FROM THE EDITOR

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  The Sequester, DARPA, And A New Reality For U.S. Defense R&D

  Sequestration was the dominant theme at SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing (DSS) 2013 in Baltimore last week. Talk of U.S. budget cuts and their impact on the defense industry was almost omnipresent during the event, starting with Monday’s plenary keynote address by DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar, who explained how the agency will approach the development of new military capabilities amidst both fiscal and threat uncertainties.

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  My 3 Favorite Technologies From SPIE DSS 2013

  The SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing (DSS) exhibition is a place where even the most hard-core tech geek can get lost amidst a sea of cutting-edge technologies being utilized in almost unthinkable ways. Autonomous robots doing what only humans could previously do, in environments too dangerous for humans to go. Tiny Raman spectrometers that analyze and identify chemicals or explosives in a matter of seconds. Cameras capable of providing remarkably detailed battlefield images in nearly any lighting or weather condition, at incredible distances. There’s much more than anyone can hope to absorb in only three short days — or write about in a few short paragraphs. For this reason, I’m going to share with you only my three favorite technologies from DSS.

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  Has Giant Space Spectrometer Found Evidence Of Dark Matter?

  Back in May 2011, the $1.5 billion, 9-ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) was carried from Eart aboard the space shuttle Discovery and bolted to the outside of the International Space Station (ISS). Soon after, its battery of sensors began gathering data on the comsic rays that passed through it, searching for particles of antimatter and evidence of the elusive dark matter. Nearly two years later, the initial results are in. Will they change our understanding of the laws of physics and the universe's origin?

• Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies Challenge Principles Of Big Bang Theory
• 100x Efficiency Improvement For Solar Energy Device
• Power Amplifier ‘Heals’ Itself After Laser Blasts

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

500µm Silicon Avalanche Photodiode Preamplifier Module 50MHz

CMC’s 264-339730-002 50MHz 500µm Silicon Avalanche Photodiode Preamplifier Modules use a low noise Silicon APD with an ionization ratio of 0.04 with a Gasfet cascade configuration transimpedance amplifier in a 12-lead TO-8 package. The amplifier uses an internal 68 kO feedback resistor with an overload input protection circuit for fast recovery. The output can be AC coupled to a 50 ohm load or DC coupled to a 100 ohm load referenced to –1 volt.

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  Rugged Optical Coatings And Testing Per Military Specifications
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  XY Automated Stage: MS-9400
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  Infra-Red MTF System – Beam-Steering Type

FEATURED VIDEOS

• Live From SPIE Optics + Photonics 2011: Jenoptik’s OEM Capabilities

  Ray Malcom, VP of Sales and Marketing, leads off this video with a brief overview of Jenoptik’s range of engineering and manufacturing capabilities for classical optics, polymer optics, and micro-optics, then turns to three others to give more information.

• Video: UVProbe Toolbar Shimadzu has now taken spectroscopy to the next level with the powerful, flexible and easy to use, UVProbe software. This package is specifically engineered for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Its standard data acquisition modes, vast data processing capabilities, and robust report generator provide the ultimate tool for your UV-Vis solutions
• Video: Photovoltaics - Solar Cell EL Inspection At 60fps This video shows a movie of a small solar cell section being driven to luminance by a square wave pulse from a function generator running at 1 Hz.
• Capabilities Of New Focal Array Demonstrated By Lockheed Martin At SPIE DSS

  Mark Goodnough, chief scientist and LM Fellow, and Jeff Scott, senior scientist and LM Fellow, both from Lockheed Martin Santa Barbara Focalplane, discuss a new 1280 x 1024 focal plane that can capture high-quality images at higher temperatures than other focal planes. They also show us some up-close footage of images taken with the technology at the Baltimore Orioles game on April 24.

• Live From Photonics West 2012: Micro-Injection Molding Of Optical Components Aaron Johnson of Accumold provides an overview of his company’s micro-injection molding capabilities, which are used to manufacture plastic optical components for telecommunications, imaging, cameras, and many other applications.

