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COMPANY PROFILE
CVI laser embarks on acquisition trail to fuel its expansion
Fast holography offaces proves a hit incosmetic surgery
IMAGING
Wireless technologycomes to the aid ofhandy power meters
METROLOGY
SWEDISH INNOVATIONTRANSFORMS LIFETIMEOF LASER DIODES
SURFACE TREATMENT
The European magazine for photonics professionals
July/August 2005 Issue 130
NEWS5 Business Coherent buys TuiLaser for 722.5 m • Finland
targets photonics • Korea aims to create ‘LED valley’
9 Editorial European innovation goes on show at LASER 2005
10 Analysis Copper connections: the clock’s ticking
TECHNOLOGY11 Applications Optical power meters go wireless
12 LASER 2005 Highlights of this year’s show in Munich
14 R&D EUV images the nanoscale • Buried waveguides wire up silicon • Q-dots create single photon source
15 Patents Cree licences white LED technology to three more firms
FEATURES17 CVI hits acquisition trail
CVI Laser’s extensive optics and coatings catalogue contains 200 000 unique part numbers. Jacqueline Hewett asks the company’s chief executive officer Stuart Schoenmann about its current acquisition strategy and aggressive expansion plans.
20 Ion beams enhance optoelectronic durabilityA Swedish start-up has found an ingenious way to protect the surface of semiconductors and glass. Its Nitrel treatment could boost the performance of laser diodes, photodetectors and optical crystals, reports Oliver Graydon.
23 Supercontinuum source boxed up and ready to goPush-button-operated supercontinuum sources that combine ultrafast laser pulses with microstructured fibre were a big hit at LASER 2005. World of Photonics in June in Germany. James Tyrrell talks booth-side with developers Fianium and Koheras.
27 Modelocked fibre lasers aid short pulse creationAre you looking for a source of femtosecond pulses? Jan Posthumus explains why fibre lasers are a convenient, easy-to-use answer, with the added benefit of being tunable.
PRODUCTS31 High-speed camera • Retroreflector interferometer • LED arrays
REGUL ARS37 People38 Calendar
EDITORIALEditor Oliver GraydonTel: +44 (0)117 930 1015 [email protected]
Technology editor Jacqueline HewettTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
Reporter James TyrrellTel: +44 (0)117 930 [email protected]
Production editor Clare SturgesTechnical illustrator Alison Tovey
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© 2005 IOP Publishing Ltd. The contents of OLE donot represent the views or policies of the Institute ofPhysics, its council or its officers unless so identified. This magazine incorporates Opto & Laser Products.Printed by Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, UK.
I ssue 130 July/August 2005 Contents
Tampere creates a localphotonics cluster p6
DaimlerChrysler to weldMercedes C-Class p13
CVI unveils its acquisitionand expansion plans p17
Holey fibres give rise towhite-light sources p23
COMPANY PROFILE
CVI laser embarks on acquisition trail to fuel its expansion
Fast holography offaces proves a hit incosmetic surgery
IMAGING
Wireless technologycomes to the aid ofhandy power meters
METROLOGY
SWEDISH INNOVATIONTRANSFORMS LIFETIMEOF LASER DIODES
SURFACE TREATMENT
The European magazine for photonics professionals
July/August 2005 Issue 130
For the latest news on optics and photonics don’t forget to visit optics.org
(Comlase) Clever processimproves the lifetime ofdiode lasers. p20
Approximately 23 000 visitors and950 exhibitors gathered in Munich,Germany, in June for LASER 2005.World of Photonics, according to itsorganizers Messe München.
The statistics are a record highfor the biennial show, which sawvisitor numbers grow by 10% andexhibitor numbers by 20%.
For the first time, the percentageof visitors from outside of Germanyexceeded 50%, and 137 exhibitorsmade the trip from the US.
The event’s co-located confer-ences – World of Photonics Con-gress and FiberComm – were alsohighly successful, each attracting3000 delegates.
The next LASER. World of Pho-tonics will be held in Munich on18–21 June 2007. A new Asiansister event, LASER. World of Pho-tonics China, will make its debut on21–23 March 2006, in Shanghai.
Coherent buys TuiLaser for 722.5m
NEWSBUSINESS 5 EDITORIAL 9 ANALYSIS 10
5OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
ACQUISITIONS
By Jacqueline HewettCoherent of the US has acquiredTuiLaser and its subsidiary, Bavar-ian Photonics, both of Germany, for722.5 m in cash. The deal does notinclude TuiLaser’s other subsidiary– diode-laser specialist Toptica Pho-tonics. News of the deal broke inJune, on the opening day of theLASER 2005. World of Photonicsevent held in Munich, Germany.
TuiLaser makes excimer lasers,and recorded sales of 724 m for itsfiscal year ended September 2004.Bavarian Photonics specializes inOEM diode-pumped solid-statelasers. The combined headcount ofthese firms totals 87.
The acquisition may raise someeyebrows, as Coherent alreadyproduces excimer lasers throughLambda Physik, but the two firmsare said to be a perfect fit.
“Tui is focused on lower-powerexcimers, whereas Lambda pro-duces higher-power systems,” Peter
Schuman, Coherent’s director ofinvestor relations, told OLE. “Theproduct lines are complementaryand this is one reason why we saw itas a good fit. Coherent will becomethe leader in low-power, low-costmarkets for excimer lasers.”
Acquiring TuiLaser gives Coher-ent a stronger foothold in therefractive eye surgery market. “Wewill have a leadership position insupplying excimer lasers for med-ical procedures,” said Schuman.“Bavarian Photonics also has cer-
tain infrared and green lasers thatare currently missing from Coher-ent’s product portfolio.
“These additions will give Coher-ent entry into applications such assilicon solar-cell scribing and ID-card marking,” he added.
TuiLaser is optimistic about itsfuture. “Joining forces with Coher-ent allows us [TuiLaser] to furtherexpand our customer base andprovides the scale necessary togrow the business faster than as astand-alone entity.”
Coherent is now tying up thedetails of the acquisition and willmake further announcements dur-ing a conference call on 28 July.However, Schuman could revealthat Coherent does not plan tomove TuiLaser’s excimer technol-ogy from Germany to the US. Otherquestions, such as the consolida-tion and future branding of Tui-Laser and Bavarian’s products, willbe addressed at the conference call.
Coherent’s purchase of TuiLaser was announced at LASER 2005, Munich, in June.
JDS Uniphase has acquired Pho-tonic Power Systems, a small Cali-fornian firm that specializes in anovel form of electrical power dis-tribution. Photonic Power hasdeveloped a “power over fibre” sys-tem that generates electricity byilluminating a photovoltaic (PV)converter with light transmittedover an optical fibre.
The financial details of theacquisition were not revealed, butall eight staff of Photonic Powerwill move to JDS’s offices in SanJose, California, US. Jan-GustavWerthen, the founder and CEO ofPhotonic Power, will lead a newbusiness unit at JDS.
The power-over-fibre technologyoffers an attractive alternative tobatteries, fuel cells and bulky cop-per cabling in harsh and dangerousenvironments, such as locationsthat are vulnerable to the risk of fire
or electromagnetic interference.Allegedly, more than 10 000 sys-tems have been deployed to date,serving more than 50 customers.
“We are excited about theexpanded market opportunitiescreated by this acquisition,” saidDavid Gudmundson, vice-presi-dent of corporate development forJDS. “In the long term, we believecustomers will include an attrac-tive mix of existing JDS Uniphasecommunications customers inestablished sectors, such as wire-less, and new, diverse industrialcustomers in applications likeremote power and sensing.”
According to Photonic Power, itsPV power converters are able togenerate hundreds of milliwatts ofelectrical power when illuminatedwith about 1 W of laser light. Out-put voltages of 2–12 V are avail-able. Typical sources of light include
fibre-coupled lasers or LEDs in thevisible or near-infrared.
For sources operating in the780–850 nm range, the maxi-mum fibre length is limited toabout 1 km. At longer wavelengthsof 1310–1550 nm, at which theattenuation of the fibre is less, thisrange can be extended to 10 km.
“JDS Uniphase is acquiring apotentially disruptive technol-ogy,” commented Vincent Lui, ananalyst with the market consul-tancy firm IDC. “The technologyis not incremental, it is a com-pletely novel approach to powerdelivery in speciality applications.
“Moreover, Photonic Power Sys-tems has a proven history, strongintellectual property in the area offibre-optic photonic power conver-sion,” he added, “and core tech-nology that aligns very well withJDS Uniphase’s technology base.”
LASER attendeesreach record high
EVENTS
JDS Uniphase buys Photonic PowerACQUISITIONS
In July, the University of Arizona,US, will fire up its huge spinning fur-nace to produce a mirror 8.4 m indiameter for the Giant MagellanTelescope (GMT), the first extremelylarge ground-based telescope tobegin construction.
The GMT’s primary mirror fea-tures a ring of six 8.4 m off-axismirrors and a central on-axis mir-ror, which will give astronomers10 times the resolution of theHubble Space Telescope.
Back in April, the casting teamfrom the university’s StewardObservatory Mirror laboratoryspent seven weeks installing anarray of 1681 ceramic cores thatform the mould. The 14-day pre-firing process, which is necessaryto centre core glue joints, burnout any impurities and stress themould, was successfully com-
pleted at the end of June.During the final cast it will take
six days and 1.1 MW of electricityfor the rotating furnace to heat theglass to its peak temperature of1178 ºC. At this point the glasswill start to melt around the coresto give a honeycomb structurethat will weigh just one-fifth of itssolid equivalent. The speed of rota-tion, which will be set at 5 rpm forthe GMT mirror, is used to controlthe depth of curvature.
Once the glass has taken posi-
tion, the team will then spendbetween 11 and 12 weeks coolingthe mould. The final stages ofmanufacture involve washing theceramic cores out of the glass andgrinding and polishing the mirrorto an accuracy of ±15–20 nm. Acoating of aluminium 100 nmthick gives the single-piece mirrorits reflective surface.
“The fact that we are already inproduction is directly related to thesuccessful technology developedfor the twin 6.5 m Magellan tele-scopes at Carnegie’s Las Cam-panas observatory in Chile,” saidMatt Johns, GMT project manager.“The Magellan telescopes haveproved to be the best natural ima-ging telescopes on the ground.”
The GMT, which will be locatedin northern Chile, is due to beready for operation in 2016.Astronomers hope to use its enor-mous collecting area to explore thebirth of stars and planetary sys-tems in our Milky Way and to solvethe mystery of black holes.
US spins out gianttelescope mirror
Finland targets photonics
NEWSBUSINESS
CLUSTERS
6 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
The photonics community in Tam-pere, Finland, has formed a localcluster to unite academic researchwith companies and aid the devel-opment of diode lasers and fibrelasers in the region.
“The Laser Competence Centre[LCC] Finland was established on7 June and aims to speed up tech-nology exploitation and supportcompany needs,” Markus Pessa,director of the OptoelectronicsResearch Centre (ORC) at Tam-pere University of Technology,told delegates at LASER 2005 inMunich in June.
“Already 20 companies have paida membership of t3500 per yearto join,” he reported, “and weexpect another 20 to 30 companiesto join before the end of the year.”
Local firms that have alreadysigned up include Coherent Fin-land (formerly Tutcore Oy), Modu-light, Corelase and EpiCrystals.Other well known names from fur-
ther afield include Nokia, Hepta-gon and Oxford Instruments.
LCC’s activities include devel-oping lasers, integrating laserswith production equipment, andtraining end-users. Coherent hasdonated a V90-type molecularbeam epitaxy (MBE) reactor, worth
t1.5 m, to the centre. The reactor, which will be
installed at the ORC this autumn,has a production capacity threetimes that of the ORC’s six existingMBE reactors. It is the only reactorof its type in a European universityand will make it possible to manu-facture III-V optoelectronic com-ponents in larger batches than waspreviously possible.
“The Finnish laser industry willcertainly benefit from this dona-tion,” said Pessa. “There is a uniquelink between research and produc-tion in Tampere. A new, rapidlyexpanding branch of export indus-try – the industrial manufacture ofepitaxial semiconductors and semi-conductor and fibre lasers – hasemerged quickly.”● Tampere is hosting an inter-national summer school on NewFrontiers in Optical Technologieson 15–20 August. For more infor-mation, visit www.orc.tut.fi.
Serious investment: Coherent hasdonated a t1.5 m MBE reactor to theLaser Competence Centre Finland. Thereactor will be installed this autumn.
