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D
an Bajuk, VP of Zygo Optics
Manufacturing Technology, operates
under a simple yet powerful motto:
If we can measure it, we can make it.
From the Hubble Space Telescopes
corrective optics, to production of Extreme
UV lithography systems, for over 40 years
Dan and the members of Zygos Extreme
Precision Optics Group (EPO) have been one
of the most trusted names in optical
manufacturing.
Within our optical manufacturing facilities,
using ion beam nishing, computer controlled
optical surface polishing, and state of the art
metrologyZygo people have earned the
distinction of producing some of the most
challenging plano, spheres, aspheres,
freeform optics, machined structures
and assemblies in the world.
When everyone else
says your project looks
impossible, ask someone
like Dan Bajuk. Hell say,
Welcome to
Zygo.
1-800-ZYGO-NOW<www.zygo.com/epodan<electro-optics@zygo.com
Zygo is a leading manufacturer of optics, precision machined
structures and optical assemblies. Contact us today to discuss your
extreme precision optics and assembly requirements.
choosing an
starts with
confdenceinpeople.
opticalmanufacturingpartner
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1112_Zygo_PgCVR2.indd 2 10/25/12 10:08 AM
1112_SRS_LDController_Pg3.indd 3 10/25/12 10:09 AM
4 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Content
NOVEMBER 2012 www.photonics.com VOLUME 46 ISSUE 11
16 22 66
Departments & Columns
10 EDITORIAL
Our continuing mission
16 LIGHT SPEED
Business and Markets
Detection market catches re
CVI Laser marks 40th anniversary
Dark energy camera achieves rst light
22 TECH PULSE
Research and technology headlines
of the month
Replacing consumer electronics with
consumer photonics
Record pulse provides new tool for
observing quantum mechanics
Superstable laser could power atomic
physics
66 GREENLIGHT
Signicant ecophotonics developments
Spinach power boosts silicon solar cells
71 NEW PRODUCTS
79 HAPPENINGS
81 ADVERTISER INDEX
82 LIGHTER SIDE
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THE COVER
On Mars, in space
and back on planet
Earth, lasers are
making headlines.
Design by Senior
Art Director Lisa N.
Comstock.
1112Contents.indd 4 10/24/12 4:35 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 5
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.
40
46 56
Features
39
ISSUE FOCUS:
SPACE
40
LASERS FIND VARIED USES
IN SPACE APPLICATIONS
by Valerie C. Coffey, Science Writer
On the Mars rover Curiosity, in cutting-edge
telescope technology, and in guide star
adaptive optics, lasers are space pioneers.
46
TELESCOPES REQUIRE POLISHING
TO PERFECTION
by Hank Hogan, Contributing Editor
Farsighted projects such as the ESOs
gargantuan Extremely Large Telescope,
to be installed in 2022, require advances
in polishing technology.
52
STORAGE KEEPS PACE WITH DATA
FROM SPACE
by Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor
Storing the images collected by space
researchers is not especially burdensome,
but the datas subsequent transfer and
handling can present challenges.
56
IN SITU METHOD OPTIMIZES
OPTICAL COATINGS
by Allan Jaunzens, Evatec Ltd.
Automated industrial tools integrate thin-lm
coating production processes from lm design
to real-time re-optimization of the recipe.
60
SUPERPOLISHED OPTICS ENABLE
HIGH-SENSITIVITY LASER APPLICATIONS
by Trey Turner, Reo Inc.
Cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy,
ring laser gyroscopes and green HeNe lasers
all require sub-angstrom surface roughness.
SPECIAL 16-PAGE INSERT
THE COMMERCIAL LASER LINES, DETECTOR RANGES &
OPTICAL MATERIALS WALL CHART
The wall chart, inserted between pages 26 and 27, displays the major
commercial laser lines, detectors and optical materials in the ultraviolet
to the far-infrared and beyond. Additional copies can be ordered online
at www.photonics.com/wallchart.
1112Contents.indd 5 10/24/12 4:35 PM
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What Does This Mean for You?
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1112Masthead.indd 6 10/24/12 4:36 PM
We began our rst research project on solid-state imagers in 1972. And since that
time, our image sensors have delivered unrivaled image quality, high reliability and
innovative features to customers across the globe.
Today, sensors from Truesense Imaging are used in mission-critical applications
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to studio photography, from DNA sequencing to the exploration of the Earth and
our solar system.
And thats just the beginning. Imagine what well do together in the next 40 years!
Truesense Imaging, Inc. Rochester, NY USA 585.784.5500
For complete product specications or to see how to contact us in
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Perfecting Pixels for Nearly 40 Years.
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1112_TrueSenseImaging_Pg7.indd 7 10/25/12 10:09 AM
8 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
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1112Masthead.indd 8 10/24/12 4:36 PM
At Hamamatsu, capturing the photon is our business.
In extremely small amounts. At extraordinarily fast speeds.
Every day, our detectors and cameras are used in systems all
over the world to unlock the secrets hidden in light, whether
its the presence of a foreign object or a trace of gas, a specifc
disease or an errant microcircuit. The list of possible applications
we serve grows continuously. To push the limits of detection,
we continually adopt new technology.
Hamamatsus extensive lineup of detectors includes PMTs,
silicon and InGaAs devices for point detection or imaging,
scientifc cameras, and X-ray solutions. For more information
on over 60 categories of detector products, please visit
sales.hamamatsu.com.
We Innovate for Your Success
SALES.HAMAMATSU.COM USA 1-800 524 0504, FREEPHONE EUROPE 00 800 800 800 88
1112_Hamamatsu_Pg9.indd 9 10/25/12 10:10 AM
10 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Watching retired space shuttle Endeavour moving through the streets of Los
Angeles on its 12-mile trip from LAX to the California Science Center, I couldnt help
but feel a bit nostalgic for the shuttle program. Launched on April 12, 1981, with a test
mission of the Shuttle Columbia, the program was brought to an end 30 years later with
the last fight of Atlantis on July 8, 2011.
The frst operational shuttle mission in 1982 delivered two commercial satellites to space
orbit. Through the years, all kinds of payloads many involving optics and photonics
have made the trip into space aboard a shuttle: cameras of all kinds including IMAX;
experiments on solar arrays; tools for atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy; and
deployable payloads, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
Now that all of those amazing air-and spaceships have made their fnal trips into history,
can we still get excited about space? Space exploration continues, of course. As I wrote
this column in late October, a three-man international crew blasted off in a Russian
Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, destined for the Interna-
tional Space Station.
These days no discussion of space exploration is complete without at least mentioning
what is left behind literally. Several hundred thousand pieces of space debris in low-
Earth orbit are threatening the future use of this space. Even pieces as small as 1 cm can
punch a hole in the Space Station.
Photonics Media explores this issue with a webinar at 1 p.m. EST on Nov. 15. Dr. Alex-
ander Rubenchik of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will speak on The Prom-
ise of Pulsed Lasers in Removing Orbital Debris He will present research from a paper
he co-authored on a proposal for laser orbital debris removal using a focused, pulsed
ground-based laser to change the debris orbit and cause it to re-enter the atmosphere. The
webinar also will feature Joseph M. Howard, the lead optical designer of the James Webb
Space Telescope Project, an orbiting cryogenic infrared observatory and the successor to
the Hubble Space Telescope.
If you miss the live webcast, you can watch the archived version, posted shortly after-
ward, at www.photonics.com/webinars, on-demand. And visit our website often for
updates and additional webinar information.
Be sure to check out our extensive feature coverage on photonics in space, beginning on
page 39 of this issue of Photonics Spectra.
We are pleased to enclose in this issue a copy of the latest edition of the Photonics Media
chart of commercial laser lines, detector ranges and optical materials. After a compre-
hensive review the frst since 2009 undertaken with the help of experts at several
companies, the chart is ready to hang on your wall as a handy reference. Our thanks to
all who helped us bring the chart up to date and to our many sponsors. Additional wall
charts are available by calling +1 (413) 499-0514.
Enjoy the issue.
editorial
commeNt
Our Continuing Mission
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.
karen.newman@photonics.com
1112Editorial.indd 10 10/24/12 4:38 PM
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12 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Photonics in Space Applications
Thursday, November 15, 2012 - 1 p.m. EST/ 10 a.m. PST/ 1700 GMT/UTC
Photonics Media will host Dr. Joseph M.
Howard, lead optical designer, James Webb
Space Telescope, NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center: The Optics of the James
Webb Space Telescope, as well as Dr. Alex-
ander M. Rubenchik, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.,:
The Promise of Pulsed Lasers in Removing
Orbital Debris.
For more information and to register, visit: Photonics.com/Webinars
Welcome to
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-f 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 frst place.
To explore Garys blog, visit: www.photonics.com/DifferentWavelengths.
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In case you missed our FREE webinar
The online companion to Photonics Spectra
Whats Online:
Our collection of helpful resources for students, educators and researchers,
including the Photonics Dictionary+; Photonics Handbook; a list of societies,
associations, universities and research centers; interactive laser charts;
webinars; white papers; and our Light Matters weekly newscasts.
1112WhatsOnline.indd 12 10/25/12 9:53 AM
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14 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Valerie C. Coffey
Valerie C. Coffey is a freelance
science and technology writer
in Massachusetts with an MA
in astronomy. Her articles on
optics, photonics, astronomy
and physics have appeared in
various industry publications.
Page 40.
Marie Freebody
Regular contributor Marie
Freebody is a freelance
science and technology
journalist. She holds a
masters degree in physics
with a concentration in
nuclear astrophysics from
the University of Surrey in
the UK. Page 52.
Hank Hogan
Regular contributing editor
Hank Hogan holds a BS in
physics from the University of
Texas at Austin. He worked in
the semiconductor industry
and now writes about science
and technology. Page 46
Allan Jaunzens
Allan Jaunzens of Evatec Ltd.
is a materials scientist with
20 years of experience in
thin-flm technology, frst in
process development for
optical thin flms by sputter
and, more recently, in sales
and marketing. Page 56.
Trey Turner
Trey Turner of REO Inc. holds
a bachelor of science degree
in physics from Lawrence
University and a master of
science degree in physics
from the University of Texas
at Austin. Page 60.
CoNTribuTorS
Photonics Spectra...
In the December issue of
Charge-Transfer-Device imagers
Streak Cameras
CMoS Sensors
Polymer optics
Youll also fnd all the news that affects your industry,
from tech trends and market reports to the latest
products and media.
n Check out a sample of the digital
version of Photonics Spectra magazine at
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in the global photonics industry.
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2012 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved.
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1112_Raytheon_Pg15.indd 15 10/26/12 2:31 PM
16 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Light Speed
The global breakdown of the fre detector market by detector type in 2011. The
multisensor and laser-based aspirating smoke detector markets are expected
to experience rapid growth through 2016.
