Microcavity laser, optical probe among Sandia R&D awards

17 Jun 2002

Sandia National Laboratories researchers won eight awards in this year's R&D 100 competition, honoring inventors of the 100 most significant technologicalinnovations of 1996, including an award for a biological microcavity laser and for an optical probe. The biological microcavity laser is a handheld device to analyzeblood samples in minutes using tiny fingers of laser light to image cells in a drop of blood in a small chamber, eliminating the need to send blood cells to a lab or to"stain" them for better visibility. Sandia's Paul Gourley was the project leader on the proof-of-principle device jointly patented by Sandia and the National Institutes ofHealth. The Filmetrics F-30 optical probe allows detection of failure in a growth run as well as determining the source by studying the real-time in situ history of thegrowth run. The device reflects visible or near-infrared light from films to measure their growth rate and is based on the principle that different film thicknesses andmaterials cause different patterns of reflected light. Sandia researcher Bill Breiland headed the F-30 project. The award selection was judged by a panel of expertsselected by R&D magazine, a technical trade publication which sponsors the annual event. The winners will be honored in Chicago Sept. 25.