Petr
i La
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n
FABRICATION
D I S P L AYS
In July, Taiwan Micro DisplayCorporation (TMDC) will startmanufacturing optical engines forLCoS rear-projection televisions inTaiwan and mainland China,according to the news agency OnTarget Media. Initially, TMDC willmake optical engines with a panelresolution of 720 pixels, and itplans to make 1080 pixel enginesin the future. According to ClarkChen of TMDC, the company willmake 10 000 units in 2005, with a targeted output of 100 000units for 2006.
H E A LT H CA R E
A German biophotonics project onlive cell screening has beenawarded t2.5 m from the country’sgovernment funding agency, BMBF.The project is a collaborationbetween optoelectronic firms TILLPhotonics, Attocube Systems andIbidi, a biotech company(ProCorde), and three academicinstitutions (University HospitalMünster, the University of Freiburgand BioImaging Zentrum Munich).
C O M P O N E N T S
Wahl Optoparts, a Jenoptiksubsidiary that specializes inpolymer optics, is building a newfacility at its Triptis site inGermany. Around t9 m is beinginvested in the new 8000 m2
building, which will enable Wahl tohouse its entire manufacturingchain under one roof.
D I S P L AYS
Cambridge Display Technology hasagreed to market IBM’s amorphoussilicon thin-film transistor technologyfor OLED displays. The agreementcovers driver technologies for bothpolymer and small molecule OLEDs.Technology licensing deals will bemanaged by IBM.
B R A N D I N G
GSI Lumonics of the US haschanged its name to GSI Group. Thecompany will also change itsNASDAQ trading symbol to GSIG.
IN BRIEF
Taking shape: 1681 ceramic fibre coresgive the Giant Magellan Telescopemirror its honeycomb structure.
Korea aims to create ‘LED valley’
NEWSBUSINESS
CLUSTERS
7OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
By Manoj AravindakshanGwangju in South Korea is embark-ing on an “LED valley” project withthe aim of making the city one ofthe most innovative LED produc-tion powerhouses in the world.
The scheme is funded by a bud-get of $100 m (783 m) between2005 and 2008, and aims to createa cluster of 40–50 leading LED-related companies, from chip-mak-ers to system providers. Nine suchcompanies have already movedinto the business incubation centrein the Korea Photonics TechnologyInstitute (KOPTI).
This project is part of the secondphase of the Gwangju council’sambitious Photonics 2010 plan,which aspires to establish the cityas one of the world’s top five pho-tonics clusters by 2010.
“One of the main objectives forphase two is to attract well knownglobal players into the GwangjuPhotonics Cluster and support
small and medium-sized compa-nies to grow to be competitive inthe global market,” said KangShin Ki, director general of theInvestment Promotion Agency ofGwangju Metropolitan City.
“Prominent professionals andleaders of the industry have vis-ited Gwangju to gauge the busi-ness environment and inspect thefacilities. Three foreign compa-nies, including OE Solution, haveinvested directly in Gwangju viathe Foreign Direct Investment
route, with several other compa-nies currently negotiating theirinvestments in the city.”
Phase one of the project ranfrom 2000 to 2003 and had anoutlay of approximately $395 m.It focused on building up theresearch and development (R&D)infrastructure in Gwangju.
This included the opening of a181 800 m2 photonics integrationcomplex that offered photonicscompanies very low rentals, andthe establishment of numerous
R&D labs and organizations, suchas KOPTI , the Optical Communica-tion Center of the Electronics andTelecommunications ResearchInstitute (OCC-ETRI), the Gwangjuoffice of the Korean Institute ofIndustrial Technology (KITECH),the Advanced Photonics ResearchInstitute, and the Korea Associa-tion for Photonics Industry Devel-opment (KAPID).
To date, around 230 hi-techcompanies specializing in areassuch as semiconductors, opticalcommunication, precision opticsand optical materials have nowset up home in Gwangju. Lastyear, the region recorded totalsales of $1.2 bn, according to sta-tistics provided by the InvestmentPromotion Agency.
Manoj Aravindakshan is director ofOn Target Media, a Singapore-basedtechnology news provider(www.ontarget-media.com).
By Manoj AravindakshanChi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), aleading Taiwanese maker of LCDdisplays, is planning to triple itsproduction capacity in the next twoyears in order to keep up with soar-ing demand for flat-panel displays.
The expansion plans consist ofscaling up one existing plant andsetting up two new facilities.Capacity at CMO’s existing Gener-ation 5.5 plant is being ramped up
to 180 000 units per month, fromthe existing 120 000 pieces, byDecember 2006 – at a cost of$638 m (7535 m).
The company is investing a fur-ther $1.11 bn in a new Generation5 (G5) line, using 1100×1300mmglass substrates, with a capacity of90 000 pieces per month. Con-struction will begin this year, withmass production set to commencein the last quarter of next year.
A Generation 7.5 fab that willuse 1950 × 2250 mm glass sub-strate is also being set up. First-
phase production will be around30 000 pieces per month, andmass production will begin sixmonths after the new G5 line startsvolume production.
These new fabs reflect a focus onlarger-sized panels for TVs and com-puter monitors, following the sale ofCMO’s International Display Tech-nology unit to Sony earlier this year.
CMO demonstrated its latestLCD screens, including a 42 inchhigh-definition TV, at the FPD-Taiwan show that took place inTaipei last month.
Chi Mei ramps upLCD production
DISPLAYS
CMO’s latest 42 inch high-definitionLCD display, on show for participants of the Opto Taiwan event last month. Its feature set includes improved wide-angle viewing of colours.
Gwangju in South Korea is already home to more than 230 hi-tech optics firms.
On
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INFO:VDW – Generalkommissariat EMO Hannover 2005Verein Deutscher WerkzeugmaschinenfabrikenCorneliusstrasse 4, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, GERMANYTelefon +49 69-75 60 81-0, Fax +49 69-7 41 15 [email protected] · www.emo-hannover.de
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Tel: +44(0)1293 456222 Fax: +44(0)1293 456233
www.powerlase.com
European innovation
NEWSEDITORIAL
9OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Anyone who attended the LASER 2005. Worldof Photonics show in Munich in June cannot bein doubt that European innovation and entre-preneurship is alive and kicking. According tostats collected by its organizer Messe München,this year’s show attracted record-breaking num-bers of visitors and exhibitors (see p5). But, per-haps more importantly, the giant exhibition hallsof LASER 2005 were full of clever ideas in manydifferent sectors of photonics.
This issue is packed with our coverage ofthe event. In our technology section (p12 andp13) you can read about ultrafast holographythat is able to capture the shape and texture offaces without any blurring or distortion. Thesystem, developed by scientists at the Centerfor Advanced European Studies and Researchin Bonn, is now finding applications incosmetic surgery and forensic science.
In another part of the show, two-year-oldFrench start-up Oxxius was demonstratingwhat it claims is the world’s smallest solid-state blue laser – a diode-pumped frequency-doubled microchip laser about the size of amatchbox, which emits up to 50 mW of lightat 473 nm (p13). If its output power can bescaled up, the source could start to rivalbulky argon–ion lasers.
Another interesting innovation was thebattery-powered laser-marking systemunveiled by Compact Laser Solutions ofGermany (p12). The portable system,weighing 6 kg and with a footprint the size ofan A4 piece of paper, enables on-site lasermarking. As a result, metal pieces that are toolarge, heavy or hard to move can be markedwith a permanent security or identificationcode. Potential applications include the post-assembly marking of vehicle parts.
However, what really caught OLE’sattention was Comlase of Sweden: it wastouting a new process for protecting delicatesemiconductor and glass surfaces fromoxidation, contamination and moisture.Preliminary research suggests that its Nitrelsurface-treatment technique coulddramatically improve the performance andlifetime of laser diodes and avalanchephotodiodes. Read all about it on p20.
After such a successful LASER 2005, it’splain to see that, although the economies ofmany European countries may be struggling,the ideas and innovation coming from start-ups and SMEs within them are top quality.
Oliver Graydon, [email protected]
“This issueis packedwith ourcoverage ofthe LASER2005 show.”Oliver Graydon
Copper tracks: the clock’s ticking
NEWSANALYSIS
COMPUTING
10 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Demand for more bandwidth hasdriven the computing and semi-conductor industries for almosttwo decades. In line with Moore’slaw, computer processing speedhas doubled every 18 months.
The problem is that the speed atwhich data can be moved around amotherboard and passed to theworld outside is not keeping up. Forexample, memory transfer speedshave increased by just 10% a yearover the same period, and thespeed of copper tracks on a printedcircuit board (PCB) is rapidlyapproaching its limit.
Improvements in PCB materialstechnology are enabling vendorsto push electrical interconnectionat the board level to 5–10 Gbits/s.Chip-maker Intel has stated thatelectrical solutions could reach13–15 Gbit/s. However, at speedsof 20 Gbit/s and beyond, theanswer may lie with photonics.
In theory, optical waveguidesthat carry light pulses betweenchips on a circuit board could pro-vide the answer, but the big ques-tion is whether the technology willbe cost-effective and practical.
Challenges There are a number of challengesto overcome before optical inter-connects can become common-place inside computers. In terms ofcost, reducing prices from today’s$30–50 (725–42) per Gbit/s to$1 per Gbit/s will be difficult. Thesolution requires the cost-effectiveintegration of multiple laser anddetector arrays, as packaging oftenconstitutes 70–80% of the overallcost of optoelectronic modules.
Thanks to the telecoms industry,the price of lasers, detectors, drivercircuitry and optical fibre is contin-uing to fall. Optical interconnectsare already starting to displaceconventional copper links over dis-tances of a few metres.
Optical interconnects have seensignificant uptake in the storagenetwork market at distances of10–100 m, and are progressingtowards the optical backplane level.However, as they edge closer andcloser to the computer itself, thedemands placed on this technologybecome ever more stringent.
Improvements must include thedevelopment of sources that can bemodulated at high speeds, are low-threshold and are highly efficient,so that they generate little heat.They must also have the capacity tobe made in large, cost-effectivearrays. Potential candidates com-peting for the role include vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers,quantum-dot and tunable lasers,
and silicon-based light sources. Another important issue devel-
opers face is minimizing latency(time delays). For optical intercon-nect applications, latency is crucialbecause processing takes place atthe clock rate, and any significanttime delays could adversely affectthe computer’s performance.
ApplicationsThe applications of optical inter-connects fall into the area of con-necting electronic processors (suchas Intel ICs) to other processors, orto memory storage and displaydevices. Although the transition tooptical connections will occur firstin high-end workstations, the rateof change in line with Moore’s law
means that desktop machines willbe soon to follow.
At the chip-to-chip level, the firstinterconnections will occur fromthe processor to L1 and L2 caches(the two main solid-state memorycaches) and thereafter to the mainmemory, with blocks nearer to theprocessor requiring faster accesstimes and lower latency.
Other specific applications willinclude optical clock distribution –by transmitting clock (timing) sig-nals around the chip or board tosynchronize computation. Manydevelopers have been looking atoptical clock distribution as one ofthe first applications for intra-chipor chip-to-chip optical communi-cation. This is because clocks runat such high speeds and their sig-nal distribution involves some ofthe longest path lengths.
As far as commercialization goes,board-to-board optical backplanesare most likely to appear first forimage-processing applications inthe military world, then for com-mercial systems, which may followin the later half of this decade – pos-sibly around 2007.
Ongoing improvement in elec-trical interconnect technologies atthe board level means that the useof photonics in the box (for chip-to-chip optical data processing) forcommercial systems is unlikely tooccur before the end of this decade.The on-chip marriage of electron-ics and photonics for intra-chipcommunication is unlikely to hap-pen until at least 2012.
Robert Thomas is principal at SRIConsulting Business Intelligence, abusiness and technology research
consultancy spin-offfrom the formerStanford ResearchInstitute. See www.sric-bi.com or [email protected].
Fibre-based shelf-to-shelf optical backplanes From 2003Board-to-board military optical backplanes From 2004Board-to-board commercial optical backplanes From 2007Chip-to-chip optical data processing for From 2008military applicationsChip-to-chip optical data processing From 2010for commercial applicationsOn-chip optical clock distribution From 2012
Timeline for optical interconnects
As the speed of computers rises, electronic connections are struggling to keep up. Optical interconnectsare a promising alternative, but will the technology be up to the task, asks Robert Thomas?