Detection market catches fre
CVI Laser marks 40th anniversary
CVI Laser of Albuquerque, N.M., is marking 40 years of provid-
ing thin-flm-enabled optical components and subsystems to the
semiconductor, life sciences, industrial, aerospace and scientifc
markets. The company was founded in 1972 to support high-
energy laser development at Sandia and Los Alamos national
laboratories. In June 2011, CVI was acquired by Idex Corp. and
joined the new Idex Optics and Photonics platform. CVI operates
manufacturing facilities in Albuquerque; Carlsbad, Calif.; Roches-
ter, N.Y.; the Isle of Man and Leicester in the UK; Saitama, Japan;
and Seoul, South Korea.
Kentec acquires laser safety business CrossFiber completes $13M funding round Jenoptik nabs $13M medical laser order in US
I think that the biggest opportunity that the US
still has is to take its investment in basic technol-
ogy research back to the same level as a percent
of GDP as it was 30 or 40 years ago.
former Intel CEO Craig Barrett
at the Sept. 12 launch of the National Academies report
Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for Our Nation
Laser-based aspirating smoke
detectors (ASDs) and multi-
sensor detectors are forecast to
see the fastest global growth
in the fre detection industry
over the next few years, ac-
cording to IMS Research. The
market research company
predicts compound annual
growth rates of 9 percent for
ASDs and 7.3 percent for mul-
tisensors from 2011 to 2016.
Its an exciting time for fre
detection technology, said Adi
Pavlovic, IMS Research analyst
and report author. The current
market is seeing growth in
multiple young technologies
that are gaining traction.
The main trend is the tran-
sition toward using more
technologies within a single
detector. This multisensor
technology, which can provide
higher effciency with lower
installation costs, was worth
an estimated $239.5 million
in 2011 the second largest
of the detector markets at that
time. Optical and heat detec-
tion are the most common
technologies combined, with
gas and infrared beam detec-
tion making their way into the
units. The different combina-
tions will allow multisensors
to move ahead in almost all
applications, Pavlovic said.
more serious stance on fre
codes and standards, the mar-
ket will beneft and provide a
higher level of life safety.
He noted that the market
has been considered a slow-
moving one in terms of tech-
nology because of the amount
of testing each product is
required to pass to receive
certifcation.
We are seeing an era of
modernization in the industry.
Not only are manufacturers
looking to make fre detection
products more reliable, but
economical as well.
However, it is crucial for
manufacturers product de-
velopment to stay up to speed
with the increasing demand
for more advanced detection
technologies, he added.
The market research com-
pany, recently acquired by
IHS Inc. of Englewood, Colo.,
published the report World
Market for Fire Detection &
Suppression Products 2012
Edition in August.
Strong growth in utilities,
data centers and offshore
facilities is expected to spur
the development of advanced
detectors that can function in
harsh environments.
Laser-based ASDs have a
strong presence in the data and
telecommunications indus-
tries, but they are expected
to expand into the industrial
sector, because they can with-
stand harsh environments.
Optical fre detectors will
likely continue to dominate
the market, however. They
were estimated to account
for almost half of the worlds
fre detector market in 2011.
The effciency and low cost
of optical detectors make them
the ideal product for a simple
solution, he said.
They will remain the top
technology in terms of volume
because they are commonly
used for applications in the
residential, commercial and
government sectors, he added,
but they could lose a small
amount of the market share
to multisensors and more
complex technologies. The
growth of the fre detection
market is really driven by con-
struction activity and legisla-
tion, he said. As emerging
markets progress toward a
Pie chart above courtesy of IMS Research
(IHS Inc.).
1112_LightSpeed.indd 16 10/26/12 2:33 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 17
A provider of paper for
currency, Crane & Co. of Dalton,
Mass., won a US government
contract to produce microlens-
based security threads to be
embedded in $100 bills.
Observing and characterizing
UV and blue laser action in
nanowires at the University of
California, Berkeley, constituted
a signifcant advance toward
creating electron-injected
nanowire lasers.
AT&T of Murray Hill, N.J.,
claimed the frst commercial
application of bonding diamond
flm to metal, a process that
enabled microelectronics
heat sinks as submounts for
semiconductor lasers.
The purchase of industrial-
grade digital imaging proces-
sors for military applications
seemed to be an idea whose
time had come, a Photonics
Spectra journalist wrote.
2007
2002
1992
1982
This month in history
What were you working on fve, 10,
20 or even 30 years ago? Photonics
Spectra editors perused past November
issues and unearthed the following:
IPG Photonics acquires JPSA sp3 Diamond awarded thermal management patents
Dr. Changs success in making ever-shorter light pulses
helps open a new door to a previously hidden world,
where we can watch electrons move atoms and molecules,
and follow chemical reactions as they take place.
Michael Johnson, a physicist and dean of the University of Central Florida (UCF)
College of Sciences; a UCF research team led by Professor Zenghu Chang generated
a 67-as laser pulse of extreme-UV light that could enable scientists to
watch quantum mechanics in action (story on page 22)
Dark energy camera achieves frst light
Illustration and photo courtesy of
Dark Energy Survey collaboration.
The most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created
recorded its frst images on Sept. 12. The 570-megapixel
Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the main components of which
are shown here, was constructed at Fermi National Accelera-
tor Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., and mounted on the Victor M.
Blanco telescope at the National Science Foundations Cerro
Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the southern branch of the
US National Optical Astronomy Observatory. With this device,
roughly the size of a phone booth, astronomers and physicists
will probe the mystery of dark energy, the force they believe
is causing the universe to expand faster and faster. A photo-
metric imaging camera, DECam measures the amount of light
in various colors from astronomical objects rather than details
of their spectra. It can see light from more than 100,000
galaxies up to 8 billion light-years away in each snapshot.
1112_LightSpeed.indd 17 10/24/12 4:50 PM
18 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Light Speed
e2v to supply image sensors to Japans XFEL VLC Photonics to advance optical integration Laser Energetics receives initial order
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Electronic design automation company
Synopsys Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., has
announced the 2012 winners of the annual
Robert S. Hilbert Memorial Optical Design
Competition for students: Anthony Vis-
conti, Brett Sternfeld and Josh Walters.
Sternfeld, of the University of Rochester
in New York, received the award for his
work on a machine vision imaging system
using Synopsys Code V software; his paper
is titled 190 Degree FFOV Fisheye for
Autonomous Robots.
Nobel laureate and
laser pioneer Charles
H. Townes is among the
eight recipients of the
Golden Goose Award,
a new honor celebrat-
ing researchers whose
seemingly odd or obscure federally funded
research turned out to have a major impact
on society.
Inrad Optics Inc. of North-
vale, N.J., has selected Amy
Eskilson as its president
and CEO. She began her
tenure with the company in
2011 as vice president of
sales and marketing.
Peter Clemens has
joined Headwall Photon-
ics of Fitchburg, Mass., as
director of engineering and
development. He has years
of experience in developing
optical imaging platforms at
BAE Systems.
A 20-year semiconductor
sales and engineering vet-
eran, Victor Tu is GigOptix
Inc.s new vice president of
sales for the Asia-Pacifc re-
gion. The company, based
in San Jose, Calif., supplies
semiconductor and optical components.
Optical sensing product
maker Ocean Optics of
Dunedin, Fla., has hired
Adrian Guckian to lead
its Sensors business
unit. He has served as
chemicals and materi-
als manager and as general manager at
Dublin-based Gas Sensor Solutions.
GSI Group Inc. of Bedford, Mass., has
announced that longtime Philips executive
Matthijs Glastra has agreed to join the
company as group president, Laser Prod-
ucts, and to serve as a corporate offcer.
Redmond, Wash.-based optoelectronics
manufacturer B.E. Meyers & Co. Inc. has
named Michael Alvis as vice president of
business development. A retired US Army
colonel, Alvis has worked in executive posi-
tions at ITT Corp.
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MOVES & EXPANSIONS
Block Engineering, a Marlborough, Mass., manufacturer of
quantum cascade laser-based and Fourier transform infrared
spectrometers, has added the Griot Group as a sales representa-
tive for the Pacifc Northwest, the Rocky Mountain region, and
for Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. The latter company has
offces in California and Oregon.
Rapid customer growth in the Asia market has spurred fber
laser designer SPI Lasers of Southampton, UK, to expand its
Asia facilities with the addition of combined offce and labora-
tory space in Seoul, South Korea. The company also plans to
open a new offce in China. It named John Chinn as new general
manager for South Korea and China.
In response to its growing client base in Europe and Asia,
nanoanalytical microscopy systems maker WITec GmbH of
Ulm, Germany, has opened regional offces at the Kanagawa Sci-
ence Park in Japan, and in Barcelona, Spain, where it will serve
primarily Spanish and Portuguese customers. Both offces will
provide sales operations and technical support.
Specialty glass maker Corning Inc. has opened the Corning Technology Center
Berlin for telecommunications customers. Located in the Adlershof Science
and Technology Park, the new facility is home to Germany-based members of
Corning Cable Systems GmbH & Co. KG. Governing mayor of Berlin Klaus
Wowereit (center), Corning chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks (left) and Hardy
Schmitz, CEO of WISTA-Management GmbH spoke at the Sept. 12 opening
of the center.
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1112_LightSpeed.indd 18 10/24/12 4:50 PM
1112_ResElectroOptics_Pg19.indd 19 10/25/12 10:12 AM
Motion system device de-
veloper New Scale Tech-
nologies Inc. of Victor, N.Y.,
has received a US patent for
its reduced-voltage minia-
ture piezoelectric motor and
drive system, which can
operate directly from battery
voltage as low as 2.3 VDC.
By eliminating the need for
boost circuits, the technol-
ogy reduces system size
and component cost while
enabling integration into a
variety of battery-driven
products to move elements such as optical
lenses. The system is fve times smaller
than commercial electromagnetic linear
motor systems and uses 40 percent less
power. It employs a proprietary Squiggle
20 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Light Speed
Kodak reorganizes,
sheds more jobs
Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., will cut
another 1000 jobs by years end as the imaging
company continues to restructure under Chap-
ter 11 bankruptcy. The company has cut 2700
employees since the beginning of 2012.
Kodak is becoming a more focused and
competitively scaled company, said chairman
and CEO Antonio M. Perez. We recognize that
we must signifcantly and expeditiously reduce
our current cost structure.
Under a new management framework, Philip
J. Faraci company president and COO since
2007 and CFO Antoinette P. McCorvey are
leaving.
Kodak will have three business segments:
Digital Printing and Enterprise; Graphics,
Entertainment and Commercial Films; and a
new segment that includes two businesses
for sale: Personalized Imaging and Document
Imaging. The company also has implemented
organizational changes to refect its focus on its
Commercial, Packaging & Functional Printing
Solutions and Enterprise Services business.
