UCF gets $1.5 million grant for photonics labs
A $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will allow the University of Central Florida (UCF; Orlando, FL) to build more laboratories at the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence (FPCE) and create jobs by transferring more technology to photonics manufacturers in Central Florida. The grant will be matched with more than $2 million from UCF and the FPCE, a research center at the College of Optics and Photonics that the state created in 2003. The university received a $10 million grant from the state last year to open the center, which promotes partnerships between UCF, the photonics industry, and local economic development agencies.
The university plans to add about 24 new laboratories to the campus building that houses the College of Optics and Photonics and two research centers, including the FPCE. Start-up companies will work side-by-side with UCF students and faculty, improving the flow of new technology from FPCE labs to companies that can apply it in new or improved products. The 12,800-sq-ft addition, which also will include 24 research offices, will increase the size of the college’s building to nearly 95,800 sq ft.
Lumidigm adds multispectral imaging to fingerprint sensor
Lumidigm (Albuquerque, NM) has been awarded a technology research grant to fund further development of a new biometric sensor based on the company’s multispectral imaging technology. The multispectral technology is being developed as a sensor that can be combined with a standard optical fingerprint sensor to provide high assurance that a measured fingerprint comes from a genuine finger. The grant was funded through a federal government sponsor. Lumidigm was founded in 2001 and is located in the Science & Technology Park at the University of New Mexico. The company has created novel biometric and anti-spoofing technologies, based upon optical measurements of skin tissue that will strongly enhance performance in existing product categories and enable biometrics to be used in new ways.
eMagin awarded thin-film transistor patent
eMagin (Hopewell Junction, NY) has received notification of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office regarding patent issuance for the invention of U.S. Patent application 09/957,221, “Method and system for stabilizing thin-film transistors in active matrix OLED displays.” This patent describes a method of creating electrically stable TFTs (thin-film transistors) for OLED devices having small pixel sizes, which facilitates creation of lower-cost microdisplays for many virtual-imaging applications including electronic gaming, data processing, and viewing movies. The approach is also potentially useful for creating very-high-resolution large-screen OLED displays.
In this invention, the control signals to each TFT gate include a data signal that is proportional to the desired luminance output for the OLED and a reverse data signal that is used to reverse-bias the TFT to prevent threshold drift in the TFT. The data-signal alteration is performed either at a frame rate or at a line rate. The result is a large color range and more stable control than previously available using TFTs.
Air Force funds dual-spectrum imager
Sensors Unlimited (Princeton, NJ), a manufacturer of short-wave infrared cameras, was awarded a new contract from the U.S. Air Force to research and design a communication device that can be added to their proprietary dual-spectrum camera. The company recently announced a new dual-wavelength visible InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) MiniCamera currently in use by the U.S. Department of Defense. The R&D contract will build upon this dual-spectrum InGaAs technology, which allows simultaneous imaging in two wavebands, visible and short-wave infrared. The U.S. Air Force has awarded the new contract to develop an improved solid state, thermoelectrically temperature-stabilized dual spectrum imager that doubles as a communication device. - Kathy Kincade
For more business news, subscribe to Optoelectronics Report. Contact Jayne Sears-Renfer at [email protected].
Also in the news…
Philips, RWTH Aachen, and Aixtron (Aachen, Germany) signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop novel large-area white organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) for lighting applications. The partnership will also focus on establishing new manufacturing processes using Aixtron’s organic vapor phase-deposition technology.… Universal Display (Ewing, NJ) was awarded a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop light-extraction technology for energy-efficient, solid-state lighting.