SPECTROMETERS

Tiny polymer chipshrinks the size ofspectrometers

Holoeye addressesscientific potential ofmicrodisplays

COMPANY PROFILE

Singapore firm joinsrace to bring liquidlenses to market

LIQUID LENSES

PHOTONICS INDUSTRYADOPTS GREEN POLICIES

REGULATIONS

The European magazine for photonics professionals

October 2005 Issue 132

15207210500 Worldwide

Engineering | Software | Training

8008825085 USA|CanadaISO 90012000 Certified

If your current optical software program is holding you backlook no further than ASAP 2005 Twenty years of continuous

development and commercial use allow ASAP 2005 to simulatethe physics of more optical systems than any other software

program available With ASAP 2005 you get unmatched capabilityflexibility speed and accuracymdasheverything you need to create

without compromise Interoperable with popular CAD programsincluding CATIAreg SolidWorksreg and Rhinocerosreg as well as

the finite-difference code FDTD Solutionstrade ASAP 2005 lets youjump straight into the optical-modeling process And since

ASAP 2005 will model the finest details you can depend on yoursimulation results to mirror real-world performance Design betterproducts and reduce your development timeline with ASAP 2005

Bio-Optic SystemsCoherent Systems

DisplaysImaging Systems

LightpipesReflectorsLuminaires

Stray Light Analysis

ASAP 2005 Optical Modeling SoftwareDesign | Model | Analyze

Is your current optical softwareslowing you down

Get results faster with ASAP 2005

Optical Software forPhysicists and Engineers

15207210500 Worldwide

Engineering | Software | Training

8008825085 USA|CanadaISO 90012000 Certified

If your current optical software program is holding you backlook no further than ASAP 2005 Twenty years of continuous

development and commercial use allow ASAP 2005 to simulatethe physics of more optical systems than any other software

program available With ASAP 2005 you get unmatched capabilityflexibility speed and accuracymdasheverything you need to create

without compromise Interoperable with popular CAD programsincluding CATIAreg SolidWorksreg and Rhinocerosreg as well as

the finite-difference code FDTD Solutionstrade ASAP 2005 lets youjump straight into the optical-modeling process And since

ASAP 2005 will model the finest details you can depend on yoursimulation results to mirror real-world performance Design betterproducts and reduce your development timeline with ASAP 2005

Bio-Optic SystemsCoherent Systems

DisplaysImaging Systems

LightpipesReflectorsLuminaires

Stray Light Analysis

ASAP 2005 Optical Modeling SoftwareDesign | Model | Analyze

Is your current optical softwareslowing you down

Get results faster with ASAP 2005

Optical Software forPhysicists and Engineers

NEWS5 Business CIOE grows to new heights bull SPI to float on the

stock market bull Liquid lens race heats up

11 Editorial Photonics goes green

12 Analysis The end of optical lithography

TECHNOLOGY13 Applications Honey bees sniff out landmines bull Aquatic

sensor detects tiny waves bull Optical chip senses multiple gases

16 RampD Adaptive microscope challenges tradition bull Brillouin scattering slows light down

17 Patents Kodak licenses its passive-matrix OLED ideas to Orion

FEATURES19 Good customer relations build Holoeyersquos business

Holoeye Photonics is bringing microdisplay technology out ofthe consumer market and into scientific applications Jacqueline Hewett spoke to two of the companyrsquos founders

22 Photonics industry adopts green standardsPhotonics firms are busy preparing for a suite of new environmental regulations drawn up by the European Commission Oliver Graydon spoke to Kay Stegmann at Thorlabsabout the directives and their consequences

25 Tiny spectrometer chip opens up new marketsLow-cost polymer-based spectrometer circuits developed in Germany could inspire a whole range of hand-held and miniature products James Tyrrell finds out more

27 Dynamic interferometry transforms metrologyDynamic interferometry allows precise optical measurements to be made on the factory floor Steve Martinek explains the principle and technology behind the technique

PRODUCTS31 Fibre-optic testing bull USB prism spectrometer bull Infrared detector

REGUL ARS41 People and Free Literature42 Calendar

EDITORIALEditor Oliver GraydonTel +44 (0)117 930 1015 olivergraydonioporg

Technology editor Jacqueline HewettTel +44 (0)117 930 1194jacquelinehewettioporg

Reporter James TyrrellTel +44 (0)117 930 1256jamestyrrellioporg

Production editor Alison GardinerTechnical illustrator Alison Tovey

EUROPEROW SALESInternational advertising sales manager Adrian ChanceTel +44 (0)117 930 1193 adrianchanceioporg

Senior sales executive Cadi JonesTel +44 (0) 117 930 1090cadijonesioporg

Sales executive Ami WilsonTel +44 (0) 117 930 1284amiwilsonioporg

US SALES OFFICENorth American advertising sales manager Rob FisherIOP Publishing Inc Suite 929 150 SouthIndependence Mall West Philadelphia PA 19106 USATel +1 215 627 0880 Fax +1 215 627 0879fisherioppubusacom

ADVERTISING PRODUCTIONAdvertising production coordinator Teresa HoneyTel +44 (0)117 930 1040 teresahoneyioporg

CIRCULATION AND MARKETINGProduct manager Angela PeckTel +44 (0)117 930 1025 angelapeckioporg

ART DIRECTORAndrew Giaquinto

PUBLISHERGeraldine Pounsford Tel +44 (0)117 930 1022 geraldinepounsfordioporg

PUBLISHING DIRECTORRichard Roe

OPTO amp LASER EUROPEDirac HouseTemple Back Bristol BS1 6BE UK Tel +44 (0)117 929 7481 Editorial fax +44 (0)117 925 1942 Advertising fax +44 (0)117 930 1178 Internet opticsorgoleISSN 0966-9809 CODEN OL EEEV

SUBSCRIPTIONSComplimentary copies are sent to qualifyingindividuals (for more details see opticsorgolesubscribe) For readers outside registration requirements pound1117160 ($199 US and Canada)per year Single issue pound10714 ($18 US Canadaand Mexico) CONTACT IOPP Magazines WDIS LtdUnits 12 amp 13 Cranleigh Gardens Industrial EstateSouthall Middlesex UB1 2DB UKTel +44 (0)208 606 7518 Fax +44 (0)208 606 7303E-mail optoamplasereuropeioporg

copy 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 amp Laser ProductsPrinted by Warners (Midlands) plc The Maltings West Street Bourne Lincolnshire PE10 9PH UK

I ssue 132 October 2005 Contents

SPI announces plans tofloat on stock market p6

Holoeye Photonics seesmicrodisplay potential p19

Polymer chip promises low-cost spectrometer p25

Interferometry tacklestough factory settings p27

SPECTROMETERS

Tiny polymer chipshrinks the size ofspectrometers

Holoeye addressesscientific potential ofmicrodisplays

COMPANY PROFILE

Singapore firm joinsrace to bring liquidlenses to the market

LIQUID LENSES

PHOTONICS INDUSTRYADOPTS GREEN POLICIES

REGULATIONS

The European magazine for photonics professionals

October 2005 Issue 132

For the latest news on optics and photonics donrsquot forget to visit opticsorg

Cover (Corbis) Opticalfirms embrace RoHS andWEEE legislation p22

CIOE grows to new heights

NEWSBUSINESS 5 EDITORIAL 11 ANALYSIS 12

5OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

EVENTS

By Oliver GraydonThe annual China InternationalOptoelectronics Expo (CIOE) is fastbecoming one of the largest pho-tonics trade shows in the worldAccording to organizers WenGlobal Solutions last monthrsquosfour-day event in Shenzheninvolved 1600 companies occu-pied 60 000 m2 and was 30larger than last year

OLErsquos analysis of the floor planand the event catalogue estimatesthat the actual exhibitor numberwas a more modest figure of700ndash800 However this stillmeans that CIOE is about the samesize as this Januaryrsquos PhotonicsWest in the US (750 exhibitors)and not that much smaller thanthe giant LASER World of Pho-tonics show in Germany whichtakes place every two years andattracted 950 exhibitors this June

CIOE 2005 was divided up intotwo halls and four zones opticalcommunications (157 booths)international exhibitors (95booths) optoelectronic displaysand LEDs (156 booths) and opticsand lasers (272 booths)

Highlights of this yearrsquos showincluded a large number of domes-tic makers of LED displays for sign-age and advertising as well assuppliers of optics for DVDCDplayers and cameras One entiresection of the show was devoted to

modules and equipment for opticalcommunications

Although many exhibitorsfocused on large-volume con-sumer markets there were severalspecializing in laser crystals andother scientific instruments suchas positioning equipment

The show is also starting toattract an increasing number ofwell known US and Europeanfirms According to the organizers30 of the firms attending werefrom outside China with Coher-ent Edmund Optics CorningSchott New Focus nLight andInstrument Systems all havingtheir own booths There was also a

French pavilion which hostedabout a dozen firms includingImagine Optic Varioptic andThales Laser Diode

Conversations with the inter-national exhibitors at the showindicated that many are confidentthat the Chinese market holdsgreat potential as universities andinstitutes start to perform increas-ing amounts of optical RampDCoherent told OLE that it pulled in$20 m from China last year withultrashort lasers proving a particu-larly popular product New Focussays that sales of its test and meas-urement equipment in China havedoubled over the past two quarters

Giant show an image from CIOE 2005 which took place in Shenzhen China on6ndash9 September Highlights of the show included an abundance of huge LEDdisplays laser crystals and telecommunications components

Goodrich Corporation a large USsupplier of imaging equipment forthe aerospace and homelandsecurity markets is acquiring Sen-sors Unlimited (SUI) for $60 m(7494 m) in cash SUI is a leadingmaker of advanced infrared cam-eras and focal-plane arrays basedon indium gallium arsenide(InGaAs) technology

SUI which was founded in1991 has a 39 000 sq ft facility in

Princeton New Jersey US andemploys around 50 engineering

and manufacturing staff ldquoThis is a strategically important

acquisition for our surveillanceand reconnaissance businessrdquo saidMarshall Larsen Goodrichrsquos CEOldquoShort-wave infrared sensors andnear infrared imaging systems cre-ated with InGaAs technology willsignificantly strengthen our posi-tion in the high-growth markets forsurveillance and reconnaissancesystems as well as homeland secu-rity applicationsrdquo

The deal is expected to closebefore the end of the year and SUI

will become part of GoodrichrsquosOptical and Space Systems Divi-sion SUIrsquos 2005 sales are forecastto be around $19m ndash a small frac-tion of Goodrichrsquos annual revenueof almost $5 bn

In August SUI attracted mediaattention when a camera contain-ing one of its infrared sensors wasused to inspect the exterior ofNASArsquos Discovery Space Shuttleprior to its re-entry The firmrsquosfounder Greg Olsen is due to travelinto space this month as theworldrsquos third private space tourist

Goodrich snaps upSensors Unlimited

IMAGING

JDS Uniphaseacquires Agility

TELECOM

JDS Uniphase is adding the tunablelaser specialist Agility Communi-cations to its list of recent acquisi-tions Agility is based in SantaBarbara California US and wasfounded in October 1998 It hasdeveloped a range of wavelength-adjustable semiconductor lasersfor use in optical communicationnetworks The attraction of suchtunable transmitters is that theygive the network much more flexi-bility by allowing it to be reconfig-ured easily

ldquoWe believe that the shift to tun-ables [transmitters and transpon-ders] is inevitable and that thetransition will be rapidrdquo said MikeRicci vice-president of JDSUniphasersquos Component and Mod-ules Group ldquoAgilityrsquos single-chipmonolithic platform is capable ofaddressing the entire market and isnot limited to a single form factorAgilityrsquos proven architecture cou-pled with JDS Uniphasersquos scalablemanufacturing capability pavesthe way for high-volume tunablepluggable solutionsrdquo JDSU has just released its finan-cial results for fiscal 2005 The USoptical components giant hasreported a net revenue of$7122 m (7586 m) comparedwith $6359 m for the previousyear Net loss for the year was$2613 m more than double thenet loss of $1155 m reported forfiscal 2004

Happy founder Greg Olsen chairmanand founder of Sensors Unlimited is totravel into space at the start of October

NEWSBUSINESS

Southampton Photonics (SPI) theUK-based fibre laser specialist hasannounced its intention to float onthe AIM market a division of theLondon Stock Exchange SPI saysthat it expects to join AIM in lateOctober or early November andhopes to raise in the region ofpound12 m (71778 m) through theissuing of shares

The firm will float under thename of SPI Lasers plc which is anew holding company for the SPIgroup David Parker SPIrsquos CEOtold OLE that the floatation wasabout fuelling the firmrsquos futurebusiness plans

ldquoThis is about expanding ourmarket penetration and reachexpanding our product portfolioand expanding our manufactur-

ing capabilities all of whichrequires more working capitalrdquosaid Parker ldquoThis is not about rais-ing money for research this isabout raising cash to drive the

business forward Itrsquos time for us togrow up and not be a venturebacked company anymorerdquo

Unlike fellow fibre laser markerIPG Photonics SPI is targeting the

lower-power applications such asmarking cutting and drilling ofmedical and electronic products

In Q4 2005 it will release itsredENERGY series of pulsed fibrelasers with peak powers in the5ndash15kW range ldquoThe traction withthe pulsed laser is tremendousWersquore in the trial stage with cus-tomers right now but we are alreadyreceiving ordersrdquo said Parker ldquoThebusiness outlook is optimisticrdquo

Recent market reports suggestthat the fibre laser market willreach $500m within five years asmanufacturers search for moreefficient fabrication technologiesldquoWe believe that the next growthphase will be particularly strongand see compelling evidence in ourdeal flowsrdquo said Parker

Ready to float David Parker (right) and Steve Berg SPIrsquos CEO and CFO respectivelyare busy preparing the company for its debut on the stock market later this year

IPG Photonics the US developer ofhigh-power fibre lasers has saidthat its sales for the first half of2005 have increased by 58 com-pared with the same period in2004 It is now expecting to achievean annual revenue of more than$90 m (77365 m) in 2005

As a result of this rising demandfor its products IPG is adding morethan 100 000 sq ft of productioncapacity by acquiring a new plantin Germany and increasing itsactivities in the US The firm wasfounded in 1990 to commercializekilowatt class ytterbium-dopedfibre lasers for use in car manufac-

turing and ship building as well astelecom and defence applications

ldquoWe continue to see strong rev-enue and profitability gains drivenprimarily by accelerating demand

for fiber lasers especially higherpower modelsrdquo commented TimMammen IPGrsquos CFO ldquoIn the sec-ond half of 2005 the companyexpects continued strong financialperformance with an annual rev-enue of more than $90 mrdquo

This year IPG has delivered sev-eral kilowatt class fibre lasers tocustomers In March a 17 kW fibrelaser was installed at a new TestCenter for Aluminium Alloy Weld-ing at BIAS GmbH Germany Thenin August the US Navyrsquos SurfaceWarfare Center in Crane Indianapurchased a 10 kW continuous-wave ytterbium fibre laser At theLASER 2005 event in Munich thefirm was demonstrating a 20 kWlaser for the first time

IPG unveils plansfor its expansion

FIBRE LASERS

Hamamatsu toinvest in new plant

DETECTORS

Hamamatsu Photonics is openingthree new factories in Japan

The companyrsquos Electron TubesDivision has recently completed a12 000 m2 building at its Toyookafactory for manufacturing photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) Produc-tion will commence in January2006 and will include the firmrsquosnew flat-panel PMTs