Flir garners $26M Navy contract Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. ships frst Webb telescope mirrors NIH awards Vixar VCSEL contract
P
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.
New Scale awarded
linear motor system
patent
piezo motor design, replacing the original
Squiggle motors monolithic piezoelec-
tric elements with advanced multilayer
piezoelectric elements from TDK-EPC of
Munich to operate at a reduced voltage.
The reduced-voltage
Squiggle micromotor and
drive application-specifc
integrated circuit are dis-
played by Daniele Piazza.
COLLABORATIONS
Three industrial laser companies have allied to
bring new glass-cutting technology to market.
InnoLas Systems of Krailing, Germany, has
licensed process technology developed by the
Portland, Ore.-based FiLaser and will use ultra-
short-pulse lasers produced exclusively for
InnoLas by Lumera Laser of Kaiserlautern,
Germany. The system will be available exclusively
through InnoLas. FiLasers flament-cutting tech-
nology uses ultrashort laser pulses that cut brittle
materials via plasma dissociation. Filament-cut
glass is shown here.
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m
s
.
Optical communications suppliers Oclaro
Inc. of San Jose, Calif., and 3SP Group
of Nozay, France, have entered a multi-
source agreement that enables more
compact pump laser packaging. The new
10-pin butterfy package replaces the cur-
rent industry-standard 14-pin format.
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SUPERIOR AUTOMATION & OPTICAL SYSTEMS
1112_LightSpeed.indd 20 10/26/12 2:34 PM
1112_ESCO_Pg21.indd 21 10/25/12 10:12 AM
22 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. The young feld of
attosecond science marked a signifcant
milestone recently with the generation
of the shortest laser pulse to date 67
attoseconds.
The record, achieved by Dr. Zenghu
Chang and colleagues at the University of
Central Florida, marks the most signif-
cant breakthrough in laser pulses in four
years and gives scientists a new tool for
watching quantum mechanics in action.
With the development of attosecond
light sources a decade ago, ultrafast laser
science became a viable research feld.
It began in 2001, when groups in Saclay,
France, and Vienna proved the production
of attosecond pulse trains and isolated
attosecond pulses through high-harmonic-
generation processes, respectively.
Photonics Spectra caught up with
Chang shortly after his return from The
Workshop on Super Intense Laser-Atom
Physics, held in China in late September.
People were very excited about his
groups achievement, said Chang, a pro-
fessor in the physics department at UCF
and CREOL, the College of Optics and
Photonics.
Changs team achieved the 67-as (1
attosecond is a quintillionth of a second)
pulse using extreme-ultraviolet (EUV)
light generated not by a mile-long particle
accelerator or a Superdome-size synchro-
tron, but by using a technique the group
created called double optical gating, or
DOG (techniques in the feld tend to have
animal-themed acronyms, such as FROG-
CRAB, or frequency-resolved optical
gating for complete reconstruction of
attosecond bursts).
The technique allows EUV light to
be cut off in a way that concentrates the
maximum amount of energy in the short-
est possible pulse of light. The shortest
possible light burst is a powerful tool for
freezing electron motion in atoms, mol-
ecules and condensed matter.
In their paper, which appeared in Op-
tics Letters, Chang and his team used two
algorithms, FROG-CRAB and PROOF
(phase retrieval by omega oscillation
TECH pulse
Record pulse provides new tool for observing quantum mechanics
Replacing consumer electronics with consumer photonics
PHILADELPHIA Cadmium sulfde
nanowires can be used to create an all-op-
tical photonic switch, a team at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania said. They combined
the switch with others to create a logic gate
for on-chip information processing.
Putting switches together lets you make
logic gates, and assembling logic gates al-
lows you to do computation, said graduate
student Brian Piccione. We used these
optical switches to construct a NAND gate,
which is a fundamental building block of
modern computer processing.
In creating the frst such switch to be
made of cadmium sulfde, the team, led
by associate professor Ritesh Agarwal of
the School of Engineering and Applied
Science, built upon previous work show-
ing that such nanowires are especially
effcient at manipulating light.
The biggest challenge for photonic
structures on the nanoscale is getting the
light in, manipulating it once its there
and then getting it out, Agarwal said in
a university release. Our major innova-
tion was how we solved the frst problem,
in that it allowed us to use the nanowires
themselves for an on-chip light source.
Over the past few years, there has been
a great deal of activity in nanophotonics
to develop on-chip optical components,
largely driven by the imminent limita-
tions of electronic integrated circuits.
Currently, nanoscale photonic circuits
are bulkier and more energy-hungry than
their electronic counterparts.
To make their photonic switch, the
researchers frst precisely cut a gap into a
nanowire. Then they pumped enough en-
ergy into the frst nanowire segment that
it began to emit laser light from its end
and through the gap. Because they started
with a single nanowire, the two segment
ends were perfectly matched, allowing
the second segment to effciently absorb
and transmit the light down its length.
Once we have the light in the second
segment, we shine another light through
the structure and turn off what is being
transported through that wire. Thats
what makes it a switch, Agarwal said.
We see a future where consumer elec-
tronics become consumer photonics, and
this study shows that is possible, he said.
Postdoctoral fellows Chang-Hee
Cho and Lambert van Vugt contributed
to the study, which was published in
Nature Nanotechnology (doi:10.1038/
nnano.2012.144).
Melinda A. Rose
melinda.rose@photonics.com
An all-optical photonic nanowire switch, the frst
to be made of cadmium sulfde, could help move
the consumer electronics market into consumer
photonics to overcome the imminent limitations
of electronic integrated circuits. Here, laser light
is emitted from the end of a cadmium sulfde
nanowire. We see a future where consumer
electronics become consumer
photonics, and this study
shows that is possible.
Ritesh Agarwal,
University of Pennsylvania
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1112_TechPulse.indd 22 10/24/12 4:52 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 23
Zenghu Chang and colleagues at the University of Central Florida have generated the shortest laser pulse to
date 67 attoseconds. The work gives scientists a new tool for observing quantum mechanics.
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a
fltering) to characterize the 67-as pulse
generated using DOG, and both yielded
nearly identical results. The durations of
the DOG-generated pulses were measured
with a streak camera.
The pulse beat the previous record of
80 attoseconds that was set by the Max
Planck Institute in Garching, Germany,
in 2008; this is the frst time an Ameri-
can-led team has set the record.
With not a signifcant change [to the
current setup], we think we can get to
50 attoseconds, Chang told Photonics
Spectra.
In principle, the DOG technique can
achieve 25 as, which is near the atomic
unit of time and fast enough to allow the
observation of electron-electron interac-
tions. But before that can happen, he
said, a fundamental issue that must be
addressed is chirp compensation.
Chirp compensation doesnt work well
with DOG. We need to fnd new ways to
compress the pulse, he said, once the
pulse duration is below 40 as.
Dr. Changs success in making ever-
shorter light pulses helps open a new door
to a previously hidden world, where we
can watch electrons move in atoms and
molecules, and follow chemical reactions
as they take place, said UCF physicist and
College of Sciences Dean Michael John-
son in a university release. It is astound-
ing to imagine that we may now be able to
watch quantum mechanics in process.
Well see practical applications in
fve years or so, Chang said, noting that
The Department of Defense is interested
in attosecond science, and DARPA is
interested.
DARPAs basic research program
PULSE (Program in Ultrafast Laser Sci-
ence and Engineering) aims to enhance
the capabilities of tabletop high-peak-
power pulsed-laser-driven x-ray gen-
eration techniques to produce high-fux
coherent x-rays with wavelengths from
2.3 to 4.4 m for bioimaging applications.
Next for Chang and his team are
increasing the fux of attosecond pulses
to strengthen the pulse and developing an
attosecond pump probe.
MAR
Superstable laser could power atomic physics
BOULDER, Colo. An optical
resonator made of single-
crystal silicon, a particularly
stiff and low-noise material
instead of the traditional glass
with its disordered and soft
material structure has en-
abled the creation of a laser so
stable that its frequency varies
by no more than two parts in
10,000 trillion.
Research on ultrastable la-
sers typically employs an opti-
cal cavity interferometer, com-
prising a spacer with mirrors at
each end. That design severely
restricts the range of optical
frequency that can resonate
in the cavity. By superimpos-
ing the cavity output beam on
another highly controlled ref-
erence beam, the interference
effects (periodic reinforcement
beats) can reveal stability
with exquisite sensitivity. Such
systems, however, have histori-
cally been subject to thermal
fuctuations that alter the
cavity dimensions, reducing
frequency stability.
The laser, with its silicon
resonator, was developed
and tested collaboratively by
metrology research institutes This new silicon resonator is compared with the size of a coin.
P
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1112_TechPulse.indd 23 10/24/12 4:52 PM
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TECH pulse
NIST/JILA in the US and PTB, the Ger-
man counterpart of NIST. The silicon
resonator stabilizes the laser so it reaches
a linewidth of less than 40 mHz.
Stable lasers such as the one reported
are already unlocking some of the myster-
ies of minute atomic interactions that are
otherwise hidden, said team member Jun
Ye of the Quantum Physics Div. of JILAs
Physical Measurement Laboratory.
The team says it will accelerate prog-
ress in developing optical clocks that
operate at frequencies more than 10,000
times higher than todays worldwide time
standard of 9.2 GHz. The work could also
beneft optical precision spectroscopy;
because it was tested at 1.5 m, the wave-
length with the lowest loss in fber optic
networks, it also could be of interest to
the communications industry.
The novel laser design, reported in
Nature Photonics (doi:10.1038/npho-
ton.2012.217), is expected to add a new
level of precision to research in gravi-
tational wave detection on Earth and in
space, and to precision tests of relativity
as well as fundamental physics research
in cavity quantum electrodynamics and
quantum optomechanics.
The scientists are working to im-
prove the design further. Among other
modifcations, they will attempt to reduce
feedback errors resulting from spurious
amplitude modulation, to suppress noise
from the cryostat, and to experiment with
various optical coatings on the silicon
mirrors. The very thin optical coatings
now remain the only signifcant contribu-
tion to the thermal noise of the cavity, and
new approaches are being investigated
jointly with a group at the University
of Vienna.
MAR
Stable lasers such as the one
reported are already unlocking
some of the mysteries of
minute atomic interactions
that are otherwise hidden.
Jun Ye, Quantum Physics Div.,
JILAs Physical Measurement
Laboratory
T
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a
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K
e
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Diagram of the ultrastable laser devices interior.
1112_TechPulse.indd 24 10/24/12 4:52 PM
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. A needlelike
beam of light that propagates for an
unprecedented distance of 80 m without
spreading could greatly reduce signal loss
for on-chip optical systems and might
eventually aid development of more pow-
erful microprocessors.