• Live From Photonics West 2012: Launch Of High-Power LED Arrays
• Live From CLEO: 2011 - Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter Capabilities
• New Fiber Laser Focusing Lenses For Laser Processing Announced

LEADING SUPPLIERS

LightWorks Optical Systems

LightWorks Optics is a premier solutions provider for the design, development, and production of integrated optical systems for advanced applications. From prototypes to production, we design, manufacture, assemble, and test precision optical systems and components-including visible, infrared, and laser-based systems and subassemblies.

Deposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI)

For over 20 years, Deposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI) has produced the most durable optical thin film filter coatings in the industry...

LATEST HEADLINES

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  New Series Of Sapphire Lasers From Coherent, Inc

  Formerly, this wavelength was only available from inefficient, low-power HeNe lasers, or from diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) lasers utilizing complex frequency-mixing schemes.

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  Liquid Lens Shrinks Laser Measuring Device

  Lasers are widely used in many areas of science, industry and medicine and the quality of the beams they produce needs to be measured to make sure they perform correctly.

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  Coherent Launches OPSLs At 594 nm For Life Sciences

  A new series of Sapphire lasers from Coherent, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) at 594 nm are ideal for fluorescence-based applications in life sciences.

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  New USB Mini Camera Brings Consumer Convenience To Industrial Applications

  Numerous automatic functions, normally only found in digital cameras for the consumer market, deliver exceptional user friendliness and also produce an excellent image quality even under difficult lighting and ambient conditions.

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  New Method Proposed For Detecting Gravitational Waves From Ends Of Universe

  A new window into the nature of the universe may be possible with a device proposed by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno and Stanford University that would detect elusive gravity waves from the other end of the cosmos. Their paper describing the device and process was published in the prestigious physics journal Physical Review Letters.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

• 3 Trends In Biological Imaging — And Their Impact On Microscope Automation And Control

  The field of biological imaging is constantly evolving, driven forward by the increasingly complex and technologically sophisticated demands of the research community. As microscopy and other imaging techniques change, so too must the motion control systems that enable them. Photonics Online recently had the opportunity to talk with John Zemek, executive director of Applied Scientific Instrumentation. ASI manufactures sub-micron micropositioning hardware for laboratory and microscope automation and OEM systems. Zemek discusses the trends in biological imaging that are having the biggest influence on positioning system design, and what factors you should consider when evaluating such technology for your specific application.

• Detecting And Defeating Subversive Night And Fog Activities

  Around-the-clock surveillance capability in any weather is a decisive operational ad-vantage for military and emergency services. In these and similar applications, SWIR cameras are well-suited for everyday use because they show good results when compared with other imaging technologies. To recognize and track objects of light-reflecting as well as self-radiating natures, SWIR cameras can be easily combined with thermal LWIR cameras and their images overlaid to enhance their content and validity. By Raf Vandersmissen, CEO, sInfraRed Pte Ltd

• Impressions From BiOS 2013

  The SPIE annual conferences, BiOS and Photonics West, recently ended for 2013 with a record number of more than 2,000 technical papers presented on biophotonics methods, systems, and applications. The diversity of applications of optical coherence tomography (OCT) continues to expand, with papers featuring new 3D and even 4D imaging capability in the eye, arteries, and lungs. Raman spectroscopy and NIR spectroscopy had significant sessions for biomedical applications, as did diffuse optical tomography (DOT). It is an exciting time for biophotonics, with new companies thinking out of the box to innovate healthcare diagnostics and solutions. It reminds me of the excitement of the 1990s during the expansion phase of digital telecom, as students graduated from the research labs and began applying their knowledge to real-world problems. By Doug Malchow, Director, Business Development, Industrial Products UTC Aerospace Systems (Sensors Unlimited Products)

• How Your CAD File Affects The Success Of Your New Thin Film Design

  Today’s complex thin film components increasingly require more physical layers and features. A few years ago the typical thin film component may only have required two or three layers. Now, common designs require up to six layers and sophisticated designs need up to ten layers. The key to reducing the time to market and avoiding errors is for customers designing thin film components and circuits to be diligent in generating CAD designs that follow industry standards and generally accepted good practices. 

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• 05.03.13 -- Live From SPIE DSS - Day 3
• 05.02.13 -- Live From SPIE DSS - Day 2