Mar 1, 1997 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently gave Summit Technology Inc. of Waltham, Mass., approval to market the SVS Apex Plus excimer laser system for the treatment of mild to moderate nearsightedness, corneal scars and disorders, and dystrophies. The company says Apex systems can be upgraded to the Plus version in three days. Summit is seeking FDA approval to use Apex Plus for astigmatism and hyperopia.

Mar 1, 1997 — A strategic alliance between medical-laser manufacturer Laserscope of San Jose, Calif., and Medical Alliance Inc. of Irving, Texas, will focus on marketing Laserscope's Aura laser system for the office-based treatment of vascular lesions. Medical...

Mar 1, 1997 — As the world's sensitivity to environmental pollution increases, it is becoming increasingly important to understanding the overall nature of combustion. They key to this knowledge is precise and detailed measurement of the temperature, distribution...

Feb 1, 1997 — The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Candela Corp.'s Er:YAG Skinlight laser for marketing in the US. The Wayland, Mass.-based company said that the device provides high average power and minimal thermal damage to skin. The company also...

Feb 1, 1997 — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A photonic crystal specially designed to bend light sharply with near-perfect transmission could be the key to further miniaturization of optical computer chips and lasers, according to the scientists at the Massachusetts...

Feb 1, 1997 — Spectranetics Corp. of Colorado Springs, Colo., has filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration for premarket approval of its excimer Laser Sheath for removal of pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) leads. The...

Feb 1, 1997 — When telecommunications companies first looked for solutions to the overcrowded world of wired, electronic communication, coherent light and fiber optics were there. Fiber optics brought high-bandwidth communications without the electromagnetic...

Feb 1, 1997 — The growth and development of continuous-wave high-power diode lasers in the last few years has been phenomenal, enabling many advances in a wide range of applications. Diodes’ efficiency, compactness and cost-effectiveness make them an excellent...

Feb 1, 1997 — OBERKOCHEN, Germany -- Carl Zeiss has built what it calls the world's largest ring-laser gyro. Designed for measuring the Earth's rotation, the device will be installed in a subterranean cave on the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand early this year....

Feb 1, 1997 — OTTAWA -- With an eye toward more powerful and smaller diode lasers, researchers at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa recently turned something semiconductor manufacturers consider undesirable into quantum dot lasers capable of...

Jan 1, 1997 — When completed in 2002, the National Ignition Facility will culminate more than a decade of research on laser ignition: the controlled implosion of a small, hydrogen-isotope-filled target by laser beams of sufficient energy and quality to create...

Jan 1, 1997 — The air-cooled argon-ion laser remains the most widely used source OEM applications requiring blue or green light. However, its shortcomings in efficiency, size, operating life and cost have inhibited the growth and development of applications....

Jan 1, 1997 — Over the past few years the beam-profile quality of lasers has risen dramatically. Nevertheless, competitive pressures and demanding applications require even higher beam quality and are pushing the capabilities of many lasers. The only way to...

Jan 1, 1997 — DURHAM, N.C. -- After settling in at Duke University, the Russian free-electron laser (FEL), has been brought to life emitting UV beams. The OK4 optical klystron FEL, developed at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk, Russia, was...

Dec 1, 1996 — The US Air Force awarded a $1.1 billion contract to Boeing Defense Space Group to manufacture a prototype laser-armed warplane that would target enemy ballistic missiles. The plane, a modified 747 freighter, will carry a weapons-class laser that can...

Dec 1, 1996 — Japan's Ministry of Health has approved two laser systems developed by Candela Corp. of Wayland, Mass., for the treatment of skin lesions. The devices, the AlexLAZR and the PLTL Pigmented Lesion/TATULAZR, use the company's alexandrite laser...

Dec 1, 1996 — Coherent Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., announced that it will begin shipment outside the US of a medical laser used in primary open-angle glaucoma treatment. The company designed its Selecta 7000 specifically to perform selective laser...

Dec 1, 1996 — The $100 million-plus annual scientific laser market continues to be a prime area of opportunity and focus despite limited research and development expenditures in recent years. Historically dominated by gas, lamp-pumped solid-state and dye lasers,...

Dec 1, 1996 — This is the time of year when one hears the pealing of holiday bells. We take the sounds for granted, but how do bell makers know that their musical instruments are producing the best possible sound? One manufacturer teamed up with Northern Illinois...

Dec 1, 1996 — YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. -- Two IBM scientists, calling on their years of expertise in lasers, believe they have solved the missing starlight mystery -- a.k.a. the diffuse interstellar bands, or DIBs. Astronomers have long known that light from...

Dec 1, 1996 — Advances in solid-state short-pulse laser oscillators, amplifiers and ultrafast optics have sparked an explosion in the number of studies of ultrafast phenomena. These experiments include direct control of chemical reactions, direct observations of...

Dec 1, 1996 — Molecular-level studies examine the effect of individual molecules on the properties of chemistry and materials. Recent progress in such studies has relied on some new laser techniques: Ultrafast lasers have recently reduced the time scale to break...

Dec 1, 1996 — EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern University has granted an exclusive license to Semiconductor Laser International Corp. (SLI) of Endicott, N.Y., to develop, manufacture, market and sell aluminum-free high-power semiconductor lasers worldwide for...

Dec 1, 1996 — In quantum mechanics, interest has turned toward controlling, rather than explaining, atomic, molecular and electronic processes. The technology of coherent control employs light-induced interference to affect the dynamics of matter and assist in...

Dec 1, 1996 — The goals of laser control in chemistry include manipulation of collective and molecular properties. Femtosecond lasers have already helped study crystal lattices, and more extensive manipulations are expected because of advances in laser pulse...