The cosine-Gauss plasmon beam,
caused by quasiparticles called surface
plasmons, remains very narrow and con-
trolled along an unprecedented distance,
say a Harvard University-led American
and French team. The surface plasmons
travel in tight confnement with a nano-
structured metal surface. The metallic
stripes that carry these plasmons have
the potential to replace standard copper
electrical interconnects in microproces-
sors, enabling ultrafast on-chip commu-
nications.
Applied physicists from Harvard
School of Engineering and Applied Sci-
ences (SEAS) and from Laboratoire Inter-
disciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne at the
National Center for Scientifc Research
(CNRS) in France both characterized and
created this needle beam, which travels
effciently at the interface of gold and air.
A fundamental problem that has
hindered development of such optical
interconnects is that all waves naturally
spread laterally, a phenomenon known
as diffraction, during propagation. This
reduces the portion of the signal that can
actually be detected.
We have made a major step toward
solving this problem by discovering and
experimentally confrming the existence
of a previously overlooked solution of
Maxwells equations that govern all light
TECH pulse
Plasmon wave propagates for 80 m
with no diffraction
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Researchers at Harvard SEAS have characterized and created a needle beam, or cosine-Gauss plasmon
beam, which travels effciently at the interface of gold and air. Top: simulated results; bottom:
experimental results.
1112_TechPulse.indd 26 10/24/12 4:52 PM
PHOTONICS SPECTRUM
REFERENCE CHART 2012
Presented by Photonics Media
The updated Photonics Spectrum Reference Chart refects the changing technologies in the photonics industry.
This convenient format makes it easy to quickly fnd the information you need.
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$34 each ($39 outside the US). Nonlaminated copies, $19 each ($24 outside the US). All prices include
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28 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
phenomena, said principal investigator
Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace
Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton
Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electri-
cal Engineering at SEAS. The solution
is a highly localized surface plasmon
wave that propagates for a long dis-
tance approximately 80 microns in our
experiments in a straight line without
any diffraction.
To demonstrate, lead author Jiao Lin,
a visiting postdoctoral fellow at SEAS
from Singapore Institute of Manufac-
turing and Technology, and co-author
Patrice Genevet, a research associate in
Capassos group, sculpted two sets of
grooves into a gold flm that was plated
onto the surface of a glass sheet. These
tiny grooves intersect at an angle to form
a metallic grating. When illuminated by a
laser, the device launches two tilted, plane
surface waves, which interfere construc-
tively to create the nondiffracting beam.
Our French colleagues did a beautiful
experiment, using an ultrahigh-resolution
microscope to image the needle-shaped
beam propagating for a long distance
across the gold surface, Genevet said.
Capassos team hopes the fndings will
help develop microprocessors that are
more powerful and energy-effcient.
The fndings were published online
in Physical Review Letters (doi: 10.1103/
physrevlett.109.093904). The work was
partially supported by the Air Force
Offce of Scientifc Research.
TECH pulse
The researchers, led by Federico Capasso, have demonstrated that the needle beam propagates up to 80 m
without diffraction. The advance may help develop ultrafast, energy-effcient microprocessors.
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Surface plasmons: oscillations of
electrons bound to the surface of a
metal. Surface plasmons can be
excited by both electrons and
photons; strong interactions with
photons result in the formation of
surface plasmon polaritons.
1112_TechPulse.indd 28 10/25/12 9:58 AM
DURHAM, N.C., and LONDON
Photonic interactions have been measured
for the frst time on the scale of a single
atom. The ability to quantify the unique
properties of light gives physicists a road
map to precise control of scattering in
metal-based devices such as biosensors
and photonic integrated circuits.
The work, performed at Duke Uni-
versity and Imperial College London,
measures plasmons on an unprecedented
scale, and the researchers believe that
they have characterized the limits of such
surface plasmons on metal. The electro-
magnetic feld enhancement produced
at the nanoscale by surface plasmons
on metal is signifcantly higher than
that achievable with any other material.
Knowing the maximum limit of the feld
enhancement will give researchers an ad-
vantage when working with metal-based
devices that enhance light.
Once you know maximum feld en-
hancement, you can then fgure out the ef-
fciencies of any plasmonic system, said
System measures limits of plasmonic enhancement
An artistic representation of a new flm-nanoparticle plasmonic system that enables the science of light on
a scale of a few tenths of a nanometer. Spherical gold nanoparticles are coupled to a gold flm substrate by
means of an ultrathin layer that forbids the particles from directly touching the flm. Electromagnetic ultrahot
spots are excited in the gaps, the diameter of a typical atom.
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NE W
Instructional Videos Tube Mounting
Components
Application Examples 3D Models
Booth 1323
David R. Smith, William Bevan Professor
of Electrical and Computer Engineering
at Duke. It also allows us to tune the
plasmonic system to get exact predictable
enhancements, now that we know what
is happening at the atomic level. Control
over this phenomenon has deep ramifca-
tions for nonlinear and quantum optics.
Plasmonic devices typically involve
the interactions of electrons between two
on top of the monolayer. Essential to the
experiment was that the distance between
the spheres and the flm could be adjusted
with the precision of a single atom. This
way, they overcame the limitations of
traditional approaches and obtained a
photonic signature with atom-level
resolution.
We were able to demonstrate the
accuracy of our model by studying the
optical scattering from gold nanopar-
ticles interacting with a gold flm, said
Cristian Cirac, a postdoctoral researcher
at Dukes Pratt School of Engineering.
Our results provide a strong experimen-
tal support in setting an upper limit to the
maximum feld enhancement achievable
with plasmonic systems.
The experiments were conducted in
Smiths lab; the team worked with col-
leagues at Imperial College, specifcally
Sir John Pendry, who has long collabo-
rated with Smith.
This paper takes experiment beyond
nano and explores the science of light on
a scale of a few tenths of a nanometer, the
TECH pulse
metal particles separated by a very short
distance. For 40 years, scientists have
been trying to determine what happens
when these particles are brought closer
and closer, at subnanometer distances.
The Duke researchers began with a
thin gold flm coated with an ultrathin
monolayer of organic molecules studded
with precisely controllable carbon chains
and dispersed nanometric gold spheres
Our results provide a strong
experimental support in setting
an upper limit to the maximum
feld enhancement achievable
with plasmonic systems.
Cristian Cirac,
Pratt School of Engineering,
Duke University
diameter of a typical atom, said Pendry,
a physicist and co-director of the Centre
for Plasmonics and Metamaterials at
Imperial College. We hope to exploit
this advance to enable photons, normally
a few hundred nanometers in size, to
interact intensely with atoms, which are
a thousand times smaller.
The work, which appears in Science
(doi: 10.1126/science.1224823) was sup-
ported by the Air Force Offce of Scien-
tifc Research and by the Army Research
Offces Multidisciplinary University
Research Initiative.
1112_TechPulse.indd 30 10/25/12 9:57 AM
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1112_SPIE_PhoWest_Pg31.indd 31 10/25/12 10:13 AM
32 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
EVANSTON, Ill. A new resonator design
that controls both wavelength and beam
quality enables the purest, brightest and
most powerful beams ever from a single-
mode infrared quantum cascade laser.
The work improves the accuracy of the
devices, critical for boosting the standoff
detection of gas, explosives or other haz-
ardous materials to even greater distances.
Almost all chemicals including nerve
gases and toxic industrial materials can
be identifed by infrared absorption in
the 8- to 12-m range, making the wave-
length attractive for military and indus-
trial uses. And the relative transparency
of the atmosphere at these wavelengths
is useful for standoff sensing.
Successful standoff sensing applica-
tions require a high-power, single-mode
laser source with exceptional beam qual-
ity. Incorporating all three qualities into
a single device has presented a signifcant
challenge, and many complex structures
have been proposed with limited success.
Manijeh Razeghi, the Walter P. Murphy
Professor of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science at Northwestern Uni-
versitys McCormick School of Engineer-
ing and Applied Sciences, and colleagues
developed the resonator using a new type
of distributed feedback mechanism called
B-DFB, a simple diffractive feedback in
an angled laser cavity.
The group demonstrated >6-W peak
power with nearly diffraction-limited
beam quality at a 10.4-m wavelength
the highest-power single-mode semicon-
ductor laser demonstrated at a wavelength
>10 m. Greater output power is expected
with further refnement, particularly re-
lated to optimization of the cavity design
and the gain medium.
Our resonator is the most promising
device for creating high-power, single-
mode laser sources with good beam
quality, and it is inexpensive and can
be realized at room temperature, said
Razeghi, who also leads the Center for
Quantum Devices.
The B-DFB development is comple-
mentary to active research efforts within
the Center for Quantum Devices but is not
yet directly funded.
The fndings appeared in Applied Phys-
ics Letters (doi: 10.1063/1.4747447).
TECH pulse
Lasers improved for standoff sensing
A new distributed feedback mechanism called B-DFB has helped in the creation of a new resonator to im-
prove laser-based standoff sensing. (a) Schematic of a B-DFB. (b) Scanning electron microscope image of the
fabricated device. (c) Spectrum. (d) Far feld.
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1112_TechPulse.indd 32 10/24/12 4:52 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 33
BERKELEY, Calif. Mixing x-ray and
optical lightwaves enables observations
of how light interacts with matter on the
atomic scale. The capability can reveal
certain properties of matter, and may
enable the observation of changes during
chemical reactions, such as the making
and breaking of chemical bonds.
Vision, photosynthesis and solar cells
are a few examples of the ways light
changes matter, but how light makes
those changes hasnt been measured on
the atomic scale until now. Mixing x-rays
and optical waves was frst proposed as an
atomic-scale probe of optical interactions
nearly 50 years ago, but has been diffcult
to achieve due to a lack of suffciently
strong x-ray sources.
An international team led by scien-
tists at Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory used the Linac Coherent
Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC National
Accelerator Laboratory to mix a pulse
of superbright x-rays with a pulse of
lower-frequency optical light from an
ordinary laser. By aiming the combined
pulses at a diamond sample, the team was
able to measure the optical manipulation
of chemical bonds in the crystal directly,
on the scale of individual atoms.
X-ray and optical wave mixing is an
x-ray diffraction technique similar to
that long used in solving the structures
of proteins and other biological molecules
in crystalline form. But in contrast to
conventional diffraction, wave mixing
selectively probes how light reshapes
the distribution of charge in a material.
It does this by imposing a distinction
between x-rays scattered from optically
perturbed charge and x-rays scattered
from unperturbed charge.
You can think of the electrons orbit-
ing atoms in a material as belonging to
one of two groups, said lead scientist
Thornton Glover of Berkeley Lab. The
active electrons are the outer, loosely
bound valence electrons that participate
in chemical reactions and form chemical
bonds. The spectator electrons are the
ones tightly wrapped around the nucleus
at the atoms core.