The Solid State Division hasstarted building two factories tocreate 11 000 m2 of space for fabri-cating MOEMS Completion isscheduled for August 2006 withproduction of 6 inch wafers tocommence in October 2006

Rising sales IPG is reaping the benefitsof increased adoption of its high-powerfibre lasers in industrial applications

SPI to float on the stock marketFIBRE LASERS

SPI

Liquid lens race heats up

NEWSBUSINESS

LENSES

7OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

your European destination for optics and electronics

wwwELCANcomeurope

By Manoj AravindakshanA firm in Singapore is the latest tojoin the race to bring liquid lenstechnology to market PGS Preci-sion a provider of tools for injec-tion moulding says that it is goingto commercialize microfluic lensesdeveloped at the countryrsquos Insti-tute of Materials Research andEngineering (IMRE)

The company has just recentlysigned a non-exclusive technologylicensing agreement with ExploitTechnologies the commercializa-tion arm of Singaporersquos Agency forScience Technology and Researchwhich governs IMRE

PGS plans to start commercialproduction of the lenses by the sec-ond quarter of next year for appli-cations such as the miniaturedigital cameras found in mobilephones The announcement bringsnew competition to European com-panies Philips and Varioptic whichhave already demonstrated liquidlens products

It has taken IMRE about threeyears to develop the technologywhich allows the realization of verycompact zoom and autofocusoptics ldquoOur liquid lens comprisesonly a droplet and no other movable

partsrdquo explained Saman Dhar-matilleke from IMRE ldquoIt can poten-tially be used in any field wherehigh-precision miniature opticalsystems are requiredrdquo he said

The liquid lens system alters itsfocal length by changing its shapeWhile most research to date hasrelied on an applied voltage to alterthe curvature of the lens (theldquoelectro-wettingrdquo phenomenon)IMRE manually adjusts the lens

curvature without electricityusing a mechanical thumbwheelto form and retain the shape of theliquid lens As a patent on thedesign is pending Dharmatillekedeclined to disclose the materialthat is used to make the liquid lens

PGS is certainly excited by theperformance and benefits of liquidlenses ldquoThe technology offers alow-cost optical focusing systemrdquosaid L Hock Sim managing direc-tor of PGS ldquoBoth concave and con-vex lens can be formed from thesame lens It consumes just 1 mWfor auto focus with no powerrequired at all for manual focus incameras It also has a fast responsetime and gives excellent trans-parency while being extremelycompact in sizerdquo

According to PGS the prototyp-ing and pilot run of the lens will bedone in Singapore while mass-pro-duction will be done in the com-panyrsquos China facilities ldquoThe volumeof production will depend on thedemand from the mobile phone anddigital camera segmentsrdquo said Sim

Manoj Aravindakshan is director ofOn Target Media a Singapore-basedtechnology content provider

AC Q U I S I T I O N

Sabeus the US sensor specialisthas acquired Aragon Technologiesfor an undisclosed sum Aragaondevelops narrow linewidth lowphase-noise lasers Sabeus plansto integrate Aragonrsquos devices intoits perimeter security sensors

FU N D I N G

Picolight a US developer of1310 nm VCSELs has secured$145 m through a combination ofequity financing and debt financingThe firm has now secured $275 min its current funding round Picolightwill use the cash to create 1310 nmsources for 10 Gbits Ethernet

AWA R D S

The Berthold Leibinger Stiftung iscalling for nominations for itsprestigious InternationalInnovation Prize 2006 Awardedbiennially the prize rewardsoutstanding research in the field ofapplied laser physics Threeprizewinners will be awarded atotal of 735 000 Applicants haveuntil 14 November 2005 to puttogether their nomination wwwleibinger-stiftungde

FA B R I CAT I O N

Brush Wellman of Ohio has nowfinished making the 18 blanks thatform the primary mirror in the JamesWebb Space Telescope The 65 mdiameter mirror consists of 18beryllium hexagonal blanks eachweighing 553 lb and measuring15 m across The blanks will now bemachined by Axsys Technologiesand then polished by TinsleyLaboratories

IN BRIEF

A mobile phone equipped with a liquidzoom lens camera The phone isdisplaying an image of a page of textthat was taken using the camera

IMRE

US metrology expert Zygo hasposted record fourth-quarter sales of$449 m (7367 m) and net full-year earnings of $98 m for fiscal2005 Fourth-quarter highlights

include the companyrsquos first order forits next generation one-drop fillprocess-control system which helpsflat-panel display manufacturers tooptimize the liquid-crystal fillprocess ldquoOur flat-panel displayproducts are experiencing increas-ing acceptancerdquo commented Zygorsquos

CEO Bruce RobinsonThe firm has recently opened a

facility in Oregon US to house itssemiconductor process metrologygroup ldquoOur entry into the back-end sector of semiconductor pack-aging continues to gathermomentumrdquo said Robinson

Record sales boostZygorsquos earnings

METROLOGY

NEWSBUSINESS

8 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Full Line ofThin- FilmMaterialsEvaporation Materials

bull Precision Optics Ophthalmics Security Documents

bull MgF2 ZrO2 HfO2 Ta2O5

TiO2 ZnS

Sputtering Targets

bull Semiconductor Data StoragePhotovoltaics

bull W-Ti Si-Cr Ni-P Cd2SnO4

Zn2SnO4

Custom compositions

LEDS

LED maker Cree has announced a record revenueof $389 m (7318 m) for fiscal 2005 a 27increase on last yearrsquos figures The US firmrsquos netincome for the year was up 57 to $91 m ldquoRecentsales data suggest that Creersquos revenue grew fasterthan our top competitors in both Japan and Taiwanduring the yearrdquo said Creersquos CEO Chuck SwobodaldquoWith over 85 of our Q1 sales target alreadybooked we believe the company is positioned for astrong start for fiscal year 2006rdquo

MAT E R I A L S P RO C E S S I N G

Rofin-Sinar Technologies has posted third-quarternet sales of $895 m (773 m) an increase of 9over the comparable period in 2004 Net incomeamounted to $84 m up 14 year-on-year ldquoWewere able to compensate for the anticipatedslowdown in our macro business from the machinetool and automotive industry with a favourableincrease in our micro businessrdquo said Rofinrsquos CEOGuumlnther Braun ldquoWe continue to benefit from ouracquisition strategy with PRC and Lee Lasercontributing positively to the grouprsquos successrdquo

IN F R A R E D O P T I C S

US-based infrared optics specialist II-VIIncorporated has reported record net earningsfigures for fiscal 2005 For the 12 months ended30 June 2005 net earnings came in at $2484 m(720 m) compared with $1733 m for fiscal 2004Revenue for fiscal 2005 increased 29 to a record$194 million from $150 m in fiscal 2004 Theseresults include contributions from MarlowIndustries a manufacturer of thermoelectriccoolers which II-VI acquired in January 2005

MAT E R I A L S P RO C E S S I N G

The TRUMPF group ended its fiscal year 20045with sales up by 14 to around 714 bnaccording to the companyrsquos preliminary figuresTRUMPF says that this is the highest its sales havebeen in the history of the company Incomingorders for the year also increased by 12 to7147 bn ldquoIn the US and in Eastern Europe webenefited from a very favourable investmentclimate Western Europe also showed substantialimprovementrdquo commented the grouprsquos presidentBerthold Leibinger

DI S P L AYS

Universal Display Corporation (UDC) has recordeda net loss of $319 m (726 m) for the secondquarter of 2005 compared with a net loss of$452 m for the same period last year The firmattributes its improved financial performance to anincrease in contract research and chemicalsdevelopment revenue ldquoThe results reflectincreased interest in our OLED technologyrdquo saidUDCrsquos chief financial officer Sidney RosenblattldquoThis interest was reinforced by the signing of anOLED patent license agreement with SamsungSDI paving the way for Samsung to integrate ourPHOLED technology into active matrix displaysrdquo

CO M P O N E N T S

Photonic Products Group Inc (PPGI) a US providerof crystals optics and lasers has reported asecond-quarter revenue of $31 m (725 m) a riseof 62 over the same period last year The resultsinclude sales from MRC Optics which PPGIacquired in October 2004 ldquoCash flow fromoperations turned positive in Q2 as expectedrdquosaid Dan Lehrfield PPGIrsquos CEO

FINANCIAL FOCUS

Scitec Instruments LtdBartles Industrial EstateNorth Street RedruthCornwall TR15 1HR United Kingdom

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OPTICAL CHOPPERSmodulating light

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Copy deadline Friday 4 November 2005

We are also pleased to offer an expanded advertisersrsquoindex with full contact details and a 50-word product summary

In the 2006 guide Q-switches Nonlinear crystals Integratingspheres

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MOTORIZED FILTER SELECTOR (FS-2)

LASER BEAM SAFETY (INTERLOCK) SHUTTER(SH-10 amp SH-20)

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Transition time from filter to filter 40mSec

Max input frequency 10 Hz

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Long life 109 operations

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The Motorized Filter Selector is also available with three 12 diameter filters

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Photonics goes green

NEWSEDITORIAL

11OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Itrsquos not often that you hear of firms openlyembracing new European regulationsespecially when in principle most of theiractivities are exempt However that seems tobe the case for the European Communityrsquosnew directive on the Restriction of HazardousSubstances (RoHS) Coming into force nextsummer (1 July 2006) directive 200295ECwill ban the use of six toxic substances ndash leadmercury cadmium hexavalent chromiumpolybrominated biphenyls (PBB) andpolybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) ndash inelectronic products on sale in Europe

In theory the ruling should have little effecton the photonics industry as test andmeasurement medical defence and largeindustrial equipment are officially exemptfrom it It is clear that the directive is actuallytargeting the environmental consequences ofthe giant mountain of consumer electronicgoods such as stereos PCs and TVs that aresold in Europe every year

That said many big names in the photonicscommunity such as Melles Griot andThorlabs have proudly embarked on large-scale compliance programmes and are nowbusy checking their catalogues

The big question is why given the extrahassle and expense that it entails First itseems that they want to protect their businessfrom the possibility that they may encounter acustomer who has a company policy of onlybuying RoHS-compliant products Second byusing RoHS-compliant parts in their productsthey can be sure of a guaranteed supply in thefuture if non-compliant parts start todisappear from the marketplace Third itseems that itrsquos good company PR to be able toboast about having RoHS-compliantproducts

The next question and perhaps a morepressing one for OLE readers is will the newdirective result in higher prices or a limitedsupply of products After all companies arehaving to redesign products sourcepotentially more expensive parts and in somecases change their manufacturing processesAs for the answer to that question we willhave to wait until next summer

For those interested in finding out moreabout this topic please read our interviewwith Thorlabs on p22 of this issue And if youhave strong views on the subject please donrsquothesitate to send in a letter

Oliver Graydon editorE-mail olivergraydonioporg

MIL 80 IS HERE

Contact us today to learn whats new in the MIL 80 releaseCall +44 (0) 1753 708854Email imageinfoemeamatroxcomVisit wwwmatroxcomimaging

Join the clubAnd enjoy the advantages ofusing MIL

Yoursquore invited to join over 10000 members who developtheir applications using our award-winning andfield-proven Matrox Imaging Library (MIL)

Backed by a team of over 40 developers MIL offersthe industryrsquos most comprehensive imaging libraryOur algorithms can read 1D2D ID codes extract edgesrecognize characters and patterns using features andmuch more Plus our developers carefully optimizethese algorithms to gain maximum performance

Members receive a one-year enrollment in our MILmaintenance program This program entitles you toobtain free software updates and top-notch technicalsupport As a member yoursquoll also have access to ouronline developersrsquo forum

This is one membership worth having

ldquoThe bigquestion iswhy giventhe extrahassle andexpensethat itentailsrdquoOliver Graydon

The end of optical lithography

NEWSANALYSIS

LITHOGRAPHY

12 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

The lithography business is nostranger to competing solutionsand technological uncertainty Foryears optical lithography hasregularly been written off as hav-ing reached its limit only to be thesubject of new innovations

Recent developments for exam-ple include immersion lithographywhich encloses the optical systemin a liquid to increase its refractiveindex and resolving power In June2005 Nikon of Japan also intro-duced what it claimed was theworldrsquos first hypernumerical aper-ture system for volume productionat features sizes of 55 nm

The key to meeting new litho-graphy standards is the use ofshorter-wavelength light and lenseswith a higher numerical apertureThe current International Technol-ogy Roadmap for Semiconductorssuggests that feature sizes on semi-conductor chips will reach 32 nmby the end of this decade Howevermaking them this small requires anentirely new approach and cer-tainly signals the end for traditionaloptical lithography

Waiting in the wingsFortunately there are several candi-dates ready to take over The currentfront-runner is extreme ultraviolet(EUV) technology which involvesthe use of 135 nm light Howeversubstantial materials and processhurdles remain with EUV not leastthe development of suitable pho-tomask blanks and metrology andinspection tools

A potential competitor for EUV isnanoimprint lithography (NIL) ndash anew and potentially elegant solu-tion This involves pressing a tem-plate carrying the features ofinterest into a polymer film on asilicon or metal substrate Thestamped polymer is then set intoshape and the template removedleaving a completely featured layer

that can act as a mask for subse-quent conventional IC processing

Several different versions of NILare currently being investigatedThe most common form is thermalNIL or hot embossing This worksby heating a polymer above itsglass transition temperaturetransferring the pattern underpressure and then post-processcuring A second approach is a UV-based process that uses low-viscos-ity polymers that cross-link duringUV exposure

Two early entrants into thecommercial NIL market were US-based firms Nanonex and Molecu-lar Imprints Nanonex was set upin 1999 to exploit the work ofStephen Chou from Princeton Uni-versity It offers both thermal-NILand UV-NIL tools MolecularImprints was formed in 2001 toexploit UV-NIL work carried out atthe University of Texas Today itspecializes in the UV-NIL process

These two pioneers have alsobeen joined by EV Group in Aus-tria SUSS Microtec of Germanyand Obducat of Sweden Develop-ers have now reliably reproducedcomplex patterns containing sub-100 nm features by NIL withoutthe need for optical lithographyrsquosexpensive lenses phase correction

mask sets and advanced resistsThere is still a long way to go

though and there are still no clearwinners for the 32 nm node andbeyond Just as fundamental prob-lems remain for EUV even afteryears in development developersof NIL also have hurdles to jump

Future challengesFrom a mechanical point of viewthe challenges of NIL can be man-aged by the chip industry becausethe process is based on and canexploit further improvements inflip-chip bonding and spin-coatingtechnology to create very thincoatings

A more pressing issue is imaginglarge feature sizes because thisrequires significant volumes of theimprint medium to be displacedImprinting designs containingboth large and small features couldpresent a problem Other funda-mental challenges relate to overlayaccuracy throughput and controland process yields all of whichhave yet to be demonstrated at sub-50 nm resolutions

It is important to remember how-ever that NIL is still at a very earlystage and several collaborations arelooking into these issues For exam-ple EV Group has formed a consor-

tium called NILCom to supportcommercialization efforts Membersare working on a variety of topicsincluding templates resists processdevelopment and equipment

Molecular Imprints is also part ofa collaboration funded by a NISTadvanced technology programmegrant to demonstrate so-calledstep-and-flash imprint lithographyWith other initiatives planned it islikely that answers will begin toappear in the next few years

One other point to bear in mindis that optical lithography is a pat-terning process that uses four-to-one reduction masks whereas NILis a replication method requiringone-to-one templates At sub-50 nm feature sizes creating thesetemplates will not be trivial eventhough developers such as DuPontPhotomasks see the process as lesschallenging than todayrsquos lower-resolution but complex phase-corrected masks

