Photonicsspectra 201205

May / 2012
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3-D Displays
Eliminate Need for Glasses
Also in this issue:
Time Delay Integration
Speeds Up Imaging
Wafer-Etching Process
Brightens Future for LEDs
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May 2012
t
TABLE OF CONTENTS
16 | TECH NEWS
Photonics Spectra editors curate the most significant photonics research
and technology headlines of the month and take you deeper inside
the news. Featured stories include:
Supercapacitors created from laser-scribed graphene
Hidden 3-D objects imaged
Star comb aids search for exoplanets
30 | FASTTRACK
Business and Markets
Impact of PV panel penalties pondered
39 | GREENLIGHT
Full spectrum boosts solar cell power
10 | EDITORIAL
41 | LASERS IN USE
by Antonio Triventi, CHP, CLSO, National Institute for Laser Safety Officers
and Health Physicists
How to Develop a Laser Safety Culture
82 | PEREGRINATIONS
Alexander Graham Bell, we can hear you now
NEWS & ANALYSIS
COLUMNS
70 | BRIGHT IDEAS
79 | HAPPENINGS
81 | ADVERTISER INDEX
DEPARTMENTS
THE COVER
Developments in autostereoscopic displays
are discussed by Gregg Favalora of Optics
for Hire, beginning on page 44. Design by
Senior Art Director Lisa N. Comstock.
39
30
Photonics Spectra May 2012 4
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PHOTONICS: The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant
energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The range of applications of photonics extends
from energy generation to detection to communications and information processing.
Vol ume 46 I ssue 5
www. phot oni cs. com
44 | HITTING EVERY ANGLE WITH AUTOSTEREOSCOPIC 3-D DISPLAYS
by Gregg Favalora, Optics for Hire
Autostereoscopic display creating imagery that looks 3-D without special
glasses is moving forward, thanks to advances in lens arrays, electro-optics,
diffusers and software.
50 | TIME DELAY INTEGRATION SPEEDS UP IMAGING
by Xing-Fei He and Nixon O, Teledyne Dalsa Inc.
The flat panel display industry depends on this line-scan technology
for high-speed inline automatic optical inspection under light-starved conditions.
56 | WAFER-ETCHING PROCESS BRIGHTENS FUTURE FOR LEDS
by Derek Mendes, Imtec Acculine LLC
Faster and less costly than dry etching, high-temperature wet etching
holds promise for scalable manufacturing of energy-efficient LEDs.
60 | 193-nm LITHOGRAPHY OPENS DOORS FOR DIFFRACTIVE MICRO-OPTICS
by Marc D. Himel and Jim Morris, DigitalOptics Corporation
Upgrades in tools for manufacturing diffractive optics have enabled new applications
in the visible and near-IR regimes requiring large angular distributions.
65 | VISION SOFTWARE ENABLES NASA ROBONAUT TO SEE
by Dr. Lutz Kreutzer, MVTec Software GmbH
The first robotic humanoid to visit the International Space Station uses sophisticated
software and a multiple-sensor stereovision system to recognize complex patterns.
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FEATURES
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e
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Transfer Technology and Grow
C
LEO:2012 is right around the corner, and Photonics Spectra will be there. This
year, we are proud to be the media sponsor for the annual Technology Transfer
Program, which will take place on Thursday, May 10. We have attended this event
each year since its inception and are pleased to play a more active role this time around.
Working with OSA, we produced a webinar on May 2 about the CLEO 2012 Technology
Transfer Program, to bring some additional attention to this important session, which
will be held in the exhibit hall during show hours on May 10. While we understand that
exhibitors and visitors are busy during the show, we believe that this is an important,
informative event, and we hope they will make time to attend it. If you missed our web-
inar, please check it out online much of the information shared there will not be covered
during the CLEO program. Experience the webinar, CLEO: 2012 Technology Transfer
Program Preview, at your leisure at Photonics.com/webinars.
Mike Torrance, VP of business development at Electro-Optics Technology and a member
of the CLEO: 2012 Technology Transfer Committee, was in the webinar lineup to talk
about the May 10 program, which will include tutorials and a technology transfer show-
case. Marcos Dantus, president of BioPhotonic Solutions, talked about his experience
receiving a license-ready technology and lessons learned along the way in building a
successful startup company. Offering insights on the University of Rochester technology
transfer programs and license-ready technologies were Corine Farewell, U of R tech trans-
fer office director, and her colleague Patrick Emmerling, technology licensing associate.
Technology transfer affects our industry deeply, and we want to cover it in a meaningful
way in the pages of Photonics Spectra. So, we want to know what you think about
the subject. I will be at CLEO this year with Melinda Rose, our senior editor and
LightMatters Weekly Newscast host, and we look forward to speaking with you there.
Investing in the future
Laurin Publishing was founded in 1964 by Teddi and Fran Laurin, who invested time and
money to give a voice to the young and growing photonics industry. The company has
operated out of a number of buildings in Pittsfield, Mass., since then, growing beyond
publishing Photonics Spectra to add BioPhotonics, Europhotonics, Photonics.com and
LightMatters Weekly Newscast, as well as the industry standard Photonics Buyers Guide,
published since 1954.
Today, our staff is growing to meet our readers changing needs, and Tom Laurin, Teddi
and Frans son and the current company president, recently purchased a building near
our current location to give our organization a home base from which to expand and keep
pace with the changing technology demands of our audience. This building allows us to
physically expand as needed, Tom said, and is a serious commitment to the future of
our company. Its a sign of our confidence in the continued evolution and growth of the
photonics industry.
We are pleased to be able to expand our operation while staying in downtown Pittsfield,
which has been our home for so long, as well as to expand opportunities beyond the tradi-
tional print publications.
Our mailing address will remain the same: PO Box 4949, Pittsfield, MA 01202-4949,
and you can always find us at Photonics.com, where you can read industry news, watch
Light Matters and other videos, and subscribe to our magazines and newsletters.
Editorial Advisory Board
Dr. Robert R. Alfano
City College of New York
Walter Burgess
Power Technology Inc.
Dr. Michael J. Cumbo
IDEX Optics & Photonics
Dr. Timothy Day
Daylight Solutions
Dr. Anthony J. DeMaria
Coherent-DEOS LLC
Dr. Donal Denvir
Andor Technology PLC
Patrick L. Edsell
Avanex Corp.
Dr. Stephen D. Fantone
Optikos Corp.
Randy Heyler
Ondax Inc.
Dr. Michael Houk
Bristol Instruments Inc.
Dr. Kenneth J. Kaufmann
Hamamatsu Corp.
Brian Lula
PI (Physik Instrumente) LP
Eliezer Manor
Shirat Enterprises Ltd., Israel
Shinji Niikura
Coherent Japan Inc.
Dr. Morio Onoe
professor emeritus, University of Tokyo
Dr. William Plummer
WTP Optics
Dr. Richard C. Powell
University of Arizona
Dr. Ryszard S. Romaniuk
Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
Samuel P. Sadoulet
Edmund Optics
Dr. Steve Sheng
Telesis Technologies Inc.
William H. Shiner
IPG Photonics Corp.
John M. Stack
Zygo Corp.
Dr. Albert J.P. Theuwissen
Harvest Imaging/Delft University
of Technology, Belgium
Kyle Voosen
National Instruments Corp.
10 Photonics Spectra May 2012
karen.newman@photonics.com
512Editorial_Layout 1 4/23/12 10:14 AM Page 10
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Welcome to
Photonics Medias industry-leading site features the latest industry news and events
from around the world.
Twice each month, Gary Boas, our nomadic contributing editor, chronicles his take
on the photonics industry through his blog - Different Wavelengths. Whether he
takes inspiration from pop culture, old sci-fi comic books or government policy,
Gary has a knack for telling stories that have the reader conjuring new ideas,
questioning old theories or remembering what made science so appealing in the
first place. To explore Garys blog, visit www.photonics.com/DifferentWavelengths.
Interactive Laser Wavelength Chart
Photonics.com presents a look at
the major commercial laser lines,
the wavelengths they produce,
and their many applications.
Visit www.LaserLookUp.com.
In case you missed it
2012 Webinar Expert Briefings
Novel Infrared Sensors for Medical, Industrial and Homeland Security Applications
Speaker: Dr. Hooman Mohseni, associate
professor, Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science, Northwestern University.
Learn how Northwestern's Bio-Inspired
Sensors and Optoelectronics Lab (BISOL)
developed novel IR imagers based on carrier
compression and nano-injection technology.
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Lighting for Crop Production
LEDs are gaining traction in crop production, especially in remote areas without
dependable year-round sunlight or where specialty crops are in demand.
Check out a sample of the new digital
version of Photonics Spectra magazine
at www.photonics.com/DigitalSample.
Its a whole new world of information for
people in the global photonics industry.
FELs Plus Ultrafast Lasers for Scientific Research
Advances in FELs and titanium:sapphire ultrafast lasers support
various applications in experimental research.
Numerical Modeling
Improves Fiber Amplifiers
and Lasers
Designing fiber amplifiers and
lasers requires more than a few
back-of-the-envelope calculations.
Interferometric Stability
Through Heavy Vibration
A new streetcar line in Arizona
sounded good for the community,
but staff at an optics shop along the
line would have to deal with the extra
vibration it would cause.
In the June issue of
Photonics Spectra
Spectral Imaging Monitors Food Safety
Spectral imaging sensors are meeting the food-industry requirements for improved
margins, greater food safety and improved product quality.
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Supercapacitors created from laser-scribed graphene
LOS ANGELES A novel graphene-
based electrode, produced with a standard
LightScribe DVD optical drive, ends the
search for an optimal electrochemical
capacitor. The discovery could pave the
way for a new class of flexible energy-
storage devices.
Electrochemical capacitors, also called
ultracapacitors or supercapacitors, store
higher amounts of charge than regular
capacitors and have garnered attention
as energy-storage devices because they
charge and discharge faster than batteries.
However, unlike batteries, they are limited
by low energy densities.
Researchers have sought an electro-
chemical capacitor that combines a bat-
terys high energy density and a capaci-
tors power performance.
Now, scientists from the University of
California, Los Angeles, have developed
high-performance electrochemical capaci-
tors with graphene electrodes.
At the early stages of this research,
we invented the method of converting
graphite oxide to graphene using the
LightScribe DVD drives found in our
computers, said Maher El-Kady, a UCLA
graduate student and lead author of the
study. Microscopic analysis showed that
the produced graphene is well exfoliated
without any sticking together.
The LightScribe laser simultaneously
produces electrodes with an open network
structure reducing the electrolyte ions
diffusion path and allowing a fast, high-
power charge.
We also measured an interesting
specific surface area of over 1500
m
2
/g, potentially useful for high charge
capacity, El-Kady said.
Additionally, the electrical conductiv-
ity of this graphene, which is another key
factor for high-power supercapacitors, was
very decent. We thought this could be the
perfect material for making high-perfor-
mance supercapacitors.
To demonstrate the idea to his group
leader, professor Richard B. Kaner, El-
Kady developed a device and used it to
light an LED.
I needed some electrolyte to make the
device, and since our lab is not primarily
set for making batteries and supercapaci-
tors, I placed a purchase order for a new
electrolyte, he said. However, I was so
excited that I wanted to make it right
away, so I looked around the lab for some
useful electrolyte. I found an old bottle of
an electrolyte that dates back to maybe 10
years ago, which I thought might work. I
made the device and charged it for a few
seconds and, interestingly enough, it was
able to light the LED.
Evaluations of the device demonstrated
ultrahigh energy-density values in various
electrolytes, while the high power density
and cycle stability of supercapacitors are
retained.
We have tested the device for over
10,000 charge/discharge cycles, and the de-
vice maintains about 97 percent of its per-
formance, El-Kady said. This contrasts
with a lifetime of less than 1000 cycles for
conventional rechargeable batteries.
The team also tested the devices
shelf life over four months and dis-
covered that there was no sign of
decrease in performance, he said.
We believe that our device will pave
the way to a completely new class of flex-
ible energy-storage devices, El-Kady
said. This may find applications as a
flexible power supply for roll-up computer
displays, keyboards, wearable electronics
that harvest and store energy produced by
body movements, and as energy-storage
systems to be combined with flexible
solar cells.
Commercial batteries and supercapaci-
tors are considered hazardous because of
their toxic, corrosive materials. The liquid
electrolytes within batteries are known to
catch fire under certain conditions, which
makes them difficult to discard.
To address this, we further replaced
liquid electrolytes used in commercial
electrochemical capacitors with a polymer
gelled electrolyte, which also acts as a
separator, further reducing the device
thickness and weight, and simplifying the
fabrication process, El-Kady said. This
means that electrochemical capacitors are
immune from leaking problems.
To test the solid-state device for flexible
storage under real conditions, they placed
it under constant mechanical stress and an-
alyzed its performance.
The supercapacitor continues to func-
tion with no degradation, even after bend-
ing and straightening multiple times, he
said. We also tried applying a load on the
device and, interestingly enough, the de-
vice stored more charge.
Next, the scientists hope to demonstrate
that the materials and devices can be
scaled up in a cost-effective manner.
Our initial calculations show that the
price of the precursor, graphite oxide, and
the whole process is viable for commercial
applications, El-Kady said. We are also
trying to use this technique to build a
number of different devices such as sen-
sors. The combined properties of the laser-
scribed graphene make it potentially use-
ful as flexible, all-plastic and inexpensive
sensors.
The work appeared in Science (doi:
10.1126/science.1216744).
NEWS
TECH
A closer look at the most significant photonics research and technology headlines of the month
Schematic showing the structure of laser-scribed graphene supercapacitors. Courtesy of UCLA.
512TechNews_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:52 AM Page 16
Hidden 3-D objects imaged
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. A new ultrafast
time-of-flight imaging technique uses
reflections from a nonmirrored surface to
recover 3-D shapes hidden from sight,
essentially allowing the camera to capture
images around corners.
Scientists at MITs Media Lab recov-
ered 60 images from an ultrafast camera
using 60 femtosecond laser positions to
produce recognizable 3-D images of a
wooden figurine and foam cutouts outside
the devices line of sight.
The findings could lead to imaging
systems that allow emergency responders
to evaluate dangerous environments or
to vehicle navigation systems that can
negotiate blind turns. The instrument also
could be used with endoscopic medical
devices to produce images of previously
obscure regions of the body. The study
appeared in Nature Communications (doi:
10.1038/ncomms1747).
Femtosecond lasers formerly were used
to produce extremely high speed images
of biochemical processes in laboratory set-
tings, where the pulses trajectories were
carefully controlled.
Four years ago, when I talked to peo-
ple in ultrafast optics about using fem-
tosecond lasers for room-size scenes,
they said it was totally ridiculous, said
Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor at
MIT and leader of the new research.
It has been, and still is, difficult to get
imaging information at these speeds,
Andreas Velten, a former postdoctoral as-
sociate in Raskars group, told Photonics
Spectra. We expect emerging technolo-
gies to make this easier in the near future.
To recover the images of the obscured
wooden figurine, the scientists fired short
bursts of light from a Ti:sapphire laser to-
ward an opaque screen. The light reflected
off the opaque panel, then bounced around
the staged room and re-emerged, striking
the camera detector, which took measure-
ments every few picoseconds. Because the
light bursts are so short, the system can
gauge how far the light has traveled by
measuring the time it takes to reach the
detector. Light bursts were fired several
more times at several angles on the screen.
The data collected from the ultrafast
sensor was processed by algorithms devel-
oped by the scientists. The teams image-
reconstruction algorithm uses a technique
called filter backprojection, which is the
basis of CAT scans. Although blurry, the
3-D images were easily recognizable.
The reconstruction quality may change,
however, if there are multiple objects in
the room. In the experiments, Raskars
group found that problems associated with
peering around a corner are similar to
using multiple antennas to determine the
direction of incoming radio signals. The
team hopes to use this insight to improve
the image quality that the system produces
and to enable it to handle more cluttered
visual scenes.
Reconstruction quality does depend on
scene complexity to some degree, Velten
said. Whether or not multiple objects can
be distinguished depends on the resolution
of the system at that given point. The arms
and torso of the mannequin in our publica-
tion [are] an example of close surfaces
that are still separated.
At this time, it is not possible to recover
moving objects, but after the system is op-
timized for speed, reconstructions should
be possible in a few seconds time. Be-
yond that, resolution would have to be
sacrificed, Velten said.
Collision avoidance would require
extremely low resolution, since we only
need to know if there is something around
the corner and not what, he added.
The present setup cannot be moved out-
side of the lab; however, it would be easy
to build a more compact, power-efficient
setup that could be moved and operated in
such conditions without chilled water or
high-voltage outlets, Velten said.
Top photo, the experimental setup with the hidden object. Courtesy of Christopher Barsi and Andreas Velten,
MIT Media Lab. Bottom left, the image captured around the corner shows a projection of a 3-D confidence
map of the reconstructed volume. The scientists used ultrafast illumination and imaging to analyze scattered
background light. They computationally reconstructed this image from the data. Courtesy of Velten et al, MIT.
Bottom right, a sketch describing the MIT concept. Courtesy of Tiago Allen.
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WAVELENGTH IN NANOMETERS
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Just how far away can the setup be from
the object to be imaged?
This is an interesting topic for further
research, he said. The possible dimen-
sions depend on the desired reconstruction
resolution, the size of the available wall,
the distance between the wall and the ob-
ject, the distance between the wall and the
camera and laser, the scene complexity,
the laser power and the signal-to-noise
ratio of the detector.
Next, the team plans to improve the
setup and algorithm and to develop new
hardware solutions to test the method over
a variety of application scenarios.
In a related side project, which ap-
peared on p. 22 of the March 2012 issue
of Photonics Spectra, the scientists cap-
tured movies of light in motion at a 2-ps
time resolution.
Modifying our detection setup allows
us to record virtual trillion-frames-per-sec-
ond movies of light interacting with table-
top scenes, Velten said.
t TECHNEWS
Star comb aids search for exoplanets
BOULDER, Colo. A new laser fre-
quency comb soon may be able to answer
one of the most intriguing scientific ques-
tions: Are there other earthlike planets in
our galaxy capable of supporting life as
we know it?
A collaboration of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST), the
University of Colorado at Boulder and
Penn State University brings together the
best of laser science, frequency combs
and precision astronomical instrumenta-
tion. The researchers goal is to determine
whether life might exist on other planets,
said Scott Diddams, a NIST physicist and
co-creator of the frequency comb.
The device has for the first time cali-
brated measurements of infrared starlight
from stars other than the sun by precisely
measuring the frequencies of their emitted
light. The results suggest that combs even-
tually will fulfill their potential to boost
the search for Earth-like planets to the
next level.
The laser frequency comb we used is
unique because its mode spacing of 25
GHz is significantly larger than typical
combs, which might have a mode spacing
of 100 MHz to 1 GHz, Diddams told
Photonics Spectra. Another unique fea-
ture is that it was designed to be com-
pletely transportable, which enabled us to
take it out of our lab in Boulder, move it
to the McDonald Observatory and operate
it there with the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Tele-
scope and the Penn State University
Pathfinder spectrograph.
Another distinctive feature is that it op-
erates in the near-infrared. All other combs
currently used for astronomical observa-
tions operate in the visible spectrum.
Despite its challenges, the near-in-
frared has the particular advantage that a
certain class of stars (called M stars) emit
most of their light in this spectral region,
said Steve Osterman, an astronomer at the
University of Colorado. Moreover, there
are many M stars in our galaxy nearby the
Earth (60 percent of the stars within about
30 light-years of the Earth are M stars),
making them excellent candidates in a
search for exoplanets.
To search for planets orbiting distant
stars, astronomers look for periodic varia-
tions in the apparent colors of starlight
over time. A stars nuclear furnace emits
white light, which is modified by elements
in the atmosphere that absorb certain nar-
row bands of color. Periodic changes
within the characteristic fingerprint can
be caused by the stars wobbling from the
gravitational pull of an orbiting planet.
It is such periodic changes in the emit-
ted wavelengths that are used to infer the
presence of a planet orbiting the star, said
Suvrath Mahadevan, an assistant professor
of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn
State. In our experiments, we typically
took a series of approximately 10 expo-
sures of five minutes in duration while the
telescope was pointed at a particular stel-
lar object. Repeating this over a few
nights, we were able to determine that
our system could measure changes in the
near-infrared emitted wavelengths with
a resolution of about 50 femtometers.