In a typical scattering experiment, all
electrons scatter with comparable strength,
making the core electrons indistinguish-
able from the valence electrons, he said.
So x-rays can tell you where atoms
are, but they usually cant reveal how
the chemically important valence charge
is distributed, Glover said. However,
when light is also present with the x-rays,
it wiggles some portion of the chemically
relevant valence charge. X-rays scatter
from this optically driven charge, and
in doing so, the x-ray photon energy is
changed.
The modifed x-rays have a frequency
(or energy) equal to the sum of the
frequencies of both the original x-ray
pulse and the overlapping optical pulse.
The change to a slightly higher energy
provides a distinct signature that distin-
guishes wave mixing from conventional
x-ray diffraction.
Conventional diffraction does not
provide direct information on how the
valence electrons respond to light, nor on
the electric felds that arise in a material
because of this response, Glover said.
But with x-ray and optical wave mixing,
the energy-modifed x-rays selectively
probe a materials optically responsive
valence charge.
Mixing x-ray and optical lightwaves
creates a new beam that shows up as a
slightly higher-energy peak on a graph of
x-ray diffraction, a process called sum
frequency generation. That process re-
quires an intense x-ray source that was
unavailable until free-electron lasers
such as the LCLS came online. The LCLS
produces ultrashort pulses of high-energy
hard x-rays millions of times brighter
than synchrotron light sources.
Glovers team chose diamond to
demonstrate x-ray and optical wave
mixing because diamonds structure and
electronic properties are already well-
known. With this test bed, wave mixing
has proved its ability to study light-matter
interactions on the atomic scale and has
opened new opportunities for research.
The easiest kinds of diffraction exper-
iments are with crystals, and theres lots
to learn, Glover said. For example, light
can be used to alter the magnetic order in
advanced materials, yet its often unclear
just what the light does, on the micro-
scopic scale, to initiate these changes.
The work was published in Nature (doi:
10.1038/nature11340).
X-ray, optical wave mix probes light at atomic scale
1112_TechPulse.indd 33 10/24/12 4:52 PM
34 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
BRISTOL, UK A new silicon-based ap-
proach to quantum computing could make
the technology easier to mass-produce.
Scientists at the University of Bristols
Centre for Quantum Photonics, leading
an international collaboration, made the
leap from glass-based circuits to silicon
by developing quantum chips from the
workhorse semiconductor material used
to build electrical processors in all com-
puters and smartphones.
Using silicon to manipulate light, we
have made circuits over 1000 times smaller
than current glass-based technologies,
said Mark Thompson, deputy director of
the Centre for Quantum Photonics. It will
be possible to mass-produce this kind of
chip using standard microelectronic tech-
niques, and the much smaller size means
it can be incorporated into technology and
devices that would not previously have
been compatible with glass chips.
Unlike conventional silicon chips that
work by controlling electrical current,
however, these circuits manipulate single
particles of light to perform calculations.
They exploit strange quantum mechanical
effects such as superposition (the ability
for a particle to be in two places at once)
and entanglement (strong correlations
between particles separated by even vast
distances).
This is very much the start of a new
feld of quantum engineering, where
state-of-the-art microchip manufactur-
ing techniques are used to develop new
quantum technologies and will eventually
realize quantum computers that will help
us understand the most complex scientifc
problems, Thompson said.
The team announced its results at
the 2012 British Science Festival in
September.
TECH pulse
Doctoral student Erman Engin measures the
performance of a silicon quantum chip developed
at the University of Bristols Centre for Quantum
Photonics to replace glass-based circuits.
An example of the silicon quantum chip next to a 20-pence coin.
Silicon could enable mass production
of quantum computing
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1112_TechPulse.indd 34 10/24/12 4:52 PM
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1112_OSA_OFC_Pg35.indd 35 10/25/12 10:13 AM
COVENTRY, UK LED-based wireless
optical networks in vehicles could sig-
nifcantly cut the weight of wiring under
the hood, not only saving on fuel, but also
allowing passengers to tap into visible
or infrared spectrum bands in overhead
lighting to watch movies or play music.
Radio-frequency (RF) signals are used
for smartphones, for hands-free headsets
for the driver and passengers, and for
multimedia-related applications such as
tablet PCs, but RF communication suffers
from a congested bandwidth. In contrast,
wireless systems beneft from an unlim-
ited and unregulated spectrum.
Although optical wireless has been
explored for some time in aviation,
scientists in the University of Warwicks
engineering department are exploring its
use in private vehicles. It can be used to
communicate between parts inside a cars
engine compartment, such as between
temperature sensors and the engine man-
agement system, or between the brake and
speed-control systems.
TECH pulse
Optical wireless can simply use a basic
LED, such as those used in fashlights, to
send data. In situations where it is best for
the beam to be invisible, infrared light can
be used instead. It can be installed in the
overhead lights for in-car entertainment.
The major advantage of optical wire-
less is the weight of wiring it can remove
from cars, translating into signifcant fuel
savings over the lifetime of a vehicle, the
researchers say. But it also reduces manu-
facturing costs, as LED and infrared light
sources are not expensive to make, and it
cuts back on the expense of maintaining
and repairing wires.
Combined, all these factors spell
signifcant advantages over the current
systems for in-car data, which, in the
engine, are generally copper wire-based
or carbon fber.
Optical wireless is relatively unknown
at the moment. But its not hard to imag-
ine a day when passengers can watch TV
streamed through a beam coming from
their overhead light, or when parts of the
engine can talk to each other without
wires, said UW professor Roger Green.
We believe that this technology is poised
to come into its own.
Other benefts include its lack of elec-
tromagnetic interference, he said.
The engineers presented their work at
the International Conference on Transpar-
ent Optical Networks this summer at the
university.
The University of Warwicks Roger Green is working
to create LED-based optical wireless networks.
Wireless optical networks could make vehicles lighter
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1112_TechPulse.indd 36 10/24/12 4:52 PM
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Expert Briefngs
In-depth presentations and interactive
Q&A featuring top industry experts.
Coming November 15
Photonics in Space Applications
1 p.m. EST/ 10 a.m. PST/ 1700 GMT/UTC
Hosted by Photonics Media
Dr. Joseph M. Howard, lead optical designer,
James Webb Space Telescope, NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center: The Optics of the James Webb
Space Telescope.
Dr. Alexander M. Rubenchik, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.: The Promise of Pulsed
Lasers in Removing Orbital Debris.
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FEbRUARy: Industry Trends Analysis;
Lasers in Optical Communications
MARCH: Trends in biophotonic Imaging
SpaceWebinarAd_PG38.indd 38 10/26/12 10:51 AM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 39
Space
If its to be our next home, optics
and photonics will have been there
long before our fights get in.
There are those who believe that our future lies somewhere beyond
planet Earth.
So, is that what its all about all the telescopes and
rovers, shuttles and space stations, cameras and images fnding
a new home for our species?
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1112PolishingTelescopeOptics.indd 49 10/24/12 4:56 PM
50 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
n Space Optics
found that computer-controlled polishing,
in conjunction with stressed-lap polish-
ing, worked well.
Coming up with the process involved
some trial and error, but the technique is
in place now, and the frst off-axis seg-
ment for the telescope has been produced.
At the same time, scientists developed
several independent measurement meth-
ods, which required building a 28-m-tall
tower. The effort was necessary for the
metrology required to guide the polishing
and smoothing process to completion.
Multiple tests serve as checks against
potential errors that might otherwise go
undiscovered until the telescope sees
frst light. Devising the tests and carry-
ing them out with certainty wasnt easy
because the individual mirrors resemble
saddle-shaped potato chips. Testing them
required the creation of a wavefront with
the same unusual shape, Martin said.
We now have a better appreciation for
the challenge of making large off-axis
aspheres, and we have all the tools and
techniques in place, he said of the suc-
cessful fabrication effort.
hank.hogan@photonics.com
Top photo: Rigid-conformal lap polishing of the frst of six off-axis segments of the Giant Magellan Telescope.
Polishing is done using an orbital motion and dwell-time control for preferential removal of high regions.
Above: Beryllium mirrors created by a large computer-controlled optical surfacing operation, as is seen here,
will fy aboard the James Webb Space Telescope.
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1112PolishingTelescopeOptics.indd 50 10/24/12 4:56 PM
Read
the industrys
LEADING
magazines
Because staying informed has never been so critical.
To subscribe, visit: photonics.com/subscribe.
Available in print and digital formats.
To contribute to Photonics Media publications, submit a 100-word abstract to
Managing Editor Laura Marshall at laura.marshall@photonics.com for consideration.
Photonics news from your industry
and your part of the world.
Industry'sLEADINGmagazine_PG51.indd 51 10/25/12 10:06 AM
52 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Storage Keeps Pace
with Data from Space
As imaging technology improves, space researchers
are accumulating incredible amounts of image data
all of which must be transmitted and stored for analysis.
BY MARIE FREEBODY
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
T
here are few felds in which the
challenge of image storage and anal-
ysis is more keenly felt than in space
research. From ground-based telescopes
to instruments in the outer reaches of the
solar system, the infux of image data that
is continually being generated is stag-
gering. And this volume is set to grow as
technologies for space exploration become
more sophisticated.
As NASAs Mars Curiosity rover busies
itself with its task at hand, it joins the
thousands of other instruments that are
gathering images and beaming them back
to control centers for storage and analysis.
Meanwhile, scientists on the ground are
feverishly working on new ways to cope
with this growing infux of image data
being generated for space research.
Over the past decade, instrumenta-
tion fown on planetary robotic explo-
ration missions has produced massive
amounts of data. The Planetary Data
System [PDS], NASAs offcial archive of
scientifc results from US planetary mis-
sions, has seen an approximate fftyfold
increase in the amount of data to nearly
half a petabyte, said Daniel J. Crichton,
principal computer scientist and manager
at the PDS Engineering Node at NASAs
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The
most signifcant part of this volume is
imaging data.
But the true problem lies not in the
storage of this data but in its transfer and
subsequent handling. This is a particular
challenge for scientists who do not have
access to the computational power housed
in astronomical facilities. A re-exami-
nation of how to scale the computation is
required, as are better tools for browsing,
accessing, visualizing and analyzing mas-
sive amounts of data.
The exponential growth of hard disk
sizes by far outpaces the growth of the
detectors, effectively making storage
cheaper than it was 20 years ago, said Dr.
Jeremy R. Walsh, archive scientist at the
worlds largest ground-based observa-
The frst released VST image shows the spectacular star-forming region Messier 17, also known as the
Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula, as it has never been seen before. The data were processed using the
Astro-WISE software system developed by E.A. Valentijn and collaborators at Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
For even more striking space images we couldnt ft them
all in print visit Photonics.com.
