From The Editor | January 25, 2012

Photonics West 2012: Day 2 Report

By Ron Grunsby and Josh Butia

Here is a rundown of some of the happenings on Wednesday at Photonics West 2012.

First Sensor

First Sensor’s new silicon APD chips and high-volume packages for LIDAR applications in the automotive, industrial, and aerospace industries generated a lot of attention. They serve a growing market for laser-based distance measurement, laser scanning and mapping, shape recognition, and remote sensing applications. A new series of monolithic 2D-matrix arrays complements a series of linear APD arrays. The matrix array product line includes 5 x 5 (25 APD-pixel) and 8 x 8 (64 APD-pixel) geometries, while the linear arrays are available with up to 16 elements. Optimized for 650 to 800 nm (First Sensor series -8), 900 nm (First Sensor series -9), or 1064 nm (First Sensor series -10), specific versions for most common laser sources are available.

Krell Technologies

Krell Technologies introduced a new version of the Rev polisher – the Rev2 micro-polisher, which is designed for the cost-effective, high-speed polishing of bare fibers and optical connectors. New features include a built-in integrated timing cycle that gives better process control over the polishing process, and a capacity of two connectors, so two connectors or bare fibers can be simultaneously polished using the same procedure. Workholders are available that enable the automated air polishing of connectors. These workholders gradually advance terminated ferrules to the polishing surface for fiber denub and epoxy removal, yielding superior fiber end-face geometries for subsequent polishing steps.

LightWorks Optics

LightWorks Optics reported strong growth in the commercial market in particular last year and discussed its capabilities in the design, manufacture, assembly, and testing of precision optical systems and components - including visible, infrared, and laser-based systems and subassemblies. One of their specialties is aspheric and high-complexity components. Some of their aspheric manufacturing capabilities include glass and metal components, no-parent-required manufacturing (polish directly from off-axis blanks), thousands of waves of spherical departure, on- and off-axis designs, excellent surface figure, capacity up to 400 mm diameter, multiple Zeeko machines for high throughput, and effective control of mid-frequency surface ripple.

OptoSigma

OptoSigma has developed a line of lens tube mounts. According to OptoSigma, most of the lens tubes on the market have fixed tube or fixed lens sizes, and there is a different tube size for different tubes or lenses. They have changed this and have the individual lens cell with the lens mount in the cell and the cell mounts in the tube, which allows them to make a lens group that they can adjust independently of each other without having to disassemble the entire lens assembly. They also showcased their ultra-thin rotation stages, which are made of solid steel and are very stiff with a very high load capacity and very short form factor.

The Cooke Corporation

The Cooke Corporation displayed a variety of imaging systems at their booth. For example, the pco.edge scientific CMOS camera has 1.1 electrons of read noise, can image 5.5 megapixels at 100 frames per second, and allows for a 27,000:1 dynamic range. Applications include live cell microscopy, single molecule detection, super resolution microscopy, photovoltaic inspection, and machine vision. The pco.pixelfly usb is a high-performance, digital 14-bit CCD camera system designed for low-light applications in the spectral range of visible light if a small form factor is required. It is suited for scientific and industrial imaging applications, including microscopy, spectroscopy, and quality control.

Vision Research, Inc.

Vision Research, Inc., showcased the Phantom Miro M310 digital high-speed camera, which is based on a 1-megapixel, 1280 x 800 custom-designed CMOS sensor from Vision Research. The M310 is small, lightweight, self-contained, and rugged, and suitable for any application that requires moderate frame rates at common resolutions. It has 3.2 Gpx/s throughput and over 3200 fps at full resolution. Maximum speed at reduced resolution of 128 x 8 is 650,000 fps. The minimum digital exposure is 2 µs and it is available in both color and monochrome versions. It has an internal capping shutter, image-based auto-trigger, camera synchronization, and immediate playback of recorded cines.