Wired by light: photons and optical waveguides could take over from electrons andcopper tracks as high-speed computer processors demand faster interconnects.
Optical power meters go wireless
TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS 11 L ASER 2005 HIGHLIGHTS 12 R&D 14 PATENTS 15
11OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
TEST AND MEASUREMENT
By Oliver GraydonThe ability to use a mobile phoneto make remote measurements ofoptical power over the airwaves atdistances of up to 1 km is now areality, thanks to an innovativeidea from Oz Optics. The Cana-dian company has launched arange of sensors that exploit wire-less technology, which will enablecable-free measurements of sig-nals in optical fibres.
Oz Optics’ “Wireless Fiber” sen-sor head consists of a strand of opti-cal fibre, a photodiode detector anda radio transmitter, all integratedinto a package the size of a match-box. A Bragg grating written intothe fibre deflects a tiny portion(about 1%) of the light out of thefibre and onto an InGaAs photo-diode, where it is measured andthen broadcast by a radio transmit-ter. The user simply equips theirPDA, laptop or mobile-phone with aplug-in USB/SDIO wireless receiverto display the power measurement.
The company offers a commu-nication range from 10 m to 1 kmor more by using Bluetooth, WiFi
or a high-frequency radio signal.The specification sheets also quotean insertion loss of less than 0.2 dBand the ability to handle opticalpowers of up to 1 W.
According to the firm, by addingoptical filters or multiple gratingsinto the sensor head, it is possible
to make more complex measure-ments, such as checking a signal’spolarization and wavelength, aswell as its power.
“The next-generation serviceequipment will allow wirelessmeasurements of power, wave-length or temperature, and other
parameters,” explained Oz Optics’CEO Omur Sezerman at the LASER2005 show in Germany, where theWireless Fiber was being demon-strated. “You could have easily hun-dreds or perhaps even thousands ofmeasurement locations, each ofwhich is individually addressable.”
The attraction of the system isthat the Wireless Fibers can be leftpermanently in a network to allowremote automated monitoring. Inprinciple, this means that engi-neers wishing to monitor a fibre-to-the-home network could simplydrive around a neighbourhoodchecking the power at variousnodes where the Wireless Fiber hasbeen installed. Alternatively, thedata could be logged at a centrallocation and an alarm sounded ifany of the measurements were tofall below a threshold value.
Oz Optics says that the data canbe encoded to prevent unautho-rized reading. Its long-range sys-tem operates over a frequencyband that does not interfere withother communications and doesnot require a licence.
No strings attached: a smart phone and a laptop displaying the power reading froma “Wireless Fiber” installed in an optical link. This demonstration took place at theOz Optics stand at LASER 2005, which was held in Munich, Germany, in June.
By Michael HatcherSharp’s European research winghas made the first continuous-wave (CW) blue laser diodes usingthe molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)growth technique.
All commercial blue-violet laserdiodes are currently grown bymetal-organic chemical vapourdeposition (MOCVD), but early lastyear Jon Heffernan and his col-leagues at Sharp LaboratoriesEurope in Oxford, UK, produced405 nm diodes using MBE for thefirst time (OLE February 2004 p5).
However, those initial devicesonly worked in pulsed mode andhad a very high threshold current.To be used commercially, the lasers
need to work continuously and atsufficient power to read data onoptical discs.
“This result confirms that MBEis a viable growth method fornitride lasers,” said Heffernan.“Sharp is now in the unique posi-tion of having both MBE andMOCVD technologies available.”
At room temperature, the Sharpteam’s latest InGaN lasers emittedaround 0.2 mW for 3 min beforeburning out. The CW threshold
current was 125 mA, correspond-ing to a threshold current densityof 5.7 kA cm–2, reported the teamin Electronics Letters last month.
Heffernan and the team madethe lasers on n-type GaN substratessupplied by Sumitomo ElectricIndustries. The active laser regionincluded three undoped InGaNquantum wells 3 nm in thickness,with 10% indium fraction.
The lasers operated in CW modefor around 3 min, and across the
wafer there was a variation ofaround 6 nm about the crucialemission wavelength of 405 nm.
Growing the lasers by MBE,rather by MOCVD, promises tolower manufacturing costs byreducing the consumption ofammonia gas, which provides thenitrogen content in the devices.However, Heffernan and his col-leagues still have a lot of develop-ment work to do before the MBEmethod can be considered suitablefor mass production.
The team will now concentrateon improving device operatingcharacteristics by optimizing p-type doping in the AlGaN claddingregion and reducing the growthtemperature. This is expected toincrease the lifetime of the devices.
Michael Hatcher is editor ofCompound Semiconductor magazine.
Blue laser diodesshine for longer
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS
At room temperature, the lasers emitted around 0.2 mW for 3 min before burning out.
SLE
A joining process that combines riv-eting and laser welding improvesthe dynamic strength of rail car-riages, according to its developers atthe Fraunhofer Institute for LaserTechnology (ILT) in Germany.
The team believes the tech-nique, which is patented under thename eSIE.CONNECT, has twoadvantages. Firstly, the welds havea similar strength to the materialfrom which they are made, mak-ing joints much stronger than riv-eting alone. Secondly, rivetingmakes it possible to assemble largecomponents without the need forclamping systems.
The eSIE.CONNECT project wasa collaboration between the Fraun-hofer ILT and Siemens Transporta-tion Systems. The results of thestudy have been submitted to theGerman railway authority.
Compact Laser Solutions (CLS) ofGermany has unveiled a battery-powered laser-marking instru-ment that it plans to launch inJanuary 2006. With a footprintroughly the size of an A4 piece ofpaper, the portable device weighsjust 6 kg and can be used to per-manently tag and verify partsalready in service.
The device’s laser head deliversup to 10 W continuous-wave lightat 1064 nm, or up to 5 W at532 nm, while the control box issaid to be no bigger than a portableCD player. The firm claims that itsair-cooled laser is maintenance-free. It also comes with a recharge-
able battery, giving up to 1 h ofcontinuous laser marking.
“The laser can even cut thinmetal sheets,” Thomas Parch-mann of CLS told the LASER 2005Photonics Forum audience. “Italso gives the opportunity for weld-ing plastic or synthetic materials.”
Dubbed Nucleon, the markingdevice is offered by CLS completewith a CCD camera and scanningsystem that recognizes barcodesand 2D data formats. As Parch-mann explained, the set-up isperfect for large maintenance pro-grammes, where components thatare already in service must bemarked in the field.
Joining methodraises rail safety
Fast holography details face shape
TECHNOLOGYL ASER 2005. WORLD OF PHOTONICS HIGHLIGHTS
HOLOGRAPHY
Laser markers go mobileMARKING
12 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Facial surgery and forensic scienceare benefiting from a portableholography system that can cap-ture the shape and texture of facesin an instant. The system, calleddigital holographic facial topo-metry, has been developed by sci-entists at the Center for AdvancedEuropean Studies and Research(CAESAR) in Bonn, Germany.
The team uses a 35ns green laserpulse from an amplified frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser to illuminatethe patient’s face. The reflectionfrom the face is then combined witha reference beam to form a holo-gram, which is captured on high-resolution (4000 lines/mm) blackand white film.
“We use green light because it is
eye-safe and provides very goodreflectivity, without the need toapply a special treatment to thesurface of the skin,” said Peter
Hering, head of CAESAR’s holog-raphy and laser group. “Theextremely short exposure timemeans that we can create holo-
grams of live subjects without anymotion artefacts.”
Following chemical develop-ment, the hologram is digitized tocreate a three-dimensional com-puter model that is an exactreplica of the patient’s face. Theresolution of the model is so good –about 0.4 mm – that even skinpores and individual hairs can bevisualized. The image is then usedto aid surgical planning or foren-sic science investigations.
CAESAR claims that the trolley-mounted system can be assembledand ready for use in less than20 min. It is currently being testedat the Clinic for ReconstructiveSurgery at University HospitalBasel, Switzerland.
The hologram is digitized to create a 3D computer model of the patient’s face.
MANUFACTURING
CAES
AR
A riveted and laser-welded side-panel.
Frau
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Oxxius, a two-year-old Frenchstart-up, has launched what it saysis the world’s smallest diode-pumped blue laser module. Meas-uring only 50 × 44 × 25 mm, thefrequency-doubled microchip laseremits up to 50 mW at 473 nm.
According to Thierry Georges,Oxxius’s founder and CEO, itsSLIM-473 laser is an ideal replace-ment for the argon–ion lasers usedin biomedical applications such ascytometry and microscopy.
“We believe we have solved someof the problems with DPSS lasers,”Georges told OLE. “Our laser is sin-gle frequency, it has low noise anda very narrow linewidth. We alsobelieve our technology is scalableup to powers of around 1 W.”
The SLIM-473 uses Oxxius’spatented alignment-free mono-
lithic resonator technology. Basedon a diode-pumped monolithiccrystal architecture, this set-upalso allows a range of wavelengthsto be generated via frequency dou-bling. Georges says that Oxxius isinvestigating sources emitting at457 nm, for applications in thelaser-based displays industry.
Oxxius is based in Lannion,France, and was founded in Decem-ber 2002. It received funding of72.4 m in July 2004 from Sofin-nova Partners, and is hoping toclose a second round in 2006.
Car-maker chooses laser welding
TECHNOLOGYL ASER 2005. WORLD OF PHOTONICS HIGHLIGHTS
WELDING
Debut for tiny blueDPSS module
SOURCES
Screening for diseases such as cir-rhosis and hepatitis could be as sim-ple as breathing into a tube, thanksto scientists at the Swiss FederalInstitute of Technology (ETH).
The Zurich-based team hasdevised an apparatus that usesinfrared (IR) laser spectroscopy tomeasure the amount of methyl-amines in human breath. A provenlink between the number of theselarge molecules in human breathand a range of illnesses forms thebasis behind the group’s non-inva-sive diagnostic tool.
By using a narrow-bandwidthmid-IR source, researchers areable to target specific methylamineabsorption lines that sit in the gapbetween CO2 and H20 spectra.
The team uses difference fre-quency generation in periodicallypoled lithium niobate (PPLN) to
deliver 10 µW of IR emission, tun-able between 3.48 and 3.88 µm.Fed by a diode-pumped Nd:YAGlaser and a near-IR external cavitydiode laser, the PPLN crystal sourceenables methylamine detection atdown to 250 ppb.
“Our goal is to achieve 1 ppbdetection, which would giveinstantaneous breath analysis,”researcher Dilyan Marinov toldOLE. “We could use fibre ampli-fiers, for example, to increase thepower of the laser beam.”
Halfway through their three-year project, the scientists arebusy optimizing the technique inadvance of field-testing, set tobegin soon at a hospital in Zurich.Currently, the team has to concen-trate breath samples, which com-plicates the procedure and couldpotentially slow down diagnosis.
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DaimlerChrysler is to use laserwelding to produce the body of itsMercedes C-Class car from themiddle of next year. That was thenews that delegates at the LASER2005 Lasers in Manufacturingconference heard during theopening keynote presentationgiven by Hans-Josef Haepp of theGerman car-maker.
Spot-welding has traditionallybeen used in car-body manufac-turing, although other car-makers,such as Volkswagen, are beginningto use laser technology. As the
range of materials used in a carbody increases, so does the need fora flexible, stable and economicmanufacturing process.
This prompted DaimlerChrysler– in partnership with Stuttgart Uni-versity and TRUMPF – to develop arobot-scanning (RobScan) weldingprocess that could join materialsranging from high-strength steel toaluminium and plastics.
“RobScan is 10 to 15 times fasterthan spot welding,” Haepp told theaudience. “It allows a user-definedwelding seam, as well as giving
access to one side of a part. This isparticularly useful for large bodyparts. Depending on the seam, wesee up to 30% better crash-test per-formance with the laser.”
The technique is also highlyreproducible and allows a largeoperating distance between therobot head and the sample. TheRobScan technology uses a disclaser and will partially replace spot-welding in car-body manufacture.DaimlerChrysler also expects lasersto be used in gear and engine pro-duction in the future.
Oxx
ius
The SLIM-473 measures 50×44×25mm.
Mercedes’ C-Class will be laser-welded.D
aim
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ler
EUV images the nanoscale
R&D
MICROSCOPY
14 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
A team of US, Russian and Ukrain-ian scientists is using a table-topEUV illumination source to createan optical microscope that canimage features as small as 100 nm.Operating in reflection mode andrequiring little sample preparation,the EUV microscope can rapidlycharacterize the topography ofmicroelectronic circuits, lithogra-phy masks and other material sur-faces (Optics Express 13 3983).