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November 2012 Photonics Spectra 53
tory, the European Southern Observatory
(ESO). It is probably more of an issue for
the individual astronomer or group to fnd
room and work with the TB [terabytes] of
data in their project.
The latest addition to ESOs Very Large
Telescope (VLT) is its Survey Telescope
(VST), which uses a mosaic camera con-
taining 32 4096 3 2048 CCD detectors
for which large-scale reduction of data
is needed. This mammoth task is carried
out by dedicated facilities around Europe
with suffcient computer power and disk
storage.
In the coming years, new instruments
will impose even greater demands on
computer capability. Data cubes larger
than 2 GB will be produced from the
forthcoming MUSE (Multi Unit Spec-
troscopic Explorer) instrument on the
VLT, and such a large volume of data
cannot be easily processed on current
standard desktop or laptop computers.
To exploit this data, users will demand
more powerful machines; however,
affordable computer hardware typically
lags one or two years behind the delivery
of these data sets.
Image data archives
But its not just sophisticated future
missions that pose a problem for todays
space scientists. Decades of space re-
search have generated immense archives
of image data that must be accessed in a
meaningful way. Astronomers conven-
tionally tag imaging data using a set of
standards for annotation that helps to cat-
alog the image according to key features
and attributes. Known as metadata or
data about the data, it helps astronomers
retrieve the correct images they want for
analysis and use.
Sometimes, these metadata account
for huge amounts of information that
have to be stored and accessed through
the database, said Dr. Pedro Osuna, head
of the Science Archives and Virtual Ob-
servatory team at ESAs European Space
Astronomy Centre [ESAC]. Current
database systems allow for big amounts
of metadata storage, but are not enough
to cope with the expected amounts that
missions like Gaia or Euclid will deliver.
Therefore, we are currently researching
in areas of parallel database comput-
ing, Software as a Service technologies,
NoSQL access to data (Hadoop, Map-
Reduce), etcetera.
Gaia, which is set for launch in 2013, is
an ambitious mission to chart a 3-D map
of the Milky Way, while Euclid is a mis-
sion to map the dark universe and is due
for launch in 2020.
Commercial and noncommercial data-
base software companies are spending a
lot of effort in designing systems that can
cope with huge amounts of metadata in
databases, Osuna said.
Most of todays astronomical archives
use a hard disk to store data, often with
multiple copies and tape backup systems
as tertiary safe storage. Data reduction
(the removal of the instrument signa-
ture and conversion to physical units)
is done in two ways: Observatories run
pipelines that automatically process data
and deliver partly reduced products to
astronomers; alternatively, and addition-
ally, reduction is done on the astronomers
desktop, typically with scripts and legacy
code.
Examples of such systems include the
Image Reduction and Analysis Facility,
which is a large and widely used astro-
nomical reduction and analysis package
in optical astronomy. But as ESOs Walsh
VST image of the largest globular cluster in the sky, Omega Centauri. The very wide feld of view of VST and
its powerful camera OmegaCAM can encompass even the faint outer regions of this spectacular object.
The data were processed using the VST-Tube system developed by A. Grado and collaborators at the
INAF-Capodimonte Observatory.
Astronomers are typically
very eclectic and will use
whatever piece of code is
best for their particular use,
be it from a large package
or a dedicated task freely
available.
Dr. Jeremy R. Walsh,
ESO archive scientist
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Metadata is data about the data that helps astronomers
retrieve the images they want for analysis.
Feat Storage.indd 53 10/24/12 5:05 PM
54 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
n Data Storage
points out, the software is more than 30
years old.
The ESO-MIDAS [Munich Image
Data Analysis System] ..., developed by
ESO but no longer fully supported, is of
comparable vintage, he said. IDL is also
popular and has a large library of astro-
nomical applications. Full replacements
of these systems are not contemplated on
account of their large size (many millions
of lines of code). Python is widely used
both for scripting and for the development
of systems from scratch.
Astronomers are typically very eclec-
tic and will use whatever piece of code is
best for their particular use, be it from a
large package or a dedicated task freely
available. For astrophysical analysis of
reduced data, most astronomers write
their own codes (e.g., [using] C, Python,
Fortran, etcetera).
Cloud computing
Although ESAs Osuna is facing big
data space missions such as Gaia and
Euclid, he believes that the solution does
not lie only in developing new hardware.
In the case of Euclid, the data download
rate is going to be about 100 GB per day,
totaling about 100 PB every three years.
The storage and processing of the data
are posing big technological challenges,
not only from the point of view of hard-
ware, but also from a system architectural
angle, where new distributed systems will
have to be implemented to cope with such
amounts of data storage and processing,
Osuna said.
This new portrait of the nearby spiral galaxy
NGC 253 demonstrates that the VST, the newest
telescope at ESOs Paranal Observatory,
provides broad views of the sky while also
offering impressive image quality. The data
were processed using the VST-Tube system devel-
oped by A. Grado and collaborators at
the INAF-Capodimonte Observatory.
This montage shows six cutouts from the new VST image of the star-forming region Messier 17,
also known as the Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula.
The left eye of the Mast Camera on NASAs Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rovers
arm. The mechanism on the right in this image is Curiositys dust-removal tool, a motorized wire brush.
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The data download rate for the Euclid mission will be around
100 GB per day, or around 100 PB every three years.
Feat Storage.indd 54 10/26/12 2:40 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 55
For NASAs Crichton and colleague
Lisa Gaddis, manager of the PDS Imaging
Node, the crux of the matter is to develop
a system that supports scalability at all
levels, from safe and effcient storage of
data to automation of mechanisms to ac-
cess, visualize, download and analyze it.
One of the major trends [at NASA] has
been the push to make services available
online, Crichton said. Over the next
decade, we anticipate the need to continue
to improve mechanisms to bring data
from multiple instruments and missions
together. This will build on our efforts to
re-architect the PDS so that it supports
capabilities such as on-the-fy image pro-
cessing, correlation of data from multiple
instruments and missions, and navigation
through a wide variety of visualization
and analysis tools.
A simple way of coping with the grow-
ing infux of image data is through loss-
less compression (like gzip). This often
is used by archives to save space, but the
data must be unpacked before it can be
worked with; tile compression allows ac-
cess to the data in compressed form and is
gaining popularity.
Lossy compression of data with very
high compression ratios is being dis-
cussed, but acceptance from the commu-
nity would be necessary before employing
such techniques, said Jonas Haase, ar-
chive specialist at ESO. Network speeds
have not followed the same growth trends
as hard disks and CPUs [central process-
ing units], which will make it somewhat
harder to offer convenient data access to
the astronomers in the future.
Current data rates are still in the realm
where all necessary data processing in
an archive setting can be performed in
clusters of machines or small grids. Some
projects are pooling their resources in
larger grid projects to save in the long run
and to be able to scale up in the future.
CANFAR [Canadian Advanced Net-
work for Astronomical Research]/Canarie
Inc. is an example of that. ESA/ESAC has
two grids, one of which can be used by
the community, ESOs Walsh said.
Although some initiatives use grid
computing, large-scale use of cloud
computing has not yet made a mark on
astronomy. But as data volume grows, the
need for more automated methods for data
extraction increases. Along with increas-
ing data volume, cloud computing might
ing and visualizing scientifc results,
NASAs Crichton said. Computation can
help improve the ability to visualize and
browse through massive data by paral-
lelizing much of the work required to
properly subset and tile imaging data.
marie.freebody@photonics.com
be an option if it can be leveraged to pro-
vide mechanisms for scalable storage and
for computation.
Data that are properly formatted and
cartographically registered for various
planetary bodies for example, Mars
will help signifcantly in mining, extract-
Artists impression of the Gaia satellite, which will be the most accurate optical astronomy satellite
ever built. Due for launch in 2013, it will continuously scan the sky for at least fve years.
An artists impression of Euclid, which will map the dark universe and which is expected to launch in 2020.
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Feat Storage.indd 55 10/26/12 2:40 PM
Tech Feature
56 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
From the simplest broadband an-
tirefection coatings used on eyeglasses
and camera lenses to the complex coatings
used in civilian and military lasers, optical
fber devices and high-brightness LEDs,
optical thin flms are to be found every-
where. Although we may not be aware of
their presence, thin-flm coatings enable
commercialization and effcient operation
of optical devices that simply would not be
possible otherwise.
Mass-production techniques including
plasma ion-assisted evaporation and sput-
ter already enable manufacture of high-
quality optical layers. The thin-flm engi-
neer can select from a number of existing
control techniques according to the optical
application and the hardware installed on
the manufacturing equipment, but these
all have limitations. For some complex
coatings in new emerging applications,
even very small variations in deposition
conditions may drastically reduce pro-
duction yields. The time has come to add
a new weapon to the arsenal of thin-flm
control techniques.
Industrial production tools that think for
themselves have fnally arrived. Such tools
will integrate all the necessary steps from
the frst theoretical flm design to creating
and manufacturing a recipe with real-time
automated re-optimization. The shorter
development times, the increase in yields
and the ultimate reduction of thin-flm
production costs could open up new cost-
effective applications for optical coatings.
Conventional monitoring techniques
Quartz monitoring (Figure 1) is the sim-
plest and most established technique for
controlling thin-flm layers. It relies on
measuring the change in oscillation fre-
quency of a quartz crystal as it is coated
alongside the optical substrates. This
change in frequency can be calibrated
according to the type of material being
coated and the equivalent flm thickness
calculated as deposition continues until
the layer is terminated at the target value.
Although indirect in that it doesnt
measure optical properties directly, the
technique is easy to implement with sim-
ple operation and low hardware costs. Re-
cent improvements using 6-MHz crystals
and higher sampling rates have improved
performance when depositing thin lay-
ers in particular, and quartz monitoring
therefore remains a valuable measurement
technique when overall stack designs are
relatively simple and production toler-
ances fairly wide.
Optical monitoring
In its simplest form, optical monitoring
involves measuring the intensity of light
refected from or transmitted through a
test glass sitting alongside the substrate
as it gets coated (Figure 2). The measure-
ment is made for a specifed wavelength
by integrating a monochromator into the
setup. Each layer is terminated as the mea-
sured intensity gets as close as possible to
target maxima/minima precalculated for
each layer using thin-flm design software
before the process starts. A new test glass
can be selected for each layer of the coat-
ing, and the glass itself may be heated to
simulate coating conditions seen by the
substrates in hot processes.
Real-time technology helps manufacturers produce better thin flms
with less downtime, higher yields and lower costs.
BY ALLAN JAUNZENS
EVATEC LTD.
In Situ Method Optimizes
Optical Coatings
Figure 1. Quartz monitoring may be indirect because it doesnt measure optical properties themselves,
but it is easy to implement with simple operation and low hardware costs. Here, a quartz and optical
monitoring head.
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.
Quartz monitoring relies on measuring the change in oscillation frequency
of a quartz crystal as it is coated alongside the optical substrates.