Artemis Optical

Artemis Optical highlighted their coatings and filters at the show. Among them, PROTEUS is a high-durability IR AR coating offering high transmission over specified waveband, which increases the system's signal-to-noise ratio and improves its identification range. DEIMOS DLC coatings are fully compliant to all applicable environmental standards, salt fog-qualified to more than 90 days, and offer a wide range of substrate materials to choose from to ensure optimum system performance. METIS medical laser protection filters offer high levels of clarity, allowing the surgeon a clearer view of the patient; high levels of color neutrality, giving the surgeon an enhanced ability to monitor the patient’s well-being; and high levels of product consistency, eliminating time-consuming pair-matching by the laser OEM.

BAE Systems

BAE Systems launched the Fairchild Imaging CIS1021 image sensor - the latest member of the sCMOS product line that enables image capture in low-light environments without sacrificing speed, resolution, or dynamic range. The CIS1021 can capture images at speeds up to 100 frames per second at full resolution. This is five times faster than typical scientific imagers of 20 frames per second and lets users collect more image information in less time. The sensor is suitable for life science applications, such as live cell microscopy, drug discovery, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. It can also be used in physical science applications such as astronomy.

DELTA

DELTA’s linear variable filters generated a lot of interest at the show. Two different filter types are available: the LVLWP (linear variable long wave pass) and the LVSWP (linear variable short wave pass), now with a linear variable dichroic and linear variable UV bandpass. When combined, the short wave and long wave pass filters can be tuned continuously with center wavelengths from 320 nm to 850 nm, with the benefit of tunable bandwidth. This gives users the ability to get full tunability in all filters for fluorescence applications. All of DELTA's linear variable filters are coated with ultra-hard surface coatings also used by DELTA in traditional fluorescence filters.

GT Advanced Technologies

GT Advanced Technologies was at the show bringing customers and potential customers up to speed on recent happenings at the company. Last summer, they completed their name change from GT Solar to GT Advanced Technologies to reflect their growth beyond their historic focus on the solar industry to include other markets, such as the LED industry. Their advanced sapphire growth furnaces produced $900 million worth of business in the first nine months. Their principal products have been expanding, and last June they celebrated the grand opening of their new state-of-the-art sapphire production facility in Salem, MA.

Klastech

Klastech’s patented iMAT (intra-cavity impedance-matched amplification-tuned laser technology) was a frequent topic of discussion at their booth during the show. This design delivers a step change in performance for their CW DPSS laser product line. Its dual-cavity design leads to zero “green” noise, a perfectly single longitudinal mode, inherently diffraction-limited output, and a significantly increased 2nd harmonic conversion efficiency by enabling the fundamental wavelength-generating cavity and the second harmonic conversion process to be impedance-matched. Their DPSS lasers are used largely in metrology, biofluorescence, semiconductor inspection, holography, and Raman spectroscopy applications.

Lockheed Martin Aculight

Lockheed Martin Aculight showcased several laser solutions at the show. The Argos laser product spans the full spectrum from visible to the mid-infrared. This year, they introduced the visible variant of the Argos, which puts out more than 3 watts of visible light at 610 nanometers. The Perseus pulsed fiber laser was used by the Space Shuttle Discovery during approach and docking with the International Space Station. Perseus is a family of 1.54-micron, high-power, pulsed fiber lasers that generates short pulses (2 to 6 ns) over a wide range of repetition rates (20 to 450 kHz). MedPen – a portable, battery-operated laser that can stop bleeding, close wounds, and quickly cut bodily tissues – will help increase battlefield survival rates and make it easier for medics to treat immediately.

Mobius Photonics

Mobius Photonics was on hand discussing the use of its G1R2 laser source in super-resolution microscopy experiments at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. The experiments showed that a laser-based fluorescence microscopy technique – stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy – could be used to image intact, living, multicellular organisms. The Mobius source was a customized G1R2 laser that was used to produce a comb spectrum of user-selectable visible wavelengths with approximately one nanosecond pulse duration and a 20-MHz repetition rate. Their experience in super-resolution microscopy has led Mobius to develop a new laser, Rainbow, that offers similar capabilities to the G1R2, but from an easier-to-use, longer-life system.

