May 12, 2009--The Photonic Applications, Systems and Technologies (PhAST) Conference and Laser Focus World magazine are pleased to announce that BioPhotonic Solutions (East Lansing, MI) was selected as the recipient of this year's PhAST/Laser Focus World Innovation Award for the development of femtoFit, a low-cost, compact, commercial pulse shaper that unlocks the power of ultrafast lasers for industrial, scientific, medical, and defense applications (see "Better results from ultrafast nonlinear microscopy"). You can view a report on last year's Innovation Awards at www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/328855.
BioPhotonic Solutions will be accepting this award at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) Plenary Session on Monday, June 1 at 6 p.m. at the Baltimore Convention Center.
"FemtoFit is an impressive product that is 10 times smaller, three times cheaper, twice as fast, and even more accurate than previous industry offerings," said Gail Overton, PhAST co-chair. "Ultrafast lasers are becoming extremely important in multiple scientific and industrial disciplines. FemtoFit is an innovative tool that eliminates manual laser adjustments, bringing ultrafast technology out of the laboratory and into everyday, practical application."
FemtoFit will make its debut at PhotonXpo, the exhibit at CLEO, June 2-4 at the Baltimore Convention Center at booth 1232.
A second-generation MIIPS pulse-shaping system, femtoFit has drastically reduced price and volume. Coupled with an improved software engine and interface, it is accessible to a much wider range of users, which for the first time can include laser manufacturers and manufacturers of instruments that depend on ultrafast lasers, such as two-photon microscopes. With femtoFit, a large number of femtosecond lasers can be operated remotely at optimum performance. Applications for the system include those in biomedical imaging, corrective eye surgery, micromachining and processing, metrology, academic research and development, gem marking, dentistry, sensing of Chemical or Biological Warfare Agents (CBWA) and explosives, fusion energy research, cutting of solar panels and LCDs, terahertz sensing, and attosecond science.
"The Innovation Awards are a great opportunity to recognize excellence in the lasers and electro-optics industry," said Steve Andersen, editor-in-chief, Laser Focus World. "We had a number of strong submissions for this year's awards and are impressed with the advances PhotonXpo exhibiting companies are making in the field."
In addition to the award given to BioPhotonic Solutions, four products were chosen as honorable mentions, including:
IPG Photonics Corp. -- Booth 1217
YLS-5000-SM, 5 kilowatt Single-Mode Industrial Fiber Laser
For the introduction of the brightest turnkey fiber laser with near-diffraction-limited beam quality for materials processing and directed energy applications
Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratories -- Booth 1437
Coherent Soft X-Ray Generation for Lithography and Ultra High-Resolution 3-D Imaging
For the XUUS tabletop extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source that converts the output of an ultrafast amplifier into the EUV wavelength region for applications in nanoscale science, lithography, 3-D imaging, and molecular dynamics
Orbits Lightwave, Inc. -- Booth 1457
Slow Light Laser Oscillator
For the creation of an all-fiber oscillator that uses slow light to achieve extremely narrow linewidth and negligible noise for coherent communications, sensing, and research
TOPTICA Photonics AG -- Booth 1421
iChrome Ultra-Wide Tunable Visible Laser for Biophotonic Application and Optical Metrology
For the development of a user-friendly, widely tunable visible fiber laser for fluorophore excitation and other applications in microscopy and spectroscopy
The honorable mentions will be recognized by the PhAST chairs during the CLEO Plenary Session.
About PhAST
Photonics has moved out of the laboratory and into the products and services that have changed our daily lives. PhAST is where engineers and applications specialists receive up-to-the-minute information on industry trends and the next wave of applications. PhAST programming takes places over three days and includes technical presentations, panel discussions, a leading exhibit and networking receptions.
About Laser Focus World
Published since 1965, Laser Focus World is a global media franchise for engineers, researchers, scientists, and technical professionals that provides comprehensive global coverage of optoelectronic and photonic technologies, applications, and markets. The magazine and its related web site (www.laserfocusworld.com) reports on and analyzes the latest developments and trends in technology and business in the worldwide optoelectronic and photonics industry.
About PennWell Corporation
The publisher of Laser Focus World, PennWell Corporation is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following global industries: oil and gas, electric power, water, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiber optics, computer graphics, enterprise storage, information technology, fire, emergency services and dental. Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, directories, web sites, research, and database services. In addition to PennWell's headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company has offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; Houston, Texas; London, England and other locations worldwide.
For complete information on the Innovation Award, go to http://www.phastconference.org/innovation/.
--Posted by Gail Overton, [email protected]; www.laserfocusworld.com.