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  • Volume 54, Issue 01

    • Volume 54, Issue 01

    The Lasorb component can be integrated with laser modules to prevent ESD and power surge damage.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Accessories: Preventing ESD and power surges in laser diode-based systems

    Jan. 18, 2018
    Protection from electrostatic discharge (ESD) and power surges can be ensured with specifically designed components added to the laser system.
    FIGURE 1. A defined scanning pattern (a) is shown along with two schemes for customizing the energy density distribution in the 2D beam: constant power with variable scanning speed (b) and constant scanning speed with variable power (c).
    Software

    Materials-processing Modeling: Dynamic Spot Shaper software improves laser heat treatment

    Jan. 18, 2018
    The parameters of a scanned laser beam are dynamically altered by software, tailoring heat distribution to the application.
    FIGURE 1. Atomic emission lamp spectra acquired using InGaAs (blue) and CCD arrays (red) with a HRS-300 spectrograph and 600 g/mm grating at 1000 nm blaze are compared.
    Spectroscopy

    Spectroscopy: Back-illuminated CCDs enable advanced spectroscopy instrumentation

    Michael Case
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Cameras with exceptional detection capabilities can be designed around high QE, back-illuminated CCD sensors, combined with advanced imaging spectrographs.
    Courtesy of Nyfors
    FIGURE 1. A schematic shows different configurations for the laser beam (red) for end-cap splicing (a) and for both tapering and fiber-to-fiber splicing (b).
    Fiber Optics

    Fiber Splicing and Forming: Ring-shaped CO2 laser beams advance optical fiber processing

    Jan. 18, 2018
    Using absorptive laser-based processes, optical fibers can be cleaved and shaped with broader versatility than conventional electrical arc systems.
    FIGURE 1. Outline of the typical process flow for laser bar manufacturing.
    Lasers & Sources

    Thin-film Coatings: Thin-film manufacturing considerations for semiconductor lasers

    Jan. 18, 2018
    Many practices from the microelectronics equipment industry are directly relevant to the manufacture of semiconductor lasers, and analyzing the practices and cost of ownership...

    More content from Volume 54, Issue 01

    FIGURE 1. The interaction of mid-IR photons with matter affects molecular vibrations, including those of many organic molecules; the mid-IR wavelength range is sometimes called the spectral 'fingerprint region.'
    Lasers & Sources

    Fiber Lasers: Raman-scattering-based gas analysis in metallurgy, medical, and food industries

    Sergei Ivanov
    Jan. 18, 2018
    When used in Raman-scattering gas-sensing systems for breath analysis, air-quality monitoring, and other needs, fiber lasers reduce system size and complexity.
    Courtesy of LLNL
    Slanted Light Interrogation for Cross-Correlated Encoded Recording (SLICER) is a semiconductor-based optical technique for recording ultrafast single-shot events.
    Test & Measurement

    Test & Measurement: Single-shot optical recording with sub-picosecond resolution spans record nanosecond lengths

    Jan. 18, 2018
    Slanted Light Interrogation for Cross-correlated Encoder Recording (SLICER) records ultrafast single-shot events over record-long lengths using a pump-probe-style architecture...
    (Courtesy of Jens Große/MAIUS)
    FIGURE 1. For the MAIUS mission that demonstrated the first Bose-Einstein-Condensate in space, the complete experimental setup fit into a pressurized chamber measuring 50 cm in diameter and 2.79 m long inside the rocket.
    Lasers & Sources

    Quantum Technology: Quantum sensing is gaining (s)pace

    Andreas Thoss
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Quantum sensing may reach industry before cryptography or computing—an example is a Berlin collaboration that is miniaturizing the lasers for satellite operations in which quantum...
    (Adapted from C. L. Chen and R. K. Wang [2])
    FIGURE 1. Optical coherence tomography-based angiography (OCTA) samples signals from five points in an A-scan (axial scan), three of which (1, 2, and 5) are located in static tissue (that is, not in blood vessels) and two of which (3 and 4) are within a functional blood vessel. OCT signals from the vasculature—points 3 and 4—show dynamic changes over time, while signals from the other points remain steady.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Optical Coherence Tomography: OCT angiography’s gains

    Barbara Gefvert
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Driven by technology advances, OCT angiography is set to change ophthalmic care as dramatically as optical coherence tomography (OCT) did.
    FIGURE 1. The coefficient of performance (COP) of two laser-diode thermoelectric cooling modules by AMS Technologies, the TE-500 and TE-650, was characterized as a function of temperature difference (dT) and cooling capacity (Qc) using eight heat sources of 15 × 15 mm2 on top of the laser base plate and is given for an average temperature on the mounting plate.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Photonics Products: Laser-cooling equipment: Keep your laser-diode system cool, whatever the power

    John Wallace
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Laser diodes work best when cool—different cooling approaches work best for different laser powers.
    FIGURE 1. High-power semiconductor laser brilliance and Moore’s Law are compared.
    Lasers & Sources

    Laser Diodes: The power of brilliance — the past and future of high-power semiconductor lasers