At the heart of the imagingapparatus is a pulsed EUV capil-lary discharge laser that emits at46.9 nm. The laser was developedby researchers at Colorado StateUniversity in the US.
“Materials have low reflectivityat this wavelength, making it achallenge to obtain images,” Fer-nando Brizuela from ColoradoState University told OLE. “How-ever, the brightness of the sourceallowed us to produce very sharpimages with short exposure times.”
Completing the microscopy set-up is a Schwarzschild condenser –
developed by a team from LebedevPhysical Institute, Moscow, andNational Technical University,Ukraine – and a zone plate objec-tive. The condenser focuses lightfrom the EUV source onto the sam-ple, and the zone plate objectivemagnifies the reflected sampleimage onto a CCD detector.
Scientists from Lawrence Berke-ley National Laboratory, US, cameup with a substrate-free zone plateby attaching a 200 nm nickel filmto a silicon frame. The design helpsto minimize attenuation of the46.9 nm emission, which is readilyabsorbed by most materials.
To reduce the number of image-degrading effects, such as speckleand interference, the team short-ened the laser’s capillary tubelength from 36 to 18 cm, to give alow-coherence beam with a pulseenergy of around 0.1 mJ.
The team tested its EUV micro-scope by imaging a silicon teststructure and patterned nickelfilm. The exposure time variedbetween 20 and 70 s.
“The next step is to develop asub-100 nm resolution micro-scope that will fit onto a smalldesk,” said Brizuela, lookingahead to the future. “We are alsointerested in co-operating withindustrial partners to develop andcommercialize the technology.”
CO M M U N I CAT I O N
A team from Purdue University inthe US says it has demonstrateddistortionless transmission of sub-500 femtosecond pulsesthrough 50 km of singlemode fibre.According to the researchers, this isfive times longer than previouslyachieved for similar pulse widths(Optics Letters 30 1449).
The team uses dispersion-compensating fibre (DCF) and aprogrammable pulse shaper as aspectral phase equalizer. “In oursystem, most second-order andpartial third-order dispersion iscompensated by the DCF,” explainthe authors. “The pulse shaper isused for finely tuning dispersion –here we use it in aprecompensation configuration.”
IM AG I N G
Scientists at the School ofOptometry at Indiana University,US, have developed an opticalcoherence tomography (OCT)instrument capable of imaging livecells in the human retina. Thespectral-domain OCT camera isbased on a free-space parallelillumination architecture and is alsoequipped with adaptive optics(Optics Express 13 4792).
“The camera was found to havesufficient 3D resolution(3 × 3 × 5.7 µm), sensitivity (up to94 dB) and speed (100 A scans/msec for a singleshot) for imaging the retina at thesingle-cell level,” say the authors.“We observed the interfacebetween the inner and outersegments of individual cones,resolved simultaneously in bothlateral and axial dimensions.”
HI G H-P OW E R P U L S E S
Peter Delfyett and colleagues fromCREOL, University of Central Florida,have used extreme chirped pulseamplification to generate 590 fspulses with a peak power of 1.4 kW.The team believes this is thehighest peak power generated froman all-semiconductor ultrafast lasersystem (Optics Express 13 4600).
JOURNAL WATCH
The research team put its EUVmicroscope to the test by imagingpolysilicon lines patterned on a siliconwafer. The apparatus managed toresolve features as small as 100 nmwith an exposure time of only 20 s.
NSF
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A laser processing technique thatwrites low-loss optical waveguidesin crystalline silicon could one dayenable 3D optical circuits in a chip,according to a team based at theFriedrich-Schiller-Universität, inGermany, and the University ofToronto, Canada.
By focusing mid-infrared (IR)femtosecond laser pulses to depthsof 370 µm below the surface, thescientists were able to induce refrac-tive index changes and form buriedwaveguides (Optics Letters 30 964).
While such waveguides havepreviously been fabricated in glass,the team says that this is the firsttime they have actually been writ-ten in crystalline silicon. In thefuture, it is believed that the wave-guide could link optoelectronic
devices on a silicon chip.“This bulk silicon substrate is a
valuable and unexploited resourcewhere low-index contrast wave-guides can be formed in multiplelayers to create optical routingwith negligible cross-talk,” AmirNejadmalayeri from the Univer-sity of Toronto’s Photonics Grouptold OLE. “With the developmentof the silicon Raman laser and sil-icon GHz optical modulators, ourtechnology will integrate CMOSelectronics and basic photonicbuilding blocks.”
The set-up features a chirped-pulse-amplified Ti:sapphire laserthat delivers 70 fs pulses with anenergy of 600 µJ at 810 nm.Because silicon is opaque at thiswavelength, the researchers usean optical parametric amplifier toshift the output to 2400 nm. Byoperating in the mid-IR, the teamensures that the pulse energy isdelivered to the laser’s focal point
with minimal energy loss to thesurrounding material.
Taking a crystalline siliconwafer coated with a 20 µm-thicksilicon oxide (silica) layer, thegroup focused its laser to depths of370 µm from the silica–siliconinterface. By moving the sample ata speed of 2 mm/min, the scien-tists managed to write buried opti-cal waveguides. Tests with 1320and 1550 nm sources show thatthe resulting waveguides havedamping losses up to 1.2 dB/cm.
What is particularly interestingis how images of the silicon wafer’send facet revealed that the laser-inscribed waveguides appeared atdistances of 5–20 µm below thesilica–silicon interface, irrespectiveof focal depth. Nejadmalayeri saysthat the group is currently busyworking to overcome this limita-tion, and is open to becominginvolved in scientific collaborationsand commercial partnerships.
Buried waveguideswire up silicon
PROCESSING
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGYR&D/PATENTS
15OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
SETTLEMENTNichia settles infringement casewith Korean LED-maker LuxpiaNichia of Japan has settled its patent infringementlawsuit with Korean LED manufacturer Luxpia. TheJapanese company filed the lawsuit in June 2004,alleging that the Korean company’s technologyinfringed Nichia’s Korean patent number 992 103.According to Nichia, Luxpia opted to settle the case.
Nichia withdrew its infringement claims afterLuxpia publicly apologized by taking outadvertisements in two Korean industry journals: theElectronic Times and Maeil Business Newspaper.
LICENSINGCree licenses crucial white-LEDtechnology to three more firmsCree has licensed its US white-LED patent(number 6 600 175) to several of its chipcustomers, including Stanley Electric and Rohm,both of Japan, and Cotco Holdings of Hong Kong.The licences provide the rights to make and sellwhite LEDs that use Cree’s high-performance LED chips. Cree adds that it is in discussion with other potential partners.
Cree licensed the patent to Nichia in the cross-licence agreement announced in February 2005.“These [additional] licences are a result of ourongoing intellectual property awareness activities,and can enable increased sales of our high-performance chips for white-LED applications,”said Cree’s vice-president Scott Schwab.
APPLICATIONSOptical head is compatible withseveral DVD recording formats Engineers at Korean electronics giant Samsunghave come up with an optical pickup apparatus forreading and writing data across different opticaldisc recording formats, such as DVD or CD.
As described in patent applicationWO 2005/048251, the device includes a dual-wavelength laser diode, a photodetector and ahologram module for splitting light into fivebeams. To make the optical pickup cross-compatible, each of the device’s five beams isdesigned to suit a specific data format. The unit’ssimple optical structure is said to benefit massproduction and also aid signal recognition whenoperating at high temperatures.
Infineon unveils antireflectioncoating for photodetectors Infineon Technologies, a German maker ofsemiconductor products, has devised anantireflecting coating method to improve lightabsorption in photodetectors. Suitable for silicon-based sensors and compatible with integratedcircuits, the technique involves etching thesurface of the photodetector to create a pattern ofinverse pyramid structures that are antireflecting.Further details can be found in internationalapplication number WO 2005/045941.
Invisible and edible ink could beused on the surface of pillsHewlett Packard is attempting to patent aninvisible ink for use on pills or capsules. Theauthors of patent application WO 2005/047404believe that the ink, which is only visible whenexposed to ultraviolet light, could reducecounterfeit production and fraudulent dispensingof pharmaceuticals. The edible ink is appliedusing a jet process that helps to protect thepharmaceutical product from any physical orchemical damage.
PATENTS
To search for recently published applications, visit http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/ and http://ep.espacenet.com.
Experiments in quantum commu-nications and computing couldbecome much easier, thanks to thedevelopment of a semiconductorsource of single photons at the tele-coms wavelength of 1.3 µm.
The quantum-dot-based devicewas announced at the CLEO/QELSconference, which was held in Bal-timore, US, in May. The device hasbeen developed by scientists fromToshiba Research Europe and theUniversity of Cambridge, UK.
To date, single-photon sourceshave been notoriously difficult tobuild and rely on either heavilyattenuating a laser or excitingsingle atoms. The drawback is thatthese schemes are often complex,and it can be hard to prevent mul-tiple photons being emitted.
In contrast, Toshiba’s quantum-dot emitter reliably generates singlephotons on demand, when excitedby short optical pulses. The semi-
conductor approach is also poten-tially compatible with electricalpumping and should be much eas-ier to package and commercialize.
“In terms of suppressing mul-tiple photon generation, we’veachieved an order of magnitudebelow what you get from a laser,”said Martin Ward, a member of theToshiba research team. “There areother ways of generating single
photons – like down-conversion –but this is the first time that strong[multiple-photon] suppressionfrom a quantum-dot-type sourcehas been demonstrated at tele-coms wavelengths.”
In order to ensure that singlephotons could be isolated and direc-ted into an optical fibre, the teamneeded to learn exactly how to fab-ricate sparsely populated fields of
InAs/GaAs quantum dots, each45nm in diameter and 10nm high.The dots were grown by molecularbeam epitaxy on a GaAs substrateat a temperature of about 500 °C.
After fabrication, a long-wave-length dot is embedded inside a pil-lar microcavity consisting of twomirrors (distributed-Bragg reflec-tors). An optical filter is then appliedto block emission from any sur-rounding dots of a smaller size.
At the moment, the source oper-ates at cryogenic temperatures, butthe Cambridge-based team is confi-dent that this can be raised to morepractical levels. “The results in thepaper are taken at 5 K and 30 K,but the long-wavelength dotsshould also emit at higher temper-atures – we’ve seen photolumines-cence of up to 200 K,” Ward toldOLE. “We certainly don’t envisageusing cryrogenic liquids to cool anyfuture commercial devices.”
Q-dots create single photon sourceSOURCES
Quantum dots similar to the larger (10 nm high) central dot are used to generatefibre-compatible single photons at the important telecoms wavelength of 1.3 µm.
TREL
Why you need to attend:assess the broadband access strategies of the top operators;hear about the new opportunities created by non-traditional FTTHnetwork builders: municipalities, utilities and building owners;analyse the latest forecasts for optical networking equipment;understand the latest technologies in metro and access markets;what’s next: forecasting where optical networking is headed.
Including key contributions from B2 Bredband, FastWeb, KMI Research,Cisco Systems Europe, Nortel,ADVA Optical Networking, OFS CableDivision,Alcatel, ECI Telecom, Genexis, Pirelli and Marconi.
Register before 15 August 2005 to receive your early-bird discount.For more details please visit our website:
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Competitive intelligence, winning strategies, converging markets25 – 26 September 2005, Hilton Glasgow, Scotland, UK
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This year’s event is colocated with ECOCGlasgow, 25 – 29 September 2005,Europe’s largest conference and exhibitiondevoted to fibre-optic communicationtechnologies.
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Optical Networking Markets
CVI Laser’s extensive optics and coatings catalogue contains 200 000 unique partnumbers. Jacqueline Hewett asks the company’s chief executive officer StuartSchoenmann about its current acquisition strategy and aggressive expansion plans.
CVI hits acquisition trailCOMPANY PROFILE
17OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
What is CVI’s background?CVI was founded in 1972 in Albuquerque,New Mexico, US, by Yu Hak “Haggie” Hahn,and we launched our first catalogue in 1975.We were selling into the research and indus-trial optics markets. We opened our first offour manufacturing facilities in Korea in1982. The company continued growing andin 2000 we purchased our European facility,which was formerly called Technical OpticsLtd, based on the Isle of Man, UK.
In 2003, a company called NorWest EquityPartners purchased CVI and we are still a pri-vately held firm today. And in June this year,CVI completed its acquisition of California-based Optical Components.