Feat Evatec.indd 56 10/24/12 5:07 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 57
Relative to crystal monitoring, this
technique offers the advantages of direct
measurement of the optical performance
and excellent signal-to-noise ratios, and
the test glasses can be retained easily for
future reference. However, hardware costs
are an order of magnitude (or more) higher,
and the user know-how required to get the
best performance is much higher.
Broadband optical monitoring
Enjoying widespread use in the past
decade particularly, broadband monitor-
ing allows not just one wavelength but
the whole spectrum to be checked. The
receiver used in standard monitoring
is replaced by a spectrophotometer with
a temperature-stabilized CCD array. In
some cases, it is possible to measure the
actual substrate rather than a test glass to
give the most direct feedback on the coat-
ing as it is deposited.
In typical comparisons with quartz
monitoring using just single dielectric lay-
ers, the user could expect termination ac-
curacies two times better using broadband
optical monitoring. Although it is the most
complex technique used in production to
date, the enhanced accuracy translates into
edge accuracies and repeatabilities of less
than 0.2 percent, even for complex multi-
layer coatings and nonconsecutive produc-
tion runs.
However, with ever-tighter tolerances
demanded by new consumer and military
applications, even these small variations
in deposition conditions can have sig-
nifcant effects on production yield. Both
standard and broadband optical monitor-
ing approaches involve making a theo-
1. Layer
Deposition
2.
Check
Spectrum
3. Recalculate Remaining
Layers or Continue
Without Changes
The
Re-optimization
Loop
Process
Start
Process
End
PS Nov 12
FEAT Evatec
Figure 3
Lisa
Figure 2. Optical monitoring offers direct measurement of optical performance,
and test glasses can be retained easily for future reference. Here, an optical
monitoring setup in a typical evaporation system.
Figure 3. In online or in situ re-optimization, the frst layer of the coating is
deposited using broadband optical monitoring for termination. Then the actual
measured refection spectrum is compared with the precalculated target spectrum
before real-time process changes are made downstream, if necessary. Here, a
diagram of a re-optimization loop.
Figure 4. In three case studies, thin flms were coated using DC or mid-frequency AC sputtering. The system
included plasma emission monitoring for control of reactive gas to enable high coating rates with low
absorption and an optical broadband monitoring system for in situ direct measurement of the substrates.
Here, a diagram of the experimental setup.
Traditional optical monitoring involves measuring the intensity
of light refected from or transmitted through
a test glass sitting alongside the substrate as it is coated.
Feat Evatec.indd 57 10/24/12 5:07 PM
452 West 1260 North / Orem, UT 84057 USA/ Toll Free: 1.800.758.3110 / www.moxtek.com ISO 9001:2008
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) delivers
ultrahigh-brightness broadband light from 170 nm to 2100 nm, with a
lifetime of more than 10 times that of traditional xenon and deuterium
lamps. Its high-effciency ellipsoidal collector delivers light into a
standard SMA fber connector. The EQ-99FC is ideal for use in advanced
spectroscopic, imaging, monitoring and analytical applications.
(781) 939-0763
info@energetiq.com
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Laser Wavelength Chart
Exciton is dedicated to providing its customers with the highest-quality
laser dyes on the market today. To assist its customers in choosing laser
dyes, Exciton offers a free four-color laser wavelength chart, an essential
reference for your laboratory or offce wall.
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info@exciton.com
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Vacuum Precision Positioning Systems
PIs new line of PI miCos motorized precision positioners is available
for high-vacuum and UHV as well as for cryogenic applications.
LinearStages
RotationStages
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1112_Spotlight.indd 68 10/24/12 5:17 PM
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 69
Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources
High-Accuracy Laser Wavelength Meters
The model 621 from Bristol Instruments measures absolute
wavelength of CW lasers to an accuracy as high as 0.0001 nm. It
is for scientists and engineers who need the reliable accuracy that
is ensured by continuous calibration with a built-in wavelength
standard. The result is the most meaningful experimental data.
Operation is available from 375 nm to 12 m.
(585) 924-2620
info@bristol-inst.com
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High-Stability Optical Spectrometers
Mightexs HRS series compact optical spectrometers offer superb
temperature and long-term stability, and they have a standard SMA fber
connector with an interchangeable entrance slit. With a 100-mm focal
length, the spectrometers feature subnanometer resolution and high
throughput. Powered by USB2.0, the spectrometers also come with
external triggering, GPIO ports and a full-featured SDK for OEM
applications.
(925) 218-1885
sales@mightex.com
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Recirculating Coolers
JULABOs F250 and F500 recirculating coolers provide cooling
capacities of 250 and 500 W. The units feature easy operation
and high-quality components for years of trouble-free operation.
Contact JULABO today to choose the unit for your laser, detector
and photonics applications.
(800) 458-5226
info@julabo.com
www.julabo.com
Mid-IR Optical Isolators
For Quantum Cascade Lasers
ModelFIO-5-4.5[Tunable(4.4to4.8)m]
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Transmittance>80%
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info@innpho.com
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SP30 Structured Lighting
Unlike most other structured lighting, the SP30 is capable of doing the
things you have in mind, including: 3-D profling, alignment, stereo vision
and targeting.
Any custom pattern achievable Built-in constant current driver Available
in most wavelengths Also is available in Strobe only OverDrive ODSP30.
If the structured lights youve been looking at are more about limitations
than versatile solutions, then Smart Vision Lights would like to suggest
our SP30. The SP30 is capable of projecting any light pattern for your
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1112_Spotlight.indd 69 10/24/12 5:17 PM
70 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Lasers, Laser Accessories & Light Sources
Laser Safety Enclosures
Beamstopr has been manufacturing laser safety barriers since 1991.
All Beamstopr products are compliant with ANSI regulations to confne
stray laser plume for Class 3B and 4 lasers. Beamstopr standard
products include:
laserbarriercurtains
laserbarrierscreens
laserbarrierwindowcovers
custom-designedproducts
Contact us for pricing based on your specifcations.
(216)831-8287
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New sCMOS Camera
The new Zyla 5.5 megapixel scientifc CMOS (sCMOS) camera is ideal for
research and OEM usage. Zyla sCMOS offers a 100 fps rate, rolling and
snapshot(global)shuttermodesandultra-lownoiseperformanceinalight,
compactandcost-effectivedesign.Zylaachievesdownto1.2electronrms
read noise and can read out the 5.5 megapixel sensor at a sustained 100 fps
througha10-tapCameraLinkinterface.Ahighlycost-effective3-tap
versionisalsoavailable,offeringupto30fps.
(800)296-1579
info@andor.com
Andor.com/zyla
Vacuum Valves Manufacturing
VATistheworldwideleaderinvacuumvalvesmanufacturingandtechnology.
VATproductsinclude:anglevalves,gatevalves,transfervalves,control
valves,throttlevalves,isolationvalves,pendulumvalvesandvalves
designed for custom applications. More than 1000 standard products are
listed in our catalog.
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Earth Observation with SWIR Line-Scan Cameras
XenicsXlin-1.7-3000detector,coveringtheSWIRrange,isperfectly
suitedforEarthobservation:
Low-noiseperformance
Selectableframeratesupto10kHz
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selection to adapt to illumination conditions
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USB3.0 Industrial Cameras
MightexsUSB3.0camerasaredesignedforapplicationsthatrequire
high-speedimagingand/ormultiplecameras.Thesecamerashave
a data transfer rate of 400 MB/second, which is 10 times the USB2.0,
3.5timestheGigEand6timestheFirewire-800speed.Thecameras
alsohavetrigger-in,strobe-out,andfourGPIOpins.Furthermore,
afull-featuredSDKisprovidedforOEMapplications.
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1112_Spotlight.indd 70 10/25/12 10:02 AM
1 2 3
4 5 6
November 2012 Photonics Spectra 71
Single-Longitudinal-Mode Lasers
Two new Verdi G lasers from Coherent Inc.
offer single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) output. The
Verdi G SLM series lasers deliver a linewidth of ,5
MHz, which corresponds to a coherence length of
tens of meters. They are offered with a choice of
2 and 5 W of output power at 532 nm. They are
based on optically pumped semiconductor laser
(OPSL) technology, which is characterized by low
noise, high electrical effciency, a small platform,
high stability and reliability. Single-frequency
OPSLs deliver mode-hop-free output over hours of
continuous operation. The lasers are targeted at
applications where narrow linewidth and/or long
coherence length are critical, such as interferome-
try and holography. They also are suitable for atom
cooling and trapping.
tech.sales@coherent.com
UV Multispectral Camera
The SpectroCam-UV camera from Ocean
Thin Films provides sensitive detection from
the UV across the visible spectrum and into the
near-IR. Suitable for high-level research, the
confgurable video-speed camera has eight inter-
changeable customer-defned flters. Users can test
many flter options in combination with the image
processing software. The sensor can be paired
with flters available throughout the UVA, UVB and
UVC wavelengths. With a full range of standard
flter wavelengths and custom optical flters, the
camera supports biomedical, forensic, agricultural,
industrial and surveillance applications.
info@oceanthinflms.com
Laser Diode Modules
Two laser diodes for heavy-duty industrial
applications have been announced by BEA Lasers
Inc. The MIL-300RH 650-nm red and MIL-300-GH
532-nm green laser diodes are used in metal-form-
ing, alignment, punch presses, welding, position-
ing, drilling and targeting. They include a 12-mm
connector ftted to a black zinc-coated, stainless-
steel laser diode housing; a choice of optics that
includes standard round, line or cross, or a target;
a black polyvinyl chloride-coated 2-m-long cable
with the choice of a straight or 90 connector;
and a 3.3-VDC switching power supply. The rugged
industrial lasers are liquid-resistant and built to
withstand vibration, chemicals, impact and dust as
well as most other harsh environmental conditions.
info@bealasers.com
Blazed Concave Grating
Spectrum Scientifc Inc. has expanded
its concave gratings line. A new blaze wavelength
of 250 nm for the 1200-g/mm concave grating is
designed for use in UV/VIS spectrophotometers
and fat-feld imaging spectrographs. The propri-
etary blazing technique maximizes the energy over
the required spectral range, while reducing stray
light. Effciencies .80% can be achieved at the
blaze wavelength without the need for ion etching.
Compared with plane-blazed holographic gratings,
concave gratings can serve as a primary dispersive
and focusing element, while reducing the number
of optical elements and increasing throughput and
instrument effciency.
sales@ssioptics.com
Negative GDD Mirrors
Negative group delay dispersion (GDD)
mirrors for industrial ultrafast lasers with output in
the VIS or NIR have been introduced by REO Inc.