The scientists note that many factors
play into how precisely they can make
such measurements. Although observation
time played a significant role, they discov-
ered that the biggest limitation was modal
noise present in the beam that illuminates
the spectrometer.
Such noise arises in the type of optical
fibers we used to transport the light be-
tween the comb, the telescope and the
spectrograph, Diddams said.
Astronomers have discovered more than
600 planets using star wobble analysis,
but a planet analogous to Earth, with low
mass and orbiting at just the right distance
from a star in the so-called Goldilocks
zone is hard to detect with conventional
technology.
The challenge is that a planet like our
Earth orbiting not too close or not too far
from a star like our sun would make the
star wobble with a velocity of only 10
centimeters per second, said Gabe Ycas,
a University of Colorado graduate student
who helped build the comb. That is about
the speed of a fast spider crawling across
19
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TECHNEWS
NIST researchers and collaborators measured the
frequencies of infrared starlight (three solid bands
with faint tick marks indicating where light is ab-
sorbed by the atmosphere) by comparing the miss-
ing light to a laser frequency comb reference ruler
(sets of bright vertical bars indicating precise wave-
lengths, which increase from left to right). The three
sets of starlight and comb light are shown in false
color, from deeper orange (the most light) to or-
ange-white (slightly less light) to black (very little
light). Courtesy of CU Boulder/NIST/Penn State.
the floor. This small velocity change would result in a Doppler
shift of the wavelength of the starlight of only 0.5 femtometers,
which is very small indeed and difficult to detect particularly
if you consider that such measurements are made across enor-
mous distances and with faint stellar sources.
Combing the galaxy for exoplanets
The NIST comb, which spans wavelengths from 1450 to 1700
nm, provides strong signals at narrowly defined target frequencies
and is traceable to international measurement standards. When
combined with Penn States Pathfinder spectrograph, the fre-
quency comb acts as a precise ruler to calibrate and track the
exact colors in the stars fingerprint and to detect any periodic
variations.
The comb calibrated the spectrograph at the Hobby-Eberly
Telescope in the Texas mountains, where it measured star wobble
with a precision of about 10 m/s. This accuracy is comparable to
the best achieved in the infrared region of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
Observation time was limited in our first field test because
ours was a very new and high-risk experiment that had to fit into
the schedule of a significant research telescope, Diddams said.
The biggest technical difficulties arose in part from the fact that
such an experiment had never been done before.
However, the scientists say that the device has the inherent
capability of measuring star wobble of just a few centimeters per
second 100 times better although limitations in the spectro-
graph and in the stability of the star itself may constrain the ulti-
mate precision.
Next, the NIST and University of Colorado team plans to
create a comb with 30-GHz mode spacing that covers the 1000-
to 1200-nm spectral range.
Our partners at Penn State have been funded by the NSF
[National Science Foundation] to turn their Pathfinder spectro-
graph into a facility instrument which will be called the Habitable
Zone Planet Finder (HPF), Diddams said.
Demonstrating that the laser comb enabled precision radial
velocity measurements on the prototype Pathfinder is an impor-
tant component of the successful HPF proposal, added Mahade-
van, who is the HPFs principal investigator. We are continuing
to work together in the development and building stages, and
we hope to return to the Hobby-Eberly telescope in two to three
years to join the comb with the HPF, which would then begin a
dedicated campaign of exoplanet searches.
The study was published in the open-access journal Optics
Express (http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.20.006631).
t TECHNEWS
Tsunami mapped with laser scanners
SENDAI, Japan Using eyewitness video and terrestrial lasers to
map the epic March 2011 Tohoku tsunami could produce flood-
ing forecasts that influence future evacuation plans and building
designs and could help prevent disasters of similar magnitude
from taking such a huge toll.
Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology used the
equipment from atop the tallest buildings that survived the disas-
ter to map the tsunamis height and flood zone and to better un-
derstand the flow of its currents.
The ultimate goal is to save lives,
said associate professor Hermann Fritz.
In order to do so, we have to have a bet-
ter understanding of what worked and
didnt work.
The tsunami was Japans deadliest in
more than 100 years. Although the country
took extraordinary measures to prepare for
it, the disaster caused more than 90 per-
cent of the almost 20,000 fatalities that
occurred last March.
The researchers surveyed the impact
of the tsunami on a fishing town in Kesen-
numa Bay, where 1500 people died. The
bay had been hit by historic tsunamis in
1896, 1933, 1960 and 2010, making it the
most vulnerable spot in Japan. Its coastal
structures and other mitigation measures
were designed based on conservative,
historic high-water marks rather than on
probable maximum tsunamis.
Fritzs reconnaissance team used lasers
to scan the port and bay entrance, creating
a 3-D topographic model of the flood
zone. The group determined that the
tsunami reached a maximum height of
9 m, followed by outflow currents of
11 m/s less than 10 minutes later, a speed
impossible to survive or navigate by ves-
sels, Fritz said.
What we can learn from the hydro-
graph is confirmation that the water goes
out first, drawing down to more than neg-
ative three meters on the landward side
of the trench, which can make vessels hit
ground inside harbors, Fritz said. During
the subsequent arrival of the main tsunami
wave, the water rushing back in changed
the water level by 40 feet, engulfing the
entire city in 12 minutes.
Understanding the impact of tsunamis
will help prepare for future disasters
whether it is designing seawalls and
breakwaters strong enough to control
the flow of water or erecting buildings
high enough to serve as vertical evacua-
tion points.
Besides these mitigation measures, Fritz
emphasizes tsunami education.
People need to be tsunami-aware,
he said.
Fritz worked with teams of researchers
from the University of Southern California
and the University of Tokyo, the Tokyo
University of Marine Science and Tech-
nology, and the Port and Airport Research
Institute, in coordination with the UN-
ESCO-organized International Tsunami
Survey Team and Tohoku University in
Sendai.
21
t TECHNEWS
Professor Hermann Fritz used terrestrial laser scanners to map the height of the March 2011 Tohoku tsunami
and learn more about the flow of its destructive currents. His team determined that the tsunami reached a
maximum height of 9 m, followed by outflow currents of 11 m/s less than 10 minutes later, a speed that
Fritz said is impossible to survive or navigate by vessel. Courtesy of Georgia Tech.
For more information on the effect of the tsunami and earthquake on the photonics
industry, see Optics industry on steady ground after quake, on p. 38 of the March
2012 issue of Photonics Spectra.
COLUMBUS, Ohio The first real-time
image of two atoms vibrating in a mole-
cule was recorded with a new ultrafast
camera.
A team from Kansas and The Ohio state
universities used ultrafast laser pulses to
knock one electron out of its natural orbit
in a molecule, and the electron then fell
back toward the molecule scattered off it.
The use of the energy of a molecules own
electron acted as a flashbulb to illumi-
nate the molecular motion.
The feat marks the first step toward
observing chemical reactions and control-
ling them on an atomic scale, said princi-
pal investigator Louis DiMauro, a physics
professor at Ohio State.
Through these experiments, we real-
ized that we can control the quantum tra-
jectory of the electron when it comes back
to the molecule by adjusting the laser that
launches it, he said. The next step will
be to see if we can steer the electron in
just the right way to actually control a
chemical reaction.
Standard imaging methods for a still
object involve shooting it with an electron
beam, which bombards the object with
millions of electrons per second. The new
single-electron quantum approach, how-
ever, enabled the researchers to take im-
ages of rapid molecular motion based on
theoretical developments by scientists at
Kansas State.
The scientists used laser-induced elec-
tron diffraction (LIED) a technique com-
monly used in surface science to study
solid materials to study the movement
of atoms in a single molecule of nitrogen
and oxygen, two common gases.
In each case, they hit the molecule with
50-fs laser light pulses, knocking a single
electron out of the shell of the molecule
and detecting the scattered signal of the
electron as it recollided with the molecule.
22
t TECHNEWS
Camera captures atoms moving in a molecule
Laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) provides a
new method for imaging gas-phase molecular imag-
ing with picometer spatial resolution and femtosec-
ond timing. In panel 1, the LIED approach is en-
abled by strong-field molecular tunnel ionization
that occurs in a low-frequency laser field (green
line). In panel 2, the ionized electron is driven back
by the laser field and diffracts from the molecular
structure. In panel 3, measurement of the electrons
momentum distribution conveys the structural infor-
mation at the diffraction time. Courtesy of Cosmin
Blaga, The Ohio State University.
DiMauro and Ohio State postdoctoral
researcher Cosmin Blaga likened the scat-
tered electron signal to the diffraction
pattern that light forms when it passes
through slits. Given only the diffraction
pattern, scientists can reconstruct the size
and shape of the slits. In this case, given
the diffraction pattern of the electron, the
physicists reconstructed the size and shape
of the molecule i.e., the locations of the
constituent atoms nuclei.
The key element of the experiment was
that, during the brief time between when
the electron was knocked out of the mole-
cule and when it recollided, the atoms in
the molecules had moved, Blaga said. The
LIED method can capture this movement
similar to making a movie of the quan-
tum world, he added.
The method also provides a new tool to
study a matters structure and dynamics.
Ultimately, the scientists want to under-
stand how chemical reactions occur.
You could use this to study individual
atoms, DiMauro noted, but the greater
impact to science will come when we can
study reactions between more complex
molecules. Looking at two atoms thats
a long way from studying a more interest-
ing molecule like a protein.
The experiment was published in the
March issue of Nature (doi:10.1038/
nature10820).
23
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70.43.101
TECHNEWS
Microlens arrays from a test tube
POTSDAM, Germany Simple
calcium carbonate precipitation
at ambient conditions can pro-
duce microlens arrays of uni-
form size and focal length. The
process offers a cheaper alterna-
tive to lithographic techniques
used to create inorganic-based
materials.
Scientists at Max Planck
Institute of Colloids and Inter-
faces collaborated with re-
searchers from the University
of Konstanz, the Korea Institute
of Geoscience and Mineral Re-
sources, and KAIST (formerly
the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology),
both in South Korea, to develop
the optically functional micro-
meter-size hemispherical
CaCO
3
structures. To create
the microarrays by simple min-
eral precipitation, they used a
saturated calcium solution and
CO
2
in air, along with an or-
ganic surfactant that regulates
mineral formation.
Biominerals, such as sea-
shells and bones, grow in aque-
ous media at ambient condi-
tions in a genetically program-
med way. The researchers dis-
covered that, under atmospheric
conditions, micrometer-size
CaCO
3
structures form in
a few minutes at the surface
of a calcium-saturated solution.
In less than two hours, the
precipitate forms a thin film.
The addition of organic surfac-
tants allowed hemispherically
shaped uniform structures to
be synthesized.
This is such a simple and
cheap process for the fabrica-
tion of high-quality microlens
arrays, and you just need [a]
calcium-saturated solution with
a small amount of the organic
surfactant, while alternative
lithographic techniques require
multiple steps and a clean-
room, said Kyubock Lee, a
researcher who worked on the
project at Max Planck and at
KAIST.
Multiple images of a micron-
size A were observed through
the array of microlenses. The
collimated light can be focused
into a 1-m spot by passing
through 6-m CaCO
3
micro-
lenses with a focal length rang-
ing from 7 to 8 m.
It was very surprising when
we observed that hemispherical
CaCO
3
structures work as mi-
cron-size convex lenses with
such a high quality, said Wolf-
gang Wagermaier, a researcher
at Max Planck. These optical
properties have not been dem-
onstrated before with synthetic
CaCO
3
structures.
The biocompatible CaCO
3
is
a base material for the skeletons
of a large number of biological
organisms. The biocompatibil-
ity of the CaCO
3
microlens
arrays was demonstrated by
seeding fibroblasts, the com-
mon connective cell tissue in
animals, proving the viability
of the cell array.
They also observed that a
single cell can cover multiple
microlenses, signifying that
CaCO
3
microlens arrays com-
bined with optics have potential
for cell biology research.
Usually, it is very challeng-
ing to fully understand and
mimic the biologically con-
trolled formation of such ad-
vanced mineral structures,
although it is an eventual goal
of biomimetic materials re-
search, said Peter Fratzl, head
of the biomaterials department
at Max Planck Institute. The
fabrication of CaCO
3
microlens
arrays demonstrates that the
principles of self-assembly and
organic controlled formation
of mineral could be realized
to produce advanced optical
devices.
24
t
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TECHNEWS
Lab lightning strikes same place more than twice
PALAISEAU, France With the help of
a laser-based lightning rod, laboratory-
generated lightning was coaxed to strike
the same place not just twice but numer-
ous times, and contrary to the path of least
resistance. This advance demonstrates
the potential of such rods for research
and protection.
In earlier experiments, femtosecond
lasers were used to produce a virtual light-
ning rod from ultrashort filaments of ion-
ized gas that act as electrical guide wires.
Now, for the first time, researchers in
France have used laser-induced atmos-
pheric filaments to reroute an electrical
discharge from striking the highest tree,
instead striking a lower object over
and over again.
A team from Laboratoire dOptique
Applique, EADS France, CILAS and
Astrium conducted experiments to test
how well lasers can harness and control
lightning. They sent a laser beam past a
spherical electrode toward an oppositely
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charged planar electrode. The laser
stripped away the outer electrons from
the atoms along its path, creating a plasma
filament that channeled an electrical dis-
charge from the planar electrode to the
spherical one.
A longer, pointed electrode was added
to determine whether the filament could
redirect an electrical discharge from its
normal path.
They found that they could divert the
electrical discharge even after it was al-
ready on its way, meaning that they could
change the path of the lightning.
The laser lightning rod would be a
valuable alternative to lightning rockets,
devices that control lightning strikes, said
Dr. Aurlien Houard of the Laboratoire
dOptique Applique.
The research was published online in
the American Institute of Physics journal
AIP Advances.
t TECHNEWS
Integrated picture of the discharge and measure-
ments of the voltage and current in the case of an
unguided discharge (a, b) and a laser-guided dis-
charge (c, d). Courtesy of AIP Advances, American
Institute of Physics.
L
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b
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512_Coherent_Meterless_Pg27_Layout 1 4/19/12 2:57 PM Page 27
28
t
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TECHNEWS
Ashley N. Paddock
ashley.paddock@photonics.com
Attosecond laser takes aim at holy grail of chemistry research
LONDON Ultrafast pulses of laser light
fired at oxygen, nitrogen and carbon
monoxide molecules could pave the way
toward imaging the movement of atoms
and their electrons as they undergo chemi-
cal reactions one of the holy grails of
chemistry research.
A team from Max Born Institute in
Berlin, FOM-Institute AMOLF in Amster-
dam and Texas A&M University in Col-
lege Station fired pulses that span only a
few hundred attoseconds at a sample of
molecules to map the quick movements
of atoms within the molecules as well as
the charges that surround them.
Previous research probed at the struc-
ture of molecules using a variety of tech-
niques; however, the inherent challenge is
to perform these experiments in systems
where changes are rapidly occurring on
very small timescales.
In the new work, short laser pulses were
fired at the target molecule in an attempt
to dislodge an electron. This photoioniza-
tion process images atoms and molecules
in unprecedented detail.
The researchers wanted to monitor in
real time the electrical and molecular
changes that occurred as an atom under-
went a chemical reaction. They intended
to do this by triggering a reaction with
the laser, breaking the chemical bond that
held the molecules together and using
the photoionization method to image the
changes that occurred in the molecule as
they happened.
We show that the photoelectron spectra
recorded for a small molecule, such as
oxygen, nitrogen and carbon monoxide,
contain a wealth of information about
electron orbitals and the underlying mo-
lecular structure, said Dr. Arnaud Rouze
of Max Born Institute, lead author of the
study. This is a proof-of-principle experi-
ment that electrons ejected within the
molecule can be used to monitor ultrafast
electronic and atomic motion.
The study was published in IOP Pub-
lishings Journal of Physics B: Atomic,
Molecular and Optical Physics.
Photoelectron angular distributions for the ionization
of aligned and anti-aligned molecules using an
attosecond pulse train. CO
2
carbon dioxide.
Courtesy of Arnaud Rouze, Max Born Institute.
512_ILXLightwave_Pg29_Layout 1 4/19/12 2:58 PM Page 29
Impact of PV panel penalties pondered
WASHINGTON In March, the US
Department of Commerce imposed duties
on imports of crystalline silicon photo-
voltaic (PV) cells from China after finding
that companies there received illegal gov-
ernment subsidies. But the long-term
effect of the move, on both the US-based
solar market and on China, remains to
be seen.
The tariffs, ranging from 2.9 to 4.73
percent, were smaller than expected by
those on both sides of the issue. The find-
ing is a preliminary determination; a final
ruling is expected to be announced in
June.
The surprisingly low numbers would
likely mean that the major Chinese com-
panies would have to pay between about
$5 million and $10 million to cover prod-
ucts shipped, a relatively minimal impact,
Citigroup analyst Timothy Arcuri told
Reuters news agency.
Still, the fact that tariffs were imposed
at all affirms what US manufacturers
have long known: Chinese manufacturers
have received unfair and [World Trade
Organization]-illegal subsidies, said
Steve Ostrenga, CEO of Milwaukee-based
Helios Solar Works, in a statement on the
website of the Coalition for American
Solar Manufacturing (CASM). The seven-
manufacturer CASM represents about
15,000 workers at more than 150 US
companies.
The initial duties do not cover the full
extent of the harm caused by Chinas
subsidies, said Gordon Brinser, president
of SolarWorld AGs US unit, in an inter-
view with Bloomberg News in March.
He expects the final tariffs to be higher.
SolarWorld, a member of CASM, is peti-
tioner in the governments anti-subsidy
and anti-dumping cases. Based in Ger-
many, it also has production facilities in
Hillsboro, Ore.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. of
Wuxi, China, the worlds largest manufac-
turer of solar panels, received countervail-
ing, or anti-subsidy, duties of 2.9 percent
from the Commerce Department on its
crystalline silicon PV cells.
This initial decision reflects the reality
that Suntechs global success is based on
free and fair competition, said Andrew
Beebe, Suntechs chief commercial officer,
in a statement. He added that unilateral
trade barriers such as these will further
delay our transition away from fossil fuels
at a time when the majority of Americans
demand cleaner and more secure energy
such as solar.
Besides China, Suntech has manufactur-
ing sites in Japan and the US. Regardless
[of] whether tariffs are imposed on solar
cells from China, we can provide our cus-
tomers in the US with hundreds of mega-
watts of solar products that are not sub-
ject to tariffs, Beebe said.
We are not dumping, nor do we be-
lieve that we are unfairly subsidized,
said Robert Petrina, managing director of
Yingli Green Energy Americas Inc., the
US subsidiary of Yingli Green Energy
Holding Co. Ltd. of Baoding, China. We
will continue to fight for affordable solar
energy and further growth of the tens of
thousands of US solar jobs that we help
to create. Regardless of the outcome of
this proceeding, we remain dedicated to
the US solar market.
The Commerce Departments decision
is a relatively positive outcome for the
US solar industry and its 100,000 employ-
ees, said Jigar Shah, president of the
Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy
(CASE), in an official statement. This
decision clearly demonstrates that the
Commerce Department did not find the
Chinese government engaged in massive
subsidization, as SolarWorld and CASM
claim.
CASE objects to any solar tariffs, Shah
said, because they will hurt American jobs
and prolong dependence on fossil fuels.
He cited a recent study by the Brattle
Group, an international economic consult-
ing firm, which determined that placing
artificially high tariffs on solar panels
will result in the loss of up to 60,000 US
jobs by 2014. Fortunately, this decision
will not significantly raise solar prices in
the United States, he added.
The major trade issues between China
and the US affect every export-oriented
industry, not just solar panels, wrote Tom
Gutierrez, CEO of industry production
equipment provider GT Advanced Tech-
nologies, in an editorial on the CASE
website. This issue should be addressed
by bilateral negotiations between the two
countries. The answer is not imposing a
special tariff really a tax on solar
panels. That tax would be built into the
costs of solar energy systems, making
solar power much more expensive for
electric utilities and commercial and resi-
dential consumers.
TRACK
FAST
Gordon Brinser, US president of SolarWorld, speaks at the solar trade action press conference in October
2011 about the case against China as US Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., looks on. Courtesy of SolarWorld USA.
