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  • Volume 54, Issue 07

    • Volume 54, Issue 07

    ISFW/Stuttgart University
    FIGURE 1. A mirror array is key for the disk laser in the heart of the new versatile laser concept.
    Lasers & Sources

    Business Forum: One laser to serve them all

    Andreas Thoss
    July 2, 2018
    Laser sources have been developed to a high level of maturity and hence, new concepts are rare.
    FIGURE 1. The moving-coil type of voice-coil actuator is widely used.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Motion Control: Linear motion devices: What is a voice-coil actuator?

    July 2, 2018
    Understanding the basics of voice-coil actuators, and their characteristics compared to solenoids, enables the proper choice of linear-motion device for your optics application...
    FIGURE 1. Different root causes of damage create various morphologies of damage, and identifying these morphologies is important for coating and process development; understanding these phenomena is imperative, as overspecifying will drive cost and the resultant damage will degrade laser system performance.
    Optics

    Laser Optics: The art and science of designing optics for laser-induced damage threshold

    Cory Boone
    July 2, 2018
    Overspecifying optics for LIDT can unnecessarily increase costs; understanding the statistics behind LIDT will help avoid this problem.
    Conard Holton2
    Research

    News of the (photonics) world

    Conard Holton
    July 2, 2018
    For this month, we look at topics including OLED manufacturing, functional superresolution microscopy, and laser-induced damage threshold.
    (Image credit: Dan Houchin, Olympus America)
    FIGURE 1. Superresolution techniques, enabled by software and hardware advances, highlight the most minute details and processes that define life; an example is this image depicting early embryonic development captured on the Olympus SpinSR superresolution microscope.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Advanced Imaging/Optical Design: Functional superresolution microscopy progresses

    July 1, 2018
    As technologies have progressed, certain types of superresolution optical imaging—so-called functional superresolution techniques—have become more user-friendly across a broad...

    More content from Volume 54, Issue 07

    (Courtesy of MPB Communications)
    FIGURE 1. This high-power 607 nm visible fiber laser is used to excite the fluorescent protein mCardinal (a); the laser’s beam profile shows an M2
    Research

    Photonics Products: Fiber Lasers: Visible fiber lasers do red, green, and now bluish

    John Wallace
    July 1, 2018
    Frequency doubling, frequency combining, and Raman shifting allow near-IR fiber lasers to produce visible light for science and industry.
    FIGURE 1. A schematic diagram of a conventional AMOLED display device with light emission through the semi-transparent metal cathode layer is shown.
    Lasers & Sources

    OLEDs: Reducing particle defects in cathode film layers improves OLED yield

    July 1, 2018
    Thermal evaporators that promote low particle defects in metal cathode layers allow OLED devices to compete with alternative display technologies.
    (Image credit: Joseph Shaw/Montana State University)
    An all-sky Infrared Cloud Imager (ICI) uses an inexpensive polished aluminum sphere to reflect the entire sky into a low-cost thermal LWIR camera.
    Software

    Thermal Imaging: All-sky thermal infrared cloud imager uses low-cost bolometer camera

    Gail Overton
    July 1, 2018
    A compact thermal imager measures spatial and temporal patterns of clouds across the entire sky using a low-cost reflective sphere and commercial bolometer camera.
    Electroluminescence spectra below and above the laser-threshold current (Jth) are shown for experimental yelow-orange-emitting laser diodes grown on (211) and (322) substrates (left and right, respectively).
    Research

    Visible Laser Diodes: VI Systems develops room-temperature yellow laser diode emitting at 599 to 605 nm

    John Wallace
    July 1, 2018
    The experimental device emits 300 ns pulses at a 1 kHz repetition rate.
    (Image credit: Tianjin University)
    Using interferometric principles, a simple angled fiber end can serve as a temperature sensor, operating over a broader range of temperatures than many other fiber-optic-based designs.
    Test & Measurement

    Fiber Sensing: Angled optical fiber end performs large-temperature-range sensing

    Gail Overton
    July 1, 2018
    Compared to more complex Bragg gratings and photonic crystal fibers, a simple angled optical fiber end can sense temperature over an expanded range.
    (Image credit: Business Wire)
    Technology newly approved by the FDA provides quantitative measurement of blood-vessel density in the optic disc; this image, taken from a patient with glaucoma, shows loss of retinal nerve fiber.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Optical Coherence Tomography: OCTA clears quantitation hurdle

    Barbara Gefvert
    July 1, 2018
    Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) has achieved another milestone: mainstreaming of quantification.
    An optical cooler keeps an HgCdTe sensor at cryogenic temperatures without producing vibration via laser-cooling a YLiF4:Yb3+ crystal (a). An undoped YLF crystal serves as a thermal link; the laser-produced fluorescence is dumped into TiNOX-coated clamshell surfaces (b). Cooled to 134.9 K, the optical sensor is part of a commercial FTIR spectrometer made by Midac (Westfield, MA). Turning on the HgCdTe optical sensor causes it to heat up by 2.5 K (an estimated 8 mW heat load).
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Optical Cooling: All-optical cryogenic cooling of sensors eliminates vibration

    John Wallace
    July 1, 2018
    A mercury cadmium telluride IR sensor in a working Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer is all-optically cooled to 135 K.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 07 1807lfw Nb 5
    Test & Measurement

    Multiphoton holography and new opsins allow 3D tens-of-neurons stimulation

    Gail Overton
    July 1, 2018
    Combining 3D-SHOT with multiphoton imaging enables read and write operations with individual neurons precisely in time and space.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 07 1807lfw Nb F3
    Detectors & Imaging

    New TFT technology could replace LTPS for OLED, LCD, and solar devices

    Gail Overton
    July 1, 2018
    New thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology will increase efficiency and luminance while decreasing cost.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 07 1807lfw Nb F2
    Detectors & Imaging

    Laser-induced damage threshold is measured for CMOS, CCD, and digital-micromirror devices

    John Wallace
    July 1, 2018
    Researchers have characterized the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) for CMOS and CCD cameras, as well as digital micromirror devices.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 07 1807lfw Nb 1a
    Lasers & Sources

    Ultrathin organic DFB membrane lasers enable bendable security tags

    Gail Overton
    July 1, 2018
    Newly created membrane lasers of nominal 200 nm thickness can easily lase when illuminated with another laser source.