However the issue of defect con-trol and yield will become evenmore acute for NIL than opticallithography because the films andcoatings will only be10 nm thick

As with so many other thingscost is a significant market barrierNIL is currently a high-risk break-through technology that couldease the retooling challenges thatseem inevitable at the 32 node Butwithout a commercially accept-able solution NIL will be unable todeliver on its key promise of low-cost nanolithography at the lead-ing edge of silicon processing

Lithographyrsquos 32 nm node will need a change in the way features are produced on semiconductor chipsExtreme ultraviolet is one option but says Robert Thomas nanoimprint lithography is also a contender

Robert Thomas is principal at SRIConsulting Business Intelligence abusiness and technology research

consultancy spin-offfrom the formerStanford ResearchInstitute See wwwsric-bicom or e-mailrthomassric-bicom

Nanonex is one of a handful of firms developing NIL technology such as this 2D mask

Nan

onex

Honey bees sniff out landmines

TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS 13 RampD 16 PATENTS 17

13OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

LIDAR

By Jacqueline HewettHoney bees could soon take thehuman risk out of finding land-mines thanks to research beingcarried out in the US The teamtrains the bees to sniff out theexplosives found in landmines anduses LIDAR to track their progressin flight (Optics Express 13 5853)

Dogs are currently used to locatemines but the animal and its hand-ler are heavy enough that theycould explode a mine placingthem in constant danger Bees onthe other hand do not explode themines do not require a handlerand can be trained in a couple ofdays to pick up the scent of theexplosive in the landmine

Jerry Bromenshenk and his col-leagues from the University ofMontana at Missoula are respon-sible for training the bees ldquoByinjecting trace amounts of targetchemical into feeders the foragingbees seek sources of food with thesame smellrdquo explain the team in itspaper ldquoBees can be trained in oneor two days to seek out buriedexplosives because of their highodour sensitivity in the low partsper trillion rangerdquo

When the trained bees locate

vapours from a landmine they flyalong the plume until they reach itssource where they pause beforecontinuing The next part of thepuzzle was figuring out how to trackthe bees Thatrsquos where Joe Shawand colleagues from Montana StateUniversity come in with their hori-zontal scanning LIDAR system

The copolarized LIDAR systemuses a frequency-doubled 532 nmNdYAG emitting 100 mJ pulses ata repetition rate of 30 Hz Theback-scattered light is passedthrough a receiver with a linearpolarization parallel to that of theemitted light

To test the feasibility of this

approach the team carried out anexperiment on a live minefieldUsing tens of thousands of beesthe researchers concluded that the scanning LIDAR consistentlydetected a higher bee density nearmost of the significant chemicalplumes But there is still a greatdeal of work to do

ldquoA bee hovers over a potentialmine site for a few seconds at themostrdquo Shaw told OLE ldquoThis is a suf-ficiently long time for LIDAR detec-tion if the laser beam is pointed inthat direction at that time Thisshort dwell time really places arequirement on our sensors to usefast scanning or fast beamsrdquo

Another problem is that the beesfly close to the ground and direct-detection LIDAR cannot disting-uish between scattered signalsfrom the bees and from vegetation

ldquoThe primary limitation wasidentifying bee-specific signaturesfrom grass and other interferingobjectsrdquo commented Shaw ldquoWehave already developed some newsensors and are in the process ofcharacterizing them in the fieldWe want to end up with a com-pact portable system that is flex-ible but effectiverdquo

Jenoptik Laserdiode the Germanmanufacturer of semiconductorlasers has fabricated a laser diodebar that emits a record-breaking454 W of continuous wave (CW)infrared (940 nm) light The resultis around 100 W higher than theprevious records of 364 W and320 W that were reported bynLight Photonics and Bookhamrespectively last year

Jenoptikrsquos result was achievedwith a 1 cm long 2 mm high barthat was made at its new semicon-ductor fab Jenoptik Diode Lab inBerlin Diode Lab opened in Febru-ary 2002 and is a spin-off from

Ferdinand-Braun Institute in Ber-lin-Adlershof

ldquoIt was just a plain vanilla semi-conductor bar that we use in pro-duction ndash nothing specialrdquo saidDetlev Wolff from Jenoptik Laser-diode ldquoCompared with the regulardiode product we simply changedthe packaging in order to carry thelarger currentrdquo

The water-cooled device emittedthe record-breaking power whendriven at a current of 580 A Acc-ording to Wolff the result is impor-tant because it demonstrates thatJenoptikrsquos semiconductor materialis capable of being driven at high

output powers without sufferingany catastrophic optical damage(COD) to its facets

ldquoThe question for us was lsquoWhatis the weak point of a diode laserrsquoThis result shows that it is not thefacetrdquo said Wolff ldquoWhat we see isthat the device is thermally limitedrather than suffering from CODThis means that the packagingand heat-sinking are limiting thenext level of performancerdquo

The new result means that thereis now an even larger gap betweenthe performance of laboratorydemonstrations and of commer-cial devices The highest power

bars on the market currentlydeliver around 100ndash120 W CWand Wolff says that this figure isunlikely to rise for some time whilemanufacturers concentrate onimproving the lifetime of devicesrather than their output power

ldquoWhat we see right now is a racetowards a new commonly accep-ted power level I think that this willprobably be 120 W and this willstay for the next few yearsrdquo Wolffexplained to OLE ldquoOur industrialcustomers ideally want to have aseven-year lifetime [equivalent to40 000 h] and we think that this ispossible at 120 Wrdquo

Jenoptikrsquos laser diode bars break 400W barrierLASER DIODES

Getting a buzz from their work Electronics engineer Jim Wilson (left) and MontanaState University graduate student Nathan Seldomridge outside the LIDAR trailerwhich is situated about 83 m from the minefield for the bee LIDAR experiment

J Sh

aw

Aquatic sensor detects tiny waves

TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS

SENSING

14 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Oil and gas reserve monitoringmarine mineral exploration anddeep-sea surveillance could all bene-fit from a low-cost fibre-based vibra-tion sensor say its inventors Theteam from the Australian NationalUniversity (ANU) and the Universityof Sydney claim that its devicewhich responds to underwateracoustic waves is 100 times moresensitive than current technology

ldquoOur sensor is based on a passivedetector a FabryndashPerot cavity cre-ated by two fibre Bragg gratingmirrors written into the core of theoptical fibrerdquo ANU scientist Mal-colm Gray told OLE ldquoThe highfinesse of the cavity means that theeffect of the detected vibrations ismultiplied as the light makes manyround-trips between the gratingmirrorsrdquo

To spot relative changes in fibrelength approaching 1 times 10ndash12 theresearchers use a detectionscheme dubbed Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) locking which hasbeen borrowed from the grouprsquoswork on detecting extremely weak

gravitational waves (small ripplesin space created during cosmolog-ical events such as the explosivedeath of stars)

The PDH method involves prob-ing the passive vibration sensorwith a phase-modulated laser

beam A detector monitors thereturn beam for any signs ofdemodulation to identify changesin cavity length caused by sur-rounding acoustic vibrations

Suitable for distances of up to100 km and requiring only micro-watts of laser power the device issaid to be ideal for remote sensingldquoWe envisage a high-performanceaffordable array for geological sur-veyingrdquo explained Gray ldquoWithmany tens of sensors on a singlefibre the lightweight unit could betowed by much smaller boats thanat present therefore reducingoperation costsrdquo

Having patented the techniquethe team is now busy working withBenthic Geotech an oil and gasexploration company to develop aprototype for field testing

No pain no strain Malcolm Gray (centre) and colleagues have used their expertisein gravitational wave detection to develop a novel underwater acoustic sensor

A UV laser technique for producingdigital images that change theirappearance with viewing anglehas been developed by SherwoodTechnology UK The colour chem-istry expert says that its hologram-style images named DigiVU OVDcould help to protect importantdocuments and branded productsfrom counterfeiting

According to Sherwood itsprocess can write black-and-whitedigital images with a resolution ofup to 2500 dpi onto a metallic sub-strate or foil coated with the firmrsquosproprietary ink An interaction

between the UV (266 or 355 nm)writing beam and the ink createsan image that reflects light differ-ently depending on the angle of theincident light ndash shifting between apositive and a negative image

Andrew Jackson Sherwoodrsquosapplications marketing managersays that it takes just a few secondsto write the image depending on itssize and resolution Unlike holo-grams which need to be prepared inadvance the design of the laser-written images could easily bechanged Potential uses includeputting images of individuals onto a

security pass or identity cardAccording to Jackson the pro-

cess was inspired by customerrequests for images that wereclearly visible and easily identifi-able with the naked eye withoutthe need for any kind of readingmachine Sherwood will marketthe process alongside its DigiVUmicro ndash a range of tiny unobtru-sive security marks and 2D codesthat can be applied to products

Sherwood is also working hardto develop a single coating thatallows full-colour laser markingand it is confident that it will have

found a solution within the next12 months ldquoBy varying the ener-gy of the beam you get differentcolours from a single coatingrdquoJackson told OLE ldquoWersquove achievedred blue and yellow so far butgreen is proving more difficult toproducerdquo

Security codes boast photo qualitySECURITY

Different views a security image writtenusing a UV laser The appearance of theimage varies with the viewing angle

Cent

re f

or G

ravi

tatio

nal

Phys

ics

AN

U

Sher

woo

d Te

chno

logy

Optical chip senses multiple gases

TECHNOLOGYAPPLICATIONS

SENSING

15OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

FIBRE OPTICS

Fibre Patchcords Collimators

Splitters WDM CWDM Isolators

Fibre Cable Sapphire Fibre

wwwlasercomponentscouk

Environmental monitoring and theanalysis of food packaging couldbenefit from a new type of opticalsensor that can detect the presenceof several gases simultaneously Thedevice is the brainchild of KLOEacute afour-year-old spin-off from the Uni-versity of Montpellier France

At the heart of KLOEacutersquos K-MZSsensor is a rectangular solndashgel chipthat contains a series of laser-written waveguide MachndashZehnderInterferometers ndash one for each gasto be sensed and an additional ref-erence for calibration purposes

One arm of each interferometerpasses straight through the chipwhile the others feature an ldquoactiveelementrdquo that is exposed to theatmosphere and contains an agentthat reacts to the gas to be sensed

When the target gas is presentthe refractive index of the activeelement changes altering the sig-nal at the output of the interfer-ometer Input and output optical

fibres are connected to the chip inorder to inject and collect light Theentire packaged device measuresabout 5 times 10 times 6 mm

According to Paul Coudray thefirmrsquos CEO the measurements arevery sensitive and almost instanta-neous owing to the close proximityof the waveguide core the activezone and the atmosphere ndash some-

thing that is impossible to achievewith an optical fibre sensor

ldquoWe have made tests to detectoxygen using an active layer basedon solndashgel doped with rutheniumbut the customer himself candeposit his own type of active ele-ment to suit another specific gasrdquoCoudray told OLE ldquoThe big advan-tage is that we can integrate up to

six sensors on the same chiprdquoOther examples of potential

active elements include palladium-doped solndashgel for detecting hydro-gen KLOEacute is now trialling thesensors with customers and isexploring other potential appli-cations such as biophotonics foodpackaging and sensing hydrocar-bon pollutants in water

output fibres

reference

active zonesensor 1

active zonesensor 2

input fibresref 1 2

Neat package a fibre-pigtailed and packaged version of KLOEacutersquos K-MZS 200 multigas sensor (left) The innovative deviceconsists of a number of waveguide MachndashZehnder interferometers one for sensing each gas and a reference (right)

An LCD that simultaneously dis-plays different full-screen imagesin two distinct viewing directionshas been developed by Sharp Lab-oratories of Europe

By changing their orientation tothe monitor viewers can use thesingle device to access differentvisual content

For example one viewer on theleft can use the screen for browsing

the Internet while a second vieweron the right enjoys watching videocontent such as a movie or a tele-vision broadcast

The unit features Sharprsquos paral-

lax barrier technology which isalso found in its 3D displays Whensuperimposed onto an ordinaryTFT LCD the parallax barrierchannels backlighting to the left orright to give different viewing-angle-specific images

ldquoThe ability to enjoy two func-tions in a single unit at full-screensize will contribute to the conver-gence of digital home electronicsaudiovisual and information tech-nologyrdquo said a spokesperson forthe company

Taking the directional concept

to its other extreme Sharp has alsocome up with a narrow-angle LCDto help to protect private informa-tion and prevent snooping

Designed for mobile phones andnotebook PCs the screen includesa switchable layer of liquid-crystalmaterial that blocks light emittedfrom the display at wide anglesUsers can adjust the viewing angledepending on the nature of thecontent that they are viewing

According to the company bothdisplay units have already enteredproduction

Sharp makes LCDwith double vision

DISPLAYS

Choice of content viewers can choosebetween two content streams bychanging their angle to the screen

Shar

pKL

OEacute

TECHNOLOGY

16 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Adaptive microscopechallenges tradition

RampD

MICROSCOPY

A trio of researchers from Rensse-laer Polytechnic Institute US hasunveiled an optical microscopedesign that it says overcomes theinherent trade-off between field ofview and resolving power found intraditional instruments (OpticsExpress 13 6504)

Called an adaptive scanningoptical microscope (ASOM) theRensselaer design combines ahigh-speed steering mirror a cus-tom-designed scanner lens aMEMS deformable mirror andimaging optics The teamrsquos calcu-lations suggest that an effectivefield-of-view diameter of 40 mmand a resolution of 15 microm areboth achievable

ldquoThe traditional optical micro-scope makes use of static opticalcomponents and the layout hasbeen known for centuriesrdquo resear-cher Ben Potsaid told OLE ldquoWhilethe ASOM makes use of opticalcomponents which have been usedbefore its improved performance isachieved by including active anddynamic components in the opti-cal path and the unique way thesecomponents are combinedrdquo

The ASOM operates by taking a

sequence of spatially displacedimages in rapid succession using a2D steering mirror As well as thelarge effective field of view and highresolution the advantages of thisset-up are said to be a fast image-acquisition rate and the ability tokeep the sample stationary

The acquired images are thenrecombined into a large compositemosaic of the scene

To test their ideas Potsaid andhis colleagues have built a simpli-fied prototype that they call a scan-ning optical mosaic scope (SOMS)

Built using off-the-shelf optics theSOMS is used to visualize livingcells and can be employed to viewevents such as cell division

ldquoThe immediate goal of theresearch is to construct a fullyoperational and high-performanceASOM prototype and demonstrateits advantages in scientific medicaland industrial applicationsrdquo saidPotsaid ldquoA long-term goal is todeliver our technology to main-stream research and manufac-turing arenas We also hope tocommercialize the ASOMrdquo

SP E C T RO S C O P Y

Scientists at Osaka University inJapan have teamed up with thecitys police forensic laboratory toassess the potential of terahertz(THz) time-domain spectroscopy forscreening for inflammable liquidsstored in common plastic bottles(Applied Physics Letters 87034105)

The team investigated liquidssuch as gasoline benzene andkerosene which were stored inplastic bottles made of polyethyleneand polyethylene terephthalateWater which does not transmit THzwaves was also included in thestudy ldquoThe transmittances and therefractive indices in the THz regionallow us to distinguish these liquidseven in plastic bottlesrdquo said theresearchers