Today, we have four facilities in Korea, twoin North America (our headquarters are stillin Albuquerque) and one on the Isle of Man,UK. We’re kind of a micro-multinationalgiant. We have 400 employees now and mostpeople are surprised to find we are that large.
How wide is your product range?Our catalogue has 400 product lines andapproximately 200 000 unique standardpart numbers. This includes everything fromlenses, mirrors and etalons to filters, wave-plates and beamsplitters.
Some of our new developments include acleanable silver-coated mirror and f-thetalenses that are used to collimate the output ofa scanning mirror system. The f-theta lenseshave a high damage threshold and are used inmarking, welding and cutting applications.
In addition to our standard products, wecan build up customized optomechanical sub-assemblies for OEM applications. Another sur-prise for people is that about 60% of ourbusiness is customized.
We have a $1 m (7828 000) contract withthe National Ignition Facility in the US to sup-ply mounts for laser-optic assemblies. Thecontract, which runs until 2007, is for a vari-ety of custom-designed mounts optimized toreduce wavefront distortion for the project’sinjection laser system.
Our Asian operations produce up to 1 mil-lion DVD cubic beamsplitters a month to gointo DVD players, while our facility on the Isleof Man has produced a 46 kg mirror for theLaser Megajoule project in Bordeaux, France.
The breadth of our production is eye-open-
ing. We want to be an enabler for the systemhouses. We don’t make laser systems and wehave no intention of moving into that busi-ness. It is a completely different sales, manu-facturing and support model, plus thecompanies already in that arena do a goodjob. Our goal is to work out how we can pro-vide optics and optical assemblies to them.
What sets CVI apart from othercatalogue companies?The unique thing about CVI is our cata-logue. Obviously, there are other cataloguecompanies out there, but we are able to cus-tomize an optic for specific applications.Typically, we can have the optic ready fordelivery in one to two weeks.
CVI also prides itself on quality. We canprovide laser-grade quality optics, off-the-shelf. We also manufacture what we sell, soin terms of component count, we probablymake about 99% of the components we sell.
We can do everything from high volumesof small components, right through to one-off large half-metre-sized optics. We alsohave a tremendous diversity of optical fabri-cation, coating and assembly abilities. Itranges from doing standard lenses to state-of-the-art diamond-turned aspheric
lenses. We are not targeting or focusing oncertain markets in certain geographies. Webelieve the breadth of our products enablesus to sell across different markets. Our modelis to be a fully integrated manufacturer.
Why did you acquire OpticalComponents?CVI sells into a range of markets – industrial,research and semiconductor – but our salesinto the aerospace market were relativelysmall by comparison. Optical Components(OCi) had a terrific reputation for selling intothe US aerospace and research markets. Theyhave been a key supplier to customers such asLockheed Martin, Raytheon and LawrenceLivermore National Laboratories. This
Stuart Schoenmann (left) joined CVI in November 2003, when Yu Hak Hahn sold the company to NorWestEquity Partners. CVI makes a range of components, including prisms (right), mounts and ultrafast optics.
CVI
Lase
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“Our Asian armproduces 1 millionDVD beamsplittersper month.”Stuart Schoenmann
COMPANY PROFILE
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acquisition gives us a new customer base. OCi also brings us some unique capabili-
ties. We believe it has some of the finest opti-cal fabrication techniques for prisms. Theseare state-of-the-art prisms for which wave-front correction requires hand-polishing.They have really made a good market nichefor themselves with that. They also doinfrared processing and have high-speed,quick-turn optical fabrication capabilities.The acquisition enables CVI to meet cus-tomer demand for rapid prototyping, high-volume production and infrared imagingoptics and assemblies.
Are you planning any moreacquisitions?We anticipate making more acquisitions.CVI is looking to expand its product line,increase its capabilities and address growingmarket opportunities. We can offer compa-nies a global presence and help them grow.
We want to see OCi double in size in thenext couple of years. They have around 60employees at the moment, and we think ourgoal is achievable. We intend to increasemanufacturing capacity through intensivecapital investment projects at OCi’s facility.
With such an extensive catalogue,
do you use distributors or sell directto the customer?Our channel strategy varies by location. Wesell direct in North America and we selldirect in Korea. We have distributors in therest of Asia. In June of this year we signedBFi OPTiLAS as our distributor throughoutEurope, apart from Italy and Eastern Europe.The deal was a good portfolio mix for themand it simplified the way we go to market.
Our route to market used to be compli-cated because we sold into the European
market from our Albuquerque operation.We believe our customers in Europe will ben-efit from a single point-of-contact.
We are trying to develop centres of excel-lence at each of our manufacturing opera-tions. The plan is to focus on a uniquecapability at each location. This is a muchbetter strategy than having every facilitymanufacturing everything. You end up witha lot of redundant capability that way. Wecan’t afford to have facilities operating likethis – I don’t think many people could! ■■
CVI makes a range of excimer optics, such as mirrors for wavelengths including 193, 248 and 308 nm.
CVI
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Ion beams enhance opSURFACE TREATMENT
20 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
A small Swedish firm believes that it hasfound a way to fabricate semiconductorlasers that can be driven at much highertemperatures and output powers than everbefore, without failing. If the claim of Stock-holm-based Comlase turns out to be true, itcould have dramatic consequences in fieldsranging from data storage and telecoms, tofibre pumping and laser welding.
Until now, the maximum output powerand temperature of operation of high-powerlaser diodes has been severely limited by theonset of a failure mechanism called cata-strophic optical mirror damage (COMD). Putsimply, COMD is irreversible thermal damageto the surface of the laser chip facets, whichact as mirrors. The problem is often causedby facet oxidation or manufacturing defectsthat absorb light and act as a “hotspot”. It isalso the main reason behind the poor manu-facturing yield of high-power lasers.
Today, edge-emitting laser diodes are madeby cleaving a semiconductor wafer into indi-vidual chips. The cleaved ends are then cov-ered with thin-film coatings – one end with ahigh-reflectivity (HR) coating, the other end,antireflection (AR) – to form the laser’s rearmirror and front output coupler.
The problem is that, after cleaving, theexposed facets are highly chemically reactivebecause the bonds of the atoms in the surfacelayer have been physically torn apart, creating“dangling bonds”. If these come into contactwith even low concentrations of moisture oroxygen, they oxidize to create a light-absorb-ing hotspot that can lead to COMD.
Although the conventional thin-film coat-ings that are applied to the facets do offer someprotection against moisture and oxygen, theyare not a durable solution. For example, alu-minium oxide, which is often used as a coat-ing, is relatively permeable to water and isprone to moisture ingress over time.
To date, approaches to overcoming theproblem have focused on depositing a passi-vation layer, such as silicon (in Bookham’sE2 process), on top of the raw facets to pro-tect them prior to depositing the thin-filmreflection coatings. However, the process isonly effective at certain wavelengths.
“Applying a thin layer of silicon works verywell for lasers operating at 900–980 nm, butas soon as you go to lower wavelengths, youget negative effects,” explained AlfredFeitisch, Comlase’s CEO. “Our Nitrel passiva-tion process is applicable to any semiconduc-tor material – going all the way from GaN inthe blue, to the infrared.”
The Comlase “Nitrel” process effectivelytidies up all the dangling bonds on the rawfacet surface so that they cannot oxidize andact as a catalyst for COMD. Conventionalhigh-reflection and antireflection thin-filmcoatings are applied to the treated facets after.
“What Comlase does is atomically seal thesurface by taking off the oxygen and substi-tuting it with nitrogen atoms,” said Feitisch.“We actually form surface nitrides with thedangling chemical bonds on the surface.This renders the surface chemically stable sothat it cannot react.”
The process is performed in a speciallydesigned ultra-high vacuum chamber (reac-tor) that features two electron guns and anion gun for bombarding the facets of the laserwith a stream of nitrogen ions. The nitrogenions polish the surface smooth, remove anyoxides and then seal it with a nitride layer. Theelectron guns are then used to deposit the HRand AR thin-film coatings onto the rear andfront facets by e-beam evaporation.
“The reactor has a carousel that puts astack of 50 laser bars in front of the ion gun ata time. We then flip them over and do thereverse side. Then we lay down the HR and ARcoatings,” said Feitisch. “We are now buildinga new high-volume chamber that will have atleast three electron guns and will be able toprocess 800 laser bars in a single run.”
Longer lifetimesThe benefits from the process are substantial,according to lifetime test data collected byComlase. It says that multimode 805 nmAlInGaAs laser diodes fabricated with theNitrel process showed no degradation in per-formance over a period of 9000 h when dri-ven at a 60–80 W power level at a junctiontemperature of 90 °C. In comparison,untreated diodes driven under the same con-
ditions degraded rapidly, with three-quartersof the batch failing before reaching 6000 h.
Tests with InGaAs diodes at the longerwavelength of 980 nm also showed greatimprovements in performance. “We’ve putthem on life tests at 180 mW/µm [emitterwidth] and seen no degradation over thou-sands of hours,” said Feitisch. “In short, whatthis means is that if you take a 100 µm-widesingle-chip emitter, [it] would be a reliable18 W laser chip, which is enormously impor-tant for pumping high-power fibre lasers.”
As for applications for the process, Feitischsays that it would be ideal for making high-power infrared (IR) lasers for pumping solid-state lasers, such as the US military’s mobile100 kW laser weapon, which is currentlyunder development. The ability to run diodelasers at much higher temperatures (90 °C,instead of room temperature) and higheroutput powers should dramatically simplifythe cooling requirements for the pumps andminimize the number that are needed.
“In theory, you could run everything on acar-engine cooler, rather than using refrig-eration equipment,” explained Feitisch. “Wehave set up a US subsidiary in Delaware sothat we can deal more easily with the US
A Swedish start-up has found an ingenious way to protectthe surface of semiconductors and glass. Its Nitreltreatment could boost the performance of laser diodes,photodetectors and optical crystals, reports Oliver Graydon.
Special treatment: Comlase’s reactor for performing its Nitrel proand create a smooth, flat surface that is free from any impuritiesmoisture. Optical thin-film coatings are then deposited on top. Lif
Com
lase
military and government.”Fibre lasers and thin-disc lasers could also
benefit from diodes with improved reliabil-ity and power levels. Ultimately, the tech-nology could result in bright, compact diodebars that are ideal for performing directdiode welding and surface treatment.
The improved reliability of the lasers couldalso be a big benefit for other mission-criticalapplications. “We are in talks with the Euro-pean Space Agency to design and qualify aspecial laser bar for spaceborne applicationsand hope to have a project started next year,”said Feitisch. “After all, if a laser fails on asatellite in space, it’s a big problem.”
Applications galoreOther potential applications include raisingthe output power of blue and red lasers usedin optical storage industry. The result couldbe faster writing and reading of data ontoCD-ROMS, DVD and BluRay discs. Comlasesays that it has already received enquiriesfrom Sony and Hitachi, who are both inter-ested in the technology.
Although the company is initially focusingon applying its process to semiconductorlasers, Feitisch says that there is no reason
why the Nitrel process couldn’t be applied tosemiconductor photodetectors, such asavalanche photodiodes (APDs) and pindiodes,to help reduce their noise. “These devices havedark current [noise] issues that our processshould be able to eliminate,” said Feitisch.“Nitride is an electrical insulator and can pre-vent electrons from flowing over the surface ofthese devices, which causes the dark current.We want to investigate this idea further.”
In the case of APDs, the Nitrel processallegedly lowers the risk of voltage break-down over the junction region, therebyreducing the likelihood of device failure.
And that’s not all, Feitisch says that theprocess could potentially be used to protectglass components such as fibres and crys-tals. “For example, you could treat the endof optical fibres before laying down anantireflection coating, in order to getextremely good adhesion and remove anysurface imperfections.”
Another possibility is treating borate crys-tals, which are used for nonlinear optics, butare very sensitive to moisture (hygroscopic).By creating a thin, protective film of nitrideon the surface of a crystal, it could be pro-tected from water vapour.
