Close

Search

Search Menu
Photonics Media Photonics Marketplace Photonics Spectra BioPhotonics Vision Spectra Photonics Showcase Photonics ProdSpec Photonics Handbook
Photonics Media
ABOUT US
BOOKSTORE
SUBSCRIBE
ADVERTISE
Photonics Spectra: September 1998

Photonics Spectra
 September 1998


SUBSCRIBE
FEATURES
Photonics Looks Back: In the beginning, the Bible says, the Earth was covered in darkness and God said, "Let there be light." Eons later, when the Earth's tenants learned how to manipulate, amplify, and quantify that...
Fiber Bragg Gratings Take Control The ability to write Bragg gratings in optical fiber by simple exposure to UV light is the key to producing a variety of devices. The writing technique is inexpensive, simple, and allows a...
High-Speed Detectors Provide Fast Measurements for the Lab High-speed detectors are general-purpose laboratory devices that are useful in a wide variety of high-bandwidth applications. They may be used to provide optical input to high-speed oscilloscopes,...
UV Lasers: Micromachining of medical devices and electronics packaging, permanent "cold" marking of plastics, and microlithography are some of the fastest growing segments of the industrial laser market. For...
Optical Mounts: In any optical system, no matter how simple or complex, each optical element must be mounted in some way. Furthermore, system performance depends on the precision of the optics, their mounts, and...
X-Ray Lasers: Since the demonstration of the first visible lasers in the 1960s, the prospect of a tabletop x-ray laser has intrigued chemists and biologists alike. Such a laser might finally unlock the many...
TECH PULSE
Fiber Optic Array Improves Spectroscopic Imaging Researchers from the University of South Carolina have created a fiber optic array that provides data in the spatial, temporal and spectroscopic dimensions. It may be useful in biomedical applications such as diagnosing cancer. The fiber optic array designed by Nelson and Myrick provides data in the spatial, temporal and spectral dimensions of a laser plume. Most spectroscopic applications...
New Technology Assists Doctors in Using Laser Ablation of Blood Clots Physicians may soon have another tool for treating blood clots in humans. DRS Hadland Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., has supplied Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico with an ultrahigh-speed...
Laser Unveils a 3-D Model of Chaos Does coffee taste different if you pour the cream into the cup first? Does the temperature of the cream influence the texture? These were the questions one recent technical conference attendee was...
Imaging Chip Works Quickly A group of Stanford University researchers has collaborated with several industry leaders to develop an imaging sensor that produces images faster, easier and cheaper than its predecessors. By moving...
New CMOS Detector Transmits at 520 Mb/s A spatially modulated light detector fabricated using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and developed at Vrije Universiteit Brussel has achieved bit-rate performance of up to...
Conoscopy Assesses Displays Liquid crystal displays are gaining market share. As prices fall, users want brightness and viewing angles comparable to that of conventional displays. A display's visual performance usually is...
Photonic Crystals Trap IR Light A team of scientists from Sandia National Laboratories and Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University revealed that they have constructed a three-dimensional IR photonic crystal on a silicon wafer that...
European Project to Handle Higher Data Levels European researchers have announced a plan to implement a single, all-optical switching system in response to rising data traffic in telecommunications systems. The electronic switching layers...
Femtosecond Laser Explores Superdense Matter Researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have used a high-resolution femtosecond laser that delivers trillions of watts to observe how and when electrons and atoms configure themselves...
Observatory Employs New Process in Gemini Mirrors AlumiPlate Inc. of Minneapolis, in collaboration with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory and II-VI Inc. of Saxonburg, Pa., has developed a diamond-turning process that yields the high-quality...
Laser Catapults Progress in Gene Analysis To better understand how cancers develop, molecular biologists seek to analyze genes at the single-cell level. Lasers have played an important role in capturing individual cells, but it has been...
Hybrid Detectors Work Fast Using a hybrid photomultiplier, spectroscopists now can measure an optical pulse 17 ns after a thousandfold more intense pulse without having to gate the detector to protect it. This development can...
New Lasers Push Space-Based Lidar The researchers at the 19th International Laser Radar Conference focused their attention on new lasers for space-based lidar to study atmospheric chemistry and physics. Lidar, which can be rugged...