SO U RC E S

A diode-end-pumped continuous-wave (CW) NdYVO4 laser emittingat 1386 nm has been unveiled byscientists at Tianjin University inChina The researchers say thattheir laser has a maximum outputpower of 305 mW at an incidentpump power of 424 W and a slopeefficiency of 139 (Optics Express13 5819)

ldquoTo the best of our knowledge thisis the first time that CW operation atthe 1386nm transition of a NdYVO4

crystal is reportedrdquo said the authors

JOURNAL WATCH

camerafinal imagingoptics

systemaperture

field lenspupil imagingoptics inverted eyepiece

field lenspupil imagingoptics forward eyepiece

deformablemirror

scanner lensassembly

object

steeringmirror

50 mm

The adaptive microscope uses active and deformable components

Rens

sela

er P

olyt

echn

ic I

nstit

ute

TECHNOLOGYRampDPATENTS

17OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

INFRINGEMENTNichia files injunction againstChristmas light maker DoshishaNichia of Japan has filed a provisional injunctionaction against Doshisha Corporation in OsakaDistrict Court Nichia believes that white LEDsused in certain Christmas lights (specifically LED-C200WBG) sold by Doshisha infringes Nichiarsquospatent number 3503139 The patent covers white-light emission by combining a semiconductor chipand a garnet phosphor Nichia is now seekinginjunctive relief to prohibit the sale of the product

VNUS Medical launches patentinfringement case against DiomedVNUS Medical Technologies a US developer ofminimally invasive systems for the treatment ofvenous reflex disease has filed a patentinfringement action against Diomed Holdings

In a statement VNUS claims that ldquoDiomedmarkets endovenous laser ablation products foruse in methods which infringe several of VNUSrsquopatentsrdquo Filed in the United States District CourtNorthern District of California VNUS is seeking aninjunction prohibiting Diomed from selling theablation products as well as monetary damages

LICENSINGStanford Uni extends Picarrorsquosexclusive access to CRDS patentsPicarro of the US has extended its exclusivelicensing agreement with Stanford University overpatents covering cavity ring-down spectroscopy(CRDS) The deal extends Picarrorsquos use of eightissued and five pending patents for a minimum offive and a maximum of eight years

Picarro has incorporated Stanfordrsquos CRDStechnology into a range of trace-gas detectors Thefirst commercial CRDS sensors using Stanfordtechnology started customer evaluation in 2004and Picarro says that volume production is slatedto begin by the end of 2005

Kodak licenses its passive-matrixOLED ideas to Orion of KoreaKodak is licensing its organic light-emitting diode(OLED) display technology to Korean firm OrionOLED The royalty-bearing licence covers the use ofpassive-matrix OLED modules in a variety of flat-panel display applications and gives Orion theopportunity to purchase Kodakrsquos patented OLEDmaterials

Kodak says that it has now licensed its passive-

matrix technology to more than 15 companiesldquoOrion OLED joins the ranks of producers takingadvantage of OLED technology to enhance thedisplay quality in a variety of applications fromsimple subdisplays in mobile phones to full-colourpanels in portable media and communicationdevicesrdquo said Mary-Jane Hellyar president ofKodakrsquos Display and Components Group

APPLICATIONSTexas Instrumentsrsquo micromirrorsldquodouble a displayrsquos resolutionrdquoTexas Instruments has developed a digitalmicromirror to increase the perceived resolution ofa display The device works by optically ditheringtwo versions of an image sampled at slightlydifferent points

ldquoThe human eye perceives both images asbeing displayed at the same time resulting in aneffective doubling of the display resolutionrdquo saidthe authors of international patent application WO2005067637

The micromirror control scheme uses a steppulse followed immediately by a ldquoquenchrdquo pulseto minimize overshoot or ringing motion and toenable smooth viewing

PATENTS

To search for recently published applications visit httpwwwwipointpcten and httpepespacenetcom

Scientists in Switzerland havefound a way to control the speed atwhich light pulses travel along anoptical fibre The developmentcould lead to an elegant solutionfor constructing optical delay linesoptical memory and ultimatelyan all-optical router (Applied Phy-sics Letters 87 081113)

Although the speed of light hasbeen slowed down and evenbrought to a halt by other researchteams previously it has relied oncomplicated atomic effects ingases crystals and semiconduc-tors that do not suit deployment inan optical fibre network

Now scientists from the EacutecolePolytechnique Feacutedeacuterale de Lau-sanne (EPFL) have shown that stim-ulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) inordinary singlemode silica fibrecould be an attractive alternative

SBS is a nonlinear optical effectthat causes a strong pump beam toamplify a slightly longer wave-length probe beam and generatean acoustic wave simultaneously

Although SBS has been used inthe past to make optical amplifiersthe Swiss team found that by

adjusting the pump power and thewavelength of the probe beam theSBS effect could also delay or speedup the propagation of probe pulses

ldquoUsing this simple and flexibleapproach we have achieved nearlyall the results obtained [previouslyby others] using atomic transitionsfrom delays widely exceeding thepulse duration to superluminalpropagation and even negativegroup velocityrdquo Luc Theacutevenaz fromEPFLrsquos Nanophotonics and Metrol-ogy Laboratory told OLE

ldquoThis experiment can be real-ized on a tabletop in normal envi-ronmental conditions so it couldpave the way to a variety of real-world applicationsrdquo he added

Experiments with 100 ns probepulses at 1552 nm showed thatabout 1 ns of delayadvancementis introduced for every decibel of

Brillouin gainloss To date using apump power of several watts theteam has achieved an adjustabledelay of ndash144 to +186 ns in a 2 mlong fibre ndash equivalent to an effec-tive fibre length of ndash3 to +38 m

Theacutevenaz says that longer delayscan be achieved by cascading sepa-rate lengths of fibre and usingattenuators to remove unwantedamplified noise He believes that a1 m long fibre containing 10equally spaced attenuators couldproduce a delay of 300 ns

The team is now working tosolve two problems The first is thatthe delay depends on the amountof amplification and this results ina data stream of varying strengthThe second is that the Brillouineffect limits its use to signals with abandwidth of no more than25 MHz

Brillouin scattering slows light downLIGHT PROPAGATION

Speed control Miguel Gonzalez Herraez(left) Luc Theacutevenaz (centre) and Kwang-Yong Soon with their experiment

Alai

n H

erzo

g E

PFL

Phone +37052729900

Fax +37052729299

E-mail saleseksmacom

Internet wwweksmacom

OPTICALCOMPONENTS

from UV to IRL

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aser beam expanders

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lan-Taylor laser

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OPTICALCOMPONENTS

Pointing Accuracy lt2mrad Pointing Stability lt10radordmC Water and Dust Resistant Fully Customizable For OEM Applications Allows Reduced FixturingLabor Costs

Diode Laser Concepts Inc4731 Industry Drive

Central Point OR 97502 USATel 541-773-5321

Fax 541-773-1705wwwdiodelaserconceptscom

Email salesdiodelaserconceptscom

New High Performance Diode Laser Modules

bull Scintillation crystals bull Linear amp two dimensional arrays

bull Detector assemblies bull Infra-red optics bull Custom products

CrystalMaterials

Westwood Margate Kent CT9 4JL UK

Tel +44(0)1843 231166Fax +44(0)1843 290310email saleshilger-crystalscouk

wwwhilger-crystalscoukwwwnewportcom

Holoeye Photonics is bringing microdisplay technology out of the consumer market andinto scientific applications Jacqueline Hewett spoke to two of the companyrsquos founders

Good customer relationsbuild Holoeyersquos business

COMPANY PROFILE

19OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Turning the seed of an idea into a successfulbusiness is always a tough proposition Butwhen you decide to do it under your ownsteam and without any venture-capital fund-ing this takes the challenge to a new levelThatrsquos the path that Holoeye Photonics ofGermany has taken however and six yearsfrom its inception the company is thriving

Based in Berlin Holoeye was founded in1999 by Sven Krueger Marcel Rogalla andStephan Teiwes to exploit their experience indiffractive optic design Since then the com-pany has broadened its technology base toinclude spatial light modulators (SLMs) andliquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) microdisplays

While many firms are employing LCoSexclusively for imaging applications such asrear-projection televisions Holoeye is one ofthe few that is hoping to incorporate thetechnology into scientific instruments suchas microscopes

This bold approach has seen the companygrow in terms of employees and customerbase Today it has 14 staff 12 of which arebased in Germany while the remaining twoare based at the companyrsquos US subsidiary inCalifornia It also claims that its SLM tech-nology is being used by more than 130 com-panies and universities around the world

Although Holoeye started by designingand supplying micro-optical elements suchas diffraction gratings it quickly realized thatit wanted a way to make these componentsdynamic ldquoFrom 2000 we developed a seriesof SLMs based on different display technolo-giesrdquo said Sven Krueger the companyrsquos CTO

ldquoWe started with transmissive LCDs andthen we ended up with the high-resolutionreflective LCDs After that we wanted to offerhigh-end LCoSrdquo he added ldquoOur final goalright now is to bring this high-end microdis-play technology out of the commercial con-sumer electronics market and into thephotonics industryrdquo

However the future hasnrsquot always been sorosy for Holoeye ldquoWe had some tough timesin the beginning but we are now on the stepwhere we can really move forward and getlarge contractsrdquo said Marcel Rogalla the

companyrsquos CEO ldquoWe started off using ourown money and six years on we still havenrsquothad any venture-capital fundingrdquo

One advantage of this ldquogo it alonerdquo

approach is that Holoeye has remained inde-pendent and is able to follow its own agendaldquoIt is important for us and for some of ourcustomers in areas such as defence that weare independentrdquo explained Rogalla ldquoItturns out that the independence we haveright now can be a major advantagerdquo

Today the company has a well definedstructure revolving around its three tech-nologies Diffractive optics and SLMs whichmodulate the intensity and phase of a beamare being used predominately in a diversearray of applications in academia On theother hand the companyrsquos LCoS businesshas more of an industrial focus on a range ofniche display markets

ldquoOne popular application of SLMs over thelast couple of years has been optical tweez-ersrdquo said Krueger ldquoPeople use addressablegratings to couple laser light into a micro-scope and to trap and manipulate cells Ourtechnology has been used in this applicationvery successfully While it is a hot topic it isstill in researchrdquo

According to Krueger another popularresearch area is coherent wavefront controlHere adaptive optical elements are used tomodulate coherent waveforms which arethen exploited in optical metrology as well asin sensing and space applications

ldquoOne bizarre application is pulse modula-tion of femtosecond lasersrdquo said Krueger ldquoAdispersive element can be used as an address-able phase mask to superimpose differentphases onto different spectral components ofa pulse People also want to use this spatiallyon the pulse for materials-processing appli-cations as well as to change from Gaussianprofiles to more top-hat profiles ndash and diffrac-tive optics and SLMs can do thisrdquo

While these applications are all in aresearch environment the company is mov-ing into more industrial OEM markets withits LCoS technology To this end it has set uptwo crucial agreements first a distributionagreement with LCoS expert Brillian of theUS second a development contract with USoptical engine designer Ballista

ldquoWe wanted to have a secure source of

The eye of the beholder Holoeye Photonicsrsquo logoshown on a typical reflective microdisplay

SLM hardware this device uses a reflective LCoSmicrodisplay with a resolution of 1280 times 768 pixels

Packaged SLM Holoeyersquos LC2002 SLM is based ona 600 times 800 pixel translucent microdisplay

All

imag

es

Hol

oeye

Pho

toni

cs

high-end LCoS and we ended up making adistribution agreement with Brillianrdquoexplained Krueger ldquoThey have the highestresolution and incredible performance fromtheir devices Now we are distributors we canoffer a completely new field of business to ourcustomers We are using these displays notonly in addressable optical elements but alsoas displays for imagingrdquo

With limited resources of its own Holoeyealso set up an agreement with Ballista so thatit could offer a one-stop-shop solution from a

sophisticated design right through to a high-end product And it seems as though this is aperfect combination

ldquoOne customer approached us and askedfor a night-vision goggle that incorporates adisplay electronics and an optical enginerdquocommented Krueger ldquoWe can figure out thebest display and also adapt and customise theelectronics We will use a display from Bril-lian and Ballista to create the optical engineYou cannot have all of these resources ndash wehave to team up but this allows us to com-

pete for a range of contractsrdquoHoloeye firmly believes that building

strong relationships with partners is the bestsolution for a company with a limit to itsfinancial resources ldquoWe always try to out-source as much as possible but there is noother wayrdquo concluded Krueger ldquoWe consultwith the customer and we do the final assem-bly and measurement at our headquartersrdquo

Having made a name for itself and pushedits products into a variety of promising appli-cations there seems little doubt that Holoeyewill continue in the same vein The companyrsquoseagerness to move into challenging appli-cations and its open attitude to developingproducts with customers looks certain to standit in good stead for many years to come

COMPANY PROFILE

20 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

LasersComponents

Lasers amp Laser Systems

CO2 - NdYAG - Excimer - Femtosecond

Fiber LasersCW amp Pulse up to kW

Laser Diodes ampModules

Blue - Green - Red - Infrared

Scanners amp ModulationGalvanometers - Q-Switches - AO devices

Laser Safety Eyewear

Optics amp Opto-Mechanics

amp

BFi OPTiLAS European Offices Belgium infobebfioptilascomDenmark infodkbfioptilascom - France infofrbfioptilascom

Germany infodebfioptilascom - Italy infoitbfioptilascomSpain infoesbfioptilascom - The Netherlands infonlbfioptilascom

Sweden infosebfioptilascom - UK infoukbfioptilascom

ww

wb

fio

pti

lasc

om

ldquoWe want to bringmicrodisplaytechnology out ofthe consumerelectronics marketand into thephotonicsindustryrdquoSven Krueger

1999 Holoeye GmbH is founded to exploitdiffractive optical elements and develop newindustrial applications of the technology1999 The computer-controlled LC1004 VGAspatial light modular is released2000 Holoeye unveils the LC2002 SVGAcomputer-controlled spatial light modulator2002 Holoeye reincorporates to form HoloeyePhotonics AG2003 The reflective LCoS spatial lightmodulator kit LC-R 2500 with 1024 times 768pixels is introduced2004 Holoeye Corp is founded as a 100-owned US subsidiary in San Diego CaliforniaUS in April 20042004 Brillian Corporation signs a distributionagreement with Holoeye for the sale ofBrillianrsquos Gen II LCoS microdisplay products2005 Holoeye signs an agreement withoptical engine designer Ballista US The aimis to develop display systems for professionaland speciality markets

Company timeline

Laser Diode DriversFor High Power CWQCW Applications

Call us with your requirements e-mail us at salesluminapowercom

or visit our website at wwwluminapowercom

240 Jubilee DrPeabody MA 01960Phone 978-532-4666 Fax 978-532-3066

LDD-150250400LDD-600

LDD-10001500

bull CW Models from 50W to 1500W with-Output configurations up to 80A

bull QCW Models from 50Wavg to 1000Wavg-25usec risefall times-Output configurations up to 200A

bull Universal input

bull Power Factor Correction

bull Optional RS-232 Interface

bull Optional TE cooler electronics

bull Custom packaging available

Very busy show Quality leadsBernard Parry of Special Application Products speaking after the February 2005 event

Collocated alongside six other specialist industry events -

Machine Building amp Automation

Drives amp Motion Control Systems

Sensors Measurement amp Instrumentation

Practical Vacuum

Contamination Control amp Cleanroom Products

Medical Device Technology

Supported by

NEW for 2006 Laser Centre

See some of the countryrsquosleading laser researchers all under

one roof

Photonics firms are busy preparing for a suite of newenvironmental regulations drawn up by the EuropeanCommission Oliver Graydon spoke to Kay Stegmann atThorlabs about the directives and their consequences