NuSil

NuSil, a formulator and manufacturer of silicone compounds for healthcare, aerospace, electronics, and photonics applications, was at the show discussing their ability to develop and deliver standard and customized silicone compounds that are designed to meet property requirements. Their engineered materials are based on advanced polymers for original equipment manufacturers. They also offer testing services for optical materials characterization, including UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometric transmission and refractive index vs. wavelength and temperature. Product subcategories include optical elastomers, optical fluids, optical gels, optical primers, and transparent thixotropic gels.

Oclaro

Oclaro showcased its latest innovations and announced it is sampling a 20G VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser). By continuing to offer new VCSEL solutions that deliver higher data rates, Oclaro can enable customers to develop faster-performing products at better price/performance points. They also announced that their laser diodes have been designed into the industry's first 15 kilowatt (kW) direct diode fiber-coupled laser systems. Their laser diodes scale from 910 nm to 1070 nm at high power levels and leading brightness to reach the performance requirements of these 15 kW systems. 15 kW and other multikilowatt systems are suitable for applications such as metal welding, cladding, and cutting that continually require higher power to improve the performance of the laser system and process efficiency.

OEM Imaging

OEM Imaging is the OEM division of Photometrics and QImaging, two very high-performance camera manufacturers. They were at the show describing what they do, which generally consists of a needs analysis for a customer - finding out exactly what they’re trying to accomplish - and ensuring that they deliver quality product that meets all their needs. They do everything from board-level cameras with sensors in them up to deep, large vacuum pack cameras. They also deal with a lot of different types of sensor technology.

PARC

PARC, a Xerox company, went to the show to ask the question: How can companies expand into new offerings or markets for optics and optoelectronics? PARC, which practices an open innovation business model today, offers design, analysis, modeling, fabrication, and prototyping services to startups, Fortune 500 companies, and government clients. PARC's work in this area - beginning with the invention of laser printing to current cutting-edge work on UVC laser diodes - has led it to establish the multidisciplinary team, fully integrated on-site development and prototyping infrastructure, and specialized expertise that others can now leverage to reduce risk, differentiate offerings, and accelerate time to market.

Sofradir EC

It should now be obvious why Sofradir EC claims their products are so “cool,” as they demonstrated several very high-performance infrared cameras based on cooled MCT detectors. The cameras are perfect for demanding scientific imaging applications, with features including detection in SWIR, MWIR, LWIR, and VLWIR spectral bands and desktop software features controlling frame rates, integration time, sensitivity (to 10mK), and programmable triggering. Sofradir EC also demonstrated their ATOM 1024 high-resolution uncooled IR camera that incorporates a 1024 x 768 array ideal for military and COTS systems for applications including extended detection range and distributed aperture. These products joined the Electrophysics line of IR viewers and cameras for IR alignment.

Umicore

Umicore displayed a variety of its thin film products. Their product portfolio includes a wide range of evaporation materials, sputtering targets, and accessories for optics and accessories, wear and decorative coatings, microelectronics and semiconductors, and large-area coatings. Their special materials for precision optics and laser coatings include barium fluoride, cerium fluoride, dysprosium fluoride, yttrium fluoride, ytterbium fluoride, zinc sulfide, germanium, and silicon. They also offer metal films, adhesion promoters, and oxides for IR coatings. Other materials, special compositions, and geometries are available upon request.

YOKOGAWA

YOKOGAWA's AQ6370 Series optical spectrum analyzer caught the attention of attendees who work with a lot of VIS and NIR applications. Three different analyzers are available with wavelengths of 600 to 1700 nm, 350 to 1200 nm, and 1200 to 2400 nm. Each model features fast measurement capabilities and high resolution and dynamic range. The three different models vary in areas of application but include carbon monoxide detection, carbon dioxide detection, LIDAR, telecommunications, biosciences, and the measurement of 1064 nm Nd:YAG DPSS laser sources.

Photonics West 2012: Day 2 Report

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