There is no replacement for in-person events, says Carlos Lee, but there are many reasons to be cautious
Editor's picks
Mahr’s MFU200 tool uses an optical-tactile working principle
Lens features have been getting too small to properly characterise – but metrology providers are catching up, finds Andy Extance
Some of Luminate's third cohort of startups. Credit: Luminate
Greg Blackman asks Luminate MD, Sujatha Ramanujan, how young companies are coping during Covid-19
News
Omega and Artemis leaders
15 September 2020
Omega Optical, a manufacturer of precision optical filters and coatings, has been acquired by Artemis Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm that partners with industrial technology companies
Scanlab headquarters, Puchheim near Munich, Germany
07 September 2020
Laser scan system manufacturer Scanlab is purchasing a 25 per cent stake in Holo/or through its parent company, TechInvest Holding
04 September 2020
PhotoniCare, a developer of OCT devices for diagnosing and monitoring middle ear infections, has announced an oversubscribed $5.2 million Series A financing round
Luminar's Iris lidar system
03 September 2020
Lidar firm Luminar is set to become a publicly traded company through a merger with Gores Metropoulos.
A hollow-core optical fibre. Credit: Malak Galal, Fan Yang, Flavien Gyger, Luc Thévenaz/EPFL
12 August 2020
'Our technology can be applied to any type of light, from infrared to ultraviolet, and to any gas,' the researchers said.
12 August 2020
Carlos Lee from the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) details a new service to make up for the lack of exhibitions this year
Faccio, centre, working on laser system alignment and optimisation with student Mihail Petev, left, and Niclas Westerberg
12 August 2020
SPIE and the University of Glasgow have established a $1 million programme to support graduate students in the field of quantum photonics
Analysis & opinion
16 September 2020
There is no replacement for in-person events, says Carlos Lee, but there are many reasons to be cautious
Some of Luminate's third cohort of startups. Credit: Luminate
04 September 2020
Greg Blackman asks Luminate MD, Sujatha Ramanujan, how young companies are coping during Covid-19
26 August 2020
The photonics cluster in Rochester, New York, alone requires 550 more optics technicians every year. Professor Alexis Vogt discusses initiatives to help meet this demand, and suggests other ways to tackle the global optics skills shortage
Features
Fibre lasers channel the and amplify the light through a fibre optic cable
16 September 2020
Keely Portway takes a look at some of the latest developments in optical fibre design for fibre lasers
Mahr’s MFU200 tool uses an optical-tactile working principle
04 September 2020
Lens features have been getting too small to properly characterise – but metrology providers are catching up, finds Andy Extance
31 July 2020
How will the world feed 10 billion people by 2050 with no new land for agriculture? Greg Blackman speaks to machine builder Bühler about how optical sensing can maximise yield in grain processing
Investment is making lidar more accessible and cost-effective for the autonomous driving sector
23 July 2020
Keely Portway delves into some of the latest lidar developments for self-driving vehicles, and how these are proving beneficial in other applications
Press Releases
Following strong growth, Delta Optical Thin Film is moving into its new purpose-built facilities in DTU Science Park in Hørsholm, Denmark
The partnership provides customers with a combination of innovative CMMs and Nikon Metrology’s laser scanning technology
Customers will have access to the highest of quality polished optical glass filters from Schott, with the exceptional customer service and fast shipping of Edmund Optics
With immediate effect, Market Tech will supply Chromacity’s ultrafast laser systems through its industrial and academic research network across North America
Qioptiq will invest about 25 million euros ($27 million USD) in this expansion of its production capacities
The webinars will showcase the latest research and findings from leaders in biomedical optics
RPMC Lasers Inc, the leading laser distributor in North America, is excited to announce an exclusive distribution agreement with mirSense (http://mirsense.com/) that will cover their Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) product lines
Viewpoint
21 August 2020
Gemma Church explains how Abberior Instruments’ super-resolution microscopes are tackling Covid-19
17 August 2020
David Stuart explores the transition from traditional arc lamps to solid state light sources in microscopy
Tech focus
Many university laboratories using lasers have had to shut down temporarily following a visit from an HSE inspector
26 August 2020
Matthew Dale learns how the safety knowledge of the laser community is not yet fully up to scratch
A small-sized silicon photonics chip that can be used for non-mechanical beam steering and scanning. (Credit: Yokohama National University).
26 August 2020
Japanese researchers have employed a bespoke prism lens to reduce the size and cost of lidar technology
Left: Birefringence image of a flat lens and intensity patterns of 488nm laser beam with different handedness circular polarisations focused and defocused by the same lens. Right: The same lens corrects short -5 D and long +5 D sightedness.
15 July 2020
Researchers have developed a new technique for producing flat optics with ultra-low loss and high damage threshold
Products
02 September 2020
ProPhotonix has extended its range of Prodigii digital laser modules with five new wavelengths: 375nm, 405nm, 450nm, 905nm and 940nm
24 August 2020
The 5-axis laser scanner is particularly suitable for the high-precision production of complex components in medical technology, microelectronics and the automotive industry
24 August 2020
Aerotech has introduced a new hexapod for quality assurance applications
24 August 2020
The Cobolt Rogue series of lasers are continuous-wave diode pumped lasers (DPL) and are multi-mode, high power complements to Cobolt's 05-01 series of single frequency lasers
04 March 2020
Focuslight technologies, a global provider of high power diode lasers and micro optics, announced the LIMO Wide Angle Diffuser at SPIE Photonics West 2020. Designed for automotive LiDAR and 3D sensing applications, the LIMO Wide Angle Diffuser is a glass refractive optical element (ROE) with the ability to disperse laser light in one direction up to a full illumination angle, ranging from a few mrad up to 150 degrees. When combined with a second functional surface, the light can also be shaped at any desired angle in the other direction.
04 March 2020
Focuslight technologies, a global provider of high power diode lasers and micro optics, announced the Focuslight FocusFlux® AL01 Series LiDAR laser module at SPIE Photonics West 2020. The FocusFlux AL01 series is a high peak power, 1064nm laser module that employs a novel, compact, solid state design. It features a 1.5mJ 3ns laser pulse based on Q-switch technology. Built-in advanced glass diffusers enable it to generate a configurable field of view (FOV) of 125x25, 60x45, or customized per request.
30 January 2020
German start-up Linnowave’s Vaheat provides a novel approach for precise and rapid temperature controllability in optical high resolution microscopy of live cells
Events
White papers
11 September 2020
In this application note the optimisation of gold nanoparticles are investigated using Edinburgh Instruments Raman microscope for the development of a SERS glucose sensor.
03 September 2020
We review factors that contribute to output pulses of PIN photodetectors tending to have a longer fall time than rise time. Factors include photocarrier transit effects, diffusion current, saturation, and circuit design.
17 August 2020
This white paper provides operating lifetime projections for Lumencor’s light engines based on an analysis of service histories, cost considerations of solid-state light engines v. arc lamps, and a presentation of optical output stability data.
Webcasts
24 March 2020
*Weds 8 Apr* This online discussion will explore the photonics technologies being developed to maximise data throughput and to extend data delivery speeds beyond 400Gbps
20 March 2020
*On demand* This webcast will present European capabilities for the development of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) biosensors for virus detection
19 March 2020
*On demand* This webinar will present an innovative UVC LED respiratory mask, presented by EPIC members and partners of the EU-funded pilot line MedPhab