Photonics industry adREGULATIONS

22 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Two new regulations governing the disposaland manufacture of consumer electronicsproducts are currently being rolled outacross the European Community The first ofthese dubbed ldquoWaste Electrical and Elec-tronic Equipmentrdquo or WEEE came into playin August and enforces an environmentallyresponsible way of disposing of unwantedequipment The second directive ldquoRestric-tion of Hazardous Substancesrdquo or RoHSbans the use of several toxic substances suchas lead solder inside products and it becomesactive next year

Although the directives are firmly targetedat consumer applications they are havingan impact on the photonics industry asmany large manufacturers of scientificequipment are also deciding to implementthem One company that is taking the direc-tives very seriously and working hard toimplement them is Thorlabs Oliver Graydonspoke to Kay Stegmann compliance man-ager at Thorlabrsquos German office in Karlsfeldabout the standards and their consequences

What is RoHS It is a directive of the European Commissionand stands for Restriction of Hazardous Sub-stances It becomes valid from 1 July 2006and bans six commonly used substances inelectronic apparatus Those substances arelead mercury hexavalent chromium poly-brominated biphenyl (PBB) polybrominateddiphenyl ether (PBDE) (all banned to 01)and cadmium (banned to 001) The per-centage is by weight in a homogeneous mat-erial such as a solder connection a plasticholder or even just the antireflection coatingof an optical glass

Most important is lead because of its use insolder while chromium and cadmium areused for surface finishing such as in rust-protection coatings PBB and PBDE are usedin plastics as flame-retardant materials

RoHS covers electrical and electronicapparatus divided into 10 groups Twogroups are excluded group 8 medical equip-ment and group 9 control and measure-ment equipment This directive coverscomplete units ndash in other words standaloneapparatus that is driven by electricity

OEM parts and components are not dir-ectly covered by the directive Thus you areable to use something containing bannedsubstances in your laboratory for sayresearch purposes but you must not put itinto a piece of electronic equipment that is tobe sold The idea behind this is to avoid theneed to publish a complete list of compo-nents because that would become enor-mous It is up to the manufacturer of theequipment to make sure that all componentsused in the product are compliant

Regarding RoHS it is interesting that in therest of the world you can find similar regula-tions For example Japan has a voluntaryprogramme on lead reduction South Koreahas a voluntary programme on RoHS aimedat export activities China is adapting anexact copy of RoHS for domestic purposes Inthe US it is currently a piecemeal state-by-state scheme For example California isimplementing a light version of RoHS butthere is no large national initiative

What is WEEEThis stands for Waste Electrical and Elec-tronic Equipment It is another EuropeanCommission initiative and covers wasterecovery It came into force on 13 August2005 but some countries like the UK areimplementing the scheme later owing totheir national laws

WEEE covers all of the equipment that isdescribed in RoHS but includes medicalequipment and control and test equipmentThe directive states that equipment sold to auser in the European Community after12 August this year must be taken back bythe manufacturer at the end of its life This isvalid in all countries of the EC

In addition some countries also require alike-for-like exchange scheme where if wesupplied a customer with a new product as areplacement for a piece of equipment thatshe bought some time ago from any manu-facturer we would be obliged to take back theold product This like-for-like rule exists in theUK but not in Germany

WEEE is relatively difficult and expensivefor producers of consumer equipmentbecause of the volumes involved and the

need to participate in the countryrsquos publicwaste-collection system For business tobusiness products ndash as it is the case for most ofthe photonics industry ndash WEEE is much eas-ier to handle An offer to the end user to takeback any end-of-life equipment withoutincurring costs is normally enough

The company that sells the product in theEuropean Community be it a direct manu-facturer or a distributor will be responsiblefor compliance with RoHS and WEEE

With WEEE there is one pending problemand thatrsquos remote selling across borderssuch as via the Internet WEEE only obligesthe manufacturer to take back the unit ifshe has a local office or distributor in thecustomerrsquos country If there is no local pres-ence there is no take-back obligation and theresponsibility is passed on to the end user todispose of it by the correct means I expectthat there will be some changes to the direc-tive in the future to close this loophole

Responsible disposal Suppliers of scientific equipment are now rinto force in August Many well known names in photonics includmaterials including lead mercury and cadmium in electronics g

Don

Mas

on

Corb

is

What impact are these directiveshaving on photonics In terms of RoHS because nearly everythingthat is used in the photonics lab is either acomponent or test and measurement equip-ment most items are legally exempt at themoment This means that there is no or verylittle obligation for the photonics industryOnly consumer products like cameras or pro-jectors are covered However we at Thorlabsare aware of the increasing environmentalresponsibilities and the needs of the marketOur policy is to change to RoHS compliancewherever it is possible Only if itrsquos very difficultor impossible for a specialized product will wenot make the change As WEEE only coverselectronic products the impact on the pho-tonics industry should be relatively small

How has Thorlabs dealt with RoHSand WEEEWe check every single component for RoHS

compliance Itrsquos a big job because we haveabout 10 000 products in our catalogue

As for the changeover we handle our stockvery carefully to prevent creating a mixtureof RoHS and non-RoHS parts If necessarywe make a redesign as components mightdisappear and a RoHS-compliant replace-ment may not exist

For WEEE we offer the take-back-and-exchange scheme for all of our electronicproducts This will be offered everywhere inthe EC and it is up to customers whether ornot they want to make use of it

Are RoHS compliant componentsand products readily availableMy general impression of the current elec-tronics market is that the availability ofRoHS-compliant parts is less than 50

We as a manufacturer of products want tohave compliant components as soon as pos-sible There is still a way to go until we will get

full supply of RoHS-compliant componentsfor our production However the situation isgetting better every day and I think that theavailability of these components shouldapproach 100 by the end of the first quar-ter of next year

Which products are the hardest tomake RoHS compliantThere are some optics that contain lead glassDiscussions about whether or not these partsshould be exempt from RoHS are ongoinggiven that lead is completely contained andcannot leach out but there is no decision yetin sight Today to my knowledge there is noalternative to lead that gives the equivalentoptical properties

Another example where you might haveproblems is if you use a special componentnormally produced for an exempted areasuch as military or medical electronics Inthis case it is probably unlikely that a replace-ment RoHS-compliant part will becomeavailable for non-exempt applications

Is the photonics industry ready forRoHSFrom the legal point of view the photonicsindustry will be ready in time as many of theproducts are exempt However if you dowant to purchase RoHS-compliant productsthey may not be available from everyoneMany small companies may decide not toreact to the directives while some US firmsmay ignore them completely

Do you think that the regulationswill result in price risesRegarding Thorlabs WEEE and RoHS willhave no influence on the prices the slightlyhigher costs in production will be covered byother measures Regarding the photonicsindustry in general RoHS and WEEE mighthave some effect with a few products tem-porarily being more expensive Take lead-freesoldering it may be 5ndash15 more expensivebut itrsquos just a small part of a productrsquos overallcost Managing the change to RoHS leads toadditional costs for the equipment manufac-turers in photonics The question is whetheror not will they pass the costs on to their cus-tomers Some will some wonrsquot

Further information httpeuropaeuintcommenvironmentwasteweee_indexhtm httpwww rohs-newscom

23OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

dopts green standards

responsible for taking back old electronics equipment at the end of its life under the new WEEE directive which cameding Thorlabs Melles Griot and Coherent are working hard to comply with the new directives The use of six toxicgoods is being banned under the RoHS directive which is active from 1 July 2006

Chro

moS

ohm

Co

rbis

Alan

Sch

ein

Zet

aCo

rbis

HIGH VISIBILITYL A S E R S

Copyright copy2005 StockerYale Inc All rights reservedwwwstockerya le com

Celebrating 20 years in lasersand beam shaping

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Some applicationsincludebull Machine vision and

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Lasiristrade Green Laser

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Low-cost polymer-based spectrometer circuits developed in Germany could inspire awhole range of hand-held and miniature products James Tyrrell finds out more

Tiny spectrometer chipopens up new markets

OPTICAL CIRCUITS

25OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute forTelecommunications Heinrich-Hertz-Insti-tute (HHI) Germany have built a fingernail-sized spectrometer from a polymer chipFeaturing integrated photodetectors andwith other functions such as a light sourcewell on the way the tiny optical unit couldlead to a host of new applications

At the heart of the multichannel spec-trometer is an arrayed waveguide grating(AWG) made from a specially developedcross-linked polymer Containing an arrange-ment of waveguides of different lengths theAWG optically filters the incoming signal byusing interference effects to couple a specificwavelength to each discrete channel

The HHI team claims that its AWG devicewhich features no moving parts opens thedoor to spectrometers that are much smallerand far less sensitive to vibration than instru-ments based on mechanically controlled dif-fraction gratings

The Berlin-based group feels that its spec-trometer chips could have 8ndash100 channelswith a channel spacing of 01ndash20 nm with-out compromising the unitrsquos small size Oper-ating across the infrared range HHIrsquos initialprototype has eight channels Monitoringeach channel is an indium phosphide (InP)photodetector (PD) located on the opticalmotherboardrsquos top surface

A 45 ordm mirror connects the outputs fromthe AWG to the devicersquos integrated PDs ldquoWecan avoid active alignment by using a 45 ordmmirrorrdquo HHI project manager Norbert Keiltold OLE ldquoFor this example we used anindustrial pick and placer to set the array ofeight photodiodesrdquo

ManufacturingTo cut down on the assembly time Keil and hiscolleagues are keen to avoid laborious align-ment techniques opting instead for passivemethods that suit cheap mass-production

ldquo60ndash70 of the total cost [of the device] isin the packaging which includes fibre-chipcouplingrdquo said Keil ldquoWe want to makegrooves for the fibre which you can do veryeasily in plastic and then just plug in the[input] fibrerdquo

In recent experiments with a small four -channel AWG the team has added a taperstructure to reduce the optical field mis-match between the input fibre and the wave-guide to just 02 dB Without the integratedtaper the value rises to 15ndash2 dB

Unfortunately for the team the plug-inconcept becomes much harder to achieve asmanufacturing is scaled up to produce morethan 200 devices per wafer ldquoAt the momentwe have 4 inch [polymer] wafers and we aretalking about 6 inch or even larger to pushdown the pricerdquo revealed Keil ldquoThe technol-ogy challenge is to write the same taperstructure everywhere on the wafer surface ndash8 inches is a large area and the etchingprocess has to be very well controlledrdquo

With the potential to reduce spectrometer

costs by a factor of 10 the teamrsquos polymertechnology is grabbing industryrsquos attentionand was recently showcased at LASER 2005ldquoWe had discussions recently with a USmedical company that is interested in a min-ispectrometer for dental applicationsrdquo com-mented Keil ldquoOne significant argument forthe company was not just price but also sizerdquo

Keil says that a compact and robust unitmay also suit the cancer-screening marketHere the solution could be a very simpleaffordable polymer circuit that can pick outjust one or two tell-tale spectral lines

ldquoTo commercialize a device we have to co-operate with companies that are already inthe market and [in the case of screening forcancer cells] with large hospitals that knowwhat signals to expectrdquo he added ldquoWe can

fibre(polymer)

AWG(polymer)

detector(InP)

λ1λ8

in out

λ1

λ8

Plastic fantastic the tiny fibre coupled spectrometer (top) features an arrayed waveguide grating (bottomright) and integrated photodiodes (inset bottom left) optically coupled via an onboard 45deg mirror

HH

I

then design a very small and cheap devicethat detects exactly at that wavelengthrdquo

The researchers are currently developinga transceiver product for the telecommuni-cations sector taking their hybrid integ-ration process a step further by includinglaser diodes With a timescale of two years forthe transceiver unit Keil thinks that a spec-trometer product could be as little as 12ndash18months away thanks to the devicesrsquo sharedmanufacturing platform

Currently the HHI team makes its polymer

devices using a reactive ion-etching techniqueThe process begins by spin-coating a 15 micromthick polymer layer onto a substrate and bak-ing it in an oven at 250ndash300 ordmC for severalhours This helps to cross-link and stiffen thethick film which is now ready to receive a thin3ndash5microm layer of waveguide material

ldquoOn that layer you put the etching masktaking away material on the left and right ofthe mask to make a channel waveguiderdquo saidKeil ldquoYou then remove the etching mask andcoat with a top cover to complete the wave-

guide structure In principle there are justthree or four processing stepsrdquo

The researchers considered other fabri-cation methods such as moulding or hotembossing but found that the tiny waveguidestructure was often ripped away from thepolymer substrate towards the end of themanufacturing process

ldquoThe other thing [with hot embossing] isthat you need a thermoplastic polymer thatis soft and movable at the processing temper-ature which is counterproductive for thehigh thermal stability of the devicerdquo saidKeil ldquoFor example our cross-linked polymeris not thermoplasticrdquo

Robust TechnologyKeil is confident that his device designed forpolymer processing at temperatures inexcess of 250 ordmC can tolerate operating con-ditions of 85 and 90 ordmC He points out thatwith a glass transition temperature of app-roximately 100 ordmC previous PMMA mater-ials systems have struggled in telecoms-styletemperature cycling tests which are typi-cally in the ndash40ndash85 ordmC range

Transmission has also proved to be a stum-bling block for the use of polymer materials inoptical systems ldquoWe started [more than10 years ago] with PMMA an acrylate-basedpolymer with a typical loss of 1 dBcm at a1550 nm wavelengthrdquo said Keil ldquoNow aftermany industrial driven research projects forexample with Pirelli and Alcatel we are usinga material system with a loss of 028 dBcmrdquo

Additionally because the material enablesa high refractive index contrast between theoptical waveguide and the cladding layer thegroup can design so-called supercompactAWGrsquos with a radius of curvature of lessthan 1 mm For example its four-channelAWG measures just 10 times 3 mm

Keil accepts that humidity still presents achallenge to polymer systems but he has asolution at hand ldquoMost of the polymers canhave water uptake resulting in [signal] lossand a change in refractive indexrdquo he said ldquoItmeans that we have to seal the device but thisis not a [major] problem and there are manu-facturers here in Berlin that have developedsome cheap hermetically sealed packagesrdquo

OPTICAL CIRCUITS

OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

ldquoIn principle thereare just three orfour processingstepsrdquoNorbert Keil

Dynamic interferometry allows precise optical measurements to be made on the factoryfloor Steve Martinek explains the principle and technology behind the technique

Dynamic interferometrytransforms metrology

PRODUCT GUIDE

27OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

The high-precision interferometry of opticalcomponents has always been a task that isrelatively straightforward to perform in aquality control laboratory but that is a toughchallenge elsewhere

Conventional temporal phase-shiftinginterferometers can easily measure the sur-face shape and transmitted wavefront ofoptics with nanometre precision in a stabletest environment However what happenswhen it is necessary to make precise meas-urements on the production floor or in a vac-uum chamber Or when the size andgeometry of large astronomical optics makeit impractical to isolate them from any envi-ronmental disturbances

Unfortunately the typical productionenvironment is not stable on the nanometrescale Architectural structures vibrate andresonate as a result of the motion caused bypeople elevators pumps air-conditioningnoise and external traffic for example Thesemechanical perturbations couple into thetest set-up and degrade the quality of meas-urements Matters are made even worseowing to variations in the airrsquos refractiveindex due to air currents and heating

The result is that the fringes produced byinterferometric test equipment are usuallynot sufficiently stable in the image plane to bemeasured Relative distances between the

interferometer and an optic under test caneasily fluctuate by hundreds of nanometresif not tens of micrometres at frequencies ofup to 100 Hz