Researchers Explore Oxide Materials for Fiber Doping Recently, a team of researchers at Containerless Research Inc. in Evanston, Ill., explored using yttria and alumina compositions to expand the range of fiber lasers in the mid-IR. There was only one...
Sensor Quickly Inspects Inner Pipe Walls Researchers at Tianjin University and Xi'an Jiaotong University have developed a noncontact laser sensor for inspecting the inner walls of pipes with 80- to 140-mm interior diameters. A HeCd laser...
Naval Research Laboratory Develops Quantum Well Lasers Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory's Optical Science Div. have developed several types of semiconductor lasers that emit light in the mid-infrared. One of the secrets behind the design is a...
Researchers Observe Newton Rings in Laser Ablation Researchers have examined the brief interval after a laser pulse arrives and before it heats away a material's atoms during laser ablation. Scientists at the University of Essen in Germany studied...
Sandia Researchers Take Cue from Seashell Design Rarely do scientists mention seashells and optical coatings in the same sentence. That may soon change now that researchers at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories and the...
Optical Sensor Monitors Film Growth Over- or under-stressed thin films means that semiconductor devices, such as quantum well lasers, don't work right. To help remedy this problem, a laser optical sensor, called the multibeam optical...
Silver Coating Maintains Reflectance Although the reflectors behind the xenon flashlamps that pump the Nd:glass amplifiers in the National Ignition Facility's 192 laser beams might seem at most a secondary concern, their reliability is...
Physicist Uncovers Secrets of Sonoluminescence For years, researchers have tried to explain the atomic processes behind sonoluminescence, the phenomenon in which ultrasonic waves break against a water bubble's surface and heat gas atoms inside....
LIGHT SPEED
Internet Chat: What Do People Say About Your Company? As the Internet comes increasingly alive with electronic discussion groups, conversations that involve company bashing are becoming more frequent. Does this pose a public relations hazard to...
Team Choices Affect Attitude, Performance How a manager picks an employee team can affect how well the team performs; at least that's what research from Ohio State University suggests. In a study of 137 students, researchers found that the...
German Research Society Invests in Research Centers The Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft (German Research Society) has invested in 14 new collaborative research centers, which will focus on biology and medicine, natural sciences, engineering and...
Mayo Named Congressional Science & Engineering Fellow The Materials Research Society and the Optical Society of America have named Merrilea Joyce Mayo, an associate professor at Penn State University, as the 1998-99 Congressional Science &...
Industrial Laser Shipments Climb 6 Percent for the First Quarter '98 Driven by an increased demand in cutting applications, industrial laser shipments rose to $152.6 million, a 6 percent increase over last year's levels, according to the Association for Manufacturing...
Growth in R&D Spending Remains Steady With a global economy that has grown increasingly competitive, companies are feeling pressured to increase their pace in creating innovative products. Consequently, they are sinking more and more...
Teamwork Leads to Business Success A recent study at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University has found that senior management teams with healthy group dynamics play a more significant role in a company's...
European Space Agency Backs Space Telescope The European Space Agency announced it has set aside $200 million of its science budget to collaborate on building the Next Generation Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope....
ACCENT ON APPLICATIONS
Wind-Profiling Lidar Betters Airdrop Accuracy The US Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base has taken another step forward in its efforts to improve the accuracy of high-altitude aerial delivery. The Airdrop Ballistic...
Advanced Imaging Improves Armor Quality The development of "invincible" armor systems for ground vehicles, helicopters and personnel is a major thrust of the US Army Research Laboratory's Weapons Materials Div. at Aberdeen Proving Ground...
Image Sensor Helps Boost Desktop Security In today's world, businesses and organizations are increasingly concerned with computer network security. In financial and medical institutions where personal accounts and patient records are at...
Optical System Monitors and Controls Thin-Film Stress Measuring the stress of thin films as they are deposited is critical for achieving the optical, electronic and mechanical properties required in today's high-performance devices. Controlling the...
PRESSTIME BULLETIN
California University Plans Sensor-Embedded Bridge US Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, announced plans at a July 24 news conference at the University of California at San Diego to build a bridge composed of advanced composite...
US Halts Satellite Images of Israel In an effort to relieve Israeli fears that detailed images of the country may fall into enemy hands, the US government has banned American satellite-imaging companies from taking certain...