512FastTrack_Layout 1 4/20/12 1:47 PM Page 30
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If fair international trade can be re-
established, the solar-pioneering US indus-
try will once again compete on legitimate
market factors such as product perform-
ance, production efficiency and unsubsi-
dized pricing, Brinser said. We need
both the domestic manufacturing and in-
stallation businesses to participate in fair
competition to advance our solar indus-
trys reach for greater national energy,
economic and environmental security.
In 2010, the US Department of Energy
estimated that the Chinese government
provided its manufacturers with more than
$30 billion in subsidies. CASM contends
that Chinas subsidies spurred its produc-
ers to build huge excesses of manufactur-
ing capacity, to export more than 95 per-
cent of production and to sell products at
artificially low prices to unfairly seize
US market share at the expense of domes-
tic producers. At least 12 US manufactur-
ers of crystalline silicon solar cells and
panels have closed plants, gone bankrupt
or staged significant layoffs since 2010,
the coalition says.
One such company is Solyndra, a
Fremont, Calif., manufacturer of rooftop
solar panels that filed for bankruptcy in
September. Although not a significant
industry player, the company drew much
media attention and government investi-
gation after receiving more than $500
million in federally guaranteed loans.
In early March, CASM released a report
that found that the US swung from a small
surplus in solar product trade with China
in 2010 to a $1.6 billion trade deficit in
2011. This swing unfolded, the coalition
said, despite the fact that a National Re-
newable Energy Laboratory presentation
concluded that Chinese manufacturers
actually face a 5 percent cost disadvantage
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in producing and delivering solar into the
American market compared with US man-
ufacturers. The Chinese producers built
16 times more manufacturing capacity
than it needed to satisfy domestic demand,
then exported more than 95 percent of
production, CASM said.
In 2011, China exported 93.2 million
products to the US, with a combined value
of $3.1 billion, the Commerce Department
said, while in 2009, it exported 26.8 mil-
lion products, valued at $639.5 million.
For the US solar industry, 2011 was an
historic year, according to a report by the
Solar Energy Industries Association and
GTM Research Solar Analysts. Installa-
tions were up 109 percent over 2010, and
the fourth quarter saw by far the most
megawatts of solar power installed in any
quarter in US market history.
But 2011 also saw solar panel prices
go into free fall, plunging more than 50
percent during the year.
In an action related to the levying of
duties, the Commerce Department and the
International Trade Commission are con-
ducting an anti-dumping investigation on
solar cells from China, with the Com-
merce Department scheduled to announce
its preliminary determination on May 17,
at which time additional tariffs could be
imposed. In June, if the Commerce De-
partment finds that China is dumping
solar panels in the US for less than their
actual cost, the ITC will begin to make its
injury determination. No final tariff deci-
sions will be made until the ITC investiga-
tion is completed.
The important thing to remember is
that tariffs are bad for the entire solar in-
dustry, said Liansheng Miao, chairman
and CEO of Yingli Green Energy Holding.
We will continue to support the US as
an important solar market, and believe
that global trade and fair competition will
persevere. [Commerces] decision vali-
dates that.
B&W Tek Marks 15 Years Optical spectro-
s copy and laser systems provider B&W Tek Inc. of
Newark, Del., is celebrating its 15th anniversary
in the photonics industry. Established as a green
laser manufacturer in January 1997, the com-
pany has grown into a total solutions provider for
spectroscopy applications. B&W Teks key compo-
nents are designed and manufactured in-house,
allowing OEM customers to use an assortment of
its ready-to-use, off-the-shelf modular products
to create their own solutions.
Jenoptik Wins Order in Asia In Jena, Ger-
many, the Optical Systems Div. of Jenoptik has
received a multimillion-euro order for flat panel
display equipment from an unnamed Asian
customer. The products have been developed
and will be integrated into a new production
system. The display order, which will be deliv-
ered this year, further strengthens the divisions
market position developing customized optical
and micro-optic systems in the semiconductor
and flat panel display segments.
OSA Forms Section in Egypt The Optical Soci-
ety (OSA), based in Washington, has estab-
lished the Alhazen Egyptian OSA Local Section,
the societys first in the Middle East. The Cairo-
based group has been approved by the OSA
Member and Education Services Council. Profes-
sor Mohamed Abdel Harith of the National
34
f
FASTTRACK
Melinda A. Rose
melinda.rose@photonics.com
BUSINESSBRIEFS
512_Incom_Pg35_Layout 1 4/19/12 3:00 PM Page 35
Institute of Laser Enhanced Science at Cairo
University will serve as president of this section,
which is a self-governing organization. The
name comes from the 11th-century scientist
Alhazen, who was born in Mesopotamia (cur-
rent-day Iraq) and lived in Egypt. The section
will support the growing optics and photonics
industry in Egypt and throughout the region.
Arden Photonics Names Distributor Optical
fiber company Arden Photonics Ltd. of Solihull,
UK, has appointed OgMentum Inc. of State
Line, Nev., as its sales and marketing partner
for China and the western US. OgMentum will
provide Arden with sales channel management
and support services in the telecommunications,
fiber optics, and test and measurement fields.
EMagin Granted Microdisplay Contract
EMagin Corp. of Bellevue, Wash., has received
a $1.12 million Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) contract from the US Special
Operations Command to optimize its WUXGA
organic LED microdisplay for mass production.
The project includes a $435,000 option. Under
the contract, eMagin plans to make the 1920
1200-pixel OLED microdisplay more affordable
for military and commercial applications. The
microdisplay is currently available as an engi-
neering sample to commercial OEM customers
and military contracts.
Advanced Photonix Secures Reseller Opto-
electronics company Advanced Photonix Inc.
of Ann Arbor, Mich., has signed Thermo Fisher
Scientific of Waltham, Mass., as its first value-
added reseller for its T-Gauge industrial tera-
hertz gauging system. The system offers on-
and offline measurement for quality assurance
and process control of web-based and convert-
ing industries. The technology is adaptable to
various sensor configurations. The agreement
will enable T-Gauge industrial process control
solutions for continuous web, discrete manufac-
turing and anomaly defect inspection applica-
tions.
Renishaw Launches Subsidiary The global
metrology and spectroscopy company Renishaw
has opened a subsidiary in San Pedro Garza
Garcia, Mexico, to support its expanding cus-
tomer base in Mexico and Central America.
Alejandro Silva C., the founder and former
owner of Metric Precision Group of Mexico,
a distributor of Renishaws metrology products,
will serve as director and general manager
of the new operation. We see significant
potential for our business in Mexico, where
sectors such as automotive and electronics
are showing good growth, said Ben Taylor,
Renishaws assistant chief executive. The sub-
sidiary will focus on supporting technologies
for motion control, measuring systems and
machine tools.
TU Berlin Licenses Patent The Technical
University of Berlin and its partner ipal GmbH
in Berlin have closed a 500,000 (about
$652,000) deal with a key global semiconduc-
tor company for use of the universitys energy
conversion patent allowing a significant in-
crease in the energy conversion efficiency of
photonic components. Ipal, the exclusive partner
for technology transfer and patent licensing and
sale for Berlins universities and technical col-
leges, negotiated the deal. Revenue of this
magnitude for technologies from universities is
significant and is not the general rule, said Dr.
Kirk Haselton, licensing manager at ipal and
lead negotiator for ipal and TU Berlin.
Thorlabs Acquires Laser Line, Expands In
Newton, N.J., Thorlabs Inc. has acquired the
Octavius line of ultrafast lasers and ultrafast
pulse characterization products from idesta
Quantum Electronics (IQE). The transaction is
expected to strengthen Thorlabs portfolio with
lasers and diagnostic tools for the imaging and
photonics industries, and to allow IQE to focus
on other technology. The Octavius devices are
suitable for photonics and biological applica-
tions. IQEs two-dimensional scanning interfer-
ometer, developed in collaboration with MIT,
also is being transferred to Thorlabs.
In other news, Thorlabs has completed its
new three-story, 120,000-sq-ft facility in New-
ton, which will act as the central hub for the
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companys sales, service, R&D and manufactur-
ing operations. Subsequent construction phases
are planned for the next seven to 10 years and
will ultimately expand the companys space to
approximately 300,000 sq ft. The privately held
company has experienced double-digit growth
since its founding in 1989.
Excelitas Expands in Medical Lighting
Excelitas Technologies of Waltham, Mass., has
augmented its lighting portfolio through the
acquisition of privately held Carsan Engineering
of Golden, Colo., a manufacturer of arc lamp
power supplies for the medical and dental mar-
kets. The transaction increases the array of
power supplies in Excelitas portfolio of lighting
solutions for medical and dental OEMs. Car-
sans newest 400-W product is highly differenti-
ated and is gaining interest in the medical and
dental markets, the company said.
North American MV Market Grew in 2011
Machine vision components and systems sales
in North America increased 5 percent in 2011
to nearly $1.9 billion, according to the global
trade group AIA of Ann Arbor, Mich. Machine
vision components grew 13 percent, while ap-
plication-specific systems grew 2 percent, said
Paul Kellett, AIAs director of market analysis.
He also said that the first half of 2011 was
much stronger than the second half, when
overall economic growth began to slow. As
vision becomes more critical to a growing
number of industries, we expect to see contin-
ued growth in both manufacturing and non-
manufacturing sectors, said AIA President Jeff
Burnstein.
Boston Scientific, Lumenis Renew Deal
Medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp.
of Natick, Mass., and Lumenis Ltd. of Yokneam,
Israel, have signed a five-year contract to ex-
tend their existing commercial agreement and
to promote continued investments in laser and
fiber product development for urologic applica-
tions. Under the agreement, Boston Scientific
will continue as the exclusive US distributor for
the Israeli companys holmium laser fibers, de-
signed for use with surgical lasers to treat vari-
ous urologic conditions. Medical laser company
Lumenis manufactures and distributes laser-
and light-based devices for surgical, ophthalmic
and aesthetic applications.
OLED Inventor Joins QD Vision Board
Organic LED (OLED) inventor and Wolf Prize
winner in chemistry Ching Tang has joined
quantum-dot product supplier QD Vision Inc.s
scientific advisory board. Tang, the Doris Johns
Cherry Professor at the University of Rochester,
is credited with several innovations that led to
the commercialization of OLED flat panel dis-
play technology, said Dr. Seth Coe-Sullivan,
founder and chief technology officer of QD
Vision. Based in Lexington, Mass., the company
expects that Tang and his expertise will have a
strong impact on its quantum-dot devices in the
lighting and display markets.
Kodak Selling Online Photo Service East-
man Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., has entered
into an agreement with Shutterfly, an Internet-
based social expression and personal publish-
ing service, for the proposed sale of certain as-
sets of its Kodak Gallery online photo services
business for $23.8 million. Kodak will transfer
its US and Canada Gallery customer accounts
and images to Shutterfly. The agreement com-
prises the initial, stalking horse bid in a court-
supervised auction process under Section 363
of the US Bankruptcy Code, which will ensure
the maximization of value for the assets. Kodak
plans to complete the sale process by this
spring. It filed for Chapter 11 in mid-January.
DOC Acquiring Camera Module Assets In
a bid to grab a bigger piece of the $9 billion
market for mobile phone cameras, Tessera
Technologies DigitalOptics Corp. (DOC) of San
Jose, Calif., will acquire the China-based cam-
era module manufacturing brand and assets of
Flextronics International Ltd. of Singapore for
$23 million in cash. The deal will allow DOC
to significantly increase its imaging technology
sales by making about 50 million camera mod-
ules a year, with the goal of becoming prof-
itable by 2013.
f
FASTTRACK
GreenLight
Full spectrum boosts solar cell power
S
olar cell efficiency can be boosted
to as high as 70 percent by printing
specially engineered nanostructures
on the cells.
Conversion efficiency of solar cells has
long been thought limited to 34 percent
for a single material or less than about
45 percent for the most efficient cells. A
thermodynamic limit is responsible for
this practical impediment.
The conversion process of solar cells
is typically not very efficient: A conven-
tional silicon solar cell commercially
available today converts only 15 to 20
percent of the energy of the sunlight to
electricity, with the balance lost as heat.
Blue and green lightwaves are con-
verted to electricity with an efficiency
of less than 50 percent, while infrared
light is not absorbed by a silicon solar
cell at all. The highest efficiency record
realized by a silicon solar cell was 27
percent.
Light that is not converted in the solar
cell leads to thermodynamic disorder
known as entropy and, as a result, to re-
duced cell voltage. As a result, the maxi-
mum achievable efficiency is limited to
34 percent, also known as the Shockley-
Queisser limit.
The incomplete trapping of light inside
the solar cell and defects in the solar cell
materials crystal structure also cause effi-
ciency loss.
But Harry Atwater, an applied physicist
at California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, and his colleague Albert Pol-
man of the FOM Institute for Atomic and
Molecular Physics in Amsterdam have
achieved efficiency as high as 70 percent.
By managing the light with specially engi-
neered nanostructures printed on the sur-
face of the solar cells, it can be better
trapped, and many of the efficiency prob-
lems can be solved.
In their Nature Materials paper, Atwater
and Polman describe several recipes for
achieving these improvements. The inspi-
ration for some of these ideas, which are
based on the integration of photonic nano -
structures and circuits on the solar cell,
comes from optical integrated circuit tech-
nology, where structures to guide and con-
trol light are routinely made.
Before 2000, scientists and technolo-
gists had developed materials and devices
with high electronic quality, but little at-
tention was paid to optical design, Atwa-
ter said. But in the last decade, revolu-
tions in photonic material design and
large-area nanostructure fabrication have
given researchers and technologists tools
to enable a new era of ultrahigh-efficiency
photovoltaics.
He noted that the solar cell community
historically has assumed that cells could
be made either with low efficiency at a
low cost or with high efficiency at a high
cost. Now, however, high-efficiency, low-
cost solar cells are achievable.
The solar cell community has driven
down solar panel cost, yet is very conser-
vative and has not boosted efficiency sig-
nificantly, Polman said. But solar panels
with a high efficiency take up much less
space because you need fewer panels to
generate the same amount of power. That
saves costs of land, installation and infra-
structure.
With a slightly more complex solar
cell, it becomes possible to convert all
colors of the light from the sun to electric-
ity, and an efficiency of up to 70 percent
is achievable. l
39
in the last decade,
revolutions in photonic
material design and
large-area nanostructure
fabrication have given
researchers and
technologists tools
to enable a new era
of ultrahigh-efficiency
photovoltaics.
Harry Atwater,
California Institute of Technology
512GreenLight_Layout 1 4/20/12 1:56 PM Page 39
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How to Develop a Laser Safety Culture
BY ANTONIO TRIVENTI, CHP, CLSO
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LASER SAFETY
OFFICERS AND HEALTH PHYSICISTS
T
he art of inspiring and coordinating
peoples activities beyond the en-
forcement dictated by rules and regu-
lations translates into a cultural asset that
leads to tangible performance excellence.
A laser safety program, with all its partici-
pating parties, is the perfect ground for
organizational team play, and the laser
safety officer (LSO) becomes a leader
who can motivate, involve and integrate
personnel to achieve common and shared
goals within the organization.
Laser safety leaders are facilitators and
orchestrators. They communicate purposes
and have their teams internalize what they
want the members to do. They must be
explicit about their intentions, plans and
expectations, and they must ask questions
to probe whether the teams understand
what they are saying.
In this scenario, trust is an essential
component. Trust means not being afraid
even if we feel vulnerable and weak. The
laser safety leader must take responsibility
for errors and not blame team members.
Trusting acts create the potential for mu-
tual benefit. If you are appointed LSO
for a large and complex research facility
or medical institution, dont worry about
looking vulnerable or weak if you dont
immediately have all the solutions and
answers. Be willing to learn and create
knowledge; be passionate and show
commitment.
How? Ask questions ask a lot of
questions. Think of yourself as a student
of daily life, extracting useful information
and lessons from situations around you.
And you must never give up, ever! You
must be inspired to inspire others, and
your passion will be the major source
of inspiration for others.
Obviously, laser safety leaders must
have a suitable set of skills in their
arsenals; to put it simply, they must be
competent. But rank, position and author-
ity dont contribute to effective laser
safety leadership. If you are appointed
laser safety officer, pursue leadership by
commitment instead of leadership by
compliance. Dont be diverted by the
word officer in your professional title;
you are not the photon cop!
Leadership by compliance is exerting
formal power and being the boss. Strictly
using codes and regulations to force others
to do what you want is easy to set up, but
it is energy-depleting for everyone in-
volved. This approach gives you only
what you have asked for and makes
personnel comply with the letter of
the policy but not with its spirit. That
kind of laser safety leadership houses
subtle sabotage; worse, it is inefficient
because you have to always be present
to ensure compliance.
Leadership by commitment, however,
means that your team members internalize
what you want them to do and, ultimately,
they will follow your game plan because
they want to stay safe. This way, your in-
fluence is kept alive even when you are
not around, and you can get the outcomes
you want even if you are not physically on
site. To quote President Dwight D. Eisen-
hower: Leadership is the art of getting
someone else to do something you want
done because he wants to do it.
This leadership style is energy-expand-
ing and enhances your professional
achievements: It allows you to creatively
strive to reach shared purposes and work
in the best interests of the organization.
It also facilitates the establishment of
sound laser safety.
So personnel involvement is crucial.
Workers involved feel that the laser safety
program is their own and not imposed on
them by you. They see your requirements
and recommendations as long-term en-
hancement of their workplace. But be
sure to set realistic expectations without
overselling values and ideals, and keep
the laser safety program open to revision
and reconsideration if events indicate that
modifications are needed.
Give before you are asked. In other
words, create and develop interactive sys-
tems. For example, face-to-face communi-
cation and regular laser safety audits and
meetings foster open dialogue and trust
beyond conventional, rigid reporting tools
LASERS IN USE
SAFETY PERSPECTIVES
What is the most important measure of a laser safety
programs success? Developing a true culture of laser safety
is the ultimate goal of any serious laser safety officer.
How to ensure laser
safety success
Inspire trust.
Ask questions.
Pursue leadership by commitment.
Develop interactive systems.
Push people but care about
them.
The seventh annual US Department of Energy Laser
Safety Officer Workshop, held at MIT in August
2011. Images courtesy of Antonio Triventi.
Laser Safety_Layout 1 4/20/12 1:51 PM Page 41
or checklists. As I said earlier, organiza-
tional attention and learning rely on the
direct involvement of participants: The
personnel involved gain commitment
for cultural change and its effective im-
plementation.
Another aspect of interactive systems
is the ability of the laser safety leader to
identify whose support will be required
for the systems to succeed and to create
or develop political coalitions and cohe-
sion among different layers of the organi-
zation. Useful and productive support can
come from subordinates, peers, supervi-
sors, line managers, safety designates,
operators, scientists, engineers, executives
and top management. If your team mem-
bers have an idea, then they want it to be
heard they want to have a voice.
Imagine that everyone would like to
have input in your program. Create an
atmosphere of psychological safety by
listening, and your team will feel safe to
contribute. This approach enhances the
performance of your team members and
makes it more effective in the execution
of your game plan. Give them responsibil-
ity, and delegate things to them. Consider
yourself the director of the laser safety
program who is helped by numerous laser
safety project managers; personnel will
feel like they are in charge.
The key here is to identify who is re-
sponsible for what as you work on ad-
dressing obstacles and issues. Then, set a
timetable and deadlines for tasks comple-
tion. But remember,
interactive systems
require strong com-
mitment.
To develop a
safety culture, we
laser safety officers
must treat our safety
programs as social
activities. We must
think about our-
selves as coaches of
extraordinary teams. We must think not
only about what we do but also what our
team members do. We must pay attention
to the tasks and the people because one
without the other is ineffective.
As laser safety leaders, we must push
people to accomplish our tasks, but we
must sincerely care about our people, too.
We must be supportive and praise them,
but then we must push them to do more.
This is tough love: People will not ap-
preciate us pushing them until they see
the end results of our pushing for in-
stance, a clear/clean report from state
inspectors or federal auditors. We may
encounter resistance, but we must keep
pushing and caring.
Albert Einstein is considered to be one
of the most influential leaders of all time.
