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  • Volume 40, Issue 4

    • Volume 40, Issue 4

    Th 146546
    Detectors & Imaging

    Satisfactory design outcomes require effective communication

    April 1, 2004
    Communication is the key to effectively carrying out optical design projects while shortening design cycles and reducing manufacturing costs because it enables the customer and...
    Th 146531
    Research

    Good science and business practices also yield positive educational results

    April 1, 2004
    The reliance of modern society on science and technology has created a serious and growing need for a large high-technology workforce and a technically literate population.
    Th 147228
    Optics

    New Products

    April 1, 2004
    High-speed CCD; Attenuator; Display measurement system; MORE...
    Th 146539
    Lasers & Sources

    Upbeat mood prevails in solid-state lighting

    April 1, 2004
    The high-brightness LED market has undergone another year of 50% growth.
    1304qa Chang New
    Research

    Is commercial work really different from government work?

    Milton Chang
    April 1, 2004
    I am frustrated working for a government contractor because of the waste and dishonesty.

    More content from Volume 40, Issue 4

    Th 146559
    Optics

    Active photonic lattices aim for high powers

    April 1, 2004
    Active-photonic-lattice distributed-feedback lasers emit a diffraction-limited surface-normal beam. These lasers can be coherently combined into arrays that could potentially ...
    Th 146607
    Research

    Atomic-force microscopy finds new role in the nano world

    April 1, 2004
    AFM is a well-established surface-analysis tool, but researchers are also using it to manipulate matter on the molecular and atomic scale.
    A patient is about to deposit a sputum/aerosol sample into a disposable collection device. The sample collector is then inserted into an optical reader to check for pathogens such as tuberculosis bacteria (inset).
    Optics

    Laser-based breathalyzer screens for TB in minutes

    Ilene Schneider
    April 1, 2004
    A laser-based breathalyzer system may make painful, under-the-skin testing for tuberculosis (TB) a relic of the past.
    Th 146439
    Research

    Newsbreaks

    April 1, 2004
    Terahertz radiation carries information; QD and QW lasers face off; Attosecond pulses probe atoms' inner dynamics; MORE...
    Th 146549
    Optics

    Wavefront sensing lights 21st century path for ground-based astronomy

    April 1, 2004
    Wavefront sensing for adaptive optics (AO) has become an essential component in building large ground-based telescopes and telescope interferometers for 21st century astronomy...
    FIGURE 1. Nomarski-microscope images show the onset (left) and progression (right) of laser-induced damage within voids and pinholes in a conventional 193-nm mirror coating. These mirrors exhibit moderate and severe damage from laser exposure. In both instances, laser-induced damage started within microscopic voids in the coating. The severe damage at right occurred after 240,000 pulses at 225 mJ/cm2 at a 100-Hz repetition rate.
    Optics

    193-nm coatings resist excimer-laser damage

    Michael Case
    April 1, 2004
    The best way to design and test coatings for use at 193 nm relies on two approaches: one for high pulse energy and low repetition rate, and the other for low pulse energy and ...
    Th 146628
    Detectors & Imaging

    Flexible microbolometers promise smart fabrics with embedded sensors

    April 1, 2004
    Detectors having performance similar to those made on rigid silicon substrates have been successfully fabricated, packaged, and tested.
    Th 147219
    Research

    Installation costs limit fiber deployment

    April 1, 2004
    Regional phone companies in the United States have left fiber rollout to others, but as bandwidth demands increase, fiber to the home is gradually gaining momentum.
    Th 146467
    Optics

    Saturn's moon becomes a refractive lens

    April 1, 2004
    When a planet with an atmosphere passes in front of a star (an event known as an occultation), earthbound scientists can glean information about the planet's atmosphere by examining...
    FIGURE 1. The small, bright arc of a short-arc lamp allows for great flexibility in shaping the emitted light for illumination and other uses. Proper power-supply design is crucial to the stability of an arc lamp's optical output.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Closed-loop control maintains arc-lamp stability

    April 1, 2004
    The optical output of a short-arc lamp is kept stable in the short term by good power-supply design, and in the long term by a closed-loop light-intensity control system.
    Th 147214
    Software

    Machine vision guides lumber cutting

    April 1, 2004
    Combined with laser triangulation, a vision system determines the saw cuts that maximize the usable lumber obtained from tree trunks.
    FIGURE 1. Researchers at the University of Jena will be among the many presenters at this year's CLEO technical sessions. A chirped-pulse amplifier they have developed starts with 250-fs 1040-nm pulses from a modelocked Yb:KGW laser. A 1.9-m-long step-index single-mode fiber prestretches the pulse. Next, it is amplified in a 2.1-m-long air-clad microstructured ytterbium-doped large-mode-area fiber (pumped by a 976-nm laser diode). Finally, the amplified pulses are recompressed into positively chirped pulses in 2 m of air-guiding photonic-bandgap fiber.
    Research

    CLEO/IQEC 2004 heralds novel technology and exciting applications

    Yvonne Carts-Powell
    April 1, 2004
    Technical sessions will reveal what is ahead in the areas of semiconductor emitters, displays, nonlinear and ultrafast optics, sensing, and biological applications.