Picarro Wins NSF Research Award

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 26 -- Picarro Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance lasers and laser-based instruments, has been awarded a $492,690 Phase II Small Business Innovative Research contract by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop innovative lasers for bioinstrumentation applications, such as flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, DNA sequencing and other laser-induced fluorescence-based techniques. These new solid-state sources will provide significant advantages over the Argon-ion lasers and first-generation solid-state lasers used for these applications today, Picarro said, such as improved efficiency and reliability, smaller size, higher optical power and new output wavelengths.

The funding, awarded by NSF's Division of Design, Manufacture & Industrial Innovation, Directorate of Engineering, covers low-cost solid-state lasers for bioinstrumentation applications. It builds on Picarro's NSF Phase I project, extending the performance of its DECSL (doubled external cavity semiconductor laser) platform to new wavelengths and higher powers. The Phase II program will run through August 31, 2006. Picarro said it expects to deliver the first customer samples based on this research in the first half of 2005.

For more information, visit: www.picarro.com