In the quality-control lab the solution issimple the environment is carefully con-trolled and any unwanted vibration isshielded by mounting the optical set-up ontoa vibration-isolation table But what happenswhen this isnrsquot a practical option

The answer is to shorten the data acquisi-tion time dramatically and effectively freezethe fringe image during the measurement

A conventional temporal phase-shiftinginterferometer typically requires the sequen-tial acquisition of a minimum of four frames(~120 ms) of video-rate data to make ameasurement ldquoHighrdquo-precision measure-ment algorithms require as many as 13 moreframes (which is equivalent to an additional04 s) Keeping the fringes stable over thisperiod of time without a vibration-isolationtable is impossible

However reducing the acquisition timereduces the amount of relative motion andmakes precise fringe measurements possibleSince the late 1980s developments in phase-measuring interferometry have all tried toexploit this fact

A number of methods have now beendeveloped to achieve rapid data acquisition

high-speed static fringe phase-shifting viahigh-speed camera multiple simultaneouscameras spatial carrier techniques anddynamic interferometry Early implementa-tions of these techniques were expensive butrecent developments have enabled affordablecommercial products to enter the marketMethods that acquire just a single frame arethe most efficient and two solutions will nowbe described in more detail

Spatial carrier technique The spatial carrier technique is a single-frame phase measurement that works byintroducing a tilt between the test and refer-ence arms of the interferometer The tilt iseffectively used to provide the phase shiftacross three of four adjacent pixels

In effect the method treats the fringe imageas a mosaic of very small windows each ofwhich contains an individual tilted wave-front It then measures their relative phasesto reconstruct the information about theshape of the object under test

The benefit of the approach is that it per-mits accurate data acquisition at cameraframe rates with exposures possible in theorder of a few milliseconds The drawback isreduced spatial sampling and a limited meas-urement range of the local slope of the opticalsurface In addition the method requires that

The characterization of the deformation of diffusesurfaces is possible using a speckle interferometerwith a dynamic phase sensor This image shows themeasurement of a 15 microm deformation in a 1 mdiameter composite structure

4D T

echn

olog

y

Measurement image of an aluminum diskresonating at 3 KHz Since data can be acquiredwith such short exposures the dynamic behaviourof moving surfaces such as scanning ordeformable mirrors can be studied

An interferometric measurement of a 40 cmdiameter F7 spherical mirror The data displayedare the residual following a 36-term Zernike fit Themeasurement was made with the instrument andsample mounted on separate tables

the internal interferometer optics are wellcorrected to minimize off-axis aberrations

By using Fourier transform algorithms toanalyse spatial carrier measurements it ispossible to reduce the required amount of tiltand relax the requirements of the internaloptics Spatial sampling is sacrificed how-ever and care must also be taken to avoid theintroduction of processing artefacts

Dynamic polarization interferometry Another approach is to use polarization togenerate the required phase shifts and to usemultiple cameras or multiple fringe imageson a single camera to acquire the data

An example of a typical set-up is shown infigure 1 This dynamic interferometer is apolarization TwymanndashGreen configurationwith a 2D grating at the exit pupil and aquadrant phase mask at the detector

The imaging optics grating and phasemask produce four images (phase-shiftedinterferograms) of the test object in parallel ona single high-resolution detector This meansthat a single frame provides the four interfero-grams that are necessary to compute phaseThe result is a phase-shifting interferometerwith a sensor that is ldquoexposurerdquo limited ratherthan ldquoframe-raterdquo limited

To maintain sufficient spatial sampling of

the object a high-pixel-density camera isrequired Fortunately reasonably pricedcommercially available megapixel cameraswith integration times as short as 30 microsWith sufficient laser power it is possible toachieve data-acquisition times of a fewmicroseconds by shuttering the source

This design of phase sensor restricts dataacquisition to a four-frame algorithm Thatsaid it has been shown that in the presenceof vibration averaging multiple measure-ments gives an equivalent performance tothat of a higher-frame algorithm

Air turbulence over long path lengths canstill degrade a single measurement but aseach interferogram sees the same perturba-tion averaging while mixing the air canquickly minimize this error contribution

Recent improvements to the dynamicinterferometer phase sensor have replacedthe quadrant phase mask with a pixelatedmask In this configuration an array ofphase-mask elements that match the pixelpitch of the camera are bonded directly to thecamera sensor

This mask creates a unit cell where thefour phases are measured on four adjacentpixels and replicate this pattern over theentire sensor array The 2D grating elementis no longer required and this phase mask isachromatic and allows operation at otherwavelengths

The pixelated phase mask can be exploitedin Fizeau interferometer configurations aswell To operate at tens of microsecond expo-sures these systems require fully coherentand custom-designed optical systems

In conclusion continual advancements inphase-shifting interferometry have now ledto a dynamic method that can operate in thepresence of environmental disturbances butpreserves measurement accuracy

Steve Martinek is director of sales and marketingat 4D Technology a manufacturer of dynamicinterferometers based in Tucson Arizona US Seewww4dtechnologycom

PRODUCT GUIDE

28 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Figure 1 A single-frame dynamic interferometer This TwymanndashGreen configuration uses a holographicoptical element to produce four phase-shifted interferograms on a single detector

phase plate

high-resolutioncamera

optical transferand holographicelement

polarizer

polarizingbeamsplitter

diverger

quarterwaveplate

testmirror

holographicelement mask

sensorarray

four phase-shiftedinterferograms ondetector

singlemode laser

quarterwaveplate

wwwstockeryalecom

COBRATMLINESCAN

BACKLIGHT

A uniform high-intensity

backlight for linescan and web inspection

bull Uniquely intense uniform linear backlight

bull Wavelengths from 395 to 830 nm

bull Standard lengths 125 250 and 500 mm

bull Patented chip-on-board reflectivearray (COBRA) technology

bull Also available in a frontlight configuration

Applications includebull Defect detectionbull Material density measurementbull Film thickness measurementbull Inspection of foil paper plastic

film non-wovens

StockerYale Inc4500 Airport Business ParkKinsale Road Cork IrelandTel +353-21-4320750Fax +353-21-4327451cobrastockeryalecomCopyright copy2005 StockerYale Inc All rights reserved

Fibre-optic spectrometersMelles Griot

A range of fibre-opticspectrometers andaccessories such ascalibrated light sourcesand integratingspheres is now

available from Melles Griot Based on asymmetrical CzernyndashTurner design thespectrometers can record information at200ndash1100 nm and offer resolutions as narrowas 01 nm FWHM

The range includes compact and high-resolution fibre-optic spectrometers as well ashand-held reflection spectrophotometers Tocomplement this range Melles also suppliesfibre-optic patch cords and reflection probes forthe colour and irradiance measurement of bothsolids and fluidswwwmellesgriotcom

FluorometerBampW Tek

The BTF-111E miniaturearray fluorometer fromBampW Tek is userconfigurable forfluorescenceapplications at

270ndash700 nm Interchangeable light-sourcemodules give the user the flexibility to conductfluorescence measurements at a variety ofexcitation wavelengths

The instrument comes with user-friendlysoftware and includes control and analysisfunctions A software developerrsquos kit also allowsusers to write customized software BampW Tekadds that the BTF-111Ersquos compact mechanicaldesign makes it portable in both the laboratoryand the fieldwwwbwtekcom

USB prism spectrometerAberlinkAberlinkrsquos cost-effective USB prism spectrometerwill make its debut at the Inspex show inBirmingham UK in October The small robustinstrument features a cost-reducing equilateraldispersing prism in place of the usual grating

The device covers a spectral range of400ndash900 nm in two overlapping ranges Thestandard range (400ndash730 nm) includes theentire visible spectrum with the second rangebeing 430ndash900 nm The typical spectralresolution is 5 nm improving to 2 nm at the blueend Possible applications of the spectrometerinclude phosphor studies LED analysiseducational use and process control wwwaberlinkcouk

Spatial light modulatorsHoloeye PhotonicsHoloeye Photonics of Germany has unveiled twoactive spatial light modulators called the LC-R768 and the LC-R 720 Both versions are said tobe capable of modulating the spatial amplitudeand phase of coherent or incoherent light

The 768 and 720 are both based on an LCoSreflective microdisplay with a resolution of1280 times 768 pixels (WXGA) With a frame rate of60 Hz the LC-R 768 is said to suit imaging andprojection applications The LC-R 720 has aresponse time of 3 ms and a frame rate of180 Hz making it ideal for high-speedapplications Both modulators can be controlledusing Windows-based software wwwholoeyecom

Lead-free laser diodesPhotonic ProductsLead-free 638 nm diode lasers developed bySanyo to comply with the restriction ofhazardous substances directive are nowavailable through Photonic Products Two rangesare available the DL-LS1164 which emits25 mW of continuous-wave (CW) power at anoperating current of 80 mA and the DL-LS1148

which has an output power of 40 mW CW at anoperating current of 110 mA

Both ranges are available in a 56 mmpackage and are said to have a beam circularityratio of 21 According to Photonic Productsthese features make the devices ideal for use inproducts such as laser levellers line markersand bar code scannerswwwphotonic-productscom

Carbon dioxide optics coatingUmicore Laser Optics

Umicore Laser Opticshas launched theUltraLO absorptioncoating for CO2 laseroptics Specificallydesigned for CO2 lasers

with output powers in excess of 4 kW thecoating offers less than lt015 absorption onARAR coated high-gas pressure lenses

Umicore says that its UltraLO lenses operateat lower temperatures with reduced thermallensing and focus shift It adds that a furtherbenefit is increased lens lifetime which resultsin reduced downtime and cost savings wwwultraloumicorecom

PRODUCTSIf you would like your companyrsquos products to be featured in this section

please send press releases and images to James Tyrrell (jamestyrrellioporg)

31OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

21-26 January 2006San Jose Convention CenterSan Jose California USA

spieorgeventspw

Donrsquot miss outmdashhear the latest unpublishedresearch Photonics West participants lead theway in the development and transfer of theseimportant light-enabled technologies biomedicaloptics lasers and applications in science andengineering integrated optoelectronic devicesMOEMS-MEMS micro- andnanofabrication

Meet others in the international scientificcommunity who seek to learn make discoveriesand innovate

Real-time events Real-world innovation

SPIEmdashThe International Society for Optical Engineering bull +1 360 676 3290 bull spiespieorg

Fibre-optic testingPromet International

Promet International ofthe US has introducedthe FiBO series ofinterferometric fibre-optic testing systems Itsays that FiBO is a truephase-shiftingMichelson

interferometer for non-contact fibre-optic testingthat combines interferometric 3D surfacemapping and 2D visual inspection capabilities

Two versions are available the FiBO 250which contains a fixed focal length 10timesmagnifier and the FiBO 300 that includes arevolving turret with 7times 10times and 20timesmagnification Both versions include a USBinterface and come with software that controlsthe measurements and generates reportswwwprometnet

Fibre laserKoheras

Koheras of Denmarkhas launched a low-noise narrow-linewidthfibre laser based on

thulium-doped fibre technology The AdjustikT20 fibre laser offers an emission wavelength of1730ndash2000 nm and comes as either abenchtop unit for laboratory use or a ruggedOEM device for industrial sensor applications

The company says that the laser operates at asingle stable frequency with mode-hop freeoperation a linewidth of less than 10 kHz lowphase and intensity noise and rapidpiezotuning Koheras adds that the T20 lasershave been mechanically designed to reducetheir susceptibility to acoustic noise andvibrations Typical applications includespectroscopy optical trapping LIDARwindsensing and sensor interrogationwwwkoherascom

Infrared detectorULIS

ULIS of France haslaunched an uncooledinfrared microbolometerdetector with a spectralresponse of 8ndash14 micromWith full TV resolution

the UL 04 17 1 is said to suit low-cost digitalthermal applications such as medical imagingdriver vision enhancement safety security andthermography

The module uses a 640 times 480 pixel arraymade from amorphous silicon that has a pitchof 25 microm ULIS adds that the typical noise-equivalent temperature difference (NETD) is lessthan 85 mK at f1 300 K and 60 Hzwwwulis-ircom

Laser diode driverLIMO

LIMO of Germany saysthat its LDD100microprocessor-controlled laser diodedriver is ideal for usewith laser diode bars

and high-power diode lasers with output powersof up to 100 W The compact product measures380 times 220 times 80 mm and includes a Peltierdriver The operating current and temperaturecan be controlled either manually or via acomputer RS-232 interface

Laser diodes can be operated in continuouswave as well as a pulse-shape mode up to arepetition rate of 5 kHz LIMO says that risetimes of up to 50 micros are possible wwwlimode

Optical design software ZEMAX algorithms

Optima Research theEuropean distributor ofZEMAX has announcedthat its optical designsoftware now supportshigh-order and

multimode laser beams in its physical opticspropagation mode This means that ZEMAX canpropagate a beam through any optical surfaceand account for diffraction aberrations tiltsapertures and a range of other effects andcomponents

Vital beam specifications such as the M2

parameter can also be calculated for any type ofbeam ZEMAX is used for lens designillumination system design stray-light analysisand modelling laser-beam propagationwwwoptima-researchcom

PhotodetectorVIGO System

The PCI-2TE-13photodetector fromVIGO System of Polandhas been designed forFourier transforminfrared applications

The detector has a wide spectral width of1ndash13 microm and is stabilized using a built-in two-stage Peltier cooler that keeps the sensitiveelement at 220ndash240 K

VIGO says that the devicersquos performance hasbeen improved with a heterostructure designoptical resonance and hyperhemispericalimmersion Standard detectors are available inmodified TO-8 packages with BaF2 windowsOther packages windows and connectors areavailable on request and VIGO says that thespectral characteristics of the detector can bemodified to suit specific requirementswwwvigocompl

PRODUCTS

33OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Tisapphire amplifierCoherent

The Legend HE Cryofrom Coherent is aTisapphire amplifierthat delivers sub-50 fspulses at up to 7 mJ perpulse and at a repetition

rate of 7 kHz The specifications also list anaverage power of up to 25 W a peak power ofmore than 100 GW and an M2 of less than 15

Coherent says that the device uses a closed-loop cryogenic ldquocold fingerrdquo to cool theTisapphire crystal to 33 K and reduce thermallensing by three orders of magnitude comparedwith previous Legend sources Applications forthe Legend HE Cryo include particle injection forlinear accelerators high-energy plasma studiesand surface physicswwwcoherentcom

Heat-load packagenLight

nLight is now offering ahigh heat-load (HHL)package for its line ofhigh-brightness single-emitter multimodediode lasers The

package is an industry-standard sealed nine-pinhousing that can encase any of nLightrsquos singleemitters which have a power range of 05ndash5 Wand a wavelength of 635ndash980 nm

The HHL package contains the single-emitterdiode laser a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) a10000Ω thermistor and a monitor photodiode(MPD) nLight states that the TEC and thermistorare used for active temperature control while theMPD is used for active optical monitoring Thecompany can also attach an antireflection-coatedcylindrical lens onto the diode laser to control thefast-axis divergence to less than 2degwwwnLightnet

Ultrafast amplifierPhotonic SolutionsThe Odin II series of ultrashort multipassamplifiers from Quantronix is now availablethrough Photonic Solutions Offering less than30 fs output pulses at 1 mJ an M2 of less than14 and 10001 prepost-pulse contrast ratiothe Odin IIs are said to feature integrated pumplasers for enhanced stability and reduction ofstray green light

All modules come with the choice of a diode-pumped Darwin or lamp-pumped Falcon NdYLFpump laser They are said to be ideal forterahertz imaging coherent control experimentsdefect removal and other ultrashort pulseapplications The higher-energy Odin II HE is alsoavailable and offers less than 25 mJ of outputenergy at pulse durations of less than 35 fs wwwpsplccom