Louis de Broglie, the 1929 Nobel Prize
winner in physics, wrote this about Ein-
stein in his 1962 book New Perspectives
in Physics: I was particularly won over
by his sweet disposition, by his general
kindness, by his simplicity, and by his
friendliness. Occasionally, gaiety would
gain the upper hand and he would strike
a more personal note and even disclose
some detail of his day-to-day life. Then
again, reverting to his characteristic mood
of reflection and meditation, he would
launch into a profound and original dis-
cussion of a variety of scientific and other
problems. I shall always remember the
enchantment of all those meetings, from
which I carried away an indelible impres-
sion of Einsteins great human qualities.
Our ultimate goal is to develop peoples
skills so that they can perform on their
own and contribute to the success of the
program. And we will share the success
and even form stronger bonds through
celebrating victories. As laser safety
leaders, we must see a better world and
use our own human qualities to help other
people see it, too.
Meet the author
Antonio Triventi is a health physicist and LSO
at Northwestern University as well as president
of the National Institute for Laser Safety Offi-
cers and Health Physicists (www.nilsohp.org).
He is a member of the American Academy of
Health Physics, the Health Physics Society, the
Laser Institute of America and the ANSI Ac-
credited Standards Committee Z136. He also is
a licensed Italian professional engineer, a certi-
fied health physicist (CHP) through the Ameri-
can Board of Health Physics, and a certified
laser safety officer (CLSO) through the Board
of Laser Safety; email: antonio@nilsohp.org.
42
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Hitting Every Angle
with Autostereoscopic 3-D Displays
BY GREGG E. FAVALORA
OPTICS FOR HIRE
T
he broad field of autostereoscopic
display the creation of imagery that
appears three-dimensional without
requiring the use of additional eyewear
1,2
is evolving. Optical engineers continue to

push 3-D display technologies to match
depictions in science fiction movies. Its
2012, after all cant one simply buy a
holographic video display that snaps
into a DVI port and generates a cubic
meter of full-color, occlusion-bearing,
utterly natural imagery?
Well, almost.
There is much to consider in our jour-
ney, with 38 species of stereoscopic and
autostereoscopic displays in 3D@Homes
taxonomy, and several possible classifica-
tions.
3,4
(Reference 3 is a recommended
starting point for technically oriented new-
comers to the topic.)
The 3-D display is just one element of
a broad pipeline spanning content genera-
tion, or acquisition, to the production of
a 3-D image (Figure 1).
What are the aims of current research?
This depends on the particular use of
each type of display. A mobile device,
such as Sharps directional parallax barrier
backlighting in the Nintendo 3DS, permits
a solitary user to view the display at less
than arms length, from one constant
viewing angle. Therefore, a two-view
autostereoscopic image suffices. Contrast
this with the aims of research in auto -
stereoscopic television, which might re-
quire hundreds of unique viewpoints to
numerous simultaneous viewers at various
distances and viewing angles or, alter-
nately, some combination of head-tracking
and fewer unique views. Finally, consider
boardroom and military uses, in which 10
people might encircle a horizontal display
that projects volume-filling imagery above
a tabletop.
Other than mobile, which I consider
solved enough because of technologies
from Sharp, MasterImage 3D and 3M,
the field is experimenting with acceptable
solutions for larger displays. Researchers
still yearn to combine high-definition
(HD) resolution, a natural effect of hori-
zontal motion parallax for multiple simul-
taneous viewers, and the high-fidelity re-
production of depth both in and out of the
display surface. For example, there are
many vendors of flat panel autostereo-
scopic displays for desktop or living room
use, but these devices usually are ham-
pered by uncomfortably narrow restric-
tions on the viewers head placement
within a viewing zone.
Bandwidth requirements
Most autostereo displays generate im-
agery by electro-optically modulating illu-
mination; e.g., a display might sequen-
tially direct photons modulated by a mi-
croelectromechanical system (MEMS) to-
ward a series of viewing zones, or use a
lens array to direct the light from many
LCD pixels to several simultaneous zones.
Their image quality is constrained by the
modulators bandwidth, which is a func-
tion of time and space: the product of the
number of light-modulating elements and
the rate at which they can change state.
Three-dimensional displays of comparable
image quality consume more bandwidth
than 2-D displays for a variety of reasons.
For example, some autostereo displays
project a collection of perspective images,
or views, in sequence to different angles in
rapid sequence. Perceived depth increases
with various factors, such as tighter angu-
lar definition of each of those views,
which ends up consuming spatial band-
width as the number of views increases.
Increasing the number of views is an-
other desirable outcome because it de-
creases the distraction of interview alias-
ing, or flipping, in which one perceives
the imagery jarringly change from one
view to the next,
5
but this consumes space
or time bandwidth, too. Or, for a particu-
larly elementary example, if the 3-D dis-
play uses an LCD panel, its resolution in-
fluences the systems perceived resolution.
Bandwidth, therefore, enables or constricts
the optical engineers ability to provide
image fidelity.
Lets say youre designing a display
with numerous views to provide a com-
fortably wide viewing zone. Consider a
300-view, 1080-p autostereo display, with
Clever use of electro-optics, lens arrays, diffusers and software advances the multidimensional way of seeing
Content Generation
Content Capture
Compression
Transmission
Decompression
Rendering
Display
Figure 1. The data pipeline from scene capture to
display. The display block may further include the
steps of calibration, local storage, local processing,
control systems and 3-D image projection.
512_3DTV_Layout 1 4/23/12 10:15 AM Page 44
eight bits for each of three color channels,
running at 60 Hz. This implies that you
need the following light-modulation space
bandwidth product (SBP):
SBP 300 views (1920 1080)
pixels/view 24 60 (s
1
) 895.8
billion pixels/second.
To my knowledge, Texas Instruments
Digital Light Processing (DLP) technol-
ogy offers the highest SBP in a rectangular
array. For example, the ALP-4.1 made
by ViALUX Messtechnik + Bildverar-
beitung GmbH in Chemnitz, Germany,
uses the Discovery 4000 chipset, provid-
ing 22,727 XGA-resolution fps at single
bit depth, equaling nearly 18 billion pixels
per second.
This is a tremendous improvement over
other modulators, but still almost two
orders of magnitude less than what is re-
quired for some types of displays. Thus,
most experimental high-view-count 3-D
displays have limited color fidelity, require
multiple light modulators and provide sig-
nificantly fewer than 300 views, which
some researchers believe is desirable.
One method for improving image qual-
ity in the absence of sufficient SBP is the
intentional blurring or band-limiting of el-
ements of the displayed 3-D scene with in-
creasing distance from the display, a tech-
nique developed by Michael W. Halle.
6
Similar calculations hold for other dis-
play types. The Perspecta volumetric dis-
play stacked 198 2-D XGA-resolution
slices of a scene with three-bit color at
30 Hz using a three-DLP light engine.
Thus, a 100-million-pixel image was cre-
ated at the expense of color fidelity.
Spatially multiplexed displays
Spatially multiplexed displays are those
autostereo 3-D displays most frequently
encountered by the public. Two examples
are parallax barrier displays and lenticular
displays. See the left panel of Figure 2,
which illustrates an example of the former.
Invented in the early 1900s, spatially mul-
tiplexed displays contain at least two
views (one for each eye) interleaved on
a surface, such as in vertical columns or
other subpixel groupings. These are made
selectively visible from several viewing
locations or sweet spots.
Today, these displays typically offer be-
tween two and eight views, sometimes
more, with 24 cited as an approximate
practical upper limit because of the trade-
off between view count and perceived res-
olution, and the impact of diffraction and
light efficiency.
Figure 3. Some lenticular displays align the lens
array on a slant with respect to an underlying
interleaved image source. Courtesy of Alioscopy.
Figure 4. Each projector in a system made by the
Takaki Laboratories directs 800 images toward a
rotating horizontal screen. The result is a 360 dis-
play with a 300-mm diameter (b). Images courtesy
of Yasuhiro Takaki.
Figure 2. Cross-sectional views, looking down. Left: A traditional parallax barrier display places a regular array of transparent columns in front of an image source.
In some displays, the role of rear and front LCDs are swapped. Right: A content-adaptive display computes optimized patterns on both display surfaces to improve
the fidelity of the reconstructed scene. (Not to scale; the viewer is usually significantly farther away.) Courtesy of Matt Hirsch, MIT Media Laboratory.
a
b
You might have seen a lenticular array
used as a multiple-image panoramagram
on DVD cover art or on advertising
posters. In that case, a sheet of narrow
lenslets directs an interleaved arrangement
of views to a collection of zones in space
the word panoramagram implying that
more than two views are created.
3
Users of the Nintendo 3DS see two-
view autostereoscopic imagery in a varia-
tion of the parallax barrier technique,
directing illumination past microscopic
columns of a rear LCD panel en route to
an image-bearing front LCD panel. This is
a rearrangement of the left illustration in
Figure 2.
One of the many vendors of lenticular
panoramagrams and related software and
services is Paris-based Alioscopy. The
company sells four lenticular displays,
from 61 to 119 cm diagonally, each pro-
viding eight views. Firms differentiate the
quality of their displays in various ways,
such as custom lens design, careful quality
control during manufacturing and registra-
tion, and proprietary algorithms.
Alioscopy reports that it fabricates
lenses on-premises and applies them at an
angle to the vertical axis of the underlying
LCD display panel (Figure 3). This inten-
tional slant is used in various lenticular
displays to reduce moir effects and to
equalize perceived horizontal and vertical
resolutions. The firm also is exploring
plug-and-play systems, which combine
hardware and software for a turnkey ef-
fect, such as a simulated 3-D aquarium
that works out of the box.
A third popular category of spatially
multiplexed displays provides parallax not
only in the left-to-right direction, but also
in the up-down direction. These integral
image displays use either flys-eye lens ar-
rays or an array of tiny apertures, through
which views can be seen. Integral im-
agery, also a 1900s invention, is seeing the
most prolific ongoing development in Asia
by companies such as NHK and Toshiba.
Professor Henry Fuchs and colleagues
at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill have been developing a mod-
ern improvement of this technique, called
random hole displays. In a recent version
of the technique, a 2560 1600-pixel dis-
play is oriented horizontally, like a table,
and viewed through a Poisson distribution
of tiny apertures in a polyester film 6.35
mm above the display. In one mode of op-
eration, two location-tracked simultaneous
viewers each see approximately 2.8 mil-
lion pixels that change with viewer mo-
tion.
7
Time-multiplexed displays
Not all autostereoscopic displays use
purely spatially multiplexed input im-
agery. The frame rate of certain light mod-
ulators is high enough to enable new dis-
play architectures to have time-varying
properties, such as sequentially scanning
the visibility of a series of 2-D patterns
left and right across the audience, so that
a multitude of unique perspectives can be
depicted. These are time-multiplexed dis-
plays. The Discovery 4000 referenced ear-
lier can depict about 378 binary patterns
cycled at 60 Hz. An area of open research
regards the mechanisms by which those
patterns can be scanned.
One method, dual-lenticular scanning,
was developed by Actuality Systems,
8
and
similar methods are being pursued by Ze-
cotek Photonics Inc. of Richmond, British
Columbia, Canada, and by the Brussels
Photonics Team.
9
In this method, a DLP-
based projector directs a sequence of im-
ages toward a sandwich of two or more
lenticular arrays that repeatedly translate
left and right by a distance a fraction of
the lenslet pitch; e.g., 125 m. This forms
a macroscopic beam-steering device.
Besting traditional spatially multiplexed
lenticular displays, these temporally multi-
plexed displays can provide 100 or more
viewpoints, each at XGA resolution. This
results in imagery having a comfortably
wide horizontal field of view for at least
one user, providing excellent look-around
and a compelling sensation of depth,
though at the expense of color fidelity.
It also is possible to project 3-D im-
agery visible 360 around a flat horizontal
surface. These theta-parallax-only (TPO)
displays use a swiftly rotating disk-shaped
optical component to repeatedly sweep a
rapid sequence of viewpoints in a circle
above the system.
10
The purpose of the
component is to restrict the active viewing
angle at any given instant, and the pro-
jected image changes in synchronization
so the appropriate image is directed to
each viewing angle.
Absent viewer location compensation,
the imagery has distortion when viewed
from above or below the intended viewing
height, but the results are promising. The
optical component can take several forms:
a disk cut out of an off-axis Fresnel lens,
or a directional diffuser.
As shown in Figure 4, the Takaki Lab at
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Tech-
nology produced a system incorporating
several projectors illuminating a rotating
disk.
11
Other TPO displays include a com-
mercially available display from Holymine
3-D Displays
Ltd. of Kanagawa, Japan; the fVisiOn
system developed by the National Institute
of Information and Communication Tech-
nology in Tokyo, which uses a cone-
shaped directional diffuser; and the work
of Xu Liu and his colleagues at Zhejiang
University in Hangzhou, China.
Volumetric and
multiprojector displays
Another type of 3-D display produces
volume-filling imagery: volumetric dis-
plays, which offer many benefits.
12
The
eyes converge at the same point on which
they focus, the imagery offers full parallax
or look around, and the voxels that
make up a 3-D image truly occupy a vol-
ume of space that looks correct to simulta-
neous users.
My former company, Actuality Systems,
developed an approximately 100-million-
voxel volumetric display, Perspecta, which
illuminated a flat diffuse surface with 198
2 2-D patterns as it rotated about a ver-
tical axis at 900 rpm.
12
The technologies
were acquired by Optics for Hire in 2009.
Other examples include displays that ion-
ize molecules in the air, creating groups
of glowing addressable spots in 3-D
13
and
systems that rapidly move the intersection
point of several infrared lasers within a
medium doped with rare-earth ions.
14
How likely is it that tomorrows 3-D
movies will be viewed without glasses,
as they were in several periods in the last
century?
15
Holografika of Budapest, Hun-
gary, has worked under the leadership of
Tibor Balogh since the early 1990s to de-
velop autostereo displays that scale to cin-
ema sizes. A group of custom modular
projectors illuminates a selectively diffuse
screen, providing each audience member
with a unique view of the imagery. Pic-
tured in Figure 6 is the C80 cinema dis-
play, measuring 3 1.8 m, providing
bright 1500-cd/m
2
, 24-bit RGB color im-
agery visible across a 40 horizontal field
of view, using 80 projector modules.
At these densities, the eyes may see
rays of light projected by more than one
projector at a time. Therefore, the underly-
ing software considers groups of inde-
pendently addressable rays that intersect
in groups at each point in the image a
subtle distinction over displays that are
strictly view-based.
Whats next?
Nearly every aspect of 3-D system de-
sign from capture to processing and dis-
playing is still a vibrant area of research.
Among the hottest topics for 2012 are the
benefits of tightly coupling the mathemat-
ics of optimization to the functions of pix-
els and barriers, some recent progress in
electroholographic display and cross-
disciplinary results from computational
photography.
A successful recent example of compu-
tational displays is the work being done by
MIT Media Laboratorys Camera Culture
Group in Cambridge, in which a stack of
transmissive LCDs modulates illumination
to provide 3-D imagery of greater expres-
siveness than the original parallax barrier
displays of the 1900s.
16
Traditionally, as described above, a reg-
ular array of vertical opaque-and-translu-
cent columns directs left- and right-eye
views toward just two viewing zones. In
contrast, content-adaptive displays rely
on the techniques of mathematical opti-
mization to compute dynamically what
patterns on the front, rear and any inter-
vening surfaces best approximate a desired
light field. This is illustrated in the right
panel of Figure 2. The groups analysis
also extended the linear algebraic notion
of rank to the world of display technology.
A rapid sequence of various multilayer
frames within the eyes integration period
results in 3-D imagery reconstructed with
higher fidelity, increasing the systems
effective rank.
Others seek to provide more realistic
curvature to the wavefronts emanating
from 3-D displays in the hope of encour-
aging the eyes to converge and focus at
the same place (unlike, for example,
desktop stereoscopic displays in which
your eyes focus at the screen regardless
of the depth of a reconstructed point in a
scene).
17
Also, autostereoscopic display engi-
neers continue to yearn for progress in
applied physics to provide devices with
greater numbers of rapidly modulating
pixels. Imec in Louvain, Belgium, is de-
veloping MEMS technology with a pixel
count that it hopes is sufficient for true
holographic video display,
18
while the
3-D Displays
Figure 5. The Perspecta volumetric display created
100-million-voxel imagery from medical scans,
3-D graphics applications and seismic data. Pictured
are M. Massey, M. Goldstein, J. Napoli and the
author, with PerspectaRAD, an application for
viewing and modifying external-beam radiation
therapy plans. Photo by Sara Forrest.
Figure 6. The HoloVizio C80 cinematic display.
Courtesy of Holografika.
Object-Based Media Group of the MIT
Media Laboratory has been developing
aspects of the pipeline shown in Figure 1,
such as fundamental light-modulator
components and methods of rapid 3-D
scene capture for a future holographic
3-D display.
19
Furthermore, cross-disciplinary work
is being done within computer graphics,
signal processing and optics. It is possible
that the field of 3-D display technology
will benefit from advances in light-field
cameras, a topic described as early as
1908 with integral photography and reju-
venated by recent camera products from
Lytro Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., and
Raytrix GmbH of Kiel, Germany. Another
result of cross-disciplinary work is the
mathematical theory of light transport
treated as manipulations in Fourier space,
including the research of Frdo Durand
and his colleagues at MIT.
20
Advances are announced at global con-
ferences, such as the SPIE-IS&T Stereo-
scopic Displays and Applications confer-
ence, a part of Electronic Imaging, each
January in California. Topics include 3-D
capture, compression, processing, display
and perception, with vibrant work being
reported across the spectrum.
Meet the author
Gregg E. Favalora is a principal at the engineer-
ing consultancy Optics for Hire in Arlington,
Mass. He founded and was CTO of the auto -
stereoscopic technology firm Actuality Sys-
tems; email: gregg@opticsforhire.com.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank the following 3-D
display pioneers for updates and materials:
Matt Hirsch, Douglas Lanman, Pia Maffei,
V. Michael Bove Jr., Yasuhiro Takaki, Papp
Tams and Zsuzsa Dobrnyi. He also is grateful
to Matthias Ferber and John Ellis for providing
feedback on a draft of the manuscript. The
author discloses that he is a chairman of the
aforementioned SPIE-IS&T conference.
References
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ning 3D display for putting digital contents
in free space. SPIE Stereoscopic Displays
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14. H.H. Refai (2009). Static volumetric three-
dimensional display. Journ Disp Tech, Vol.
10, pp. 391-397.
15. W. Funk (2012). History of autostereo-
scopic cinema. Proc. SPIE-IS&T Electronic
Imaging, Stereoscopic Displays and Applica-
tions XXIII. A.J. Woods et al, eds. Vol.
8288, p. 8288 0R.
16. D. Lanman et al (2010). Content-adaptive
parallax barriers: Optimizing dual-layer 3D
displays using low-rank light field factoriza-
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3-D Displays
512_ResElectroOptics_Pg49_Layout 1 4/19/12 3:02 PM Page 49
Speeds Up Imaging
BY XING-FEI HE AND NIXON O
TELEDYNE DALSA INC.
T
ime delay integration (TDI) imaging
technology enables high-speed in-line
automatic optical inspection (AOI) of
high-performance displays such as those
used in iPhones, iPads and high-definition
televisions. The $130 billion flat panel
display industry relies on TDI technology
to ensure that every picture is perfect.
Recently, low-temperature polysilicon
used for in-plane switching liquid crystal
displays and organic LEDs has pushed
pixels to very small dimensions. For ex-
ample, the iPhones Retina display has
a density of 326 pixels per inch and a sub-
pixel size of about 26 m. The increasing
density results in a demand for higher-
speed and higher-resolution digital
imagers that become increasingly light-
starved and, in turn, need even higher re-
sponsivity. TDI technology is a proven so-
lution that can meet these often conflicting
demands.
New TDI products are increasingly
capable of imaging beyond the visible
range. The finer display structures have
led to the use of light sources with shorter
wavelengths down to the ultraviolet.
Concurrently, the solar panel industry
is becoming more automated as it boosts
production capacity. In-line inspection of
silicon solar cells has low-illumination
requirements, similar to those of flat panel
display inspection. However, solar cells
emit electroluminescent or photolumines-
cent photons with wavelengths around
1150 nm. Hence, solar cell inspection
requires cameras that can detect near-IR
photons.
