Light & Laser News

The European Community has identified photonics as a key enabling technology for the region's economy. The problem is that the photonics community has a tendency to fall prey to "If you build it, they will come" syndrome. Scientists do top-quality research but it never gets transferred to the marketplace. The European Photonics21 network of companies has taken a careful look at the market to determine how to bridge the gap between research and revenue-producing products. Recommendations include more market-led research, for starters, and development of public-private deployment programs. Above all, the European community needs to improve manufacturing infrastructure so that goods can be produced in Europe rather than outsourced. Curious? Find out more.

Triad's new toroidal chassis mount World Series transformers are UL recognized and CE Certified. All items have 115/230 V 50/60 Hz primaries and are designed to meet most International Safety requirements. Available from Triad's extensive distributor network, the 42 off-the-shelf models cover most common secondary output voltages ranging from 6.0 V to 230.0 V. Custom designs are available.

Avago's Mini PLCC-2 SMT LEDs are suitable to be used a variety of applications. It has a wide viewing angle at 110 degrees that makes these LEDs ideally suited for instrument cluster panel, push button, HVAC, and ambient decorative lighting application in automotive interior. More information.

Tower's 38.1 mm and 50.8 mm diameter, zero order, air spaced waveplates offer large apertures for users with the requirements for new applications where beam size and/or beam position moves over larger distances. These catalog waveplates are available for 355, 532, 632.8, 800, and 1064 nm, in either 1/4 or 1/2 wave retardation.

•  Right angle PCB mount for bi- and tri-lead LEDs for use as logic and diagnostic indicators.
•  Dove-tail interlock feature allows mounting of both mono and multi-colored LEDs.
•  Formed LED leads are staggered in their length permitting easier PCB insertion.

Learn more about Visual Communications Company, Inc.

By coaxing aromatic carbonyls to form bonds with halogens, University of Michigan researchers have developed highly efficient, economical organic phosphors that could be incorporated into the displays of tomorrow. The phosphors require UV pumping, but achieve quantum yields as high as 55%. Adjusting the material composition changes the spectral characteristics; so far, the group has obtained blue, green, yellow, and orange.

It's a gain medium. It's a mirror. It's both! Cadmium selenide nanowires folded into figure eights can act as single-mode lasers, Chinese researchers have shown. The group started with wires 50 to 75 nm long, manipulating them with fiber probes to create loops that function as mirrors. Optically pumped, the material generated emission at 738 nm; coupling effects between the two loop cavities restrict output to single mode.

By creating perfect negative interference between two optical beams, Yale University researchers have demonstrated a coherent perfect absorber (CPA). The group started with a 1 cm silicon resonator, replacing the gain medium of a standard laser with a loss medium. The cavity absorbed 99.4% of the light from two counter-propagating IR beams, partly as a result of phase shifts. Application possibilities include radiology and optical computing.

Using high-pressure chemical vapor deposition, Pennsylvania State University chemists have developed optical fibers with zinc selenide (ZnSe) cores, opening the way to low-loss optical transmission. The team grew the crystalline waveguides inside silica capillaries. The material transmits at 1550 nm with losses of less than 1 dB/cm, but it can support wavelengths as long as 15 µm, as well as harmonic conversion. Applications include everything from medical and environmental testing to security and defense.

FiberStar Marking Sources offer the benefits of a Direct Metal Marking, non-contact, abrasion-resistant, permanent laser marking onto almost any type of material. High-speed, high precision, micro-marking, engraving, and cutting FiberStar systems are ideal for a wide range of industries and integration applications. Made in USA.

ASML Optics coating capabilities range in wavelength from 120 nm to 2500 nm, with a specialty in DUV coatings at 248 and 193 nm. We have the latest in metrology and cleaning, including Ellipsometry, Spectrophotometers, Precision Automated Microscopes, and a fully automated state-of-the-art cleaning facility.

Please contact us for additional information.

General Mfg., Inc. - manufacturers of heavy-duty portable lighting, enclosure lighting, and power supply reels since 1962. Visit our comprehensive Web site to view model numbers, specifications, and manuals with parts break down. We specialize in producing OEM lighting, power supply reels, and cord sets that meet special needs.

Cree LED Module LMR4 features EasyWhite™ Technology… a fast, proven way to realize the promise of LED lighting.

This versatile module allows design flexibility with a fully integrated, small form factor design that is also drop-in compatible with the LMR4 Cree TrueWhite® Technology version that provides higher color quality. Now at Newark/element14.

A bidirectional device from the folks at the Fraunhofer Institute integrates a 320-x-240 pixel organic light-admitting diode display with a 160 x 120 pixel photodetector. The monochrome prototype shows promise for everything from tracking eye movements to providing instant-view video. You can learn more about Fraunhofer's work with OLEDs and sensors as you review this primer.

Dielectric spheres can boost the resolution of an ordinary optical microscope to 50 nm, say University of Manchester engineers, potentially providing an instrument that can image viruses in vivo. The 200 to 900 nm-diameter silicon dioxide microspheres function as far-field superlenses (FSL) to focus evanescent waves. Capable of both reflection and transmission operation, the instrument produces virtual images with eight-fold magnification.

By etching indium-gallium-arsenide quantum wells into quantum dots, scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have produced single-photon emitters. The group built standard quantum wells with chemical vapor deposition, then used a combination of e-beam lithography and wet-chemical etching to cut out uniform-size quantum dots that emit at constant wavelengths. Next up, adding optical cavities to increase vertical emission.

Forget about those old-fashioned Fabry-Perot cavities. Nanopillar lasers developed by University of California, Berkeley researchers create gain by propagating light along a helical path. The group grew the indium-gallium-arsenide structures using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, producing room temperature devices that operate at 950 nm. The small scale of the devices allowed fabrication to take place at a relatively low 400 C, making them compatible with CMOS processing for chip-scale electronics.

Shanghai Genuine Trading Co., Ltd. has engaged in manufacturing and international trade for many years. GT26C0010 Emergency light is the hot product of our company. The specification is 19 LED, 4V, 800 MAH, and emergency time 8 hours, with box size:59.5x36x48.5, 60pcs/box.

Custom-made High Precision Prism for your high end requirement. Prisms include Right Angle prism, Penta prism, Dove prism, Corner Cube Retroeflector, and more.

•  Material: BK7, Fused Silica, Borofloat 33, Pyrex, Sapphire
•  Feacture: Angle Tolerance: < 3sec
•  Coating: Uncoated, Anti-reflection, Partial-reflective, High-reflective
•  Quality guarantee: ISO9001

Trioptics 0.5 in. Prismmaster Angle measuring System. Zygo GPI Interferometer

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According to the Public Library of Science, more than 33% of respondents to a poll admitted to using questionable research techniques and almost 2% admitted outright falsification. When it comes to research, the scientific method is the only protection we have. We are all human, we all make mistakes — but then there's a slippery slope that leads to fraud and even collusion, which never works out well for anyone. Read this excellent editorial to remind yourself of best practices and the cost of bending the rules.

Having trouble controlling your optical tweezers by mouse? Grab your iPad. UK scientists have written a touchscreen user interface that allows even novices to easily operate tweezers to manipulate particles in 3D. Users can select, translate, rotate, and even raise and lower particles. See for yourself.

Space Bacteria — Do We Have Company in the Universe

How do we confirm the recent discovery of fossil lifeforms in a meteorite?