They produce GDD values of 25000 fs
2
with ac-
curacy of 610%. They are suitable for balancing out
self-phase modulation and correcting for residual
net dispersion caused by other components in the
laser cavity. Proprietary superpolishing techniques
achieve microroughness levels below 0.5 , result-
ing in a scattering loss of ,5 ppm. The substrates
are coated using ion beam sputtering with a pro-
prietary deposition monitoring technology to yield
layer precision and low absorption. The mirrors are
supplied on fused silica substrates.
markd@reoinc.com
Digital IR Video Thermometer
The OS-VIR50 digital infrared video ther-
mometer launched by Omega Engineering Inc.
features dual lasers that indicate the ideal measur-
ing distance where the two laser points converge
to a 25.4-mm target spot. It offers a color LED bar
graph for viewing trends, a type-K thermocouple
input and a trigger lock function for continuous
readings. Adjustable emissivity increases mea-
surement accuracy, and adjustable high/low set
points have audible alarm alerts. The thermometer
measures air temperature and relative humidity,
and features a USB interface and auto power-off.
It makes noncontact (infrared) and contact (ther-
mocouple) measurements. The built-in camera
offers still-image and video capture.
sales@omega.com
new
PRODUCTS
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1112NewProdLeads.indd 71 10/24/12 5:13 PM
72 Photonics Spectra November 2012 www.photonics.com
Infrared and Broadband Optics
Meller Optics Inc. offers custom-fabricated
infrared and broadband optics that match the
material and surface characteristics required for
specifc applications, based upon wavelength and
environmental factors, including /4 and /10 wave
surfaces and 10-5 scratch-dig fnishes. In plano-
convex, concave and meniscus confgurations,
sizes can range from - to 6-in. outer diameter or
diagonal, with tolerances to 0.005 in. and thick-
ness to 0.002 in. Conforming to MIL-PRF-13830,
the optics can be made from sapphire and spinel
for demanding environments; germanium for
detector and sensor applications; zinc selenide
and sulfde for lasers, medical instruments and
forward-looking infrared; calcium and magnesium
fuoride for nonhygroscopic front-surface applica-
tions; and from silicon for mirrors and refectors.
Antirefection, partial and total refective coatings
are available.
steve@melleroptics.com
Scientifc ICCD Cameras
Launched by Princeton Instruments, the PI-MAX4
intensifed CCD (ICCD) fber optically coupled
cameras for time-resolved scientifc imaging and
spectroscopy are controlled via proprietary 64-bit
LightField software. Available in 1024 3 1024-pixel
and 1024 3 256-pixel formats, they use ultrafast
electronics to achieve <500-ps gating. Both include
a precision timing generator with 10-ps resolution
and use a high-bandwidth GigE data interface.
Programmable trigger inputs and outputs eliminate
the need for an external timing generator. The
1024i model achieves 27 fps at 1k 3 1k resolution
and has a double image feature to capture two full-
resolution images for applications such as particle
imaging velocimetry. Applications include fuores-
cence lifetime imaging microscopy, time-resolved
imaging and spectroscopy, plasma diagnostics and
planar laser-induced fuorescence.
info@princetoninstruments.com
UV Starter Kit
The Hyperspec UV starter kit from Headwall Pho-
tonics Inc. provides everything needed to evaluate
and categorize the spectral composition of materi-
als and samples in the UV region. The hyperspec-
tral imaging system is designed for laboratory
researchers in forensics, document and currency
verifcation, and in biotechnology analysis. It is sup-
plied with a Hyperspec UV imaging spectrometer
optimized for the 250- to 600-nm UV-VIS range. A
gantry assembly, calibrated power-stabilized light-
ing, a linear stage and controller, and a processor
engine loaded with the companys Hyperspec soft-
ware complete the system. A proprietary Hyperspec
data processing unit manages incoming data, while
an optional enclosure eliminates the effect of stray
light. Both are available as accessories. Other ap-
plications include chemical analysis, and food and
pharmaceutical inspection.
information@headwallphotonics.com
Benchtop Fluorometer
The benchtop Dual-FL manufactured by Horiba Sci-
entifc combines a CCD-based spectrofuorometer
and a spectrophotometer for simultaneous rapid
collection of fuorescence and absorbance data.
It addresses the need for speed when collecting
spectral data and complete excitation-emission
matrices. It features spectral rates of 80,000
nm/s. With a sensitive cooled back-illuminated
CCD detector for rapid collection of emission spec-
tra, and an excitation double monochromator for
good stray light rejection, the device offers a signal-
to-noise ratio >20,000:1 rms. The simultaneous
absorbance data can be used to correct inner-flter
effects in measurement of high-concentration
samples, eliminating the need for time-consuming
dilutions.
joanne.lowy@horiba.com
Cutting/Scribing on Thin Flat Glass
Precision Glass & Optics offers glass cutting and
scribing on thin fat glass substrates measuring up
to 600 3 600 mm using the Gen-3 Phoenix-600
machine from TLC International. The machine
provides close-tolerance singulation of 0.075- to
3-mm fat technical glass substrates, with repeat-
able accuracies of 0.0508 mm for rectilinear (X-Y)
and 0.0762 mm for circular and free-form-shaped
parts single sheet or laminate using carbide
and diamond wheels. Laminated glass parts also
can be processed for avionics, aerospace, automo-
tive, digital x-ray, entertainment lighting, consumer
electronics display and satellite applications. In
tasks that require thinner, lighter and stronger fat
glass, such as touch screens, cover glass and elec-
trochromic mirrors, the company provides scribing
on coated fat glass surfaces.
info@pgo.com
Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy
For its atomic force microscopes (AFMs), Bruker
Corp. has released the PeakForce Kelvin Probe
Force Microscopy (KPFM) mode. It uses frequency-
modulation detection to provide high-spatial-res-
olution Kelvin probe data. It builds on proprietary
PeakForce Tapping technology to provide directly
correlated quantitative nanomechanical data,
which improves sensitivity and eliminates artifacts.
PeakForce KPFM provides automated parameter
setup with ScanAsyst. Available for the Dimen-
sion Icon and MultiMode 8 AFMs, it includes the
complete set of KPFM detection mechanisms
(amplitude and frequency modulation) and the
ability to perform KPFM measurements over an
extended voltage range. PeakForce KPFM mode
enables more sensitive potential detection with
optimized probes.
steve.hopkins@bruker-nano.com
new products
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1112LighterSide.indd 82 10/24/12 5:15 PM
Features
n 1547 fps @ 1920 x 1080 pixel (HD)
1166 fps @ 1920 x 1440 pixel (HD+)
n 12 bit dynamic range
n pixel size 11m x 11m
n image memory up to 36GB
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Applications
n short time physics
n plasma imaging
n materials testing
n biomechanics research
n spray imaging
n combustion imaging
n TV / broadcasting
pco.dimax HD/HD+ high speed CMOS camera system
www.pco-tech.com
In Europe contact: www.pco.de
pco.
DimaxHD-HD+ ad 7x10 (PS) 05-11_Layout 1 7/13/12 9:52 AM Page 1
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2012 Newport Corporation
Ultrafast Laser Components
NEXT GENERATION PERFORMANCE
www.newport.com/pg-series-7
The new Ultima
, 170-TPI 1.0 in. diameter mirror mount is assembled with the new
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170-TPI Mirror Mount
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Photonics Spectrum
Reference Chart
Presented By
The Photonics Spectrum Reference Chart an important industry
resource has been reviewed and updated the frst comprehen-
sive review since 2009. The chart displays the major commercial
laser lines, detectors and optical materials in the ultraviolet to the
far-infrared and beyond, and this update contains changes to all
three areas.
Printed copies, with or without lamination, are now available.
Order online today at www.photonics.com/wallchart.
Our thanks to the following companies for participating in the
review and update of this chart: ArmorLine Corp.; Edmund Optics
Inc.; Hamamatsu Corp.; Idex Corp.; IPG Photonics Corp.;
Newport Corp.; NKT Photonics Inc.; Optimax Systems Inc.;
and Surmet Corp.
The following eight pages are ads from sponsors of the Photonics
Spectrum Reference Chart that appear on the back of the
printed chart. Our sponsors are Avantes BV; Esco Products Inc.;
Hamamatsu; IDEX Optics & Photonics; Inrad Optics Inc.;
NKT Photonics A/S; Optical Building Blocks Corp.; and Thorlabs.
Laurin Publishing
PO Box 4949, Pittsfeld, MA 01202-4949, USA
Phone: 413-499-0514 Fax: 413-442-3180
email: info@photonics.com Web: www.photonics.com
2012 Laurin Publishing, Pittsfeld, Mass.
WallChartIntro_4digital.indd 1 11/8/12 9:40 AM
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IDEX Optics & Photonics companies offer world-class
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OPTICAL BUILDING BLOCKS CORPORATION
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Optical Building Blocks Corporation
Specialty Illuminators
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OBB Corp. 300 Birmingham Rd.,
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Tel: 609-894-1541, Fax: 609-784-7809
contact@OBB1.com, www.obbcorp.com
Optical
Components
Microscope
Accessories
Bench-Top
Instruments
Broadband Illuminators
Tunable Illuminators
Lasers
Detectors
Sample Compartments
Monochromators
Luminescence
Spectrometers
Fluorescence Lifetimes
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OEM
OEM Electro-optical Components Subsystems Complete Instruments
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OBB_ESCO_Digital.indd 4 11/5/12 3:07 PM
OBB_ESCO_Digital.indd 5 11/5/12 3:07 PM
ThorLab_NKTPhotonics_Digital.indd 6 11/5/12 3:10 PM
Get all the wavelengths you need
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www.nktphotonics.com
laser_sales@nktphotonics.com
SuperK supercontinuum white light lasers (400 - 2400 nm)
Koheras Ytterbium fiber lasers (1030 - 1130 nm)
Argos high-power CW OPOs (600 - 4600 nm)
400 nm VIS nIR IR 750 nm
3.0 m 4.6 m
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ThorLab_NKTPhotonics_Digital.indd 7 11/5/12 3:10 PM
inradoptics.com
crystals &
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At Hamamatsu, capturing the photon is our business.
In extremely small amounts. At extraordinarily fast speeds.
Every day, our detectors and cameras are used in systems all
over the world to unlock the secrets hidden in light, whether
its the presence of a foreign object or a trace of gas, a specifc
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we serve grows continuously. To push the limits of detection,
we continually adopt new technology.
Hamamatsus extensive lineup of detectors includes PMTs,
silicon and InGaAs devices for point detection or imaging,
scientifc cameras, and X-ray solutions. For more information
on over 60 categories of detector products, please visit
www.hamamatsu.com.
We Innovate for Your Success
WWW.HAMAMATSU.COM USA 1-800 524 0504, FREEPHONE EUROPE 00 800 800 800 88
Inrad_Hamamatsu_Digital.indd 9 11/5/12 3:11 PM