Line-scan and TDI technologies
Line-scan cameras operate differently
from area-scan cameras. With an area-scan
camera, a matrix of pixels provides an
image of the object, which contains both
length and width information within a sin-
gle image. Line-scan cameras capture im-
ages one line at a time as the object being
imaged moves past the field of view. A se-
ries of pictures is taken continuously, with
the pixel capture rate timed to be in sync
with the speed of the moving objects (Fig-
ure 1). This series of one-dimensional im-
ages forms a long two-dimensional image.
The advantage of line-scan imaging is
that it can image at very high speeds as
in hundreds of thousands of lines per sec-
ond. With an area-scan camera, the system
must wait for the camera to transfer the
entire multimegapixel image data out of
the sensor before the camera can capture
another image. With a line-scan camera,
only a single line of data must be trans-
ferred out before the next exposure. This
approach allows a line-scan camera to
produce continuous images as wide as the
sensor but of virtually unlimited length.
Increasing imaging speed requires brighter
illumination. The reality is that AOI often
ends up in a light-starved situation, either
because the light source is not bright
enough or safety is a concern.
CCD TDI is a special type of line-scan
technology based on multiple exposures of
the same moving object to achieve higher
responsivity.
1
In TDI operation, the speed
at which a charge packet containing image
data is transferred within the CCD is in
sync with the speed of the moving object,
allowing the data packet to track the mo-
tion of the object. Photogenerated elec-
Using a sensor architecture that permits photoelectrons generated from multiple exposures
to be summed with no additive noise enables high-speed imaging under light-starved conditions.
This technology has become a standard in the automated inspection of flat panel displays
and is expanding to markets such as photovoltaic panel inspection.
O
b
je
ct M
o
ve
m
e
n
t
Single Line
Dual Line
TDI
Figure 1. Various line-scan technologies: single-line, dual-line and time delay integration (TDI). To achieve high
responsivity, TDI uses multiple stages to capture multiple exposures. In these stages, photogenerated signal
charges are transferred in sync with object motion. Dual-line scans are considered two-stage TDIs.
Feat imaging Teledyne_Layout 1 4/20/12 2:42 PM Page 50
trons are transferred from one TDI stage
to another in the charge domain. The
transfer is accomplished without adding
any noise. Because the detector signal is
proportional to the number of stages, the
signal-to-noise ratio scales linearly with
the number of stages. With resolutions of
up to 12,288 pixels, a 5.2-m pixel size,
512 TDI stages and a maximum line rate
of 90 kHz, Teledyne Dalsas Piranha HS
TDI camera family provides responsivity
of more than 1000 (8-bit DN [digital num-
bers])/(nJ/cm
2
) at minimum camera gain.
Figure 2 plots the responsivity results of
various standard line-scan and TDI cam-
eras as a function of the inverse of the
maximum line rate. The output signal of
an imager is proportional to the product
of the responsivity and the exposure time,
for a constant light intensity. As a result,
applications with a higher line rate will
require cameras with higher responsivity
capabilities to maintain a useful signal-to-
noise ratio. CCD TDI clearly outperforms
single-, dual- and quad-line-scan technolo-
gies because it can incorporate hundreds
of stages in the detector. Although TDI
does not have exposure control, pulsed
LED lighting can be used to maintain a
constant exposure time when the object
motion speed varies.
Signal-to-noise ratio
In many imaging applications, two
types of noise are most important. The
first, called read noise, is associated with
reading the signal that is, converting
photogenerated signal charges into a volt-
age and then to a digital output. The sec-
ond, photon shot noise, is associated with
quantization of the incident illumination
into a finite number of discrete photons.
Other sources of noise exist, but they are
much less important than the above.
In CCDs, the read noise (R) is fixed
because photoelectron signal packets are
converted only once, after they have been
transferred to a readout structure at the
edge of the CCD array. In CCD TDIs, the
read noise remains fixed regardless of the
number of stages. In CMOS, because
charges must be read before the signal can
be transferred out of each pixel, each read
results in its own noise. Consequently, a
dual-line-scan CMOS array will have
2 the read noise of an equivalent sin-
gle-line-scan CMOS array. Similarly, an
n-stage CMOS TDI array will have n
the read noise of an equivalent single-line
CMOS array.
R
e
s
p
o
n
s
i
v
i
t
y
,

D
N
/
(
n
J
/
c
m
2
)
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
50 30 20 10 0 40 60
1/Maximum Line Rate, s
HS/HN
ES
P4
P2/P3
Dragster S3
Eliixa+
Figure 2. Responsivity (at minimum gain, 8 bits) versus the inverse of the maximum line rate of various
line-scan cameras. HS and ES from Teledyne Dalsa are CCD TDI cameras. The Eliixa+
2
from e2v Ltd.
is a CMOS quad-line scan. P4 from Teledyne Dalsa and Dragster
3
from Awaiba are CMOS dual-line scans.
P2 and P3 from Teledyne Dalsa are CCD single-line scans. The solid line plots the responsivity required
to achieve a 200-DN (digital number) signal with an irradiance level of 100 W/cm
2
.
Figure 3a. This automatic
optical inspection system
for thin-film transistor (TFT)
arrays uses Teledyne
Dalsas HS-12k/5.2-m
256-stage TDI cameras.
Light sources are select-
able red, green, blue or
white LEDs. Courtesy of
Favite Inc.
Figure 3b. Images of TFT structures with different lighting conditions: (a) viewed under a microscope;
(b) front illumination; (c) backlight; and (d) both front illumination and backlight.
The photon shot noise (PS) is always
equal to the square root of the number of
photoelectrons collected and read (S), ex-
cept in highly unusual situations, such as
in the deep-UV when each photon can
generate multiple photoelectrons. Because
the ratio of the signal S to the photon
noise (PS) is always equal to S, it is
always advantageous to increase S to
maximize the signal-to-noise ratio. TDIs
can increase S without increasing the
incident illumination.
For an n-stage CCD TDI, the signal-
to-noise ratio at signal S per line is as
follows:
SNR
n
nS / (
R
2
nS)
n SNR, if S is small
n SNR, if S is large
For an n-stage CMOS TDI:
SNR
n
nS / (n
R
2
nS) n SNR
In light-starved conditions where the
signal S is small, CCD TDIs achieve the
best signal-to-noise ratio.
Automated display inspection
A thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD is a
sandwich of two panels with liquid crystal
material in between. An array of transis-
tors on the TFT panel controls the polar-
ization of the liquid crystal and, hence, the
light intensity. Another panel contains an
array that filters out the spectra of each
primary color (red, green and blue) for
each subpixel.
A high-definition television (1920
1080 pixels) screen has about 6 million
subpixels. The industry adopts a zero-
52
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Figure 4. This automatic optical inspection system for color filters uses Teledyne Dalsas ES-8k/7-m
32-stage TDI cameras. The single-pass system uses 34 cameras. Courtesy of Utechzone Co. Ltd.
defect policy; thus, every subpixel must be
perfect.
The AOI systems for flat panel displays
must operate in-line with the production
flow. This helps minimize handling of the
large, thin glass panel blanks (0.3 to 0.5
mm thick) to avoid breakage. They also
must be fast enough to avoid becoming a
bottleneck in the production flow. In a
$3 billion fab, takt time is a key metric to
ensure that the production throughput
will meet the expected return on invest-
ment. To prevent the inspection system
from limiting production flow and increas-
ing the takt time, high-speed cameras are
required.
Automatic optical inspection for
TFT arrays is one of the most challenging
applications today, and all array AOI sys-
tems use CCD TDI cameras. Speed and
resolution are increasing with the adoption
of low-temperature polysilicon in smart-
phones, where the pixel size is smaller
than the pixel size in amorphous silicon
panels used in televisions. The TFT pixel
is only a few microns across. This requires
an AOI object resolution of about 1 m,
and it is getting even smaller. This is close
to the spatial resolution limit of most
optical systems.
Figure 3a is an advanced TFT array
AOI system developed by Favite Inc.
of Hsinchu, Taiwan. At the core of the
system are Teledyne Dalsas latest
HS-12k/5.2-m 256-stage TDI cameras.
The system can accommodate G8.5
glasses (2500 2250 mm) and can detect
defects in TFTs with an object resolution
of 0.8 to approximately 2 m (see Figure
53
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Figure 5. The quantum efficiency of HS and HN TDI cameras: HS TDI is designed for visible imaging,
while HN TDI is optimized for near-IR imaging applications.
3b). Multiple scans are performed at a line
rate of 80 to approximately 90 kHz to
cover the entire glass. The number of TDI
cameras in the system depends on the end
users requirements. Because some areas
(e.g., pixel area) are transparent while
some (e.g., metal pad) are opaque, both
front and back illuminations are used with
selectable red, green, blue or white light
sources. Figure 3b shows that simultane-
ous front and back illumination produces
images with the contrast necessary to
detect many types of small defects.
Beyond the visible spectrum
Color filters also require in-line high-
speed automated inspection. Figure 4
shows an advanced AOI system for color
filters developed by Utechzone Co. Ltd.
of Taipei, Taiwan. The system uses Tele-
dyne Dalsas ES-8k/7-m 32-stage TDI
cameras. In its single-pass design, 34 cam-
eras are installed in two separate lines.
Seventeen cameras capture images with
angled front illumination, while the re-
mainder capture backlit images. The sys-
tem inspects G8.5 glasses at 450 mm/s
with a resolution of 8 m.
As a de facto standard for the flat panel
display AOI industry, the Piranha HS TDI
camera continues to evolve to meet future
requirements. The next generation features
even higher spatial resolution and lower
noise. Backside thinning and thick detec-
tion layers are a few of the technologies
that Teledyne Dalsa has developed. The
quantum efficiency at different wave-
length ranges can be optimized for UV,
visible or near-IR imaging.
The HN-8k/7-m 256-stage TDI is a
new camera for near-IR imaging. At the
minimum gain setting, it has a broadband
responsivity of 1078 (8-bit DN)/(nJ/cm
2
);
at the 1-m wavelength, its responsivity
is 420 (8-bit DN)/(nJ/cm
2
). Figure 5 com-
pares the quantum efficiency spectra of
the HS-8k/7-m and HN-8k/7-m TDI
cameras. Unlike the HS TDI camera,
which has vertical anti-blooming struc-
tures that reduce near-IR response, the
HN TDI has lateral anti-blooming, result-
ing in enhanced sensitivity in the near-IR.
Solar panel manufacturing continues to
adopt automation, and AOI plays a key
role. Currently, wafers are inspected at a
speed of about one per second. The nor-
mally poor CCD sensitivity in the near-IR
is the limitation for electroluminescence
and photoluminescence imaging tech-
niques that are particularly effective in re-
vealing microcracks that can occur during
the processing.
To detect electroluminescent and photo-
luminescent signals, the HN-8k TDI cam-
era provides responsivity comparable to
that of InGaAs cameras at ~1 m. Com-
pared with InGaAs imager-based systems,
however, the HN-8k has a much lower
system cost. Because of this, TDI imaging
is becoming an enabler in automating
high-volume solar panel manufacturing.
Meet the authors
Dr. Xing-Fei He is senior product manager
at Teledyne Dalsa Inc. in Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada; email: xing-fei.he@teledynedalsa.com.
Dr. Nixon O is technical director at Teledyne
Dalsa; email: nixon.o@teledynedalsa.com.
References
1. S.G. Chamberlain and W.D. Washkurak
(July 1, 1990). High-speed, low-noise, fine-
resolution TDI CCD imagers. Proc SPIE,
Vol. 1242, pp. 252-262.
2. e2v Ltd. Eliixa+ 16k pixels CMOS line-scan
camera datasheet: http://tinyurl.com/7ju9z5z.
3. Awaiba Dragster linescan sensor short spec
sheet: http://tinyurl.com/7952784.
512_SEMI_Pg55_Layout 1 4/19/12 3:02 PM Page 55
Wafer-Etching
Process Brightens
Future for LEDs
BY DEREK MENDES
IMTEC ACCULINE LLC
L
ED manufacturers today can choose
between two very different manufac-
turing processes. Dry etching creates
efficient, bright LEDs but it does so
slowly and with limited throughput. And
wet etching is very scalable and fast, but
the LEDs it produces are less effective
and less efficient.
Wet etching requires polishing touch-up
work on the wafers to increase light-ex-
traction efficiencies, but it still results in
a considerable cost savings over dry etch-
ing. It also scales much more efficiently,
multiplying the savings dramatically as
throughput and wafer size increase.
Say you look at a flat substrate, and
then you make a patterned substrate the
cost of making a patterned substrate in-
creases the cost by 20 percent or maybe
25 percent, said Rajiv K. Singh, vice
president, co-founder and chief technology
officer of Sinmat Inc. The wet etch
would decrease that added cost by half.
LED manufacturers must cut costs
wherever they can, while still maintaining
or improving quality. And although larger-
diameter sapphire wafers hold promise for
making the manufacturing process signifi-
cantly more efficient, they also present
challenges to fabricators.
Using a 4-in.-diameter wafer instead
of a standard 2-in. one quadruples the
wafers available surface area. Moving
from a 4-in. wafer to a 6-in. one doubles
the surface area, and every subsequent
jump in size further increases it.
But if existing manufacturing equip-
ment cannot cheaply or easily scale up to
accommodate the larger form factors, the
theoretical gains in efficiency with larger
wafers are canceled out.
Patterned sapphire substrates (PSS)
play two roles in the LED industry. On
the wafer-supplier side, they mean dollar
signs: PSS wafers represent higher gross
margins than traditionally polished sap-
phire ones. And on the product develop-
ment side, LEDs based on PSS wafers
are more efficient and more effective as
light sources.
The PSS reduces the dislocation den-
sity in the GaN layer and enhances the
light extraction efficiency (LEE) from
the LED chip by scattering the light con-
fined in GaN layer attributed to the critical
angle between GaN (n = 2.4) and sapphire
substrate (n = 1.7) (or air (n = 1.0), wrote
Kazuyuki Tadatomo and Narihito Okada
of Yamaguchi University in Japan in a
2011 paper.
1
Dry etching
The most common method for produc-
ing PSS wafers is dry etching, whose tech-
niques and technology are commonplace,
including the inductively coupled plasma
variant lithography. This process exposes a
pattern onto the photoresist of the sapphire
substrate and anisotropically etches it into
the crystalline structure via exposure to
fluoride-based plasma gas and microwave
energy. The resulting pattern highly uni-
form, densely packed and dome-shaped
encourages lateral film growth, which, in
turn, means fewer defects and increased
light refraction.
With far higher etch rates and per-unit cost savings,
high-temperature wet etching of sapphire wafers
is giving dry etching a run for its money.
The market for LEDs
The high-brightness (HB) LED
market experienced a 93 per-
cent growth rate between 2009
and 2010, according to a mar-
ket research report from Strate-
gies Unlimited. In 2009, the
global market for packaged HB
LEDs was $5.6 billion; in 2010,
it grew to $10.8 billion. The
report predicts that the global
market will be worth $18.9
billion by 2015, representing
a compound annual growth
rate of 11.8 percent.
The US Department of Energy
is expected to release a report
stating that, to compete effec-
tively with the fluorescent light-
ing market, solid-state lighting
manufacturers must cut the cost
per lumen (currently at $18/klm)
by eight times to $2.20/klm
by 2015.
512 LEDS Imtec Feat_Layout 1 4/20/12 1:52 PM Page 56
Although LEDs based on dry-etched
PSS wafers are highly efficient light
sources, the process is slow. A standard
2-in. wafer can take between 30 and 60
min to etch, depending upon the depth of
the pattern being etched and the type of
film used. Average rates are practically
impossible to define because of all the
possible process variables, but dry-etching
rates generally range between 50 and 200
nm/min, or 20 min/m.
The dry-etch process also cannot be
effectively scaled. The throughput of a dry
etcher decreases as wafer size increases
because, as the size goes up, fewer wafers
will fit inside the vacuum chamber. This
means that more expensive plasma-etching
tools are required for bigger wafers if
throughput is to remain comparable. And
more tools mean more operational costs:
facilities, utilities, maintenance and con-
sumables.
Wet etching
In contrast, the high-temperature wet-
etching process is comparatively much
cheaper than dry etching and faster, too.
During high-temperature wet etching,
wafers coated with gallium nitride or in-
dium gallium nitride (InGaN) are placed
in a tank with a mixture of etching and
buffering agents: sulfuric and phosphoric
acids, typically in a 1:1 or 3:1 ratio. Be-
fore submersion, a plasma-enhanced
chemical vapor process spins a silicon
dioxide mask onto the sapphire substrate,
and lithography exposes the required pat-
tern. The mixture is brought to tempera-
tures ranging between 260 and 300 C
much higher than those used in traditional
semiconductor fabricating, which typically
run between 150 and 180 C.
Etching rates do not increase along a
linear scale as temperatures rise. Instead,
they increase exponentially, so that a 300
C temperature may make etching twice as
fast as at 260 C. On the other hand, the
etching rate increased linearly when the
H
2
SO volume ratio increased from 0 to 75
percent, as reported by D.S. Wuu of Na-
tional Chung Hsing University in Taiwan
and colleagues.
2
High-temperature wet-etching rates can
be measured in microns per minute; a rate
of more than 1 m/min is achievable
under the correct conditions, according to
Sinmats Singh, who added that it is rea-
sonable to expect full etching of a stan-
dard 2-in. wafer in five minutes. And with
regard to cost, a process tank for a batch
of 6-in. wafers is only slightly more ex-
pensive than a tank designed for a batch of
2-in. wafers and it can hold the same
number of wafers.
Of course, using extremely hot chemi-
cals can be challenging for manufacturers:
Safety is paramount with chemicals hot
and powerful enough to rapidly etch sap-
phire surfaces. To maintain safety, any
system must feature a suitable chemical
tank, designed not to react with any of
the chemicals. Preferably it will be con-
structed of a sturdy substance such as
high-purity virgin annealed quartz. No
plastics should come into contact with the
chemical mixture, and built-in temperature
sensors should feed precise readings back
to the systems management equipment.
As added safety features, some tanks
include a cooldown module to house the
hot chemistry while it cools and overflow
tanks that can hold 120 percent of the
main tanks volume in case of an accident.
Wet-etching research
A sapphire-wafer producer in Japan
recently concluded testing of the Imtec
Acculine XE-Series bath. The experiment
compared uniformity, etch-rate and struc-
ture-formation data with previous in-house
test results. The company especially noted
the tight temperature control throughout
the bath, which aided etch uniformity.
Also cited was the ability of the bath tem-
perature to recover quickly once a new
batch of five 2-in. wafers was loaded into
the 280 C solution. Testing will continue
on 6- and 8-in. sapphire wafers, and simi-
lar results are expected.
The PSS created using the high-temper-
ature wet-etching process is a significant
improvement over a nonpatterned wafer in
terms of light extraction and efficiency.
The process results in the creation of trun-
cated cone shapes conical structures
with flat tops.
Unfortunately, the flattop surface of the
cone poses two significant challenges to
those used to working with the dry-etching
process. The flattop acts to discourage the
lateral growth of film and encourage verti-
cal film growth, resulting in more defects.
Also, the shape of the structures inhibits
efficient light refraction.
Because this is still a relatively new
process, research is being conducted into
improving the quality of wet-etched sap-
phire wafers. Sinmat is one company un-
dertaking such research, and it has devel-
oped a method to polish the flat structures,
producing rounder, more efficient domes
that more closely resemble the shape of
those produced by the dry-etching process.
Others are investigating the creation of
patterns other than cone shapes. At Na-
tional Chung Hsing University in Taiwan,
Jing-Jie Dai and colleagues created trun-
cated-triangle-striped patterned-sapphire
substrate and a rhombus-like air-void
structure at the GaN/sapphire interface to
increase the light extraction efficiency.
The truncated-triangle-striped patterned-
sapphire substrate was fabricated through
a wet-etching process in hot sulfuric and
phosphoric acid solutions. A rhombus-like
air-void structure at the GaN/sapphire in-
terface was formed though a wet-etching
process along a V-shaped air-void struc-
ture on the patterned sapphire substrate.
3
After testing, the researchers concluded
that the [rhombus-like air-void structure
High-temperature wet etching of sapphire wafers
results in the creation of truncated cone shapes:
conical structures with flat tops. Images courtesy
of Imtec.
Formerly flat, truncated shapes polished and rounded (left) now more closely resemble dry-etched PSS patterns
(right).