Comlase has no shortage of possibilities forits technology, but as it has a staff of just 20,the firm is having a tough time decidingwhich applications to pursue first. “Before weexplore other opportunities, we need to getsome traction with laser manufacturers andsecure revenue,” said Feitisch. No firms havelicensed the Nitrel process yet, but he says thatit is currently being trialled by three partiesand is optimistic about the outcome. ■■
21OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
ptoelectronic durability
ocess (above left). The ultra-high vacuum chamber features a nitrogen ion gun and several electron guns. A stream of nitrogen ions are used to mill the facet of a laser diode or roughness. The ions then form a thin nitride (GaN, InN or AlN) layer that seals the surface, giving a chemically stable, durable base that acts a barrier to oxygen andfetime data for Nitrel (Fig. 1) and untreated (Fig. 2) AlInGaAs 805 nm multimode laser diodes driven at 60–80 W power levels and a junction temperature of 90 °C.
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 1000080
90
100
110
norm
alize
d po
wer (
%)
time (h)0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
70
80
90
100
norm
alize
d po
wer (
%)
time (h)
end of line
Wavelength 300–520 nm 620–750 nm 780–980 nm >980 nmrangeMaterial GaN InGaP AlGaAs InGaAsP:InP
AlGaN AlInGaP AlInGaAs InGaAsSb:InPInGaN N/A InGaAsP GaInNAs:
InGaAs GaAs
Materials that can benefit from the Nitrel process
“Lasers made byComlase’s Nitrelprocess can runreliably at extremepower levels andhigh operatingtemperatures.”Alfred Feitisch
1. 2.
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Push-button-operated supercontinuum sources that combine ultrafast laser pulses withmicrostructured fibre were a big hit at LASER 2005. World of Photonics in June inGermany. James Tyrrell talks booth-side with developers Fianium and Koheras.
Supercontiuum sourceboxed up and ready to go
BROADBAND SOURCES
23OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Supercontinuum devices that generate anintense beam of broadband light at the flickof a switch are now hitting the market,thanks to advances in microstructured fibreand ultrafast lasers. Shoebox-sized and withan output spanning from the ultraviolet (UV)to the near-infrared (IR), the sources coulddisplace high-end xenon bulbs and SLEDs,and replace multiple lasers for applicationssuch as spectroscopy, detector characteriza-tion, confocal microscopy and even LIDAR.
Ultrafast fibre-laser developer Fianium,based in Southampton, UK, installed its firstsupercontiuum device around seven monthsago, inspired by a request to develop anintense broadband light source.
“To take our amplified pulsed laser sourceand then look at generating a supercon-tinuum using photonic crystal fibre was[actually] quite a natural move for us,” JohnClowes, Fianium’s research and develop-ment manager, told OLE. “We have threemain building blocks: an [ultrafast] masteroscillator [modelocked fibre laser]; high-brightness pumps, which are essential foramplifying short pulses; and our owncustom-built fibre amplifiers.”
A photonic crystal fibre (PCF) converts thefibre-amplified, ultrashort pulses into anintense white light source (see box p25) by anonlinear process of extreme spectral broad-ening. The characteristics of the resultingsupercontinuum depend on fibre dispersion,pulse wavelength, duration and peak power.
Koheras, part of the NKT Photonicsgroup, was also showing a PCF-based super-continuum source at LASER 2005. The Dan-ish firm has been providing the spectroscopymarket with narrow linewidth sources forthe past eight years. “If you can get all of thewavelengths from the one source, you reduceyour servicing and stock managementcosts,” Jakob Skov, Koheras’s CEO, told OLE.“We see a lot of interest [in supercontinuumsources] from general spectroscopy.”
The Birkerød-based company recentlyacquired German solid-state laser expertLG Laser Technologies, and has opted to use
a Q-switched YAG laser as its pulse source.“We can keep costs down by using a pas-
sively Q-switched nanosecond laser andaddress industrial applications that havebeen limited in the past,” said Chuong Tran,Koheras’ sales and business developmentmanager. “The [supercontinuum] source isan order of magnitude higher in intensitythan a traditional xenon lamp.”
Both Tran and Skov feel that pumpingknow-how is key to maximizing the unit’smicrostructured fibre. “Anyone can buy pho-tonic bandgap fibre – the trick is how to pumpit correctly,” said Tran. “We have a dual-wavelength pumping scheme that allows youto reach down to shorter wavelengths.”
Fianium has been perfecting its seed laser.“Ultimately, the stability and quality of thesupercontinuum comes from the quality ofthe master source ,” said Clowes. “It is essen-tial to start off with a master oscillator whereevery single pulse is stable.”
With approximately 0.5 W going into thePCF, thanks to a Q-switched YAG laser,Koheras has chosen not to install a fibreamplifier in its supercontinuum product. Butthe sources from Fianium and Koheras dohave one thing in common: microstructuredphotonic crystal fibre supplied by Danish firmCrystal Fibre. Like Koheras, Crystal Fibre ispart of the NKT Photonics group, and Skovrevealed that the two firms have been work-ing together to identify potential applicationsfor photonic bandgap material.
Looking at the market for supercontinuumsources, simple-to-use, push-button units arethe ideal candidates to replace multiplesources and tunable lasers for low-powerquasi-continuous-wave applications. Withnothing to set up or tune, operation is straight-forward. “You get all the wavelengths in aninstant,” commented Skov. “Our customerscan [simply] take a bandwidth filter and selectthe wavelength they want.”
However, ease of use is not the only advan-tage. The supercontinuum source is pack-aged as a robust unit with a small footprint,which makes it attractive to product design-ers. “We can squeeze it down to half the size[of a tunable source],” said Skov. “Looking atindustrial applications, you are now down towhat I would call a compact OEM unit.”
By driving down cost and tailoring devicefeatures, Skov is confident that such an OEMmodule will open up many opportunities.
As Clowes explains, some of the appli-cations have come as a surprise, such as
Fianium’s SC450-2 features a high-power fibre laser.
Supercontinuum sources such as Koheras’s SuperKoffer high-brightness across a wide spectral range.
Handy for the lab, devices suit many applications.
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• Anatoly Grudinin, Fianium Ltd., UK
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• Harry Asonen, Corelase Oy, Finland
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detector calibration. With output rangingfrom the UV to the IR, the high-brightnesssource has caught the attention of produc-tion managers. Online monitoring of food isanother application that could benefit froman all-in-one solution.
Looking ahead, Clowes sees chromaticconfocal microscopy as a big applicationarea. “[Here] different spectral componentsof the source are focused to various [sample]depths and the reflected spectrum gives anon-invasive, 3D visualization of the sample,”he explained. “When confocal microscopyreaches its own volume markets, issues suchas the power, size and cost of the source aregoing to become very important in drivingdown the complexity of the detector.”
Xenon lamps provide a low-cost whitelight solution, but as Tran noted, a supercon-tinuum source has a spectral density that isthousands of times higher and is likely tounlock more demanding applications. Otheralternatives, such as multiple laser sources,are not only expensive, but can introduceartefacts such as image speckle.
A supercontinuum source would also suitimaging techniques like optical coherencetomography, and metrology systems basedon white-light interferometry. The unit’swide bandwidth enhances resolution.
Cost is another factor that will influencethe market. “We are some way away fromthere [high-end xenon sources] currently,but it is foreseeable that we can drive it downinto that [price] range,” said Skov. “Maybenot all the way down, but you [will] get amuch more intensive product.”
Clowes is confident that, in sufficientquantities, the supercontinuum source willbe able to challenge the market. “One of thebenefits of fibre lasers is that, as you go tovolume production, the price can comedown significantly because of the ease ofassembly,” he said. “Ultimately, it is splicingpieces of fibre together.”
Fianium has its manufacturing base in theUK, and is expanding its US sales office withan applications lab, primarily as a demon-stration facility for potential customers.
“We are constantly exploring the limits offibre lasers, pushing the peak power, reduc-ing nonlinearity and generally improvingthe product platform,” said Clowes. “As wemove to higher powers, the supercontinuumwill move to higher powers.”
“One of the applications that triggered meat Koheras was LIDAR,” added Skov. “This isreally long-term, but if we can bring it[supercontinuum] into some different powerschemes, it is the obvious source here.”
For more information, please visit www.koheras.dkand www.fianium.com.
BROADBAND SOURCES
25OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Koheras SuperK – RED Fianium SC450-2Spectral bandwidth 575–2000 nm 450–1700 nmMaster source pulse width 3–5 ns 5 psRepetition rate 40 kHz 30–100 MHzTotal spectral output 100 mW 2 WSpectral density 0.03–0.1 mW/nm >2 mW/nmDimensions 350 × 236 × 140 mm 250 × 210 × 80 mmCustomized versions are available from both companies on request.
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Are you looking for a source of femtosecond pulses? Jan Posthumus explains why fibrelasers are a convenient, easy-to-use answer, with the added benefit of being tunable.
Modelocked fibre lasersaid short pulse creation
PRODUCT GUIDE
27OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
The generation of ultrashort laser pulsesthat are just a few tens of femtoseconds longis commonplace in today’s university labor-atories. And the method is starting to showgreat potential in applications ranging frommaterials processing to spectroscopy andmicroscopy. However, for this exciting tech-nology to fulfil its true potential it is impor-tant that pulse sources are robust, reliableand user-friendly.
Until recently, femtosecond sources had areputation for being fragile and complexinstruments. This has been, in the most part,due to their design: a cavity containing lasercrystals and mirrors that is very sensitive toany misalignment or contamination, andoften needs water cooling.
Fortunately, developments in fibre technol-ogy now mean that a new form of compactand rugged source is available – the femto-second fibre laser. Pumped by diodes and withno bulk mirrors to align, these lasers are prov-ing increasingly popular as a “push-button”reliable source of ultrashort pulses.
Although femtosecond fibre lasers come invarious designs, they are invariably based onsinglemode rare-earth doped fibre, whichprovides optical gain when pumped withlight from laser diodes. The emission wave-length of the laser is determined by the typeof dopant in the fibre’s core (fibres dopedwith ytterbium emit at around 1050 nm andthose doped with erbium near 1550 nm).
The laser designer can choose to con-struct either a linear or ring-shaped lasercavity. In the linear design, the light has toreflect at the ends of the fibre or Bragg grat-ings written into the fibre. In the ring-shaped design, the fibre is connected into acontinuous loop and does not need any mir-rors. The length of the cavity determines therepetition rate of the laser, and fused fibre-couplers inject pump light from the diodesinto the doped gain fibre.
To generate pulses that are as short as afew femtoseconds in duration, it is necessaryto perform a process called passive mode-locking. Locking the phase of many longi-tudinal modes within the cavity togethercauses the modes to interfere constructivelyand produce ultrashort pulses.
Fibre lasers can act as compact and easy-to-use sources of ultrashort light pulses (above). Fig. 1: aschematic of the latest generation of modelocked erbium fibre lasers based on a master-oscillator power-amplifier configuration (below). Such lasers generate tunable pulses in the visible and near-IR (see box p29).
All
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Fig. 2: a spectrum emitted by a continuum-generating fibre connected to a femtosecond fibre laser (below).
2.
pumpdiode
outputcoupler
50/50splitter
master oscillator
WDM
Er:fibre
modelockingelement
amplifier 2
pump diodes
WDMWDMamplifier 1
Er:fibreexternal options
tunable secondharmonic generation
continuumcompression
frequencydoubling
continuumgeneration
fibre
variabledispersion
control
1.
Passive nonlinear optical elements (basedon either saturable absorption or the Kerreffect) are placed in the cavity to ensure thatthe modes not contributing to a short pulseare suppressed and do not lase.
For optimal pulse quality, it is best to main-tain a low power level in the laser. Pulses canthen be boosted by one or more amplifiers toincrease the average power to values of (typ-ically) 300 mW, before being compressed tothe desired duration. Amplifiers are con-structed from the same standard telecoms
components as the oscillator (the low-powerlaser) and simply act as a gain stage, pumpedby two additional pump laser diodes.
After amplification, pulse compressiontakes place outside the fibre to avoid anyunwanted fibre-based dispersion and non-linear effects that could distort the shape ofthe pulses. The pulses can be compressed toas short as 80 fs using a pair of prisms.
Technology todayFigure 1 (p27) shows a schematic of a typi-
cal ring-cavity erbium fibre laser arrangedin a master-oscillator power amplifierdesign. The 980 nm pump-light of the laserdiode is coupled into the fibre’s erbium-doped core by a wavelength division multi-plexer. Lasing occurs in a band around acentral wavelength of 1.56 µm.