PRODUCTS

Davin Optronics is a world classOptronics solution provider We designand manufacture high precisionoptical mechanical and electronicsystems to meet demandingrequirements and critical timescales

Our unique capability allows us to cover an entireproject from initial design concept throughprototype development to production and fulllife cycle support

Our world class design engineers have all thenecessary skills in optics mechanicselectronics and software

Our modern 30000 ft2 production plant hasall the facilities needed to manufacture ontime to strict ISO 9000 quality standards

Whatever your requirements Davin Optronicshas the solution

the optronicssolutions provider

Davin Optronics LimitedGreycaine Road

Watford middot WD24 7GW middot UKt +44 (0) 1923 206800f +44 (0) 1923 234220

wwwdavinoptronicscomsalesdavinoptronicscom

If you only needcomponents then the

Davin Catalogue is theplace to look

1 Bay StreetStirling NJ 07980Telephone 908-647-6601Fax 908-647-8464 infofiberguidecom

THE PHOTONICS PACKAGING COMPANY

fiberguideindustries

SM

wwwfiberguidecom

Contact Fiberguide today and ask for our new CD-ROM Its free

Fiberguide Industries manufacturesassemblies for high power laserdelivery systems designed aroundcustomerrsquos exacting specifications

Our all-silica fiber assemblies areavailable in standard core diametersfrom 200microm to 1500microm withnumerical apertures ranging from012 022 026 and 039 in a wide variety of sheathings and lengthsAdditional designs are availableusing PCS and HOPC style fibers

Typical Applications

bull Precision Machining bull Welding bull Machine Processing bull Militarybull Metal cutting bull Astronomy

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h P

ow

er

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r D

eli

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em

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es

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OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Fluorescent targetsEdmund Optics

Fluorescence USAF1951 resolution targetsthat are designed tocalibrate the optics ofsystems that use UVillumination such asfluorescence andconfocal microscopes

are now available from Edmund Optics Thetargets are made of fused silica and reflectivechrome and both positive and negative patternsare available

The positive target has a chrome pattern overa clear background with the fluorescentmaterial on the front surface The negative targethas a clear pattern with chrome background andfluorescent material on the back surface Thefluorescent materialrsquos peak absorption andemission wavelengths are 365 nm and 550 nmrespectivelywwwedmundopticscom

Toroidal mirrorsOptical Surfaces

Optical Surfaces UKsays that it can supplycustom toroidal mirrorsfor applications such as

UV and IR spectrophotometry X-raycrystallography and mass spectrometryAccording to the company it can produce themirrors in a range of materials (such as ZerodurBK7 and fused silica) with a typical surfaceaccuracy of better than λ5 and surface qualityof 2010 scratch dig

Both planoconvex and planoconcave mirrorsup to 400 mm can be produced and areavailable with high-performance and durableoptical coatingswwwoptisurfcom

CCD cameraJai Pulnix

The TM-1325CL amember of Jai Pulnixrsquosline of AccuPiXELseries is a miniature14 megapixelmonochromeprogressive scan CCD

camera Based on a high-quality 23 inchinterline transfer sensor (Sony ICX285AQ) with1392 times 1040 pixels the camera can output 30frames per second at full resolution

The TM-1325 has an asynchronous reset witha no-delay electronic shutter up to 116 000 sor pulse width exposure control IncorporatingJAI PULNiXrsquos patented look-up table it allowsfull dynamic range control of the CCD byexternally selectable knee slopes and it providesreal-time 10-bit to 8-bit preprocessing foreffective image enhancement The camera hasboth digital and analogue outputs for interfacingwith frame grabbers wwwjaipulnixcom

SpectrometerStellarNet

StellarNet has releasedthe EPP2000-UVN-SRbroadbandspectrometer whichcovers the200ndash1100 nm rangeThe optics include a UV-

enhanced 2048 pixel CCD detector with acomposite grating and they provide 075 nmresolution with a 14 microm slit The product canalso be calibrated for the precision measurementof absolute and low-level light intensities

The instrument is portable and comes with aSMA905 fibre-optic input and either a USB or anIEEE1284 interface SpectraWiz software issupplied free of charge and includes drivers withprograms that can be customized for LabVIEWVisual Basic Automation Visual C++ and DelphiPascal operating under Win9x2kXP A varietyof accessories such as integrating spherescosine receptors and fibre-optic interface cableare also availablewwwstellarnet-inccom

PRODUCTS

OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

SIOS Meszligtechnik GmbHAm Vogelherd 46

D-98693 Ilmenau GERMANYTel +49-(0)3677-6447-0Internet wwwsiosde E

Fax -6447-8mail infosiosde

Miniature Double

Plane Mirror

Interferometer

SP-D Series

Ultraprecise simultaneous lengthand angular measurementsBeam separation

24 1

Fiberoptic-coupled sensor head

customized

0 mmeasurement range 2 m

esolution 1 nm 01 nmLength mLength rAngular measurement range

plusmn 2 arcminAngular resolution

001 arcsec

approx

Vacuum monochromatorMcPherson

Rapid data collection001 nm resolutionsimplified spectralanalysis and a built-incalibration port aresome of the features of

the McPherson monochromator Model 225Other benefits include interchangeable triplegrating turrets dual-entrance and exit-portconfigurations and diffraction gratings for the30ndash1000 nm range

The Model 225 has a clean stainless-steelvacuum construction with minimal Viton o-ringsto pump easily to the 10ndash8 torr region Multipleport configurations make it easy to mount high-sensitivity detectors like channel-electron-multipliers photomultipliers and CCD detectorswwwmcphersoninccom

MicrospectrometerHeadwall PhotonicsHeadwall Photonics has launched the Nanospecfamily of compact microspectrometers Threeunits each incorporating the companyrsquosholographic diffraction gratings are availablethe Nanospec VIS covering 350ndash1000 nm theNanospec NIR for 900ndash1700 nm and theNanospec SWIR for 1600ndash2500 nm

The spectrometers are said to be ideal forOEM integration into hand-held diagnosticinstruments environmental monitoring sensorsand portable test and measurement instrumentsfor industrial applications They can be useddiscretely or in combination by using theNanospecrsquos stackable feature wwwheadwallphotonicscom

Photonics design softwareRSoft Design GroupPhotonics design software specialist RSoftDesign Group has released a new version of itsphotonic component design suite the PassiveDesign Suite 60 The new release includes anenhanced control program the RSoft CADEnvironment 60 as well as upgrades to thefollowing simulation tools BeamPROP 60FullWAVE 40 BandSOLVE 20 GratingMOD 15and DiffractMOD 15

RSoft says these updates allow newapplication areas to be addressed such as thedesign and simulation of silicon-photonicintegrated circuits photonic crystal cavities andLEDs The software is available on both 64-bitWindows and Linux platforms including Opteronand Itanium systemswwwrsoftdesigncom

Beam visualizationPhotonPhoton has announced that 2D and 3Dvisualization is now available for its NanoScan

range of beam profilers To tackle problemssuch as optical alignment these functions nowcome as standard in the NanoScan softwarepackage that accompanies the beam profiler

The NanoScan range has three detectoroptions a silicon detector for 350ndash1100 nm agermanium detector for 700ndash1800 nm and apyroelectric detector for 190 nm to around20 microm All three detectors can measure bothcontinuous-wave and pulsed beams andPhoton says that powers as low as a fewmicrowatts or as high as a few kilowatts can bemeasured with appropriate NanoScan modelswwwphoton-inccom

Miniature thermal imagerLand Instruments

The mobile-phone-sizedLand Guide M4 aminiature thermalimager is now availablefrom Land InstrumentsInternational With a

sensitivity of 012 degC the device detectsextremely small temperature differences withinthe ndash20ndash250 degC range and displays them ashigh-resolution 16-bit thermal images

The product has a 1 GB memory for recordingand storing more than 5000 files each of whichcan include a thermal and visual image withvoice annotation Four measurement modes areavailable simultaneous four-spot and four-areaanalysis line profile and isotherm analysis wwwlandinstcom

Simulation softwarePhoton Design

Photon Design UK hasreleased version 3 of itsphotonic simulationsoftware OmniSim Thecompany says that the

new release brings together finite-differencetime-domain (FDTD) and frequency domainmethods in one tool and was developed tosimulate wide-angle waveguide problems

A materials database means that version 3can model lossy and dispersive materials suchas metals and semiconductors The FDTD enginealso includes Drude Debye and Lorentzianmodels to match the dispersion spectra of arange of materials The company adds that theFDTD engine in version 3 is now 10ndash15 fasterthan before wwwphotondcom

Quantum cascade laserLaser Components

Laser Components hasadded a quantumcascade laser (QCL)emitting at 47 microm toits range of stock

PRODUCTS

Over 225New Products

Designed for Metrology amp Gauging

sup1frasl₂ CCD Max Format Fixed Focus Design

Exceptional Image Quality

Economical

Ideal for FactoryAutomation

Our new line of TMLtrade

Telecentric lenses offer acompact cost-effectivesolution for replacingstandard fixed focal lengthlenses Telecentric lensesare ideal for both on-lineand off-line productionenvironments that requireaccurate measurements

Free

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36 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

wavelengths Both singlemode DFBs andmultimode QCLs are now available from47ndash126 microm

The Peltier-cooled SPECDILAS-Q lasers arepackaged in a TO-8 housing Laser Componentssays that it typically supplies units with acomplete laser-head which includes the QCLand its drive electronics The OEM module alsoallows lasers to be exchanged so that more thanone source can be used with the driverwwwlasercomponentscouk

Yellow LEDsMarktech Optoelectronics

Cotcorsquos AYL series ofyellow LEDs withluminous intensities ofup to 23 500 mcd at594 nm are nowavailable throughMarktech

Optoelectronics US AYL yellow LEDs areavailable in surface mount P4 5 mm round andelliptical package styles and a variety of viewingangles in the 15ndash120deg range

Based on AlGaInP die technology theemitters are said to suit any sign backlighting orgeneral illumination application Marktech alsoclaims that the AYL series is one of the industryrsquosbest-value products when looking at its costversus performance ratiowwwmarktechoptocom

Light-analysis systemWavefront SciencesThe complete light-analysis system (CLAS-XP)from Wavefront Sciences US is said to providequantitative beam analysis of pulsed orcontinuous-wave lasers or of complete opticalsystems The company also claims that thedevice is insensitive to vibration so an ordinarylaboratory bench can be used instead of anoptical table

As well as simultaneously measuring thebeamrsquos intensity and phase distribution thesystem also calculates spatial irradiance andphase profiles M2 and Gaussian beamparameters as well as the MTF RMS wavefrontand many other quantities Multiframeacquisition means that all parameters can beviewed onscreen in real timewwwwavefrontsciencescom

Hand-held thermal imaging systemArmstrong Optical

UK-based ArmstrongOptical has added theIR928+ camera to itsrange of hand-heldthermal and visibleimaging systems Thedevice features a laser

locator plus thermal and visible displays Its

rugged construction suits harsh environmentsOnboard data can be transferred to a PC systemvia an optional wireless communicationaccessory or using the camerarsquos built-ininterface According to Armstrong keypadaccessible software functions allow temperaturemeasurements with a sensitivity of better than01 degCwwwarmstrongopticalcouk

Carbon dioxide laserRofin

The Starshape 600 CCO2 laser from Rofin isbased on amaintenance-friendlysealed design that

minimizes operating and servicing costsEquipped with up to two scanner heads the600 W device can attain cutting speeds of up to20 ms According to the company non-metalssuch as polymers wood glass paper or paperboard up to 1ndash3 mm can be processed rapidlyby the system The unit is said to be easy tohandle features no external gas supply and hasa small footprintwwwrofincom

TFT displayOne Stop Displays

One Stop Displays hasintroduced a 7 inch low-temperature poly-siliconTFT display that is saidto offer high brightness

high contrast ratio high colour saturation wideviewing angle and low power consumption TheWVGA unit costing from $120 features an RGB800 times 480 dot transmissive type display with aluminance of 500 cdm2 The operatingtemperature spans ndash30ndash85 degC with a storagetemperature of ndash40ndash85 degC The device supportsNTSCPALSECAM TV and VGA video standardswwwonestopdisplaysnet

GalvanometerNutfield Technology

Nutfield Technology aUS expert ingalvanometer-basedoptical scanningsolutions has releasedits QS-10 galvanometerfor 8ndash15 mm aperturesHoused in a compactpackage thanks to the

use of strong magnets the device features low-resistance coils and provides a 40 increase inscanning speed with optimized thermalcharacteristics Hybrid ceramic bearings are saidto extend bearing life Applications includemarking imaging and microscopywwwnutfieldtechcom

PRODUCTS

37OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Steering mirrorPhysik Instrumente

Nanopositioningspecialist PhysikInstrumente is offeringa variety of piezodrivenhigh-speed steeringmirrors for use in image

or beam stabilization resolution enhancementand scanning and tracking applications Theunits provide multiaxis motion with highbandwidth submicron radian resolution andoptical deflection ranges of up to 100 mrad Anumber of analogue and digital controllers inbenchtop OEM-board and rack mount designsare available to drive the unitswwwpiws

Cooled cameraRedlake

The MegaPlus IIEC11000 fromRedlake US is anactively cooledindustrial cameraoperating at five framesper second and 12 bits

per pixel Redlake says that Peltier coolingsignificantly reduces both dark noise andthermal drift making the camera ideal fordemanding scientific and industrialapplications

One feature of the EC11000 is that thecamerarsquos primary electronics are isolated fromthe sensorrsquos cooling path It can also operate incooling modes with or without a fan accessoryattached Redlake says that this design opensup opportunities for customers who would nothave considered a cooled camera owing to fanvibrationswwwredlakecom

Micro-optic prisms and beamsplittersPrecision Photonics

Micro-optic prismsbeamsplitters and othercustom opticalassemblies areavailable from PrecisionPhotonics Units can be

supplied in a variety of materials including fusedsilica BK7 Zerodur LaSFN9 YAG ULE andother optical glasses and crystals Proprietaryepoxy-free bonding technology is said to give100 optically transparent optical paths thatexhibit negligible scattering and absorptivelosses at interfaces The miniature optics can beplaced directly at the tip of optical fibres andlightpipes According to the US firm assemblieshave already been widely used for beamsteering wavelength locking and referencecavities in telecommunications and metrologywwwprecisionphotonicscom

PRODUCTS

Laser diode collimation amp fibre coupling

Laser beam homogenization

Wavefront sensor lens arrays

Custom lens arrays and dif-fractive elements optimizedfor your needs

wwwaxetriscomLeister Process TechnologiesAxetris Microsystems DivisionCH-6060 Sarnen SwitzerlandPhone +41 41 662 74 74Fax +41 41 660 20 61microsystemsleistercom

ISO 90002001

Axetris the Microsystems Divisionof Leister is a leading provider ofhigh performance standard andcustom micro-optics solutions Weprovide OEM partnership frominitial optical design support viaprototypes to volume production

Micro-opticsSolutions

38 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Spectral light-measurement systemLabsphere

Labsphere has releasedthe SLMS LED aspectral light-measurement system

for testing packaged LEDs The set-up is said tosimplify the complex spectral measurementprocess thanks to a combination of softwareand design features Accompanying softwareguides the user through the measurementprocess and provides results such as totalspectral flux luminous flux chromaticity colour-rendering index and dominant wavelength inmilliseconds According to Labsphere theresults are NIST-traceable Hardware is designedto give easy access to the device under test andsuits a number of different testing environmentsincluding rail-mounted LEDswwwlabspherecom