Big Sky and Quantel Merge Operations In an effort to bolster international sales of their respective lasers, Quantel SA of Les Ulis, France, has merged with Big Sky Laser Technologies Inc. of Bozeman, Mont. Quantel is a manufacturer of...
Police Raid Hitachi Electronics Japanese police raided Hitachi Electronics Ltd. on Aug. 7 because of suspected involvement in the illegal export of precision measuring equipment to China, according to wire reports. The Metropolitan...
PRODUCTS
BATTERY-POWERED, COMPACT PHOTODETECTORS New Focus Inc. has introduced three photodetectors that run on battery power and come in compact packages. The femtowatt photoreceiver has a gain of 1011 V/W, making it suitable for low-light and...
Newport - New Focus
Request info >
REFLECTIVE OBJECT SENSOR Optek Technology Inc. has introduced a reflective sensor that operates at a distance of ±0.5 in. compared with a maximum distance of 0.125 in. for typical sensors. The OPB715 sensor, based on Optek's...
Optek Technology, Industrial Sensing & Control
Request info >
FIBER COUPLERS Alliance Fiber Optics Products Inc. has released its fused fiber couplers. Using the company's Fuse-Lock process technology, the Ultra Grade series of coupler components offer low excess loss and...
Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc.
Request info >
FIBER OPTIC TEST MODULES Exfo E.O. Engineering Inc. has introduced its IQ-5500 PMD multianalyzer, designed for makers of fiber, cable and WDM systems and components. Both the interferometric and Poincare sphere methods can...
EXFO Inc.
Request info >
FIBER OPTIC SWITCH DiCon Fiberoptics Inc. has introduced its GP700 general-purpose fiber optic switch system, a high-precision, low-loss optical switch used for cable and component testing, remote fault locating and...
DiCon Fiberoptics Inc.
Request info >
FRAME GRABBER The EureCard Picolo Pro from Euresys s.a. is a true color PCI frame grabber for surveillance applications. It acquires color or black-and-white signals directly to PC memory. Compatible with Windows...
Euresys SA
Request info >
HI-RESOLUTION IMAGING Videology Imaging Solutions Inc. is offering a dual-flash illumination product that doubles still image photo resolution. The Tru-Flash illuminates the two interlaced fields comprising a frame in...
Videology Industrial-Grade Cameras
Request info >
MACHINE VISION Wintriss Engineering Corp. has announced VisionBlox support for its Opsis 1300AS megapixel vision system. VisionBlox is a 32-bit vision-specific OCX software library from Integral Vision designed to...
Wintriss Engineering Corp.
Request info >
VARIABLE ATTENUATORS OZ Optics Ltd. has introduced a line of compact, PC-board-mountable, motor-driven variable attenuators with low backreflection. The devices feature a stepper motor mechanical coupling and consist of...
OZ Optics Limited
Request info >
CRYSTAL WAFERING Valley Design Corp. says it has improved its techniques for cutting, wafering and slicing glass and crystal, promising the least possible kerf loss when cutting. Instead of grinding thick blanks of...
Valley Design Corp., Headquarters
Request info >
FLUID LEVEL CONTROL Dwyer Instruments Inc. has introduced an optical level switch unit that indicates via bright green and red LEDs the presence or absence of fluid. The OLS optical level control has no moving parts and...
Dwyer Instruments Inc.
Request info >
MEASUREMENT SOFTWARE National Instruments introduces a new version of its Measure software for direct data acquisition and instrument control using Microsoft Excel on Windows 95/NT. The software features dialogs for...
National Instruments Corp.
Request info >
POCKELS CELL DRIVER The 8200 series solid-state Pockels cell drivers from Analog Modules Inc. provide continuous high-voltage pulses for applications such as controlled Q-switching of solid-state lasers. Available...
Analog Modules Inc.
Request info >
POWER SUPPLY Opto Power Corp. is offering a 65-A, 10-V diode laser power supply, featuring soft turn-on and turn-off. The transient-protected OPC-PS6510 has drive-current limiters and fault-detection circuitry...
Opto GmbH
Request info >
SLICING MACHINE Ultra Tec Manufacturing Inc. has introduced a precision saw, the Ultraslice 6000. It is designed to produce long and dicing cuts in electro-optic and semiconductor materials, such as lithium niobate,...