Additional standard fibre, which has neg-ative dispersion at this wavelength, is addedto the cavity to compensate for the positivedispersion of the erbium-doped fibre. Thepassive modelocking process is based onpolarization-additive pulse modelocking. Inthis instance, the nonlinear Kerr effectinduces a rotation of polarization, and the
PRODUCT GUIDE
28 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
A selection of some applications that arebenefiting from the convenience andperformance of modelocked fibre lasers.Optical frequency metrology A modelockedfibre laser with a single amplification stage issuitable for frequency metrology in the1200–1700 nm range. With two amplifiersand a tunable second harmonic stage, therange is increased from 500 nm to more than2 µm. The intrinsic stability of fibre lasersmakes them ideal for experiments onfrequency standards. Ultrafast spectroscopy A two-amplifiersystem allows the generation of twoindividually tunable laser beams which areperfectly time-correlated. A system like thisallows for pump-probe experiments that areotherwise only possible with far more complexsystems based on optical parametricprocesses. The access to longer wavelengthsis also attractive for research insemiconductor physics.Terahertz spectroscopy For real-worldapplications, such as security or qualitycontrol, robust, low-maintenance and self-starting lasers are a must. Interest in fibrelasers as an alternative to large bulkfemtosecond lasers is growing fast. Device testing/telecommunications Theability to operate at the telecoms windows of1.3 and 1.5 µm, and provide very short pulsesthat mimic high data-rates make fibre lasersinteresting as testing devices in the opticalcommunication industry. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) Theresolution of OCT is given by the coherencelength, which is inversely proportional to thebandwidth of the radiation. The spectral powerdensity is also an important parameter, whichis why lasers are often preferable to other“white light” sources. Fluorescence microscopy Because of itstunability, the pulsed 5 mW output in the visibleis suitable for several forms of microscopy.
New applications
generation of ultrashort pulses is optimizedby using waveplates and a polarizer. Impor-tantly, the modelocked operation is self-starting and, after turning the laser on, it isfully functional within 15 s.
The repetition rate of the pulses is typi-cally 100 MHz, but some freedom exists toadjust this. A fast piezoelectric actuatorallows precise synchronization to an exter-nal radio-frequency oscillator.
One of the big benefits of a modelockedfibre laser is the ability to tune its emissionwavelength. To perform the tuning, laserpulses are injected into a highly nonlinearfibre to produce a supercontinuum that typi-cally spans 1000–2300 nm. A prism paircontrols the spectral shape of the continuum.
Laser pulses in the 1050–1400 nm wave-length range can be compressed to durationsin the 25–50 fs range, with average powersaround 30 mW, by the use of a pulse com-pressor. The shortest pulses observed to dateare 14fs at a wavelength of near 1200nm. Atlonger wavelengths in the 1600–2200 nmrange, it is possible to generate pulses withdurations well below 100 fs.
Finally, the high peak intensities permitefficient frequency doubling, giving tunablefemtosecond pulses in the 525–740 nmrange, with an average power of 5 mW in a5–10 nm-wide spectrum. Alternatively, it ispossible to directly frequency-double thefundamental wavelength. In this case, aver-age powers of 100 mW are achieved at awavelength of 775 nm.
This performance is not yet comparable toTi:sapphire lasers, which can generate sub-50 fs pulses at 800 nm, with an averagepower of several hundreds of milliwatts. How-ever, it may not be long before this is achieved.
More complex fibre geometries, such asthe double-clad fibre, large mode-area fibreand photonic crystal fibre are all under devel-opment. These designs are making it easier toinject pump light into the fibre and, conse-quently, to scale the output power of fibrelasers to a higher level, while still maintain-ing singlemode operation.
Combined with the chirped-pulse amplifi-cation technique, average powers of tens ofwatts have been achieved in the laboratory,with sub-picosecond pulse durations. It is pos-sible that commercial lasers based on thesetechniques will be developed in the future. ■■
Jan Posthumus is sales manager for femtosecondlasers at TOPTICA Photonics AG in Gräfelfing,Munich. See www.toptica.com.
AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to acknowledge F Adler, F Sotier andA Leitenstorfer from the University of Konstanz for theirtechnological support.
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PRODUCT GUIDE
29OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
Wavelength Pulse length Average power
Fundamental, 1550 nm less than 100 fs 300 mWSecond harmonic, 775 nm less than 150 fs 100 mWTunable, 1000–2000 nm 25–80 fs 30 mWTunable second harmonic, 50–100 fs 5 mW500–1000 nmAn example of the performance offered by today’s modelocked fibre lasers.
Typical femtosecond Er:fibre laser specifications
Argon–ion laserModu-Laser
Modu-Laser of the US is now offering a seriesof compact andlightweight air-cooledargon–ion lasers.According to the firm,
each product is based on a single-box designand includes a sealed mirror tube and a high-efficiency power supply.
With single-line, multi-line, TEM00 andmultimode options available, the lasers aresaid to suit applications ranging fromentertainment to spectroscopy. The companyhas appointed Laser Physics UK as itsdistributor for the UK and Ireland, and Latronix for Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.www.modu-laser.com
Ray-tracing softwarePhoton Engineering
Photon Engineering ofthe US has releasedversion 4.50 of itsoptical engineeringsoftware, FRED.According to the firm,FRED is a surface-based optical
engineering program capable of simulating thepropagation of light through virtually any opticalor mechanical system.
New functions in this release include ray-tracing bitmap source files, simulating CIEcolour analysis, creating meshed sampledsurfaces and analysing surface properties usinguser-defined BSDF data. The package alsofeatures encircled or ensquared powercalculations, importance samplingspecifications and ray manipulating criteria.www.photonengr.com
Green laserCoherent
The Compass115Mfrom Coherent is a low-power continuous-wave532 nm laser, optimizedfor OEM applications.Available at 5 mW and 10 mW, theCompass115M is said
to offer the same reliability and long lifetime ashigher-power Compass lasers, and is 30%cheaper than these earlier models.
Coherent says the cost reduction is the resultof a redesigned optomechanical cavity, whichhas been optimized for high-volume, low-cost
production. The company adds that theCompass115M has been developed for bio-instrumentation applications, such as flowcytometry, confocal microscopy andspectroscopy, as well as lower-power graphicarts and inspection applications.www.coherent.com
High-speed cameraSpecialised Imaging
Specialised Imaging ofthe UK has launched ahigh-performance high-speed camera that issaid to offer truedouble-imagingcapability. The SIR2can acquire two
separate full-resolution 11 million-pixel imagesto suit ballistic- and impact-based displacementand velocity studies. Its rigid, all-metal, IP54-compliant construction is designed to withstandharsh industrial and military environments. Anintegral TFT-LCD monitor allows users to viewimages in realtime, to optimize camera focusand lighting. The cameras can be controlledremotely via standard Ethernet cabling, and
several units can be operated from a singlecontrol computer. Operating software givesaccess to imaging parameters, supports a rangeof image formats, and provides a suite ofmeasurement tools to enable data analysis.www.specialised-imaging.com
SpectrometerB&W Tek
B&W Tek hasintroduced a low-cost,high-performancethermoelectricallycooled spectrometercalled the BTC251E-SU.Based on a 512-
element InGaAs array, the spectrometer isequipped with a built-in 16-bit digitizer, anoptimized high-throughput spectrograph, and aUSB and RS232 interface. It operates in thenear-infrared between 900 and 1700 nm.
The BTC251E-SU can run in either a highdynamic range or high sensitivity mode andcomes in standard and high-resolution versions.Flexible custom configuration and customapplication support are provided.www.bwtek.com
PRODUCTSIf you would like your company’s products to be featured in this section,
please send press releases and images to James Tyrrell ([email protected]).
31OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
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Retroreflector interferometerSIOS Messtechnik
The series MI miniatureretroreflectorinterferometers fromSIOS Messtechnik havea measurement rangeof up to 5 m and a
resolution of 0.1 nm. The interferometer uses aHeNe laser as a reference, and corrects for theeffects of ambient temperature and pressure onthe laser wavelength.
SIOS says the instrument has been designedto fit into metrological systems and can bemodified to suit customers’ needs. Thecompany says that the product is easy to align,immune to electromagnetic influences, and cancope with moving-mirror translation rates of upto 0.6 m/s and large angular misalignments ofthe moving mirrors.www.sios.de
Piezo amplifierPhysik Instrumente
The E-480 is the mostpowerful four-quadrantDC piezo amplifier onthe market, accordingto its developer PhysikInstrumente (PI). The
bipolar high-voltage driver provides 2000 W ofdynamic power in an output voltage range of1000 V or ±500 V. With source or sink currentsto 2000 mA and a bandwidth of 5 kHz, the E-480 is said to achieve very high slew rates,even with large capacitive piezo loads.
PI says the amplifier can be operated in bothinverting and non-inverting mode, with a DC gainof ±100. The differential design allows two piezoactuators to be driven in push–pull mode, whichis of benefit to dynamic positioning applications. www.pi.ws
SLEDsEXALOS
EXALOS of Switzerlandhas introduced its TOSA-1550 nm super-luminescent light-emitting diode (SLED)
line. The EXS1505-8111 devices are part ofEXALOS’s family of broadband SLEDs for fibre-optic sensor, optical coherence tomography,fibre-optic gyroscope and telecoms applications.
The EXS1505-8111 has a typical full-widthhalf-maximum bandwidth of 60 nm and aspectral ripple of less than 0.1 dB. The companysays an operating current of up to 200 mAgenerates a typical output power of 0.5 mW in asinglemode fibre. The product comes in a TO-56housing with different fibre pigtails, includingmultimode and polarization-maintaining fibre.www.exalos.com
RGB LEDsOsram Opto Semiconductors
Osram OptoSemiconductors saysits new six-leadMULTILEDs have threetimes the output andfive times the lifespanof their predecessors.
The company says that this is the first time thin-film chips are being used for all three coloursand, thanks to the six-lead design, each chipcan be individually controlled.
According to Osram, the optical efficiency ofthe chips is 43 lm/W for red, 36 lm/W for greenand 11 lm/W for blue. Silicone encapsulationprotects the LEDs against premature aging, dueto short wavelength light. Depending onoperating conditions, a lifespan of more than50 000 h can be achieved.www.osram-os.com
Raman spectrometerAvantes
Avantes has added theAvaRaman-TEC – athermoelectricallycooled Ramanspectrometer – to itsAvaSpec line ofinstruments. The
product offers a resolution of 8 cm–1 over awavelength range of 100–2300 cm–1 and issaid to be compatible with a range of fibre-optic Raman probes.
The company claims that the CCD detectorcan be thermoelectrically cooled to 30 °C belowambient conditions and stabilizes in about 90 s.The AvaRaman-TEC comes with AvaSoft-Ramansoftware version 6.2, which includes featuressuch as laser wavelength calibration on a PTFEfile and normalized counts mode.www.avantes.com
DPSS lasersSpectra-PhysicsThe Excelsior line of low-power continuous-wave532 nm diode-pumped solid-state lasers is nowavailable from Spectra-Physics, a division ofNewport. The company says that this productline is designed to be a low-cost alternative toair-cooled argon–ion lasers for applicationssuch as flow cytometry, DNA sequencing andconfocal microscopy.
All of the Excelsior-532 lasers feature aTEM00 beam, constant power mode and a lowoptical noise, which Spectra-Physics says isbecause of a patented intracavity doublingtechnique. Multi-longitudinal-mode versions areavailable at 10 mW or 20 mW, while single-frequency versions come with output powers of50, 100 or 150 mW.www.newport.com
PRODUCTS
33OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
IR cameraCedip Infrared Systems
Cedip Infrared Systemshas announced a newgeneration of its JADEinfrared (IR) camerafamily. Key advances in
the fourth-generation JADE cameras includeenhanced sensitivity (less than 20 mK), fasterframe rate and a new windowing mode.
The frame rate can be changed with a stepresolution of 1 Hz up to 250 Hz at full frame(320 × 256 pixels) and up to 25 000 Hz in sub-arrays windowing mode. Using highquantum efficiency, thermoelectrically cooledMCT and InSb focal-plane array detectors, theJADE cameras operate throughout the IRspectrum: SWIR (0.8–2.5 µm); MWIR(3–5 µm); and LWIR (8–12 µm).www.cedip-infrared.com
Laser-cutting systemNew Wave Research
The EzLaze 3 laser-cutting system is nowavailable from NewWave Research of theUS. Entirely air cooled,the EzLaze is said tomount onto most majorbrands of industrialmicroscope and can beused for semiconductorfailure analysis and LCDrepair applications.Based on a compact
Nd:YAG resonator, the EzLaze 3 delivers anoutput of up to 2.5 mJ at 1064 nm and532 nm, or up to 0.6 mJ at 355 nm and266 nm. The product also has a variable spotsize and an optical attenuator that allowsprecise control of the laser, while maintainingoptimal beam characteristics.www.new-wave.com
VCSELsLaser ComponentsVCSELs produced by German firm ULMPhotonics are now available in North Americathrough Laser Components. ULM’s singlemodeVCSELs are available at the followingwavelengths: 759, 760, 763, 785, 808, 850,852, 945 and 980 nm. Different formats – suchas chips and arrays – and packages areavailable. ULM adds that packaged devices caninclude thermoelectric coolers.