    Jan. 18, 2018
    With continuously improving efficiency and power, laser diodes will continue to displace legacy technologies, both changing the way things are made and enabling new things to ...
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 01 1801lfw Coverimage Insideflat
    Lasers & Sources

    Annual Laser Market Review & Forecast: Lasers enabling lasers

    Kathy Kincade
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Consumer electronics are driving growth to new heights for laser manufacturers and laser materials processing equipment providers and, in turn, enabling markets that need yet ...
    1304qa Chang New
    Lasers & Sources

    Business Forum: Poised for growth, photonics entrepreneurs need support in return for great value

    Milton Chang
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Starting a company is good for the photonics industry and for our economy because entrepreneurship encourages innovation.
    (Courtesy of Fraunhofer IOF)
    FIGURE 1. Researchers from around the world gathered at the MIMAS Workshop, held at the Fraunhofer IOF in Jena, to develop a roadmap for the advances needed in optical fiber technology.
    Lasers & Sources

    Market Insights: Workshop on next-generation optical fiber technology provides perspectives and a roadmap

    Andreas Thoss
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Workshop in Jena on next-generation optical fiber technology provides perspectives and a roadmap for fiber lasers.
    (Courtesy of Johns Hopkins University)
    In performing vessel-separation calculations using delay-and-sum (DAS) and short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) images with a pulsed laser diode (PLD), the researchers found photoacoustic (PA)-based measurements to be more reliable than those generated by tracking data obtained from the surgical robot’s kinematics.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Image-guided Surgery: Photoacoustics provides critical tissue differentiation at depth

    Barbara Gefvert
    Jan. 18, 2018
    A new publication reports the application of photoacoustics for real-time surgical guidance.
    (Courtesy of UCLA)
    Training the deep neural network is a matter of providing low-resolution 'input' images and corresponding high-resolution 'training labels.' Optimizing various parameters minimizes loss between the network’s output and high-resolution training-label corollaries. Once training is complete, the network can take any low-resolution image and quickly generate, in a sngle pass forward, a higher-resolution version with improved field of view and depth of field.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Microscopy: Deep learning improves microscopy images—without system adjustments

    Barbara Gefvert
    Jan. 18, 2018
    A team of researchers has demonstrated that a deep neural network can generate an improved version of a standard microscope image in
    (Courtesy of the University of Twente)
    Biasing a silicon LED in avalanche breakdown mode shifts its emission to wavelengths
    Lasers & Sources

    CMOS Optoelectronics: Avalanche-mode silicon LEDs improve optical coupling in CMOS integrated circuits

    Gail Overton
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Using silicon LEDs biased in "avalanche breakdown" mode to generate visible light that is easily detected by standard silicon photodiodes in a high-quantum-efficiency process ...
    Two perpendicularly oriented Laue lenses focus an x-ray beam into a small spot (a). An object under investigation can then be placed into the optical path and its image recorded by the detector (courtesy of DESY, Andrew Morgan/Saša Bajt). Using this new setup, the silica shell of the diatom Actinoptychus senarius, which measures 0.1 mm across, is shown in fine detail in this x-ray hologram recorded at 5000-fold magnification. The lenses focused an x-ray beam to a spot about 8 nm in diameter, which then expanded to illuminate the diatom and form the hologram (courtesy of DESY/AWI, Andrew Morgan/Saša Bajt/Henry Chapman/Christian Hamm).
    Optics

    X-ray Optics: Improved Laue lenses enable x-ray microscopy with 10 nm resolution

    John Wallace
    Jan. 18, 2018
    A team of scientists has developed novel lenses that enable x-ray microscopy with record resolution in the nanometer regime.
    (Courtesy of the University of Glasgow)
    A free-space optical (FSO) communications link in the city of Erlangen, Germany was used to verify the phase degradation of twisted light beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) per the models used by the researchers. It was found that low-order OAM beams can be successfully transmitted and used for quantum-key distribution and spatial-multiplexing operations, but that higher-order beams would more than likely require adaptive optics.
    Optics

    Free-space Optical Communications: Atmospheric turbulence model highlights hurdles to FSO communications using twisted OAM light

    Gail Overton
    Jan. 18, 2018
    Researchers developed a comprehensive model to study the effects of atmospheric changes on the phase of orbital angular momentum beams.
    A manufacturing-environment test setup by NIST (a) for a radiation-pressure power meter (RPPM) includes a laser source and weld head, a copper (Cu) folding/focusing mirror, the RPPM, and a water-cooled thermopile power meter, termed the device under test (DUT). The RPPM calibration factor (b) was determined by tests comparing the RPPM and DUT onsite measurements (red circles); an equivalent calibration factor was determined in the NIST laboratory between NIST’s K-series calorimeter and the DUT (blue square).
    Test & Measurement

    Laser Power Meters: NIST tests radiation-pressure laser power meter in manufacturing environment

    John Wallace
    Jan. 18, 2018
    NIST has provided data on its radiation-pressure power meter in a manufacturing test environment for beam powers in the range of 20 kW, comparing these results to those gathered...