ULTRA TEC Manufacturing Inc.
Request info >
TEMPERATURE CONTROLLER The LCP-3215 from Wavelength Electronics Inc. offers temperature control in laser diodes and detectors. Stability of <0.005° is reached when the device is interfaced with thermistors. Measuring...
Wavelength Electronics Inc.
Request info >
Nd:YAG LASER COMPONENTS Alpine Research Optics' line of components designed for high-power, frequency-multiplied Nd:YAG lasers feature mirrors, plate polarizers and partial reflectors for operation at the 355-, 266- and...
Alpine Research Optics
Request info >
IEEE ADAPTER IEEE-488 GPIB capability is available with Ophir Optronics Inc.'s Laserstar laser power/energy display. The adapter plugs into the display and terminates in a cable and standard IEEE connector. It is...
MKS Ophir, Light & Measurement
Request info >
LASER MARKERS The latest laser markers from Control Laser Corp. -- InstaMark Insignia and InstaMark Icon -- provide higher efficiency for beam-steered laser markers. In its high-speed configuration, InstaMark can...
Control Laser Corp.
Request info >
LASER SAFETY Kentek Corp. has a wide selection of warning signs for laser safety. They come in paper, metal and Plexiglas. Paper signs are laminated and available in standard paper sizes. Illuminated signs...
Kentek Corp.
Request info >
Q-SWITCHED LASER Continuum's industrial and OEM Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is suited for marking, ablation, lidar, ranging and particle imaging velocimetry applications. It produces 200 mJ per pulse at 1064 nm and...
Amplitude Laser Inc.
Request info >
BROADBAND OPTICS Coherent Inc.'s Laser Group has developed broadband optics for the Mira mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser that make it unnecessary to change its optics to get wide wavelength coverage. X-Wave covers the...
Coherent Inc.
Request info >
CYLINDRICAL LENSES Newport Corp. has added two series of cylindrical lenses to its ValuMax Optics line. Available in sizes from 6.35 x 12.7 mm to 50.8 x 50.8 mm with focal lengths ranging from -6.35 to +250 mm, these...
MKS/Newport
Request info >
PANOPTIC EYEPIECES Tele Vue Optics Inc. is offering panoptic eyepieces in focal lengths of 15, 19, 22, 27 and 35 mm. These six-element models use advanced lanthanum lenses for sharpness over the full 68° apparent...
Tele Vue Optics Inc.
Request info >
SAPPHIRE OPTICS Meller Optics Inc.'s custom fabricated sapphire front surface optics, designed for industrial, medical, environmental, chemical and high vacuum instrumentation applications, combine high clarity and...
Meller Optics Inc.
Request info >
ELEVATING TABLES Manually operated UniSlide elevating tables are available from Velmex Inc. Designed for use in science and industry, the devices are used for such applications as gauging, positioning, feeding,...
Velmex Inc.
Request info >
MATERIALS ANALYSIS Materials-Pro Analyzer Version 3.1 from Media Cybernetics L.P. is for testing metals, ceramics, polymers and other materials. The software is Windows-based and runs on standard PCs. A plug-in module...
Media Cybernetics Inc.
Request info >
IN SITU SURFACE MAPPING Surface Optics Corp. has unveiled a field-portable reflectometer for mapping the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of surfaces whose removal to a lab would alter their...
Surface Optics Corp.
Request info >
FIBER OPTIC OXYGEN SENSOR Ocean Optics Inc. has released a fiber optic oxygen sensor designed for on-line, laboratory or field applications. Dubbed Foxy, it couples to the company's high-sensitivity miniature fiber optic...
Ocean Insight
Request info >
SURFACE PROFILING SYSTEM Riegl USA has released its reflectorless total station surface profiling system that can be used in such industries as mining, utility, construction, navigation, military and communications for...
Riegl USA Inc.
Request info >
PHOTONICS SPECTRA 1998
back to top
Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn YouTube RSS
©2023 Photonics Media, 100 West St., Pittsfield, MA, 01201 USA, [email protected]

Photonics Media, Laurin Publishing
x Subscribe to Photonics Spectra magazine - FREE!
We use cookies to improve user experience and analyze our website traffic as stated in our Privacy Policy. By using this website, you agree to the use of cookies unless you have disabled them.