New products feed upbeat feeling at Photonics West
January 26, 2006, San Jose, CA--Judging by the number of products being introduced at Photonics West that are addressing key social needs such as improved healthcare, communications, industrial efficiency and public security, Ken Kaufmann of Hamamatsu (Bridgewater, NJ) was no doubt being sincere when he noted in the Executive Panel on Market Direction and Implications for the World of Photonics on Wednesday morning that photonics will solve problems and make life better for its users.
His sentiments echoed an overwhelming sense of 'upbeatness' on the Photonics West show floor towards the future of photonics. Hamamatsu joined the multitude of companies announcing new products, with releases including their C10013SK flat-panel x-ray sensor for non-destructive inspection, the S10077 CMOS linear image sensor with on-chip A/D converter and S10043 silicon photodiode for improved stability in immersion lithography, and their C10082MD mini-spectrometer for light source analysis.
In fact, "mini" is a trend in spectrometers that also applies to the new Multimodal Multiplex Spectroscopy (MMS) systems being offered by Centice (Durham, NC) including MMS Raman (being marketed by Ocean Optics in Dunedin, FL) and MMS UV/Vis (being marketed by Newport Corporation in Irvine, CA). The push to make smaller, less-expensive spectroscopy instruments for applications in drug discovery and production, homeland security, and medical diagnosis is also resulting in industry partnerships, including the Photonics West announcement that Mesophotonics (Southampton, England) is signing a joint marketing agreement with HORIBA Jobin Yvon that brings together HORIBA's Raman spectroscopy systems and Mesophotonics' surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate called Klarite, which enables faster, higher-accuracy analysis of biological and chemical samples at lower detection limits.
The ubiquitous presence of lasers in our society today is driving a tremendous surge in new-product introductions. Corelase (Tampere, Finland) announced their new 20-W, 5-microjoule ultrashort pulsed fiber laser, X-LASE, for material processing applications. Cobolt (Stockholm, Sweden) showcased their Cobolt Jive laser, a 561-mm, 50-mW diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser for applications based on laser-induced fluorescence. And Opnext (Eatontown, NJ) introduced low-operating current red laser diodes for such familiar uses as laser levelers and display applications. The well-publicized Newport/Spectra Physics and JDSU/Lightwave Electronics partnerships have grown the laser offering for both of these companies, with numerous new product offerings that span the gamut from fiber lasers to DPSS lasers, and everything inbetween.
And of course, Photonics West exhibitors are always eager to demonstrate their products on the show floor. If you head to the South Hall, you can get a hard copy of your fingerprint and its sweat glands made possible by the optical coherence tomography system on display from Bioptigen (Durham, NC). Nufern (East Granby, CT) can show you their two new "eye-safe" double-clad fiber products for fiber lasers and amplifiers--the erbium-ytterbium LMA-EYDF-25/300 and the thulium-doped LMA-TDF-25/250. And NuSil (Carpinteria, CA) is showing their high-hardness, high-refractive-index optically clear silicone elastomer LSR-9618-30, ideal for casting and molding optical components, or use as an adhesive or encapsulant. The Photonics West exhibit closes today at 4 pm--don't miss it!