Daily News Briefs

nLight, a Vancouver, Wash., manufacturer of high-power semiconductor lasers, announced it has achieved 364 watts of continuous-wave power from a single 1-cm diode laser bar at 808 nm. Applications of the technology, to be used in the company's 100-watt Cascade diode laser bar, include the commercial and military Nd:YAG, Nd:YVO4 and Nd:YLF and novel direct-diode medical and industrial markets. . . . Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics is providing the technology for 50 giant snowflakes that will illuminate New York City's Saks Fifth Avenue this holiday season. The sound and light display, to be launched Nov. 23, will feature 50 programmable, 10-story-high, unique snowflakes inspired by William Bentley's snowflake photomicrographs from the 1920s. The project requires 8000 feet of steel, five miles of lighting, 72,000 LED modules, 15 multicolor changing uplights, 40 strobe lights, 13,000 feet of cable and more than 5000 hours of production. . . . Robotic Vision Systems Inc. of Nashua, N.H., announced that its CFO, Jeffrey Lucas, has resigned for personal reasons. Controller Ron McDermott will assume some of his responsibilities until a permanent replacement is found, the company said.