Potential applications range from drivingatomic clocks and gas sensing, to printing andrange-finding. ULM says its singlemode laserproducts offer perfect transversal andlongitudinal singlemode behaviour with a narrowlinewidth and a lifetime in excess of 50 000 h.www.lasercomponents.com
LED arraysOpto Diode
Opto Diode Corporationof the US hasdeveloped a 60-die LEDarray product line. Nowshipping, the 60-dieLED has a 40° beamangle and a high
intensity in the centre of the working beam. Thearray is available with a peak wavelength of405, 470, 525, 610, 830 and 870 nm, andcustomized versions are also available.
Typical applications are said to be long-rangeillumination, such as covert aircraft landinglights, and photodynamic therapy. Storage andoperating temperature ranges from –55 °C to100 °C, with a maximum junction temperatureof 100 °C and a typical thermal resistanceparameter of 3 °C/W.www.optodiode.com
Surface velocimeterPolytec
The LSV-300 lasersurface velocimeterfrom Polytec of the USis designed for the non-contact, realtimemeasurement,
inspection and control of velocity and length.The developers say that this suits continuousprocess industries such as steel, paper, plastic and glass.
The instrument is based on heterodynetechnology and, according to Polytec, candistinguish between forward, reverse and stand-still motion conditions. With stand-off distancesof 500 or 900 nm and a 60 mm depth-of-field,the LSV-300 can measure speeds of up to2500 m/min with an accuracy of 0.05%.www.polytec.com
Laser shutter resourcenmLaser Products
nmLaser Products, a USmanufacturer ofelectromechanical lasershutters, has launcheda series of onlinetutorials andapplication notes tosuit OEMs andresearchers. Theresource details
modulation, exposure and pulse gratingshutters, together with safety interlock andprocess control versions. An online model-finderhelps customers to identify the correct shutterfor their application, based on specific criteria,such as beam size, output power, repetition rateand pulse damage threshold. www.nmlaser.com
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Copy deadline:Friday 4 November 2005
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34 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
SpectrometerOcean Optics
The Ocean OpticsQE65000 spectrometeris a high-sensitivitymodular spectrometerfor Raman analysis andlow-light-level
applications such as fluorescence analysis,thin-film reflectivity measurements and DNAsequencing. According to the firm, theQE65000 can achieve up to 90% quantumefficiency with high signal-to-noise and rapidsignal-processing speed.
A user can optimize the spectrometer’s rangeby selecting from Ocean Optics’ line of 14 grating and seven entrance slits. The productalso features an SMA 905 connector and isavailable for $9999 (78361). Fibre-optic Ramanprobes are also available with 514, 532, 633,670, 783, 785 and 830 nm bandpass filters.www.oceanoptics.com
Solid-state laserMelles Griot
Melles Griot haslaunched the first solid-state laser based on itsKyma technology – the Kyma 488. Accordingto Melles, solid-state
lasers built using Kyma technology require fewerindividual parts than conventional DPSS lasers,which increases the source’s stability, whiledecreasing its manufacturing cost.
The Kyma 488 is available with output powersof 10 and 20 mW at 488 nm. The linearlypolarized output beam is said to have an aspectratio of less than 1.1:1 and an M2 of less than1.2. Melles adds that the long-term power driftis less than 5% over 24 h and that the sourceconsumes less than 15 W of power.www.mellesgriot.com
SpectrographsAndorAndor Technology of Ireland has launched theShamrock 163 range of spectrographs. Twoversions are available: the non-imagingShamrock 163 and the imaging Shamrock163i, which is said to suit multitrackspectroscopy applications. Andor adds that theShamrock 163 can be used with CCDs,EMCCDs and intensified CCDs.
Based on a Czerny-Turner optical layout, thespectrograph has a focal length of 163 nm, an entrance aperture ratio of f/3.6 and awavelength resolution of 0.17 nm. The Shamrock163 range also has an interchangeable gratingand fixed slit. Andor lists typical applications asfluorescence, absorption and transmission,reflection and source characterization.www.andor.com
Tunable laserBFi OPTiLAS
The TLB-390Xcontinuous-wave,distributed-feedbacktunable laser from NewFocus is now available
through distributor BFi OPTiLAS. Combininghighly reliable DFB performance with modehop-free tunability, the laser is said to provide stablehigh-output powers of up to 20 mW between1528 and 1563 nm, without the use ofsemiconductor optical amplifiers.
The benchtop instrument includes anintegrated wavelength locker for 25 GHz channelspacing or higher, built-in DSP, simple serialelectrical interface, and a built-in thermoelectriccooler. Other specifications include a linewidthof 3 MHz, ±1.5 GHz wavelength accuracy andresidual intensity noise of 145 dB/Hz.www.bfioptilas.com
Low-pass filterFoctek Photonics
Foctek Photonics hasunveiled an optical low-pass filter that reducesor eliminates Moirefringing, a phenomenonthat occurs owing tobeating between apattern in an image and
the periodic nature of a CCD array. The filter is based on a birefringement material
that splits the image into an O and E part. Theseimages are then slightly displaced with respect to each other at the CCD plane. Foctek says thedirection of displacement is along the diagonalof the pixels. It adds that the displacement isdesigned to eliminate the Moire effect whilehaving minimum effect on the resolution.www.foctek.com
Piezoelectric motorNew Scale Technologies
The Squigglerpiezoelectric motorfrom US firm New ScaleTechnologies operatesdown to a temperatureof less than 4 K. With aresolution of 50 nm anda speed ranging from
0.001 to 1 mm/s, the SQ-115C suits thealignment of optics and can help maintaincamera focus during cryogenic cooling.Available with a metal casing for fast integration,the unit can also be supplied without its housingfor more space-sensitive applications. Withoutits housing, the motor measures 8 mm indiameter by 20 mm in length. Prices start at$1500 (71254) for single pieces.www.newscaletech.com
PRODUCTS
35OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
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PEOPLETo advertise your job vacancies, contact Cadi Jones (tel: +44 (0)117 930 1090; e-mail: [email protected]).
37OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
UK
CRLO Displays namesLeslie Polgar as CEO
Scottish firm CRLODisplays, a developerof ferroelectricliquid-crystal-on-silicon technology,has hired LesliePolgar as its CEO.Polgar was formerlythe foundingpresident of Kodak’s
display product business and led thesuccessful commercialization of its active-matrix OLED display.
US
Ruth Stevens joins theboard of Edmund Optics Edmund Optics, a supplier of optics andoptical components, has appointed ProfessorRuth Stevens of Columbia Business School,US, to its board of directors. Stevens, anauthor of several books, including Trade Show
and Event Marketing, iscurrently president ofconsulting firmeMarketing Strategy.
A well knownfigure in the direct-marketingcommunity, Stevenshelped launch Ziff-Davis’s consumer
media group, was involved in new businessdevelopment at Time-Life Books and hasserved as director of direct marketing at IBM.
US
Synborski to manageoptics at Melles Griot
Melles Griot haspromoted CharlesSynborski to theposition of generalmanager of its opticsgroup. Synborski hasbeen with thecompany for fiveyears, most recently
as director of marketing and sales for theoptics group. Before joining Melles Griot, heheld executive positions at Fusion UVSystems, Hansford Automation, Carl Zeiss,Perkin Elmer and Tropel.
US
FLIR Systems electsfinance expert to board
Tamara Adler hasbeen elected to theboard at FLIR systems.Adler is currentlymanaging director ofJP Morgan’s principalinvestments divisionand was previouslyhead of its European
structured finance group. Before joining JPMorgan, Adler spent five years at DeutscheBank, where she led the Europeansecuritization group and was a member ofthe bank’s global market-managementcommittee based in London. “We are verypleased to welcome Tamara to FLIR’s board ofdirectors,” said the firm’s CEO Earl Lewis.
Lasers, optics and photonics resources and news
Need to recruit?Place your vacancy withoptics.org and benefit from:● An average of 17,800 visits per month● One-month listing in the Employment Section● Searchable CVs● Initial homepage exposure for your vacancy● Free posting on our other leading websites, fibers.org,compoundsemiconductor.net and nanotechweb.org
Stevens: marketing ace.
Synborksi: promotion.
Polgar: top job at CRLO.
Adler: financial focus.
B&W Tek Inc www.bwtek.com 35BFi OPTiLAS www.bfioptilas.com 29Breault Research OrganizationBreault.com IFC
CVI Technical Optics www.cvilaser.com 4Diode Laser Concept Incwww.diodelaserconcepts.com 18
EMO Hannover www.emo-hannover.de 8Excel Technology Europe GmbHwww.continuumlasers.com 32
Flexible Optical BV www.okotech.com 26Hamamatsuwww.sales.hamamatsu.com 9
i-Chips www.i-chipstech.com 7IMRA America Inc www.imra.com/ole 28IMT Masken und Teilungen AGwww.imtag.ch 30
Intelligent Photonics Control
www.photonicscontrol.com 16Kapteyn-Murnane Laboratorieswww.kmlabs.com 18
Kentek www.kentek-laser.com 24Laser Components (UK) Ltdwww.lasercomponents.co.uk 13
Laser Lines www.laserlines.co.uk 31LG Laser Technologies GmbHwww.lg-lasertechnologies.com 36
Melles Griot www.mellesgriot.com OBCOphir Optronics www.ophiropt.com IBCOptical Research Associateswww.opticalres.com 36
Optikos Corporationwww.optikos.com 36
OPTO www.optoexpo.com 22Optoelectronics Research Centrewww.orc.tut.fi/school2005.html 24
Photonex 05 Europewww.photonex.org 12
Photonics Europespie.org/events/Europe 26
Piezosystem Jena www.piezojena.com 22Powerlase Limitedwww.powerlase.com 8
SCHOTT Electronics GmbHwww.schott.com/epackaging 19
Special Optics Inc specialoptics.com 22SPI www.spioptics.com 25StockerYale Inc (Canada)www.stockeryale.com 36
StockerYale Inc (Ireland)www.stockeryale.com 24
Thales Laser www.thales-laser.com 26Umicore Coating Serviceswww.coatingservices.umicore.com 33
38 OLE • July/August 2005 • optics.org
July 31 – August 4 SPIE 50th Annual Meeting San Diego, US SPIE spie.org/conferences/calls/05/am/
August 7–10 Optical Amplifiers And Their Budapest, Hungary OSA www.osa.org/meetings/Applications topicals/oaa/
August 9–12 NIST Laser Measurements Boulder, Colorado, US NIST www.nist.gov/public_affairs/Short Course confpage/050809htm.htm
August 21–26 20th Congress of the International Changchun, China ICO www.conference.ac.cn/Commission for Optics ico20.html
September 6–9 China International Optoelectronics Shenzhen, China Wen Global Solutions, www.cioe-online.com/Exposition China
September 6–9 Euro-Mediterranean Symposium Aachen, Germany Fraunhofer Institute for www.ilt.fraunhofer.de/on LIBS 2005 Laser Technology emslibs2005
September 12–14 Photonics North 2005 Toronto, Canada SPIE spie.org/conferences/calls/05/pn/
September 12–14 Conference on Optical and Laser London, UK IOP and City University, conferences.iop.org/ICOLAD/Diagnostics London, UK
September 12–16 Optical Systems Design 2005 Jena, Germany SPIE spie.org/conferences/calls/05/eod
September 19–22 Numerical Simulation of Berlin, Germany Humboldt University, www.wias-berlin.de/workshops/Optoelectronic Devices Germany nusod05
September 19–22 Remote Sensing Europe 2005 Bruges, Belgium SPIE http://spie.org/conferences/calls/05/ers/
September 21–23 Optical Fibre Measurement Conference Teddington, Middlesex, UK NPLA and Photonics www.ofmc2005.npl.co.uk/Cluster, UK
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CALENDARFor a more comprehensive list of events, including links to websites, visit optics.org/events.
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