SpectrometerSpectral EvolutionSpectral Evolution US says that its 1250 seriesof near infrared (NIR) spectrometers feature aBluetooth communications option to allowwireless control The instruments are designedto cover a broad range of applications and caninterface with narrow and wide-field optics aswell as fibre optic attachments According toSpectral Evolution each spectrometer boasts ahigh-performance optical system to providemaximum optical throughput and optimal signalto noise ratios with 16-bit digitization Variousphotodiode arrays gratings slit sizes andsoftware are available to allow the user tocustomize the instrument to suit their needsApplications listed by the firm includewatermoisture analysis spectroradiometry andenvironmental monitoringwwwSpectralEvolutioncom

SpectroflurometerHoriba Jobin Yvon

Time correlated singlephoton counting(TCSPC) a highlysensitive technique for

obtaining fluorescence lifetimes is now easierthan ever before thanks to the FluoroMax-3 fromHoriba Jobin Yvon Using high-speed NanoLEDdiode sources developed by its recentlyacquired partner IBH the FluoroMax-3 offersprecise measurements from a compact easy-to-use package A choice of excitation wavelengthsin the ultraviolet (including 280 and 295 nm forproteins) visible and near infrared let the usertailor the instrument to suit their exactrequirements Horiba says that the FluoroMax-3suits a wide range of fluorescence measurementtechniques including TRES anisotropy multiplelifetimes or any other dynamic technique wwwjobinyvoncouk

PRODUCTS

Due to past acquisitions Thorlabs has become anexpert manufacturer for test and measurementsystems The analysis and control of polarization

related parame-ters is a fieldwhere Thorlabsnow offers arange of inno-vative tools forindustry and labenvironmentsThe consistentmodular designof these tools

contributes to the flexibility and easy adaptation intocustomer applications

Flexible Polarization AnalysisExtremely fast or high dynamic power range ndashThorlabsrsquo provides two different polarimeters with anexcellent accuracy for diverse applications of SOPand more complex measurements like PMD Jones-and Mueller matrix analysis The fast fiber basedIPM5300 inline polarimeter (1500 to 1640nm) andthe rotating waveplate PAX5700 series terminatingpolarimeter (400 to 1700nm) with a higher dynamicrange are both designed for a common mainframe

Fast Polarization Controller Thorlabsrsquo Deterministic Polarisation ControllerDPC5500 (1500 to 1640nm) controls the State of Polarization (SOP) truly input independent atsampling speeds up to 1MHz Plugged into the same mainframe with one of the polarimeters and a powerful tunable laser all kinds of polarizationrelated analysis tasks can be performed

New PMD Analysis System Thorlabs new PMD5000 system is an exampleBesides the choice of the most appropriatepolarimeter the system can be split into separatecontroller and analyser units to analyse buried fibers A single controller communicates with manyanalyser units via TCPIP over long distances andthus allows cost effective PMD measurements ofmore complex network structureswwwthorlabscompol

Polarization Tools from Thorlabs

39

ADVERTISEMENT

PRODUCTS

40 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

Is there a Laser inthe House by AmyBieber 131pp Sbk $30(25) Pearson CustomPublishing ISBN 0 53691903 8 Containingalmost no mathematicsand avoiding jargon thisfun book explains thebasic concepts of

physics optics electricity magnetism and wavetheory by describing hi-tech gadgets and naturalphenomena such as DVD players and rainbowsThe book is an alternative to conventionalscientific texts and is said to suit college studentsor anyone interested in how things work

Laser BeamShapingApplications editedby Fred M DickeyScott C Holswade andDavid L Shealy 376ppHbk $140 (115) CRCPress ISBN0824759419 Buildingon their previous textLaser Beam Shaping

Theory and Techniques Fred Dickey and ScottHolswade have teamed up with David Shealy toproduce what they claim is the first in-depthaccount of beam-shaping applications anddesign The book discusses applications inlithography laser printing optical data storagestable isotope separation adaptive mirrors andspatially dispersive lasers

AlignmentTechnologies andApplications ofLiquid CrystalDevices by KohkiTakatoh MasakiHasegawa MitsuhiroKoden Nobuyuki ItohRay Hasegawa andMasanori Sakamoto320pp Hbk $130

(107) CRC Press ISBN 0748409025Written by authors who have all publishedextensively in the field this text takes a detailedlook at the alignment characteristics andproperties of materials used in the constructionand operation of LCDs It examines theirchemical physical and mechanical propertiesand relates them to device performance The

volume is described as an authoritativesourcebook for material scientists molecularchemists and the wider research community

Micro-opto-electro-mechanicalsystems edited byManouchehr E Motamedi 676ppHbk $105 (86) SPIEISBN 0 8194 5021 9Introducing the excitingand fast-moving field ofMOEMS to graduatestudents scientists and

engineers this text provides a foundation in bothmicro-optics and MEMS Inspired by theserelatively new fields MOEMS are proving anelegant way of creating filters scannersmicromirrors switches lens arrays and alignmentaids The book features numerous examples fromits international team of contributors

Photonic Devices byJia-ming Liu 1104ppHbk pound60 (88)Cambridge ISBN 0 52155195 1 In this textthe author hasattempted to coverevery major photonicdevice including laserslight-emitting diodesphotodetectors

nonlinear optical devices fibres couplers andelectro-optic magneto-optic and acousto-opticdevices The book assumes a basic knowledgeof optics semiconductors and electromagneticwaves with many of the key concepts reviewedin the first chapter It also attempts to strike abalance between theoretical and practicalconcepts

TerahertzOptoelectronicsedited by Kiyomi Sakai400pp Hbk $199(163) Springer ISBN3 540 20013 4 With aspecific focus on pulsedterahertz radiation thisbook tackles recent andsignificant events in thefield and would appeal

to anyone involved in the development ofsources and detectors The text contains reviewsby leading experts on topics such as thegeneration and detection of broadband pulsedterahertz radiation terahertz radiation fromsemiconductor surfaces and terahertz imaging

BOOKS

We supply a comprehensive range of leading edge photonics products Latest additions include

100W 808nm diode bars now shipping in volume 15W visible diode bars available Ultra high power high brightness diode lasers Unique dual wavelength 491532nm DPSS lasers Lowest noise 532nm DPSS laser available

We specialise in providing photonicsbased solutions for a broad range ofmarkets and applications

For more information please contactus on 01295 672500 email us on steveklaserlinescouk or visit our website at

photonics products

wwwlaserlinescouk

PEOPLETo advertise your job vacancies contact Cadi Jones (tel +44 (0)117 930 1090 e-mail cadijonesioporg)

41OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

US AND EUROPE

Polymer-electronics aceteams up with KonarkaStuart Spitzer has joined Konarka adeveloper of flexible solar cells as vice-president of materials and engineeringSpitzer will head the product developmentdivision as the company moves a step closerto full commercialization of its light-activated power plastics With 25 years oftechnology-management experience andbeing a recognized expert in polymerelectronics he was previously director ofSpansion a flash-memory manufacturer Hehas worked at NASA and Bell Labs and alsocreated the Polaroid microelectronics labenabling the US photographic giant to enterthe electronic-imaging business

GERMANY

TOPTICA expands itsmanagement teamGerman laser maker Toptica has hiredThomas Renner as vice-president of salesand marketing Renner who holds a PhD

from the University ofMunich has anextensive industrialand scientificbackground withexpertise infemtosecond laserspectroscopy andoptical data storageHe will help Toptica to

expand its activity across a range oftechnology areas that includes medicalsystems and microscopy

US

Creersquos CFO leaves topursue new challengesCynthia Merrell who has served as Creersquoschief financial officer (CFO) and treasurersince 1998 has resigned She has agreed toassist in the transition to a new CFO and herresignation will become effective when asuccessor takes office ldquoIt was a difficultdecision to leave Cree as I have truly enjoyedboth professionally and personally almostnine years with the companyrdquoshe said

ldquoHowever due to the changes in the publiccorporate environment in recent years andmy desire to spend more time with my familyI have decided to pursue new challenges forthe next part of my careerrdquo

US

BRO tops up engineeringservices with extra talentBreault Research Organization (BRO) hasexpanded its engineering services team byappointing Matt Novak as optical engineerNovak has a Masterrsquos and a PhD in opticalsciences from the University of Arizona USand brings eight years of experience to thefirm He has also held positions at 4DTechnology Veeco Instruments and NASArsquosjet-propulsion laboratory He was leadalignment test engineer for the shuttle radar-topography mission and has beeninvolved in the design and production ofmetrology instrumentation andinterferometers ldquoMatt brings a solidbackground in optical metrology design andprototyping hardwarerdquo said Mark FinkBROrsquos director of engineering

We are an innovative dynamic World Leader in Laser Technology seeking anenthusiastic pro-active individual to join our sales team In return for hardwork and dedication we can offer a friendly and creative environment in ouroffices in Hamble as well as a generous benefits package

As a Field Sales Engineer at Point Source Ltd you will be focussed on salesgrowth generating new business and developing the territory

Key responsibilities will include

Account planning and forecasting

Communicating customer requirements in detail back to engineering

Prospecting for new business

Qualification of new opportunities

Negotiating technical specifications and presenting results to customers

Presenting new technology to key prospects

For this role you will have a degree or equivalent in Physics Opto Electronicsor a related discipline In addition you will have a minimum of 3-5 yearsaccount management experience in an optophoto industry You will also haveexcellent communication skills and a track record of building strongrelationships with engineers and managers in blue chip technologycompanies You will also be prepared to travel extensively in Europe

If you want to be a part of something extraordinary and join a company thatstrives for excellence on a daily basis please forward your CV and salarydetails to louisecoakerpoint-sourcecom or alternatively send it to Louise Coaker Point Source Ltd Ensign Way Hamble SouthamptonSO31 4RF

The closing date for all applications is 17th October 2005 We look forward tohearing from you

Field Sales Engineer(Europe)Salary Competitive

wwwpoint-sourcecom

Renner hands-on

Optikos CorporationFast Affordable Lens Quality Control

Optikos the leader in image quality test equipmentis pleased to introduce the QC bench a compactreliable easy-to-use quality control tool for digitalimaging product manufacturers

Measure

bull MTF

bull Focal Length and F

bull Back Focal Length

bull Image Quality

bull Field Curvature

bull Distortion

Optikos Corporation286 Cardinal Medeiros AveCambridge MA 02141Tel +1 617 354 7557 ext 8101Fax +1 617 354 5946E-mail salesoptikoscom

OptometricsOptometrics is a world-classdesigner and manufacturer ofoptical components andinstruments serving researchacademia and OEM customersOptometricsrsquo broad-basedmanufacturing facility offers uniqueone-stop-shop custom and stockoptical products and the ability toassist customers with wavelengthselection solutions Productsinclude gratings filters lensesmirrors laser productsinstruments and Mini-Chrommonochromators

wwwoptometricscom

FREE LITERATURE

Avantes BV wwwavantescom 18BFi OPTiLAS wwwbfioptilascom 20Breault Research Organization Breaultcom IFCCerac Incorporated wwwceraccom 8Crystran wwwcrystrancouk 24CVI Technical Optics wwwcvilasercom 4Davin Optronics Limited wwwdavinoptronicscom 34

Diffraction International wwwdiffractioncom 38

Diode Laser Concepts Incwwwdiodelaserconceptscom 18

Edmund Opticswwwedmundopticscouk 36

EKSPLA wwweksmacom 18ELCAN Optical Technologies wwwELCANcomeurope 7

Electro-Optical Products Corp wwweopccom 9

Fiberguide Industries wwwfiberguidecom 34Flexible Optical BV wwwokotechcom 9Fujian Castech Crystals Inc wwwcastechcom 31

HC Photonics Corp wwwhcphotonicscom 10

Hilger Crystals wwwhilger-crystalscouk 18i-Chips wwwichipstechcom 14Intelligent Photonics Control wwwphotonicscontrolcom 21

IPOT Machine Vision amp Displays Technology wwwipotcouk 21

JENOPTIK Laserdiode wwwjoldcom 33Kentek Corp wwwkentek-lasercom 10Labsphere Inc wwwlabspherecom 26Laser Components (UK) Ltd wwwlasercomponentscouk 15

Laser Lines wwwlaserlinescouk 40Lasermet Ltd wwwlasermetcom 30Leister Process Technologies wwwaxetriscom 38

Lumina Power Inc wwwluminapowercom 21Matrox Imaging wwwmatroxcomimaging 11

Melles Griot wwwmellesgriotcom OBCMoumlller-Wedel Optical GmbHwwwmoeller-wedel-opticalcom 30

MXF Technologies Inc mxftechcomwelcomehtm 9

New Focus wwwnewfocuscom 29

Newport Corporation wwwnewportcom 24Ophir Optronics Ltd wwwophiroptcom IBCOptikos Corp wwwoptikoscom 41Optometrics LLC wwwoptometricscom 41Oxxius wwwoxxiuscom 6PCO AG wwwpcode 37Photonics West spieorgeventspw 32Piezosystem Jena wwwpiezojenacom 30Point Source Ltd wwwpoint-sourcecom 41PROMET International Inc wwwprometnet 28Queensgate Instruments Ltdwwwnanopositioningcom 16

Scitec Instruments Ltd wwwscitecukcom 8SIOS Meszligtechnik GmbH wwwsiosde 35StockerYale Canada Inc wwwstockeryalecom 24

StockerYale Ltd (IRL) wwwstockeryalecom 30

Thorlabs GmbH wwwthorlabscompol 39Toptica Photonics wwwtopicacom 35VISION 2005 wwwvision-messede 39Wahl optoparts GmbH wwwwahl-optopartscom 24

XenICs wwwxenicscom 10

42 OLE bull October 2005 bull opticsorg

October 2ndash7 11th International Topical Meeting Clearwater Beach BEAM and CREOL wwwbeamcocomolchtmon Optics of Liquid Crystal (OLC 2005) Sand Key Florida US College of Optics UCF

October 3ndash7 Photomask technology Monterey California US SPIE httpspieorgconferencesprograms05pm

October 4ndash5 Plastic electronics Frankfurt Germany Messe Frankfurt wwwplastictronicsorgconference and showcase

October 5ndash6 Photonex05 Stoneleigh Park X Mark Media wwwphotonexorgnear Coventry UK

October 5ndash7 14th International Workshop on Multiple Quebec City Canada Universiteacute Laval wwwvalcartierdrdc-rddcgccaScattering LIDAR Experiments (MUSCLE) CLAS SPIE and ICO musclexiv

October 16ndash20 Frontiers in Optics ndash Tucson Arizona US OSA wwwosaorgmeetingsannual89th OSA Annual Meeting

October 18ndash19 Optical Alignment Techniques Chislehurst Kent UK Sira wwwsiracoukcourses

October 23ndash26 Optics East Boston Massachusetts SPIE httpspieorgeventsoeexhibitUS

ADVERTISERSrsquo INDEX

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CALENDARFor a more comprehensive list of events including links to websites visit opticsorgevents

The index is provided as a service and while every effort is made to ensure its accuracy Opto amp Laser Europe accepts no liability for error

October 23ndash27 IEEELEOS Annual Meeting Sydney Australia IEEELEOS wwwieeeorgorganizationssocietyleosLEOSCONFLEOS2005LEOS05htm

October 31 ndash ICALEO Miami Florida US Laser Institute wwwicaleoorgNovember 3 of America

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