LED] has a 65 percent light-output power
enhancement, a smaller divergent angle,
and a periodic higher light intensity profile
compared to a [flat sapphire substrate
standard LED] that provides a high exter-
nal quantum efficiency in nitride-based
LED applications.
3
Meet the author
Derek Mendes is the sales/marketing adminis-
trator at Imtec Acculine LLC in Fremont,
Calif.; email: dmendes@imtecacculine.com.
References
1. T. Kazuyuki and N. Okada (2011). Develop-
ment of patterned sapphire substrate and the
application to the growth of non-polar and
semi-polar GaN for light-emitting diodes.
Proc. SPIE, 7954, 795416; http://dx.doi.org/
10.1117/12.874179.
2. D.S. Wuu et al (June 2006). Fabrication of
pyramidal patterned sapphire substrates for
high-efficiency InGaN-based light emitting
diodes. Journ Electrochem Soc, Vol. 153,
No. 8, pp. G765-G770.
3. J.-J. Dai et al (2010. Enhanced the light ex-
traction efficiency of an InGaN light emitting
diodes with an embedded rhombus-like air-
void structure. Appl Phys Expr, Vol. 3, Issue
7, pp. 071002-071002-3.
58

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Wafer Etching
The Imtec Acculine XE-Series tanks are constructed of virgin annealed quartz and contain no
plastics that come in contact during use of high-temperature chemicals. The XE-Series also includes
a cooldown module and an overflow tank in case of an accident.
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512_AstonSciencePark_Pg59_Layout 1 4/19/12 3:03 PM Page 59
193-nm Lithography Opens Doors
for Diffractive Micro-Optics
BY MARC D. HIMEL AND JIM MORRIS
DIGITALOPTICS CORPORATION
T
he field of diffractive micro-optics is
playing an increasingly important
role in todays technology, from high-
speed data communications to bar-code
scanners, and even in one of the worlds
most popular gaming interfaces.
Now, advances in the tools available for
the manufacture of diffractive optics have
opened up additional opportunities in visi-
ble and near-IR applications that require
very large angular distributions, including
virtual keyboards, laser levels, optical
touch panels and screens, and 3-D sensing.
In many of these applications, laser diodes
combined with diffractive optics are re-
placing LEDs that use conventional col-
lection optics. This helps decrease package
size, lower cost and increase wall-plug
efficiency.
When the first laser light was produced,
Ted Maiman and colleagues probably did
not guess that their invention would be-
come ubiquitous in just 50 years. At the
time, they considered laser light to be a
solution in search of a problem. But today,
lasers shape our world in countless ways,
and new applications are developed every
day. Many of these require advanced ma-
nipulation of laser light that can be accom-
plished only with diffractive optics.
These applications include signal moni-
toring for todays high-bandwidth data
communication systems, in which a dif-
fractive optic not only couples light from
multiple lasers into and out of optical
fiber, but also samples a small percentage
of the energy to ensure signal power sta-
bility; 2-D bar-code readers, which use
a frame generator to identify the region
of interest; and off-axis illumination that
provides resolution enhancement for
todays high-end lithography scanners.
The availability of advanced e-beam
Design considerations and fabrication affect performance
for a near-IR large-angle homogenizer for use in
3-D sensors based on time of flight.
Figures 1-3. Top: A traditional approach for creating a uniform far-field distribution uses
a refractive collimating lens in line with a diffractive pattern generator. Center: An all-diffractive
approach for creating a uniform far-field distribution. In this example, the collimating lens
is on one surface, and the pattern generator is on the second surface. Bottom: By combining
the diffractive lens and pattern generator into a single surface, we can optimize the design
for efficiency and eye safety. Images courtesy of DigitalOptics Corporation.
Diffractive Optics Tessera Feat_Layout 1 4/20/12 1:49 PM Page 60
and optical lithography tools, originally
developed for computer chip manufactur-
ing, has opened the door to a wide range
of applications that require very large
divergence angles from the diffractive
optical element (DOE). To be efficient
enough for practical use, these elements
require feature sizes equal to or less than
the wavelength of light. Two key con-
sumer examples are the laser virtual key-
board (such as Celluons Magic Cube) and
Microsofts Kinect 3-D gaming interface,
which uses structured light to determine
distances.
Technology based on time of flight
(TOF) is also being implemented in
depth-sensing applications, such as
eeDoos iSec gaming system and large-
area optical touch screens. One advantage
of TOF technology is that simpler optics
can be used to uniformly illuminate the
field of view (FOV) because a structured
light pattern is not required. Most TOF
systems today use LEDs. However, factors
such as lower cost, improved wall-plug
efficiency, reduced size and improved
depth-sensing performance may drive the
adoption of laser-based illumination. This
will occur only if micro-optical compo-
nents can be used to efficiently create the
desired far-field light distribution.
Diffractive-based TOF light sources
Todays TOF systems use multiple LEDs
combined with collection optics that pro-
duce a circular FOV with a nominal Gauss-
ian intensity profile. To maintain a decent
dynamic range for a 3-D camera, the illu-
mination intensity should be held to a 2:1
or 3:1 ratio from center to edge. This re-
quires that a Gaussian profile significantly
overfill the FOV. Therefore, more than 50
percent of the light emitted by the LEDs
and collected by the lens falls outside the
cameras FOV and goes to waste. This can
be somewhat improved if we allow the op-
tics to be made larger, which would also in-
crease the size of an already large assembly
(i.e., some TOF systems already use eight
or more LED modules).
A typical implementation of a DOE-
based illumination system uses a colli-
mated laser beam incident on a computer-
generated hologram that has been de-
signed to generate the desired far-field
optical distribution. With TOF 3-D sens-
ing, the desired output is to illuminate
the field of view of a VGA or megapixel
near-IR camera. To uniformly illuminate
the sensor over a large 70 50 FOV
requires correcting the DOE for cosine
theta effects, which means redistributing
energy to send more light to the larger
deflection angles. One advantage of a
DOE is that the energy distribution can be
optimized, so that the image sensor is uni-
formly illuminated after light reflects off
an object and is reimaged with a low f/#
lens. Unlike an LED-based system that
illuminates a scene with a circular distri-
bution, the DOE design can be optimized
to illuminate the rectangular area within
the sensors FOV, thus improving wall-
plug efficiency.
Figure 4. Far-field image (a) and cross section (b)
using a laser source, refractive collimating lens and
diffractive pattern generator; (c) and (d) represent
an LED-based illuminator. Courtesy of LednLight by
Gaggione SAS catalog.
a
b
c d
The shift to a laser-based source also
allows the package size to be significantly
reduced, which will be necessary when
3-D sensing and gesture control are to be
implemented beyond industrial, automo-
tive and gaming consoles, where module
size is less critical. Using non-TO-can
packaging approaches, such as C-mount or
silicon benches, in conjunction with dif-
fractive optics will provide packages with
a total height from 1.5 to 3 mm, which are
thin enough to fit into the bezel of flat
panel televisions, computer monitors, lap-
top computers and even smartphones.
The requirements for manufacturing a
DOE for this application are challenging.
A simple binary design requires features
smaller than the wavelength of the illumi-
nation source. Without tight control over
the lithographic process, it will not be pos-
sible to meet the requirements for both ef-
ficiency and nondiffracted zero-order en-
ergy. If the zero-order energy is too high,
the system may not meet eye safety re-
quirements. Although methods are avail-
able to reduce the impact of the zero order
for this reason, most of these methods fur-
ther reduce the efficiency of the DOE,
thus requiring higher power from the laser.
To meet eye safety requirements, Digi-
talOptics Corp. has developed a process
using deep-UV lithography that maintains
efficiency while reducing the impact of
the zero order.
A key differentiator for this design is
the ability to combine different optical
functions into a single diffractive optical
element. Figure 1 shows a traditional ap-
proach for creating the uniform far-field
distribution using a refractive collimating
lens in line with a diffractive pattern gen-
erator. The combined efficiency of the lens
(99 percent) and DOE (75 percent) will be
approximately 75 percent, sufficient for
most applications. One drawback to this
system is that approximately 1 percent of
the energy will not be diffracted by the
DOE and will propagate as a collimated
beam into the far field.
For higher-power applications, this
poses an eye safety risk. It is also possible
to eliminate the refractive lens by substi-
tuting a diffractive lens. If the lens is fab-
ricated on one side and the pattern genera-
Diffractive Micro-Optics
Figure 6. Representative scanning electron microscope images of an eight-phase-level DOE
manufactured with 200-nm features. Courtesy of DigitalOptics Corporation.
Figure 5. Far-field image based on a diffractive optical element (DOE) that combines the
collimating lens with the pattern generator (70 50 diffuser). Note the absence of the
zero-order energy peak. Courtesy of DigitalOptics Corporation.
512_SocInfoDisplay_Pg63_Layout 1 4/19/12 3:03 PM Page 63
tor on the second side of a single element,
one component is eliminated from the sys-
tem. In this case, the net efficiency will
be about 56 percent (75 percent for each
DOE surface); however, it will still have
an eye safety issue related to the light that
is not diffracted by the second surface
DOE (Figure 2). It is preferable to com-
bine both the collimating and pattern gen-
eration functions into a single surface.
This can be achieved with advanced 193-
nm lithography tools that can produce sub-
200-nm features with 12-nm overlay (a
three- to fourfold improvement over i-line
lithography). This can produce a single
surface design with an efficiency of 75
percent, while the nondiffracted energy di-
verges for improved eye safety (Figure 3).
To systematically develop this process,
DigitalOptics created three designs: a
two-phase-level large-angle diffuser that
matches the FOV (70 50) of the near-
IR camera; a four-phase-level high-numer-
ical-aperture collimating lens combined
with a 70 50 rectangular diffuser; and
an eight-phase-level lens plus diffuser
design with features as small as 200 nm.
The first design was manufactured
using i-line process equipment; the other
two were manufactured using the 193-nm
process. The goal for the first was to opti-
mize the intensity distribution over the
cameras entire field of view. The images
shown in Figure 4 represent the far-field
distribution imaged with a 14-mm-focal-
length lens onto an IR-capable digital sin-
gle-lens reflex camera. Note the presence
of the well-defined edge cutoff and the
high zero-order peak in the center of the
image on Figure 4a. Although the energy
in the zero order is less than 1 percent of
the total energy, it still may not be eye-
safe because it is well collimated. The
cross-section profile in Figure 4b shows
good uniform illumination a significant
improvement over the near-Gaussian dis-
tribution characteristic of LED illumina-
tors (Figures 4c and 4d).
The second design incorporates both the
collimating and diffusing function into one
DOE and maintains the sharp edge roll-off
while diffusing the zero order over a larger
angle. Figure 5 shows the measurements
for the combined lens and diffuser design.
Most of the energy concentrates into the
desired rectangular FOV with very little
edge roll-off. The zero-order energy is
also dispersed and is not observable in
the image. Finally, Figure 6 shows the
initial results of an eight-phase-level DOE
manufactured on a 193-nm lithography
tool supporting 200-nm features and
20-nm overlay.
This work demonstrates all of the build-
ing blocks required to manufacture an
eight-phase-level diffractive optic that
takes the output from a conventional near-
IR laser and shapes it into a far-field dis-
tribution that uniformly fills the field of
view of a near-IR camera while remaining
eye-safe. A 193-nm lithography scanner
allows a quick ramp of this design to high-
volume production for applications in
gaming and other human-machine inter-
face systems, such as laptops and flat
panel televisions. The incorporation of this
design into an integrated micro-optical
module will even allow this capability to
be introduced into smartphones and thin
tablet computers.
Meet the authors
Marc D. Himel is a former senior principal
engineer at DigitalOptics Corporation. Jim
Morris is senior principal engineer at Digital -
Optics Corporation, which is a subsidiary of
Tessera Inc.; email: micro-optics@doc.com or
jmorris@doc.com.
Diffractive Micro-Optics
T
he first humanoid robot astronaut
boarded the International Space
Station (ISS) in August 2011.
Mission STS-133 was scheduled as one
of the last commitments of NASAs space
shuttle flights. Onboard that Discovery
flight was Robonaut R2, a humanoid robot
developed by General Motors (GM) and
NASA with more skills than any previ-
ously tested similar device. One skill is
decision-making, which it does using so-
phisticated imaging algorithms based on
MVTecs software library Halcon.
The robot worked precisely and relia -
bly, realizing a 15-year dream of NASAs.
However, that mission was just the begin-
ning of another age: robot astronauts that
can support human activity in space under
zero gravity.
Robonaut 2 looks like an astronaut,
with its gold-colored head and metallized
visual field. The proportions of its white
torso, arms and head are close to that of
a human body. But Robonaut 2 does not
have legs. Its body is fixed on a special
rack; thus, it cannot walk or run.
Its development began in 2007. The
robot not only will support the daily work
of an astronaut at the space station, but
also will execute boring and recurring
work. As with automobile production
robots and in contrast to a human
worker Robonaut 2 does not get tired.
Thus, it seems the optimal solution for
dangerous work such as performing
EVA (extravehicular activity) outside the
spacecraft.
Robonaut 2s flexible vision system
combines a stereovision pair of Prosilica
GC2450 cameras from Allied Vision Tech-
nologies GmbH of Stadtroda, Germany,
and infrared distance measurements and
structured lighting, enabling it to achieve
robust, automatic recognition and pose-
estimation of objects on the ISS. Robust
object recognition requires the use of com-
plex patterns measured from the environ-
ment using multiple sensor types.
Complex pattern recognition of entire
scenes can be computationally prohibitive.
NASA and GMs solution was to apply
pattern recognition to small segmented
regions of the scene. Information within
the image, such as color, intensity or tex-
ture, was used to segment the regions
scanned by the robots imagers.
Myron Driftler, robonaut project man-
ager at NASA, said MVTecs Halcon 9.0
was chosen to integrate the sensor data
types and to perform all the complex
computations in a single development
environment.
Halcon supports GigE Vision and
allows for a quick setup of each camera
in software via its automatic code-genera-
tion feature, he said. The rangefinder is
BY DR. LUTZ KREUTZER, MVTEC SOFTWARE GMBH
Robonaut R2 was developed by NASA and General Motors as a humanoid machine with more skills than
any other previously tested similar robot device. Photo courtesy of NASA.
The first robotic visitor to the International
Space Station performs difficult visual and
tactile tasks in service to the human crew.
Vision Software Enables
NASA Robonaut to See
512_Feat_Robonaut_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:54 AM Page 65
a Swiss Ranger SR4000 from Mesa Imag-
ing AG of Zurich.
The robots tactile force and finger posi-
tion sensors are custom-designed and -fab-
ricated. Its rangefinder, force sensors and
finger position sensors use custom C/C
code to perform depth measurements and
tactile object recognition.
Halcons Extension Package Program-
ming feature allows us to import all custom
code into a single development environ-
ment, such as HDevelop used for rapid pro-
totyping of our applications, Driftler said.
The stereo camera calibration methods in-
side Halcon are used to calibrate the stereo
pair and will also be used eventually to
calibrate the Swiss Ranger.
Of the many planned ISS tasks for Robo-
naut 2, sensing and manipulation of soft
materials are among the most challenging,
requiring a very high degree of coordinated
actuation. For example, a soft-goods box
made of a flexible ortho fabric holds a set
of EVA tools. To remove a tool, the box
must be identified, opened and reclosed.
The challenge lies in the tendency of the
fabric lid to float around in zero-g, despite
the base being secured. The lid can fold in
on itself in unpredictable ways. Lid state
estimation and grasp planning will be the
most difficult functions to perform for this
specific task, which requires a good mix of
standard computer vision and motion plan-
ning methods combined with new tech-
niques that combine the two fields.
For all these purposes, Halcon has many
Robotic Vision
This screen shot shows the robonauts command and control screen. Courtesy of NASA.
The robonauts eyes see a pair of left and right views acquired during control of the position of a toggle
hood, and that the toggle hood is in a closed position. Courtesy of NASA.
The Robonaut R2 manipulates a space blanket.
Handling soft goods such as this is a prime
challenge to the robots visual and tactile sensors.
Courtesy of NASA.
features that will allow for the successful
execution of the soft-goods-box task de-
scribed, Driftler said. A single laptop com-
puter connected to the robonaut will run
both the R2 Command and Control and the
Flexible Vision System software. Processing
power will therefore be limited, calling for
intelligent use of small, focused Halcon
image processing regions of interest (ROIs).
To locate the soft-goods-box ROI, Hal-
con texture segmentation functions will be
used, Driftler said. The box lid fasteners,
which are composed of latches and grom-
mets, will be identified in the stereo images
by using Halcons shape-based matching
techniques.
The shape-based matching techniques
also will be used to search for grommets
that can be in any orientation once the lid
is opened and floating around. Point-based
stereo vision will be used for fast computa-
tion of the lid fastener poses. Halcons in-
tersect lines of sight function will use the
stereo-pair calibration information and the
location of the fastener components in each
image to compute the six-dimensional pose
of each component.
As our own understanding of the task
advances, Halcons built-in classification
techniques and functions will be used for
complex pattern recognition such as using
fused image, tactile and finger-position
data within the Halcon development envi-
ronment to predict a feasible grasp location
for unfolding the lid to close the box,
Driftler said.
Robonaut R2 is the first step into a new
dimension of humanoid robots in astronau-
tics the start of a hopeful beginning for
future space flights.
Meet the author
Dr. Lutz Kreutzer is manager of PR and market-
ing at MVTec Software GmbH in Munich;
email: kreutzer@mvtec.com.
Robotic Vision
The crew of Discovery during mission STS-133: seven humans and one robot astronaut. Courtesy of NASA.
Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources
Deep-UV DPSS Lasers
Market Tech Inc. offers a wide variety of deep-UV DPSS lasers at 213 nm,
224 nm and 266 nm. Pulsed models offer pulse energies up to 0.6 mJ at
213 nm and average powers of 300 mW at 224 nm. CW models are
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longitudinal-mode operation.
(831) 461-1101
info@markettechinc.net
www.markettechinc.net
Laser Wavelength Chart
Exciton is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest-quality
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Pulse Selection System
CONOPTICS PULSE PICKER allows you to select from single-shot
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sales@conoptics.com
www.conoptics.com
Photodiode Transimpedance Amplifier
The PDA-750 Photodiode Amplifier is a low-noise, high-gain transimpedance
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(315) 736-3642
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technologies.com
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technologies.com
New sCMOS Camera
The new Zyla 5.5-megapixel scientific CMOS (sCMOS) camera is ideal
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512_Spotlight_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:54 AM Page 68
Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources
NEW Wavelength Meter for Pulsed IR Lasers
The 821B-IR pulsed laser wavelength meter measures the absolute
wavelength of pulsed and CW lasers to an accuracy as high as
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www.bristol-inst.com
PhotoFluor II NIR
The PhotoFluor II NIR, with high-power, ultrastable output to 800 nm, is the
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Recirculating Coolers
JULABOs FL and SemiChill recirculating cooler product series offers many
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Compact Uncooled InGaAs Camera
Effective waste sorting and early crack detection inside solar cell wafers
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Mid-IR Focusing Objectives
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512_Spotlight_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:54 AM Page 69
70
L-Mount Fiber-Coupled Diode Laser
A new version of its L-mount fiber-coupled
diode laser has been introduced by Limo
Lissotschenko Mikrooptik GmbH. With 60 W of
power, it delivers high output in a fiber diame-
ter of 200 m. Engineered for 976 and 981 nm,
it is suited for pumping solid-state and fiber
lasers. A filter protects the chip in the L-mount
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A volume holographic grating reduces the deviation of the laser beam from the set
wavelength from 2 to <1 nm, increasing beam quality. The laser also is supplied as
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but, instead, emits a rectangular beam of 10 5 mm via a window.
Limo Lissotschenko Mikrooptik GmbH
a.gruetz@limo.de
Polarized Multilaser Module
Blue Sky Researchs SpectraTec dual-source
polarized laser integrates a feedback system that
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Spectrometer
Ibsen Photonics has unveiled the Freedom
spectrometer for OEM integrators of ana-
lytical instruments. It combines compact
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choice of detector systems, and it delivers
the same robust and thermally stable
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High-Speed Camera System
Photron Inc. has launched the Fastcam SA7, a high-speed camera system that uses a 1280 1024-pixel
CMOS imaging sensor. It operates at rates of up to 3500 fps at full resolution and provides high-quality
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image@photron.com
Power over Ethernet Cameras
To simplify machine vision
applications, including fac-
tory floor automation and
imaging systems, Edmund
Optics has announced new
Power over Ethernet (PoE)
cameras. They include soft-
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1
2- and
1
3-in. sizes, they are offered in color and
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Sapphire Domes
Custom-fabricated sap-
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sensors and cameras in
weapons systems are
available from Meller
Optics Inc. They feature
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6 in. also are offered.
