UDT becomes division of Gamma Scientific
Gamma Scientific, a provider of light-measurement instrumentation, has joined forces with UDT Instruments (both in San Diego, CA), a provider of electro-optical instruments including radiometers, colorimeters, photometers, autocollimators, power meters, and noncontact position sensors, to create a comprehensive light-measurement solutions resource. Under the arrangement, UDT Instruments is now a division of Gamma Scientific and has integrated its R&D, manufacturing, and customer-support capabilities into Gamma Scientific’s San Diego, CA headquarters.
“We are very excited about this partnership,” said Richard Austin, president of Gamma Scientific. “Gamma Scientific and UDT Instruments each brings to the table over 30 years of light-measurement expertise. Yet each company’s strengths are complementary; there’s very little overlap in our product lines.”
JWST selects Barr Associates
Lockheed Martin selected Barr Associates (Westford, MA) to provide filters for its James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Near InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). The NIRCam is a filter-based instrument covering the spectral range from 0.6 to 5.0 µm. The principle investigator for NIRCam is Marcia Reike of the University of Arizona, while the manufacture, integration, and testing will be handled by the Advanced Technology Center of Lockheed Martin. Barr is responsible for the design, manufacture, and testing of the full compliment of 30 filters used in the NIRCam.
Researchers select Discovery photodiodes
Based in Ewing, NJ, Discovery Semiconductors is providing 25 GHz multimode photodiodes to the Technical University of Berlin (Berlin, Germany) for its research on directly modulated 980 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting (VCSEL) lasers. “Next-generation short-distance optical networks like chip-to-chip, or backplane applications require temperature-robust ultra-high-bit-rate sources,” said Professor D. Bimberg of the Technical University of Berlin. “Our final goal is a 1 Tbit/s VCSEL array fitting the terabus demands of IBM, INTEL, Cisco, etc. We were able to characterize the high-speed performance of the multimode laser without the detector compromising the results.”
“The ease of optically interfacing the large aperture fibers into an experiment, as well as the broad wavelength coverage of our photodiodes, has opened up a number of new applications for high-bit-rate multimode devices,” said Roy Howard, the applications engineer at Discovery who has witnessed the development of the multimode high-speed photodiodes over the last six years.
Sofradir to supply space-qualified detectors
Developer and manufacturer of advanced infrared detectors, Sofradir (Veurey-Voroize, France), signed a $1.3 million contract with a worldwide supplier of electro-optic space and defense systems to provide large-format, 30-µm-pixel-pitch shortwave infrared (SWIR) detectors for hyperspectral applications in airborne platforms. Sofradir is the only manufacturer to have a space-qualified FPA of this size available, off-the-shelf.
Hyperspectral imagery is used to detect chemical and biological weapons, make bomb damage assessment of underground structures, and penetrate foliage to detect troops and vehicles. Sofradir is already engaged in several space projects, including the European Space Agency’s Airborne Prism Experiment (Apex) mission.
AMIS to manufacture FLIR microbolometers
FLIR Systems (Portland, OR), a leader in commercial infrared technology, and AMI Semiconductor (AMIS; Pocatello, ID), a designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products, announced an agreement for high-volume manufacturing of uncooled microbolometer infrared detectors. Under the agreement, FLIR will install its proprietary microbolometer-detector process at AMI Semiconductor’s Class 1, 8-inch fabrication facility in Pocatello.
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Also in the news . . .
Point Grey Research (Vancouver, BC, Canada), a developer of advanced digital camera technology products, opened a new sales office in Munich, Germany. . . . Sysview Technology’s (San Jose, CA) CEO spoke on the price-performance advantage of Sysview’s combined liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) optical engine and nanotechnology imager chip at the 5th Optics Valley of China International Optoelectronic Forum in Wuhan, China. . . .Imaging company Andor Technology (Belfast, Northern Ireland) was presented the Chartered Institute of Marketing award for Export Marketing for 2006-an award that recognizes excellence in marketing across Ireland-for launching a comprehensive sales catalog. . . . Machine-vision camera maker PixeLINK (Ottawa, ON, Canada) announced that FY2006 sales revenue increased 21% over FY2005 based on strong increases in the machine-vision market, exceeding the market average of 11.9%.