April 2009 Archives

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe magazine and optics.org

Danish manufacturer DELTA has expanded its TopPride range of filters and will show them at LASER 2009.

The TopPride family was initially released at the Photonics West show in January, and is now expanded with new filters and filter sets for LASER World of PHOTONICS.

"TopPride filter sets are generally aimed at high-end fluorescence microscopy," commented Lene Kloch of DELTA. "The filters all have transmission levels above 92% in their respective passbands, allowing the shortest possible excitation and the best signal-to-noise ratio. Typical transmission levels are 95-98%."

All TopPride filters are made as single-substrate constructions, without the use of coloured glass. As a result, the filters are claimed to demonstrate extreme durability, along with minimal lens effect or auto-fluorescence.

"The upper limit of the blocking range has been extended from the traditional 780 nm to beyond 950 nm," said Kloch. "This makes the filters suitable for modern camera-based microscopes."

DELTA will exhibit the TopPride range and other optical thin-film components in Hall B2, booth 207.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe magazine and optics.org

The first laser in TRUMPF's new series of direct-diode laser sources will be on show at LASER 2009.

The TruDiode range of direct-diode sources will ultimately replace the company's lamp-pumped continuous-wave lasers, and the first product in the series to arrive is the TruDiode 3006.

"Direct-diode lasers have high beam quality, equivalent to that from lamp-pumped Nd:YAG lasers, even at power outputs in the multi-kilowatt range," said TRUMPF's Holger Kapp. "Therefore they are the beam source of choice for welding applications that are currently performed with lamp-pumped high-power lasers."

The electrical efficiency of TruDiode lasers is claimed to be as high as 40%, far outstripping the levels possible with lamp-pumped sources.

"The TruDiode 3006 on show at LASER features an output power of 3 kW," said Kapp. "Other lasers in the family will be launched during 2009."

The development of direct-diode sources follows other recent moves by TRUMPF to position itself in industrial laser markets, including the acquisition of UK fibre-laser specialist SPI Lasers in September 2008. Last year, the company told optics.org that it was committed to developing all varieties of laser technology in order to offer customers "the best laser for every application in materials processing".

TRUMPF can be found in Hall C2, booth 321.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe magazine and optics.org

The new version of the RP Fiber Power simulation software allows optical designers to optimize fibre amplifiers and fibre lasers for a range of applications.

"Industrial companies, research laboratories and educational institutions can all benefit from the software's ability to assess the impact of various detrimental effects on the performance of fibre lasers and amplifiers," commented Rudiger Paschotta of RP Photonics Consulting, Switzerland. "Predicting the performance of active fibre devices and optimizing their performance - for example, by finding the optimum fibre length, doping concentration and refractive-index profiles - is a key benefit."

Version 2.0 of the package will be available at LASER 2009 and features several new features, including the ability to account for radial dependencies of doping concentrations and optical intensities, resulting in a higher precision for devices based on double-clad fibres. The software can also now simulate an optical pulse's temporal evolution - for example, in the distortion of a pulse by gain saturation in a fibre amplifier.

"The result can be a reduction in time and expenditure for the development of new devices and a better understanding on the technical details involved," said Paschotta.

As well as technical support for the RP Fiber Power package itself, advice from RP Photonics on related technical issues is also included in the licence fee. "Support is not limited to details of the software, but also covers more general consultancy on relevant matters," noted Paschotta. "The combination of software and support we offer is intended to help development projects achieve rapid progress."

RP Photonics Consulting can be found in Hall B2, booth 132.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe magazine and optics.org

A new range of ultrafast fibre lasers, an applications lab and a hosted panel session discussion will keep materials processing at the heart of the company's agenda for LASER 2009.

Fianium will demonstrate its new FP1060-HE range of high-energy ultrafast fibre lasers designed for diverse materials processing applications including high-precision micromachining.

Claimed to be robust, reliable and versatile, the industrial-grade lasers are capable of pulse energies of up to 10 µJ and pulse widths of less than 20 ps, "allowing the processing of challenging polymers, glasses, organic tissue and reflective metals".

In addition, Fianium will promote its new materials processing applications lab, set up in collaboration with Summit Photonics and based in Oregon, US. Fianium says the lab enables it "to work closely with OEMs to test samples and prove the unique processing results attainable with its range of picosecond fibre lasers".

On Tuesday 16th June, Fianium will also host a discussion on ultrafast fibre lasers for materials processing, one of a series of application panels on novel developments in solid-state laser technology. Fianium's session starts at 3:40pm at stand B2.403.

