Bellingham, WA, and Pittsfield, MA--The finalists for the 2013 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, an annual program sponsored by SPIE and Photonics Media that recognizes innovative photonic products, have been identified. Sensors for monitoring environmental toxins and detecting explosives, powerful new lasers for manufacturing, and tools for noninvasive imaging deep inside the brain are among this year's finalists in the awards program's nine categories.
Yet-to-be-confirmed presenters will announce the award winners on February 6 during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, CA. Past presenters include industry leaders such as Michael Mertin, Jenoptik; Robert Edmund, Edmund Optics; Mary Lou Jepsen, Pixel Qi; Milton Chang, Incubic; and others.
“Each year the quality of entries is higher and the competition keener,” says SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “The awards celebrate the wide reach of photonics as an enabling technology and the innovation power of our community. Photonics inventions help create valuable new jobs in communications, healthcare, security, manufacturing, and entertainment. The National Research Council’s report ‘Optics and Photonics, Essential Technologies for Our Nation’ notes that in the US, public companies focused on optics and photonics create more than $3 trillion of all public company revenues and 7.4 million of public company jobs.”
This year's finalists are:
Defense and Security
- OEwaves: Micro-Opto-Electronic-Oscillator, information systems on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other platforms
- P&P Optica: The PPO HyperChannel, high-resolution detection of explosives
- Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments: TruNarc, handheld system for rapid narcotics identification
Detectors, Sensing, Imaging, and Cameras
- Princeton Instruments: IsoPlane SCT spectrograph, research-grade imaging spectrograph
- SPECIM, Spectral Imaging: AisaFENIX full spectrum hyperspectral imager, imaging plant health, detecting invasive and illicit species
- Wasatch Photonics: Stroker f/1.3, Raman spectroscopy in such low-light applications as on-line and industrial settings
Green Photonics
- AdTech Optics: DFB QCL 783, air pollution and emissions monitoring
- Javelin: ChromaID, environmental-toxin and food-safety testing
- Leosphere: R-MAN510; real-time detection of atmospheric hazards
Industrial Lasers
- Aerotech: Nmark AGV and Nmark CLS, versatile lasers for scanner-based applications
- IPG Photonics: GLR-100, single-mode CW green laser for materials processing, solar cell manufacturing, semiconductor inspection and annealing, etc.
- TeraDiode: TeraBlade 2kW High Brightness Direct Diode Laser, beam combining for 1-µm fiber or disk laser brightness and direct-diode wall-plug efficiency and compactness, for industrial metal cutting and welding.
Life Sciences and Biophotonics
- Femtolasers Produktions: INTEGRAL Core, small sub-8fs Ti:sapphire laser for biomedicine or industry
- Olympus America: SCALEVIEW Microscope Objectives, seeing farther into the brain
- Verisante Technology: Aura, multimodal imaging for skin cancer detection
Manufacturing
- AFL: LZM-100 LAZERMaster, CO2 laser system for splicing and shaping glass
- Heidelberg Instruments: MicroPG501 Direct Write Lithography System, desktop maskless lithography tool for small patterns
- Parian Technologies: Archetto 3, exponentially less-expensive nanolithography tool
Optics and Optical Components
- TAG Optics: TAG Lens 2.0, ultrahigh-speed acoustics to increase depth of field
- TelAztec: Anti-Reflection Microstructures (ARMs), suppressing reflection for solar modules, displays, finished optics
- Tornado Spectral Systems: HyperFlux VIS-NIR multimode spectrometer, high spectral resolution with order-of-magnitude higher photon flux
Scientific Lasers
- Continuum: Horizon OPO, full-spectrum spectroscopy research tool
- Femtolasers Produktions: Femtosource rainbow CEP4, ultra-stable tool for ultrafast science
- Insight Photonic Solutions: Advanced OCT Swept Tunable Laser, high-performance, low-cost tunable laser
Test, Measurement, Metrology
- KMLabs: Chromatis, fast, accurate characterization of dispersive properties
- Linden Photonics: Lindex Optics Cleaners, cleaning media for fiber optics
- Resolution Spectra Systems: ZOOM SPECTRA, ultrahigh spectral resolution for tunable laser control, laser diode measurement, Bragg component measurement, high-depth OCT
For more information on the Prism Awards, go to www.prismaward.org.
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