A regular feature of CLEO is the Tuesday morning New Product Award Press Tour, where members of the photonics press corps are give a sneak preview of the new products being introduced at the show that have been judged as "outstanding." Ten exhibiting companies share this honor and make brief presentations to the journalists before the exhibit opens to the attendees. As a service to those of you who were not able to attend CLEO this year, Photonics.com has put together a brief description of the ten winning products. The winners are: Photon Inc.'s new goniometric radiometer was one of the products to catch the eye of committee members at this year's conference. The LD 8900R was one of the ten items selected out of hundreds of exhibitors to win the conference's New Product Award. Photon's new instrument makes it possible to measure the mode-field diameter of optical fiber in real time with greater than 5 percent accuracy. The LD 8900R is part of Phonton Inc.'s wide dynamic range series of goniometric radiometers used for characterizing the angular radiation of light. According to Photon, the instrument's angular field-of-view of 144 degrees and resolution of .055 degrees, makes it capable of measuring light energy from any light-emitting surface. The instrument provides real-time far-field measurements with a greater dynamic range than the standard LD 8900. This allows the instrument to measure full three-dimensional far-field patterns in minutes with better resolution than a CCD camera. PicoQuant was selected for its PDL 800-B Violet Picosecond Diode Laser, which is expected to find applications in time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, immunoassays, DNA sequencing and substance screening. According to the company, the PDL 800-B is designed to produce pulses as short as 50 ps at rep rates that range from single-shot to 40 MHz. Peak powers of up to 400 mW are possible with a pulse duration on the order of 50 ps. According to the company this matches the time resolution of mainstream detectors at a competitive price. Maxios Laser Corp. was singled out for its Maxios 1.03 micron CW Wave Guide Laser, a continuous wave diode pumped Yb: YAG waveguide laser designed for laser marking and materials processing applications. The system generates more that 10 W of average power with near-diffraction limited beam quality. Photonics Industries' winner was its Model DS20-355 diode-Pumped Nd:YAG. The company offers diode pumped 3rd harmonic UV lasers at 3 power levels all in TEM00 mode. The DS20 Nd:YAG generates 80-W average power at 10kHz, at 355 nm. Sacher Lasertechknik won recognition as an outstanding CLEO product for its Littrow Laser System, TEC 100-1060-60 Tunable Diode Laser. The external cavity laser in Littrow design consists of a diode laser and a diffraction grating. The laser diode may be anti-reflection coated, however, it is possible to operate the system with standard diodes. One of the major advantages of this design, the company says, is that it is possible to achieve much higher output power than with other types of laser systems. LaserMax was chosen for its LaserMax DMI 500 Displacement Measuring System. A sealed, self-contained unit, the DMI 500 does not require a separate laser, interferometer, receiver or electronic module. According to the company, the device can be used to upgrade motion sensors used with positioning stages or to upgrade metrology instrumentation such as coordinate measuring machines. Deltronic Crystal Industries Inc. was among the winners for its Mg-doped Stoichiometric Lithium Niobate (Mg:SLN). The new product is available in the form of wafers, plates, boules, or custom fabricated shapes. In addition to X-, Y-, and Z-cuts, Mg:SLN comes in special orientations and is supplied in sizes up to 2 inches in diameter. Resistance to photorefractive damage at low Mg concentrations makes heating of the crystal unnecessary. And a shorter absorption edge allows the material to reach further into the blue spectral region. Hinds Instruments unveiled its new Birefringence Measurement System, showing off its capabilities in the mapping of low retardation levels in optical elements, including scientific grade optics, industrial glasses, laser optics, and photolithography optics. Hinds uses its Photoelastic Modulator technology (PEM) to provide high levels of birefringence sensitivity as well as high-speed operation. And its user interface software makes calculations and displays them in a variety of formats. IMRA America Inc. was recognized for its new Wattlite 100 that boasts an average power of up to 1.0 W, a repetition rate of 50 MHz and Yb-fiber amplified Femtolite-based source. IMRA lasers are designed for use in material processing, biomedicine, medicine, instrumentation, and telecommunications. Lambda Physik announced its award winning Gator 355-3 industrial laser. Lambda's new UV laser is designed for micromachining and microdrilling hard materials in a high-speed production environment. With a Pulse Repetition Rate of 10 kHz the Gator UV laser can provide over 0.3 mJ in 15 ns pulses. According to Lambda the laser can perform crack-free and stress-free cutting of ceramic materials 0.25 mm thick. For additional information visit OSA's Web site at www.osa.org/cleo/