Fianium's own booth (522) is located in Hall C1.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe magazine and optics.org

The biophotonics and life sciences sections at LASER World of PHOTONICS 2009 have been extended, to put the sectors firmly in the spotlight and allow research institutes, developers and manufacturers to present their latest developments.

As well as a separate exhibition area in Hall B1 and additional displays by exhibitors in other halls at the Munich Trade Fair Centre, show organizer Messe Munchen has announced that the World of Photonics Congress will devote a stream to medical laser applications. This will comprise expert practice-oriented talks on lasers in medicine, optical diagnostics, endoscopy and minimally invasive surgery.

Elsewhere, the European Conferences on Biomedical Optics will feature presentations spanning biophotonics, biomedical imaging, diagnostics and therapeutics.

Under the title Visions for Future Diagnostics, a series of free Application Panels will allow experts from science and industry to exchange information and experiences on current interdisciplinary developments. They will jointly formulate possible solutions and lay the foundations for future developments in the field of biophotonics.

"According to market analyses, biophotonics is regarded as one of the most important technologies which will help to develop new markets in the high-tech sector in the future," commented Messe Munchen's Angela Praeg. "The interdisciplinary character of this sector gives it unique potential, but that can only be fully exploited through creative cooperation between technology developers and users in medicine and life sciences. The world's leading trade fair will provide an ideal platform for science and industry to obtain information and exchange know-how and experiences on the latest solutions and developments from the fields of medicine, biotechnology, environmental technology and nutrition."

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe Magazine and optics.org.

Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) will present the highlights from its programme of laser research at LASER 2009.

"We work in all fields of laser technology," Michael Botts of LZH told optics.org. "One of the main reasons we attend LASER is to promote technology transfer, providing industry with knowledge that will help them to establish new laser technologies or expand into fresh application areas."

Among the topics LZH is to focus on:

Ultrashort-pulse laser systems: The FULMINA project aims to design ultrashort-pulse systems more compact and easier to use, by incorporating modified or multifunctional components.

Improved photovoltaic cells: Laser drilling offers the opportunity to reposition the electrical contacts from the front to the back side of a PV cell, while laser structuring of thin-film solar cells is predicted to simplify the wiring arrangements needed when assembling solar arrays.

Customized nanomaterials: Amplified short-pulse lasers can be used to generate nanoparticles through ablation of many different materials. In many cases, the size and concentration of the nanoparticles can be closely controlled, and the process is inherently suited to being performed in sterile environments.

These and other projects can be viewed at the LZH stand, Hall C2 Booth 644.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe Magazine and optics.org.

Quantum-well intermixing is an enabling technology designed to boost the power, brightness and lifetime of high-performance lasers.

Visitors to the Intense booth at LASER 2009 will be able to get a close look at the company's Hermes line of high-power laser bars and stacked arrays. Employing the company's patented Quantum Well Intermixing (QWI) technology, they are claimed to provide up to 2000 W of output power at wavelengths from 8xx to 9xx nm.

QWI is based on the integration of passive regions at the facets of laser diode emitters, arrays and bars, creating active and passive sections in the same laser cavity. The resulting semiconductor lasers are able to operate at much higher powers than conventional devices.

Applications for such sources include coding and marking systems, pump sources for solid-state lasers, rangefinders, materials processing and micromachining.

Intense is located at Hall C1 Booth 312.

By Tim Hayes, Industry Editor, Optics & Laser Europe Magazine and optics.org.

The Medical Laser Applications Congress 2009, to be held alongside LASER 2009 in Munich, will present the latest research breakthroughs in the burgeoning field of biophotonics.

"This is the only congress in Germany showing biophotonic technologies to a broad audience of medical specialists," Congress chair Ronald Sroka told optics.org. "Normally in medical conferences there is a small session about these techniques, but here practitioners from a broad spectrum of medical disciplines will be able to discover what experts in other fields are doing."

One feature of the Congress will be the presentation of specific innovative techniques now in development, and the results of clinical studies pointing the way to future procedures. This will parallel the Application Panels being held in the main LASER show, the aim being to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

"Optical diagnostic procedures to perform biopsies have been the significant breakthrough in recent years," commented Sroka. "Biopsy techniques will be presented at the Congress that could allow diagnosis and treatment to be performed in one session. Another vision of the future involves laser-induced X-ray-assisted diagnosis, which will be presented during the Application Panel on Monday 15th June."

The Medical Laser Applications Congress will be located in Hall B0 of Messe Munchen on 14th and 15th June 2009, with Application Panels running throughout the LASER show. The 17th congress of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Lasermedizin will be held concurrently.

Visit www.lmu.de/dglm2009 for more details.