB active optical cable as the overall best of show winner in the 2008 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. Winners were announced at a banquet in the San Jose Convention Center during SPIE Photonics West, the largest event in the field.
Winners in all nine technical categories were:
- Aragon Photonics Labs, "BOSA-C Compact High-Res Optical Spectrum Analyzer" (Analytical, Test and Measurement category)
- NoblePeak Vision, "TriWave Camera" (Detectors, Sensing and Imaging)
- Tessera, "OptiML WLC" (Optics)
- Coherent, "OPSL 577-3 Solid-State Laser" (Lasers; Tie)
- Daylight Solutions, "Broadly tunable, CW Mode-hop-free Laser System" (Lasers; Tie)
- Sensor Electronic Technology, "Deep UV Light Sources" (Other Light Sources)
- Luxtera, "Blazar" (Photonics Systems and Best of Show)
- Princetel, "FP180 Hand Polisher" (Photonics Systems)
- Solyndra, "Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System" (Sustainable/Green Technology)
- JPK Instruments AG, "JPK NanoTracker" (Life Sciences).
The Prism Awards, introduced for the first time in 2008, recognize the best in innovative technology within the multi-billion dollar business of optics and photonics. A panel of 28 independent judges, acknowledged as experts in their respective fields, selected the winners from more than 130 entries.
"These winning inventions demonstrate the remarkable creativity of the photonics community, the restless inventive energy that is what SPIE is all about," said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. "I expect that many of these or their derivatives will be successful new products—the lifeblood of any company. They will help customers be more effective and so be a part of the great photonics enterprise that has already contributed so much to enhance our lives and that will play an increasingly important role in a sustainable future."
Information about participating in the 2009 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation can be viewed online at www.PrismAward.org, spie.org/photonics-west.xml and photonics.com.
For more information on the Prism Awards, go to www.prismaward.org.
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.