Photonics West: product highlights

17 Jun 2002

A sneak preview of some of the products that will be launched at Photonics West.

At Photonics West, US-based Spectra-Physics will launch the first ever air-cooled argon-ion laser system to integrate the laser head and the power supply in a single, compact device.

The Solano laser measures 370 x 133 x 163 mm, making it nearly half the size of competitive products, says the firm. These dimensions conform to the same standard footprint traditionally used for the laser head alone in biomedical and other applications. System builders can therefore eliminate the space normally required for the power supply. Stand 436

Ocean Optics, US, will be promoting what it claims is the world's first miniature fiber-optic anthrax endospore detection system.

The company says that the EDS2000 was conceived, developed, and brought to market in just 5 days and is a low-cost, field-deployable system that uses fluorescence spectroscopy to instantly identify anthrax contamination.

The EDS2000 tests for the presence of dipicolinic acid (DPA), which is extracted from the endospores when they are added to a reagent in a test vial. DPA is unique to bacterial endospores and makes up as much as 10% of the endospore's dry weight. Stand 617

Optical Coating Laboratory Inc (OCLI) of the US has developed what is described as the smallest commercially available spectral sensor.

Based on its patented linear-variable-filter technology, the sensors require no gratings and are available in wavelengths from the visible to the near-infrared. Soon they will also be available in the mid-infrared. These compact sensors are thermally stable and take the analysis of multiple compounds out of the laboratory and into the field, says the company.

Robert Shroder, senior optical engineer at OCLI said: "Our sensor's unique thermal stability means that it can be integrated into hand-held systems."

Optical spectral sensing has applications in production environments for process control, materials inspection and finished product quality. Stand 642

US-based StockerYale will introduce its Lasiris thermo-electrically cooled (TEC) laser and high power pigtail diode laser (HPTL) at Photonics West.

The TEC laser has a thermoelectric system that maintains a constant laser diode temperature and is ideal for applications that need a stable laser output. An optical line generator provides a uniform light intensity and the lasers are available at violet and standard wavelengths.

StockerYale says that the HPTLs are ideal for high power-density applications and include temperature and over-voltage protection. The lasers project a uniform intensity beam or pattern from an optical fiber and are available in infrared and visible with powers up to 2.6 W. Stand 628

Coherent of the US will exhibit its Azure continuous-wave, diode-pumped, deep-ultraviolet laser at Photonics West. The hands-free 266 nm laser source suits industrial applications including the writing of fiber Bragg gratings and semiconductor metrology.

Claimed to detect the small defects that longer wavelength lasers miss, Azure is also said to enable higher information storage density on CDs and DVDs than standard 315 nm and 413 nm devices.

"The Azure is rugged, easy to integrate and although it's a frequency-doubled device, its near diffraction-limited beam has the low amplitude noise of a single-frequency laser," said Coherent Laser's marketing manager Terry Hannon. "It is also independent from regular user or service intervention for thousands of operating hours." Stand 922

For more products see Exhibitor Products at Photonics West.

Author
Rebecca Pool is the news editor of optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.