Meller Optics Inc.
steve@melleroptics.com
IDEAS
BRIGHT
Bright Idea Leads_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:55 AM Page 70

Grazing Incidence Spectrometer
With McPherson Inc.s Model 248/310 grazing
incidence spectrometer, users can make direct
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collection at specific wavelengths with soft- or
hardware triggers. The companys vacuum
spectrometers are available in focal lengths of
0.2 to 2 m and are suitable for high-vacuum
applications and equipped with all-metal seals
for ultrahigh-vacuum operations.
McPherson Inc.
mcp@mcphersoninc.com
Coherent Photodetector
A coherent photodetector that supports up to
64 Gbaud for next-generation networks using
400-Gb/s or 1-Tb/s coherent detection-based
optical transmission has been introduced by u
2
t
Photonics AG. The CPDV 1200R extends the
companys family of integrated coherent photo-
detectors and receivers. It consists of a polariza-
tion diversity network as well as two 90 hybrids
and four balanced photodiode pairs monolithi-
cally integrated on InP. The optical front end
with four coaxial single-ended outputs and a
typical bandwidth of 40 GHz can detect up to
64-Gbaud polarization diversity x-QAM signals
featuring a high common-mode rejection ratio
and interpolarization skew of <2 ps. The device
can be used in next-generation long-haul trans-
mission systems at data rates of 400 Gb/s and
beyond, and is suited for test and measurement
applications, and R&D.
u
2
t Photonics AG
sales@u2t.com
USB 3.0 Cameras
Imaging Development Systems has introduced
the UI-3580CP-C industrial cameras with an
Aptina 5-megapixel CMOS sensor. The color
imager produces 2560 1920-pixel resolution
at 15 fps, and the UI-3480CP-M offers the
same detail and frame rate in a monochrome
sensor. The USB 3.0 interface delivers a data
rate up to 400 MB/s. The high bandwidth en-
ables multicamera systems and data-intensive
applications. Because USB 3.0 is downward-
compatible, existing USB 2.0 systems can still be
used. Digital input/outputs include trigger, flash
and pulse width modulation. Two general-pur-
pose input/outputs are optically isolated and
connected via a Hirose connector. With a com-
pact, lightweight magnesium housing, the cam-
eras are suited for applications where space is
tight. The company offers a software package
for Microsoft Windows and Linux that includes
32-/64-bit drivers, demo programs and source
code in C ++, C # and Virtual Basic.
Imaging Development Systems
usasales@ids-imaging.com
Excimer Laser for FBG Writing
The BraggStar M from Coherent Inc. is an
excimer laser that delivers high pulse energy
and spatial coherence for fiber Bragg grating
(FBG) writing. High pulse energy is a critical ad-
vantage in some FBG writing applications, and
high spatial coherence is beneficial because it
creates FBGs with higher contrast and/or longer
length. Because it can be operated at repetition
rates of up to 100 Hz, the laser supports high-
throughput production. It uses a coherence-
enhanced optical design at 248 nm, resulting
in higher spatial coherence compared with
conventional, broad-use excimer lasers. Featur-
ing a compact design and ease of operation,
it is based on the COMPex platform. The laser
creates FBGs for reflectors in fiber lasers, refer-
ence wavelength stabilization in wavelength
division multiplexing telecommunications, and
fiber sensing applications.
Coherent Inc.
tech.sales@coherent.com
All-Optical Switches
Polatis Inc.s Series 6000 nonblocking single-
mode matrix all-optical switches offer up to
192 192 fiber ports and an average loss of
71
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High Speed & Precisioh
PI USA is ITAR compliant and provides
custom design and manufacturing at
its MA, US-HQ. PI Global: 40 years of
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BRIGHT IDEAS
512 Bright Ideas_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:59 AM Page 71
<1 dB. The devices use proprietary DirectLight
technology. The control electronics are designed
with carrier-class architecture and power-effi-
cient devices. The switches combine a high port
count with rapid reconfiguration. All-optical
switches have near-zero latency and are trans-
parent to future data-rate upgrades. DirectLight
uses piezoelectric actuation to steer the light
directly between switch ports to obtain the best
optical connection. Integrated position sensors
on every fiber ensure patchcordlike transmission
independent of the color, direction or power
level of light on the fiber. Applications include
defense, test and measurement, data center
interconnects, high-definition video broadcast
routing and reconfigurable optical add-drop
multiplexers in telecom networks.
Polatis Inc.
info@polatis.com
Objective Lenses
Olympus Europa Holding GmbH has released
its water-immersion MicroProbe Objective
lenses for studying the internal biology of living
organisms. The 27 magnification IV-OB35F
22W20 and the 20 IV-OB13F20W20 are
housed in tips with 3.5- and 1.3-mm diameters,
respectively. They can be inserted into small
surgical excisions, facilitating in vivo imaging
without disrupting the tissue or organ, or into
the ear or through the body wall via keyhole
surgery. They also can be positioned over small
tissues such as the cornea. Combined with
patch clamping, they can produce multifluores-
cence images. Designed to work with laser
scanning microscopes or multiphoton systems,
they offer high IR transmission rates for multi-
photon excitation experiments. The lenses are
suitable for intravital imaging because water
can mix with bodily fluids without hindering an
experiment, and extra water can be supplied
using an aspiration/irrigation system that fits
onto the tip of the objective.
Olympus Europa Holding GmbH
microscopy@olympus-europa.com
VIS Bandpass Filter
Delta Light & Optics LVVISBP visible linear vari-
able bandpass filters spectral properties vary
linearly along the long side. The position of the
center wavelength can be adjusted by sliding
the filter with respect to the incident light. This
opens up new design possibilities for analytical
and diagnostic instruments such as spectrome-
ters. By combining linear variable short- and
long-pass filters, bandpass filters can be tuned
continuously with center wavelengths from
320 to 850 nm, with tunable bandwidth. They
offer blocking levels better than OD 3 over the
complete reflection range, or OD 5 when two
filters are placed in series. They are coated on
single quartz substrates for minimal autofluores-
cence and a high laser damage threshold. The
ultrahard surface coatings offer high packing
density and spectral stability with no drift,
increased lifetime, mechanical stability and
minimal water uptake.
Delta Light & Optics
filters@delta.dk
Microspectrometer
Avantes BVs Avabench-RS configurable minia-
ture spectrometer allows the user to change the
slit and connector on the go. In the laboratory
or on the road, it takes only a screwdriver to
continue measurements with a new setup. The
microspectrometer adapts to changing needs,
whether the user requires higher throughput or
resolution. The proprietary ultralow stray light
optical bench is the enabling technology for this
and is available on all Avantes UV/VIS/NIR
AvaSpec spectrometers. The company says that
customers will get up to five times better stray
light performance and good thermal and
mechanical stability. The spectrometer includes
a choice of 13 standard gratings and 10 detec-
tor options.
Avantes BV
info@avantes.com
Radiation-Resistant Zoom Lens
Resolve Optics Ltd. has released a longer-focal-
length version (24 to 144 mm) of its Model 290
motorized radiation-resistant zoom lens. Pre-
senting the same compact footprint as the stan-
dard Model 290, the new 6 zoom lens allows
users to get closer to the subject and renders
images easier to read. The lens enables users to
image objects from 800 mm to infinity without
the need for add-on adapters. When focused at
72
b BRIGHT IDEAS
infinity, the lens achieves high image resolution
on-axis at full aperture throughout the zoom
range without refocusing (image tracking).
Operating at f/1.8, the extended-range Model
290 provides high image resolution and mini-
mum geometric distortion from 400 to 750 nm.
All optical elements in the nonbrowning zoom
lenses are made using cerium-oxide-doped
glass or synthetic silica, enabling them to with-
stand radiation exposure of up to 53 million
rads and temperatures up to 55 C without
discoloration.
Resolve Optics Ltd.
sales@resolveoptics.com
IP67 Enclosures
Available in three standard sizes with a maxi-
mum length of 250 mm, IP67 protective enclo-
sures from autoVimations Orca series are suit-
able for large cameras with a cross section of
up to 62 62 mm. Users can select the version
for fish-eye or panamorph lenses with an image
angle of up to 200. Enclosures for thermal
imaging cameras featuring a 2- or 3-in. in-
frared transparent germanium window are
available, as are mounting brackets for block
and surveillance cameras. A patented quick lock
and heat guide system thermally couples the
camera to the outer enclosure wall, and the
passive cooling effect of the wall reduces cam-
era temperature. The 3-in. front window allows
use of wide-angle and large telecentric lenses.
Proprietary mounting kits for laser triangulation
tasks allow users to quickly integrate the enclo-
sures into 3-D applications.
autoVimation
sales@autovimation.com
Widely Tunable 3.2-m Laser
Daylight Solutions Inc.s TLS-41032 external
cavity laser offers >200 cm
1
of tenability,
with wavelength coverage in the 3.25-m
(3080 cm
1
) region of the mid-infrared spec-
trum. Users can embed it into sensors targeted
at industrial monitoring, process control,
process analytical technology, environmental
and safety applications. The laser provides in-
creased performance in spectral brightness,
tuning range and power. The center wavelength
matches the fundamental C-H stretching vibra-
tional mode, enabling measurement of most
hydrocarbons. The broad tuning range permits
analysis of multicomponent samples, where
blended absorption features or broad back-
grounds can produce ambiguous results when
using distributed feedback devices with limited
tuning ranges. The system enables new instru-
ments in the petrochemical and environmental
industries to detect and discriminate a wide
range of molecules based upon their unique
spectral signatures at these wavelengths.
Daylight Solutions Inc.
carmacost@daylightsolutions.com
Broadband Visible Light Source
Ocean Optics Inc.s BluLoop, a compact LED-
based light source, offers balanced spectral
output across the visible (400 to 700 nm) range.
When coupled to a miniature spectrometer,
optical fibers and sampling accessories, it is
suitable for color and reflectance measure-
ments, and for general-purpose VIS-NIR spec-
troscopy. BluLoops four LEDs are packaged in a
rugged, compact housing. Each LED is individu-
ally tunable for optimum balancing of the spec-
tral output. Unlike tungsten halogen sources,
BluLoop produces flatter spectral output in
the visible range for more predictable response,
especially for color analysis. It provides a more
constant spectral distribution and strongly re-
duced instrumental stray light, and its power
output is comparable to that of standard tung-
sten halogen sources.
Ocean Optics Inc.
info@oceanoptics.com
Fluorescence Illumination System
Prior Scientific Inc. has released the newest ad-
dition to its Lumen series fluorescence illumina-
tion systems. The Lumen 200S has a robust in-
ternal high-speed shutter and control options
73
- Ultra-low deadtime
(<10ns)
- Counts virtually every
photon
- Measure lifetimes from
picoseconds to seconds
- Two channels available
for simultaneous data
acquisition
- USB interface-no PCI
cards
Discover our full range
of picosecond
components for:
TCSPC
Single molecule
fuorescence
Photon migration
Fluorophore lifetimes
picocomponents.com
adsci.photospec@horiba.com

NEW
DeltaHub
TCSPC
Module
Make
every
photon
count !
b BRIGHT IDEAS
including RS-232, USB, transistor-transistor logic
and a proprietary ProScan III controller shutter
port. The system features a 2000-h lifetime and
a 200-W metal arc lamp with a stabilized DC
power supply for consistent illumination. It
offers a 2- or 3-m lightguide and an easy-to-
view display screen for bulb life indication. With
quiet operation and a six-position adjustable
aperture/intensity knob to protect samples from
photobleaching, the 200S is suitable for labora-
tory use. Adapters are available for all modern
microscopes. Also available is the Lumen 220S
model, which offers the same features along
with an extended spectral output.
Prior Scientific Inc.
ddoherty@prior.com
Optical Modulation Analyzer
For testing 40/100-G coherent transmitters and
receivers, Agilent Technologies Inc. has intro-
duced the N4392A, a portable integrated opti-
cal modulation analyzer with a laptop-size
screen. It enables engineers to characterize
in-phase quadrature modulators and integrated
coherent receivers. Performance verification
and recalibration routines extend the recom-
mended recalibration period, improving uptime.
A 15-in. analysis screen shows more informa-
tion simultaneously, making it easier for engi-
neers to characterize complex modulated optical
signals. The device offers four differential radio-
frequency input channels for characterizing
integrated coherent optical receivers. Signal-
processing algorithms perform modulation-
format-transparent polarization alignment and
phase tracking, and the analyzers offer chro-
matic dispersion and first-order polarization
mode-dispersion measurement and compensa-
tion. The analyzers provide a defined interface
to customer-developed MatLab algorithms.
Agilent Technologies Inc.
contact_us@agilent.com
Low-Noise Microchannel Plates
Photonis USA Inc. has launched a long-life, low-
noise (L3N) performance option for its micro-
channel plate (MCP) product line. The company
says that the L3N option offers up to a hun-
dredfold reduction in background noise when
compared with traditional MCPs. It is suitable
for applications where the background noise is
lower than the detector noise. Recent tests con-
firmed that, at 0.01 counts per second per
square centimeter, the L3N MCP dark count
level approaches the background level of
cosmic rays. Other applications include low-
level imaging and high-energy physics research.
The L3N option also is available on any of the
companys products that contain MCPs, includ-
ing specialty Stripline MCPs and time-of-flight
detectors.
Photonis USA Inc.
sales@usa.photonis.com
UV/Si Calibrated Photodetectors
Newport Corp. has released two wand photo-
detectors, the 818-ST2 and 818-ST2-UV. They
operate from 200 to 1100 nm, and metal cases
safeguard the optics in the setup, especially in
the UV wavelength range, keeping the housing
and attenuator glue protected from high heat
damage. The 818-ST2 incorporates a 10 10-
mm silicon photodiode. The slender wand de-
sign is suitable for detection and measurement
in tight or confined spaces, and a mounting
hole on the side makes it easy to install without
the need for angle brackets. Power levels are
from picowatts to 2 W, with a built-in calibrated
OD3 attenuator that has an easily readable
and accessible on/off indicator. The DB15 cali-
bration module is detachable from the BNC
connector, permitting interface with the com-
panys power meters. The photodetectors also
are compatible with oscilloscopes and current
meters.
Newport Corp.
jay.jeong@newport.com
Improved Four-Axis Precision Mount
Pinpoint Laser Systems improved precision
mount for the Microgage laser line is lighter
and provides finer accuracy and control. It
moves the laser in four axes: vertical and hori-
zontal, and pitch and yaw. The laser beam can
be positioned to within 0.001 in. and is suitable
for checking machinery travel, precision bore
alignment and the straightness of fixtures and
assemblies. Two micrometers adjust the eleva-
tion of the laser up and down, and its position
left and right. Another pair of adjustments pro-
vides angular control of pitch and yaw. The
74
b BRIGHT IDEAS
mount is attached to a tripod or bolted to a
machine, enabling tight laser positioning con-
trol over distances of 150 ft. It is used for check-
ing machinery parallelism, squareness, flatness
and bore alignment. Made from solid aluminum
and protected by a hard anodized coating, it is
assembled with roller-bearing slides and stain-
less steel hardware.
Pinpoint Laser Systems
info@pinlaser.com
Scalable Matrix Optical Switch
SA Photonics has introduced the Cosmos com-
pact scalable matrix all-optical switch for space-
based-communications networks. It provides the
foundation for networks within and between
satellites, enabling higher bandwidth and lower
crosstalk than are possible with radio-frequency
communication. It has minimal power require-
ments, a modular architecture that integrates
into any modern satellite, and a design that
withstands the extreme temperatures and radia-
tion that satellites encounter in space. It uses
a solid-state switching mechanism made from
integrated off-the-shelf components, resulting
in low insertion loss, zero drift over years of
operation, zero power switch latching and
simple integration into communications subsys-
tems. Average switch speed is 15 ms, and
average insertion loss is 1 dB.
SA Photonics
sales@saphotonics.com
LED Technology
Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH now offers
customized OEM Moodlight LEDs for industries
including medical technology and architecture.
An important aspect of the color surfaces is the
small building depth, starting from 4 mm. The
scratch-proof polymethyl methacrylate is ren-
dered resistant to chemicals by a special proce-
dure. Free selectable optical possibilities, includ-
ing transparency and opaque glass effect in
desired gradation and/or opacity, open up a
number of possibilities for product design. The
company calls the color-changing LED surfaces
eye-catching. Depending upon the requirement,
various control profiles can be called up, e.g.,
for impressive lighting in a single strong color
or for rotating straight through the entire color
palette.
Z-Laser Optoelektronik GmbH
info@z-laser.de
Fiber Optic Simulator
A compact fiber optic network simulator that
can be customized to emulate a physical net-
work in the laboratory with reliability and re-
peatability is available from M2 Optics Inc. The
Fiber Lab 3200 is a 19-in. rack-mounted optical
fiber management package that can be cus-
tomized with virtually any fiber type or mix, in-
cluding lengths, splices and connectors, to pre-
cisely match a physical networks specifications.
Able to simulate an optical network to 120 km,
it eliminates fiber and connector damage and
yields repeatable results. Built to customer re-
quirements, the simulator holds up to four
lengths and lets network developers emulate a
physical network in their laboratories to ensure
that the systems will work as intended when
deployed in the field. Applications include prod-
uct development and certification, long-distance
network simulation, latency and delay testing,
and training.
M2 Optics Inc.
sales@m2optics.com
Pitch-Reducing Optical Fiber Array
The PROFA (pitch-reducing optical fiber array)
product line is an evolution of Chiral Photonics
Inc.s spot size converting interconnects, which
interface standard optical fibers with photonic
integrated circuits. The multichannel 2-D dense
fiber array is suited for vertical interfacing to
vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, receivers
or vertically coupled gratings. A monolithic
glass structure incorporating an adiabatic taper
and integrated pigtails brings multiple optical
channels close together for efficient and space-
saving coupling. The technology reduces chan-
nel pitch while tailoring the numerical aperture
of individual channels to customer needs.
The company is offering a 50-plus-channel
device with single-mode waveguides in the
visible spectral range, with channel spacing
of <40 m.
Chiral Photonics Inc.
lookdifferent@chiralphotonics.com
Forensic Glass Analyzer
Craic Technologies Inc. and Laboratory Imaging
sro have launched the rIQ (refractive index
b BRIGHT IDEAS
quantification) for analyzing glass trace evi-
dence. The automated system combines image
analysis software, an advanced optical design
and electronics to enable criminalists in forensic
laboratories to measure the refractive index of
multiple glass fragments simultaneously and
quickly. When combined with Craics micro-
scope spectrophotometers and microcolori-
meters, it determines transmission and fluores-
cence spectral characteristics of glass. The sys-
tem uses the thermal immersion method to
measure the refractive index of microscopic
glass fragments. The stand-alone package
consists of a phase contrast microscope, a
digital camera, the optical interface, a thermal
stage, controlling electronics and software.
The add-on package can be integrated with
Craic microspectrophotometers to determine
the color, absorbance microspectra, fluores-
cence microspectra and refractive index of small
glass fragments.
Craic Technologies Inc.
sales@microspectra.com
ZnS Optics for Mid-IR Lasers
REO Inc. has released mid-infrared optics
with a high laser damage threshold, environ-
mental stability and mechanical durability. The
zinc sulfide (ZnS) components are used with
Ho:YAG-pumped optical parametric oscillators
and other laser systems operating in the 2- to
5-m range. The ZnS substrates are precision-
ground and -polished, then coated using ion
beam sputtering, yielding densified thin films
that are impervious to water absorption. Appli-
cations include IR countermeasures, laser desig-
nating/rangefinding, atmospheric sensing and
small-molecule spectroscopy. The series in-
cludes flat and radiused components with 5-
to 150-mm-diameter substrates. All feature sur-
face accuracy of /10 at 632.8 nm and 20-10
surface quality, and are offered with antireflec-
tion, high-reflection and multispectral coatings.
