January 2007 Archives

Well, Photonics West is over for another year. And our lasting impression must be that everyone we spoke to agreed that PW2007 has been the busiest event in quite a few years. The signs were everywhere: delegates were forced to stand and even queue to get into some talks, exhibitors seemed to be enjoying brisk business, and the parking lot at the McEnery Convention Center was full before the trade show opened.

We've had a great week. And as you can see from the rest of the blog, we've been excited by the new technologies that have been reported in both the conference sessions and on the trade show floor. We'd also love you to add your comments to our entries. Perhaps you can provide more detail, offer a different point of view, or have some specific questions about the issues discussed. (By the way, if anyone did mange to get into the talk by LG Electronics that had people queuing out the door, please let us know what was said!)

So it's goodbye for now…we're heading home to get some sleep.

This morning's session on emerging VCSEL applications included a presentation that put the case for atomic clocks as a potential market for VCSELs. Currently these high-precision clocks feature a lamp that probes cesium or rubidium sources and ultimately provides timing with an accuracy onthe order of one part in 100 billion. However, this lamp also makes these clocks bulky and inefficient, weaknesses that Darwin Serkland of Sandia National Laboratories said can be addressed with VCSELs.

A visit to the JDSU booth this morning revealed that the optical components giant is leveraging its expertise in solid-state laser diodes to address biomedical, industrial and semiconductor applications. New for Photonics West is a blue-emitting laser that offers better reliability and stability than argon-ion laser sources for biomedical applications such as flow cytometry.

In this afternoon's industry perspective session Paul Semenza, vice president of display research at market research firm iSuppli, claimed that sales growth for the remainder of this decade will be driven by increasing penetration into TV and other display applications.

If I asked you what light source Philips Lumileds was discussing today during a presentation on personal projection, what would you say? I know what I was expecting to hear about — LEDs. But that's the wrong answer. In a talk entitled “Personal projection with Ujoy technology”, Holger Moench discussed the design and development of a UHP lamp. In case you are wondering, Ujoy is the shortened form of “for U to enJoy”.

Opnext was making bold claims for its new red laser diodes, which boast a power output of 90 mW at 640 nm. When I visited their booth, Opnext's director for business development, Fuyuhiko Murofushi, said that he believed the new products offered the highest power of any red laser diode on the market today. What's more, he said, the low operating current of the device means that power consumption can be reduced while still achieving high optical powers.

It was standing room only for this morning's session on high-energy lasers. Two of the speakers focused on military applications, where lasers offer two key advantages for battlefield operations: first, they enable precise targeting to produce specific — rather than collateral damage — and, second, no hardware is expended during operation other than the power needed to fuel the laser.

This intriguing picture shows what happens when ultrahigh-pressure CVD is used to deposit germanium on the inside of a microstructured photonic crystal fiber. According to John Badding of Penn State University, such well organized arrays of semiconductors inside a holey fiber could enable all-fiber optoelectronic devices with applications in fiber detectors, modulators and, in the future, maybe even fiber lasers.

Just as striking as Intense's orange booth was the news that the Scottish company has put its quantum-well intermixing (QWI) technology to work in a new range of high-power laser diodes. The result? Well, single emitters in the HERMES family boast power levels of up to 5 W at 808 nm, rising to 7 W at 940 and 980 nm. When invited into the “orange room”, Intense told me that the efficiency of the devices is around 60%, which is comparable to the best production figures reported by other high-power laser manufacturers.

Two new UV laser sources caught my eye today as I walked around the South Hall exhibition. The first was a 355 nm CW addition to Oxxius' SLIM range of compact DPSS lasers and the second was a modelocked fiber UV laser source from Fianium.

My meeting with high-power laser diode manufacturer Alfalight this morning highlighted the crucial role that DARPA funding plays in driving commercial innovation in the US market. According to Rob Williamson, Alfalight director of marketing, the company has been a key contributor to DARPA's SHEDs (Super High Efficiency Diodes) program, which set a target of 80% efficiency for high-power laser diodes operating at 976 nm.

Three sessions of talks on high-power laser diodes ought to satisfy even the most eager delegate at Photonics West. The first session was kicked off by Friedrich Bachmann of Rofin-Sinar, who outlined a series of projects that together are worth some Euro 280m in funding. About one-fifth of the money is allocated to ten projects that come under the BRIOLAS (brilliant laser diodes) umbrella, which covers efforts to boost brilliance, investigate failure, improve the mounting technology and develop laser technology for treating cancer.

