February 2007

JDSU is to buy VCSEL manufacturer Picolight for $115 million in stock and up to $10 million in cash.

Company plans to use IPO proceeds for mix of working capital, debt servicing and to acquire other businesses.

Philips Lumileds believes that it has won a significant battle in its patent war with rival LED manufacturer Epistar.

Powerlase is working with University College Dublin to develop a light source for "next-generation" extreme-ultraviolet lithography technology.

Featuring news from Stocker Yale, Dynasil, Datalase, Red Shift Systems, Morgan Advanced Ceramics, Photek, Laser Lines, Lasag, Color Chip, OpVista, Siemens Enterprise Communications, MRV Communications, Avanex, Adva Optical and others.

The optical communications extravaganza in March will showcase many breakthoughs including data transmission at "record" rates, improved food inspection and space laser communications.

Top emission OLEDs are the future of display and lighting applications, says the company that has just improved outputs of these devices.

Better news for the optoelectronic component company as key fiber-optic system vendor Tyco Communications chooses Bookham's 980nm laser pump modules for a submarine network upgrade.

DPSS laser developer posts 400% growth as turnover increases from £2.4 million to £9.5 million.

Researchers in China believe that spin-casting polymer latex onto glass is an effective way to mass-produce antireflective coatings.

US scientists have designed an ultrathin mirror with a reflectivity of 99.5% that could replace distributed Bragg reflectors as the mirror of choice in laser optics.

High-performance microchannel plate photomultipliers developed for use in space could have a wealth of terrestrial applications from drug screening through to environmental science, as Jon Lapington tells James Tyrrell.

Halma strengthens photonics industry presence to three key subsidiaries with further acquisitions in prospect. optics.org interviews Halma director Keith Roy about the decisions behind the deal.

In a major industry shift, fiber-cabling shipments will exceed those of copper by 2008, according to a market forecast.

Scientific analysis of paint from a Madonna and Child painting, based on laser Raman microscopy, supports the attribution of the work to the Renaissance period.

Osram Opto Semiconductors has, with the latest version of its Ostar lighting technology, developed its first cold-white LED (module) to produce more than 1000 lm.

Including news from Alcatel-Lucent, Tessera Technologies, Flir Systems, US Display Consortium, Plextronics, Research And Markets (Chinese Solar Cell and Solar Panel), Optomec, Infinera, Little Optics, Qioptiq, McPherson, Gelcore/Lumination, EuroLED 2007, ASML Holdings and others.

Optical phenomena are at the heart of a new generation of detectors that can spot viruses in seconds.

Component market to grow at average rate of 3.5% per year, driven by business decentralization and growing demand for high-rate communications.

Philips Lumileds develops an undisclosed technology that enables LEDs to maintain their efficacy at higher drive currents.

Fiber laser specialist IMRA comes up with a simple way of producing nanosized particles at room temperature.

Russian scientists show how bismuth-doped fibers can be used to create a simple all-fiber pulsed laser.

Researchers in Denmark unveil a fiber-optic biosensor made from a microstructure polymer optical fiber (mPOF) that features internal localized sensing regions.

An interdisciplinary fabrication facility at the University of Southampton, UK, will enable world-leading research teams to carry out new areas of optics related research.

US researchers explain to optics.org how they have produced an "origami" lens that could form the basis of thinner cameras for mobile phones.

Featuring news from Rofin Sinar, Newport, Perkin Elmer, CIR, Applied Plasmonics, IPG Photonics, Ecritel, Ekinops, Nanonics and others.

A selection of eye-catching images from the FTTH Council Europe Conference, which is being held in Barcelona, Spain, this week.

Scientists in Israel measure the ability of snow covered targets to absorb high intensity Ti:Sapphire laser pulses.

A £250 m synchrotron light source - the largest scientific facility to have been built in the UK for 30 years - has now opened its doors to researchers.

A MEMS-based deformable mirror could significantly enhance retinal imaging systems and enable the early detection of common eye diseases.

Researchers in the Netherlands have made the first light-emitting diode to be made from a single quantum-dot nanowire.

Optoelectronic chip maker Bookham tells a familiar story of declining sales and aggressive cost-cutting measures - and this time its Caswell InP fab is in the firing line.

A team of researchers from Russia, Italy and Germany says that a combined light-and-laser welding system based on powerful polychromatic energy sources addresses several shortcomings of conventional laser welding.

With Japan racing ahead on FTTH build outs, Hartwig Tauber of the FTTH Council Europe outlines the deployment status in Europe todayand proposes some reasons for Europe's apparent ambivalence.

Electrical engineers in Israel claim to have observed two photons being emitted from a single-electron process in a semiconductor for the first time.

Including news from JDSU, Heptagon, Florida Photonics Center of Excellence, Osram Opto Semiconductors, OSA and others.

Researchers in Cuba are using an infrared sensor to study the collective behaviour of ants and hope to apply their findings to engineering problems.

Researchers in Austria demonstrate a single-step Ti:Sapphire laser process that creates well-defined, round apertures in metal-coated microspheres.