The laser damage threshold of the antireflection
bands is >8 J/cm
2
at 2.05 m in a 75-ns pulse,
while high reflection bands produce damage
resistance of >50 J/cm
2
for the same pulse
specifications.
REO Inc.
markd@reoinc.com
76
b BRIGHT IDEAS
Vision Sensor
The IV Vision Sensor from Keyence Corp. of
America combines the functions of machine
vision and traditional sensors. Setup takes
1 min using the Navigator software. The sensor
accommodates presence-detection applications
that previously required multiple conventional
or proximity sensors. Equipment includes high-
intensity illumination, lenses and eight sensor
heads to produce sharp and stable images. The
IV camera selection includes close-, medium-
and long-range models. The sensor complies
with the IP67 enclosure rating based on IEC/JIS
standards. It has applications in the semicon-
ductor, electrical, electronics, automotive, food,
pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.
Features include automatic focus, automatic
one-touch brightness adjustment, a quad lens,
output adjustment, remote operation, a statistics
function and a pattern tool. The autotuning
function enables optimization of threshold and
parameters. Illumination accessories and utili-
ties include dome lights, a high-speed/high-
dynamic-range function and polarizing filters
to eliminate glare.
Keyence Corp. of America
marketing@keyence.com
Diamond ATR Probe
Axiom Analytical Inc. has announced its DMD-
270Fx, a flexibly coupled diamond ATR (attenu-
ated total reflectance) probe for use in mid-IR
spectroscopy. It uses hollow flexible lightguides
to provide coupling to a Fourier transform in-
frared spectrometer, providing flexibility without
the drawbacks of solid-core mid-infrared optical
fibers. In contrast to the solid-core mid-IR fibers,
the hollow polymer lightguides provide full-
fingerprint-region spectral coverage combined
with stability and durability. Extreme chemical
resistance is ensured by the use of a diamond
ATR element, Hastelloy construction and ener-
gized polytetrafluoroethylene seals. The probe
is used in applications ranging from chemical
and pharmaceutical research to incoming in-
spection of raw materials and online process
77
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PICOE/ecIron/cs, lnc.
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b BRIGHT IDEAS
analysis. It features broad mid-IR spectral response, providing detailed
quantitative analysis based on specific chemical functional groups.
Axiom Analytical Inc.
info@goaxiom.com
4-Megapixel Camera
Optronis GmbHs CL4000CXP is a 4-megapixel camera with a high-speed
CoaXPress interface upgraded with the GenICam standard. The camera
has four CoaXPress channels and can transfer 25 Gb/s across a parallel
connection, allowing 500 images to be received per second in real time on
the connected PC. It is suitable for real-time applications in 2- and 3-D
surface analysis. The company supplies interfaces for frame grabbers pro-
duced by leading manufacturers, providing configuration tools that make it
easier to integrate the camera and that enable semiautomated configura-
tion. Supported by the development environment provided by the frame-
grabber manufacturer, customers are offered a professional solution for
evaluating optical data easily. The camera performs simple image process-
ing in industrial applications and produces traceable and precise data.
Optronis GmbH
info@optronis.com
78
b BRIGHT IDEAS
b ANOTHER BRIGHT IDEA
Advertise your new product in Photonics Showcase or in the
Spotlight section of Photonics Spectra.
Reach all of our readers in these low-cost, lead-generating
features.
Call Kristina Laurin at (413) 499-0514, or e-mail
advertising@Photonics.com.
JUNE
Display Week 2012 (June 3-8) Boston.
Contact Society for Information Display,
+1 (408) 879-3901; office@sid.org;
www.sid.org.
Principles of Fluorescence Techniques
Course (June 4-6) Urbana, Ill. Contact
Samantha Redes, +1 (217) 359-8681;
coordinator@fluorescence-foundation.org;
www.fluorescence-foundation.org.
Laser Welding: Equipment and Process
Validation (June 4-7) Madison, Wis. Contact
Elaine M. Bower, College of Engineering,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, +1 (800)
462-0876; bower@engr.wisc.edu; epd.engr.
wisc.edu/laserprocess.
Laser Safety Officer Training Course
(June 5-8) San Diego. Contact Rockwell
Laser Industries, +1 (513) 272-9900; training
@rli.com; www.rli.com.
3D Microscopy of Living Cells Course
(June 9-21) and 3D Image Processing
Postcourse Workshop (June 23-25)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Contact James Pawley, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, +1 (608) 238-3953;
jbpawley@wisc.edu; ww.3dcourse.ubc.ca/2012.
QIRT 2012: 11th Quantitative Infrared
Thermography Conference (June 11-14)
Naples, Italy. Contact Secretariat, +39 081
7685 184; qirt2012@unina.it; www.qirt2012.
unina.it.
Advanced High Power Lasers 2012
(June 11-15) Broomfield, Colo. Contact
Cynnamon Spain, Directed Energy Professional
Society, +1 (505) 998-4910; cynnamon@
deps.org; www.deps.org.
Lasys 2012: International Trade Fair
for System Solutions in Laser Material
Processing (June 12-14) Stuttgart, Germany.
HAPPENINGS
PAPERS
JSAP-OSA Joint Symposia (September 11-14) Matsuyama, Japan
Deadline: paper submission, June 1, 17:00 JST
Papers are invited for the 73rd Japan Society of Applied Physics Autumn Meeting 2012. Topics
include optoelectronics, nanocarbon photonics, plasmonics, biophotonics, medical photonics,
photonic crystals and fiber optics, and optical microsensing, manipulation and fabrication.
Contact JSAP, +81 3 5802 0864; technical-meetings@jsap.or.jp; www.jsap.or.jp/english.
Renewable Energy and the Environment (November 11-15) Eindhoven, Netherlands
Deadline: abstracts, July 8, 12:00 EDT; 16:00 GMT
Papers are encouraged for this OSA Optics & Photonics Congress, encompassing Optical Instrumenta-
tion for Energy and Environmental Applications (E2); Optical Nanostructures and Advanced Materials
for Photovoltaics (PV); Optics for Solar Energy (SOLAR); and Solid State and Organic Lighting (SOLED).
Contact OSA, +1 (202) 223-8130; info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
Laser Florence 2012 (November 9-10) Florence, Italy
Deadline: abstracts, July 30
The IALMS (International Academy for Laser Medicine and Surgery) invites papers for its annual con-
gress, addressing advantages, limitations and controversies associated with laser use on the human
body for diagnosis, therapy and surgery. Topics will include laser biomodulation, laser biomedicine,
laser therapy for central nervous system injuries, and lasers in dentistry, dermatology and the treat-
ment of diabetes. Contact IALMS, +39 055 234 2330; info@laserflorence.org; www.laserflorence.org.
Come and see us at OPATEC show,
May 22-25, Hall 3, Booth F45
512Happenings_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:55 AM Page 79
Contact Meike Mayer, +49 711 18560,
Ext. 2374; meike.mayer@messe-stuttgart.de;
www.messe-stuttgart.de.
EuroLED 2012 (June 13-14) Birmingham, UK.
Contact Michelle Cleaver, +44 121 250 3515;
info@euroled.org.uk; www.euroled.org.uk.
Third EOS Topical Meeting on Terahertz
Science and Technology (TST 2012) (June
17-20) Prague, Czech Republic. A European
Optical Society Event. Contact Silke Kramprich,
EOS Events and Services GmbH, +49 511
277 2674; tst2012@myeos.org; www.myeos.
org/events/tst2012.
Advanced Photonics Congress
(June 17-21) Colorado Springs, Colo. Includes
Access Networks and In-house Communica-
tions; Bragg Gratings, Photosensitivity and
Poling in Glass Waveguides; Integrated Photon-
ics Research, Silicon and Nano-Photonics;
Photonic Metamaterials and Plasmonics;
Nonlinear Photonics; Specialty Optical Fibers
and Applications; and Signal Processing in
Photonic Communications. Contact Optical
Society of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;
info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
TechConnect World 2012 (June 18-21)
Santa Clara, Calif. Contact Sarah Wenning,
+1 (925) 353-5004; wenning@techconnect.
org; www.techconnectworld.com.
BIO International Convention (June 18-21)
Boston. Contact Biotechnology Industry
Organization, +1 (202) 962-9200;
reg2012@bio.org; www.convention.bio.org.
Third International Congress on
Biophotonics (ICOB 2012) (June 19-21)
Jena, Germany. Contact Clemens Homann,
+49 3641 206 064; clemens.homann@
ipht-jena.de; www.myeos.org/events/icob2012.
Imaging and Applied Optics: OSA Optics
and Photonics Congress (June 24-28)
Monterey, Calif. Includes Applied Industrial
Optics: Spectroscopy, Imaging and Metrology;
Computational Optical Imaging and Sensing;
Imaging Systems Applications; Optical Fabrica-
tion and Testing; Optical Remote Sensing of the
Environment; and Optical Sensors. Contact
Optical Society of America, +1 (202) 223-8130;
info@osa.org; www.osa.org.
International Workshop on Laser-Matter
Interaction (WLMI-2012) (June 25-29)
Porquerolles, France. Contact Luc Berg, CEA
France, luc.berge@cea.fr; www.pks.mpg.
de/~wlmi12.
Ninth International Symposium on Display
Holography (ISDH 2012) (June 25-29)
Cambridge, Mass. Contact MIT Media Lab,
isdh2012info@media.mit.edu; isdh2012.media.
mit.edu.
10th International Conference on
Vibration Measurements by Laser
and Noncontact Techniques and
Short Course (June 26-29) Ancona, Italy.
Contact Janet L. Dubbini, AIVELA (Italian
Association of Laser Velocimetry and Non-
invasive Diagnostics), +39 071 220 4489;
aivela@univpm.it; www.aivela.org.
JULY
2012 Astronomical Telescopes +
Instrumentation (July 1-6) Amsterdam.
Contact SPIE, +1 (360) 676-3290; help@
spie.org; www.spie.org.
Sixth International Meeting on
Developments in Materials, Processes
and Applications of Emerging Technologies
(MPA) (July 2-4) Alvor, Portugal. Contact MPA
Tech, +44 161 918 6673; info@mpa-meeting.
com; www.mpa-meeting.com.
Eighth International Conference on
Optics-Photonics Design and Fabrication
(ODF 12) (July 2-5) St. Petersburg, Russia.
Contact Eugenia Brui, +7 911 998 21 81;
odf12org@gmail.com; www.odf2012.ru.
80
h HAPPENINGS
For complete listings, visit
www.photonics.com/calendar
Advertise in Photonics Spectra
Contact your sales representative at
(413) 499-0514 or sales@photonics.com
Lasers, optics, imaging, lighting and
solar covered in every issue in addition
to our special content focus targeted to
our 95,000 qualified subscribers.
August Content Focus: Annual List Issue/
Industry Focus
Spotlight: Lasers, Laser Accessories &
Light Sources
Ad Action Survey
Sneak Preview: SPIE Optics & Photonics
Ad close: June 25, 2012
September Content Focus: Transportation & Energy
Spotlight: Imaging Components & Systems
Photonics Showcase
Webinar: Solar
Ad close: July 25, 2012
Break through the clutter!
Sponsor Light Matters, the industrys only weekly newscast.
512Happenings_Layout 1 4/20/12 11:55 AM Page 80
aa
ADVERTISER INDEX
Photonics Media Advertising Contacts
Please visit our website
Photonics.com/mediakit for all
our marketing opportunities.
Ken Tyburski
Director of Sales
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 101
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
ken.tyburski@photonics.com
New England, Southeastern US, FL,
Midwest, Rocky Mountains, AZ & NM
Rebecca L. Pontier
Associate Director
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 112
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
becky.pontier@photonics.com
NY, NJ & PA
Timothy A. Dupree
Regional Manager
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 111
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
tim.dupree@photonics.com
Northern CA, AK, NV, Pacific Northwest,
Yukon & British Columbia
Joanne C. Gagnon
Regional Manager
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 226
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
joanne.gagnon@photonics.com
Central CA, Southern CA & HI
Tracy L. Reynolds
Regional Manager
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 104
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
tracy.reynolds@photonics.com
Eastern Canada
Maureen Riley Moriarty
Regional Manager
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 229
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
riley.moriarty@photonics.com
Europe, Israel & South Central US
Owen Broch
Regional Manager
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514, Ext. 108
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
owen.broch@photonics.com
Austria, Germany & Liechtenstein
Olaf Kortenhoff
Voice: +49 2241 1684777
Fax: +49 2241 1684776
olaf.kortenhoff@photonics.com
Asia (except Japan)
Hans Zhong
Voice: +86 755 2872 6973
Fax: +86 755 8474 4362
hans.zhong@yahoo.com.cn
Japan
Scott Shibasaki
Voice: +81 3 5225 6614
Fax: +81 3 5229 7253
s_shiba@optronics.co.jp
Reprint Services
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514
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editorial@photonics.com
Mailing addresses:
Send all contracts, insertion orders
and advertising copy to:
Laurin Publishing
PO Box 4949
Street address:
Laurin Publishing
Berkshire Common, 2 South St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Voice: +1 (413) 499-0514
Fax: +1 (413) 443-0472
advertising@photonics.com
Aero Research
Associates Inc. ....................72
www.aerorese.com
Aerotech Inc. .........................53
www.aerotech.com
Andor Technology .................68
www.andor.com
Applied Scientific
Instrumentation ....................28
www.asiimaging.com
Argyle International ...............34
www.argyleoptics.com
Aston Science Park ................59
www.euroled.org
Avantes .................................24
www.avantes.com
B&W Tek ................................7
www.bwtek.com
Bristol Instruments Inc. ......48, 69
www.bristol-inst.com
Castech Inc. ...........................74
www.castech.com
China International
Optoelectronic Exposition ....64
www.cioe.cn
Coherent Inc. ...................15, 27
www.coherent.com
ConOptics Inc. .......................68
www.conoptics.com
CVI Melles Griot ..............18, 32
Directed Energy Inc. ...............23
www.ixyscolorado.com
Edmund Optics ......................13
www.edmundoptics.com
89 North ...............................69
www.89north.com
Electro-Optical
Products Corp. ....................42
www.eopc.com
EMD Millipore
Corporation ........................21
www.emd4photonics.com
Energetiq
Technology Inc. ...................12
www.energetiq.com
Exciton Inc. ............................68
www.exciton.com
FLIR Systems Inc. ....................36
www.flir.com
Gooch & Housego .................77
www.goochandhousego.com
Hellma USA ..........................28
www.hellmausa.com
Horiba Scientific ....................73
www.picocomponents.com
ILX Lightwave Corp. ...............29
www.ilxlightwave.com
Image Science Ltd. .................76
www.image-science.co.uk
Incom Inc. .............................35
www.incomusa.com
Innovation Photonics ..............69
www.innpho.com
Jenoptik
Optical Systems ..................11
www.jenoptik.com
Julabo USA Inc. .....................69
www.julabo.com
Laser Institute
of America ...................54, 78
www.icaleo.org
Lightmachinery Inc. ..........22, 34
www.lightmachinery.com
Market Tech ..........................68
www.markettechinc.net
Martek Power Laser
Drive LLC ............................43
www.laserdrive.com
Master Bond Inc. ...................52
www.masterbond.com
Mercron Inc. ..........................14
www.mercron.com
Mightex Systems ....................80
www.mightexsystems.com
Newport
Corporation ....................6, 20
www.newport.com
Novotech Inc. ........................52
www.novotech.net
Nufern ..................................33
www.nufern.com
Ocean Optics ..........................9
www.oceanoptics.com
OPCO
Laboratory Inc. ....................46
www.opcolab.com
The Optical Society
of America ..........................58
www.osa.org/meetings
Photonics Media ..............40, 80
www.photonics.com
PI
(Physik Instrumente) L.P. .......71
www.pi.ws
Pico Electronics Inc. ................77
www.picoelectronics.com
PIDA .....................................67
www.optotaiwan.com
Piezosystem
Jena GmbH ........................79
www.piezojena.com
Polymicro Technologies,
a Subsidiary of Molex .........19
www.polymicro.com
Qioptiq Inc. ........................CV2
www.qioptiq.com
Research
Electro-Optics .....................49
www.reoinc.com
Satisloh .................................25
www.satisloh.com
Scanlab AG ............................8
www.scanlab.de
SEMI .....................................55
www.semiconwest.org
Sill Optics GmbH ...................66
www.silloptics.de
Siskiyou
Corporation ........................62
www.siskiyou.com
Society for Information
Display ...............................63
www.displayweek.org
Spectra-Physics,
A Newport
Corporation Brand ............CV4
www.newport.com
Spectrogon
US Inc. ...............................79
www.spectrogon.com
Stanford Research
Systems Inc. ..........................3
www.thinksrs.com
StellarNet Inc. ........................38
www.stellarnet-inc.com
Swift Glass
Co. Inc. ..............................78
www.swiftglass.com
Sydor Optics Inc. ...................76
www.sydor.com
Terahertz
Technologies Inc. .................68
www.terahertztechnologies.com
Tohkai
Sangyo Co. Ltd. ..................22
www.peak.co.jp
Toptica
Photonics Inc .................31, 75
www.toptica.com
TRIOPTICS GmbH ..................26
www.trioptics.com
Trumpf Inc. ............................37
www.us.trumpf.com
Xenics NV .............................69
www.xenics.com
Zygo Corp. .........................CV3
www.zygo.com
512AdIndex_Layout 1 4/20/12 2:09 PM Page 81
p PEREGRINATIONS
Alexander Graham Bell, we can hear you now
L
inguists, historians and even musi-
cians could benefit from noninvasive
optical scanning technology that
enables us to hear voices and sounds that
were recorded more than a century ago.
Unlocking these sounds is part of a
collaborative sound recovery project in-
volving scientists at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL) in California
and curators at the Library of Congress
and the Smithsonian Institution, both in
Washington. The team has tested the
process on six recordings using imaging
equipment installed by LBNL at the Li-
brary of Congress.
Using a digital scan made from one of
the very earliest sound recordings, the
group got to hear a male voice recorded
in the 1880s. Originally recorded on a
glass disc with a beam of light, the voice
originates from early experiments in sound
recording conducted in Washington by
Volta Laboratory Associates inventors
Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell
and Charles Sumner Tainter.
Until recently, this historical record-
ing has remained silent in storage at the
Smithsonian Institution. Many other early
sound recordings could be brought back
to life with the new technology as well,
including those of musical artists, poets
and writers; extinct Native American
languages also could be revived.
The sound often is inaccessible because
of the fragile, damaged, varied or obsolete
technology in which it is embedded. The
scanning method preserves the original
hardware and essentially repairs some of
the existing damage.
These recordings were made using a
variety of methods and materials such as
rubber, beeswax, glass, tinfoil and brass,
as the inventors tried to find a material
that would hold sound, said Carlene
Stephens, curator at the Smithsonians
National Museum of American History.
We dont know what is recorded, except
for a few cryptic inscriptions on some of
the discs and cylinders, or vague notes on
old catalog cards written by a Smithsonian
curator decades ago.
The first 90 years of sound recording
are dominated by mechanical carriers,
some in cylinder form, where the groove
varies in depth, and some in disc form,
where the stylus moves from side to side
in the spiral groove, according to a recent
report by Carl Haber, a scientist at LBNL.
The optical technique creates a high-
resolution digital map of the disc or cylin-
der. The digital version is then processed
to remove scratches or skips that may
have appeared on the original recording.
Software then calculates the motion of a
stylus moving through the grooves of the
disc or cylinder, reproducing the audio
content and producing a standard digital
sound file.
Two-dimensional imaging using a
line-scan camera is suitable for a disc
with a lateral groove, and 3-D imaging
using a confocal scanning probe is re-
quired for a cylinder with vertical groove
modulation, Haber reported.
Caren B. Les
caren.les@photonics.com
This electrotyped copper negative disc of a sound
recording was deposited at the Smithsonian
Institution in 1881 in a sealed tin box. It contains
a tone, a male voice counting numbers, and then
two more tones.
Participants in a sound recovery project, Carlene Stephens and Shari Stout, curators at the National Museum
of American History, handle an early glass disc record. Images courtesy of National Museum of American
History, Smithsonian Institution.
Hear for yourself
To listen to the early sound recordings,
visit the Volta Labs Recordings
channel on YouTube, provided by
the Smithsonian Institutions National
Museum of American History:
http://tinyurl.com/cp8ooxt.
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