The after-lunch session of the Laser & Photonics Marketplace seminar focused on the market opportunities for newer laser technologies. Tom Hausken of Strategies Unlimited started with a review of the fiber laser market, the fastest growing sector according to Steve Anderson's earlier figures. Happily, Hausken's forecast tallied with Anderson's, predicting a 24% growth in 2007 to reach an annual sales figure of almost $250 m. Hausken also estimates that IPG Photonics currently accounts for some 75% of the fiber laser market, with the company's revenues increasing from $35 m in 2003 to $140 m in 2006.

When I saw that consumer electronics giant LG Electronics was giving an Invited Paper entitled “High power light emitting diodes: the application to LCD backlight units”, I had it highlighted on my agenda as one to attend. I'm interested in the backlighting technology itself and the way the market is moving because LED backlighting really hasn't taken off in a big way yet.

How frustrating is it to get to the room in question and find this sight greeting you?! Can anyone enlighten me? Is a household name and major player committing to LED backlighting technology?

Despite the fact that it was 08.10 and the registration desks were still processing delegates, a full house made it to hear Phil Smith, Spectra-Physics' Ultrafast product manager, open the “Technology development and applications” session at the Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences conference.

Photonics West (PW) is always the starting point on my annual conference and exhibition circuit. My overriding memory of the 2006 event was just how buoyant the industry was: new products, new technologies, new ideas and a positive outlook for the year ahead. Because of this, I've come to PW2007 with high hopes of a repeat performance and my initial impressions are that this year's event will meet my expectations.

Want to know where the investment money is heading in the photonics sector? Well, John Dexheimer, president of equity firm LightWave Advisors, gave his hot tips at the Laser & Photonics Marketplace seminar today. Top of his list was solar cells, which he says has seen numerous IPOs and private fundings over the past year. Revenues from photovoltaic modules alone are predicted to grow from around $8 bn in 2006 to $18 bn by 2010, with associated services such as installation and other components bringing the total value of the solar market to $35 bn by the end of the decade.

Following Joe McEntee's review of the hot technologies in biomedical optics yesterday (see Biomedical optics: hot topics suggest a robust outlook), David Benaron, CEO of Spectros Corp, used his talk at the Laser & Marketplace Seminar to underline the market opportunities for photonics in medicine. He pointed out that the market for biomedical optics doubled from 1985 to 1995, and then tripled from 1995 to 2005 to reach just over $6 bn. What's more, the sector is predicted see a five-fold increase over the next five years.

“Bullish but cautious”. That's how Steve Anderson, editor-in-chief of Laser Focus World, characterized the mood of the photonics industry in his annual review of the global laser marketplace, which kicked off the Laser & Photonics Marketplace seminar at Photonics West this morning. I'm not quite sure what he means by that, but the figures speak for themselves: Anderson predicts that worldwide laser revenues will grow by 8% in 2007, potentially breaking through the $6 bn mark this year. Compare that with $4.3 bn in 2003, and a picture emerges of an industry that is enjoying an extended period of sustained growth.

This weekend the focus in San Jose has been on biomedical optics, as the annual Biomedical Optics Symposium (BiOS) and trade exhibition got under way. Our correspondent — Joe McEntee, editor of medicalphysicsweb — went to the Hot Topics session, in which speakers had to cram as much factual and quantitative information as they could into a 10-minute slot. As many as 600 delegates attended the session but, for those who couldn't make it, Joe's headline take should offer an insight into the big opportunities in biomedical optics over the next 12 months.

Another year, another Photonics West. And this one promises to be busier than ever, with more than 1000 exhibitors, four major technical programs, as well a host of short courses, panel discussions and plenary sessions. At optics.org, we're busy planning our schedules in order to bring you the most significant technical innovations and commercial developments that will be announced at the show. If you've got a hot tip, please let us know by adding a comment or visiting us at Booth #1109.

We'll be kicking off the blog in earnest at the weekend, when the BiOS conference and exhibition will be offering delegates a unique insight into the use of photonics in biology and medicine. After that, remember to check back here for regular postings from our editors at the Photonics West event.