FOCUS PHOTONICS WEST
Prism Awards honour photonics innovation N
ine companies were recognised for their products at the 2014 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation, which took place
at Photonics West. Winning products included tools that improve the accuracy of medical devices, expand the capabilities of 3D printing and manufacturing systems, improve the ability to detect hazardous substances, and enable the next generation of 3D video projection. The annual awards identify photonic products that solve problems and improve life through the application of light-based technologies. Results were determined by a panel of expert judges, and announced by presenters from leading companies across the photonics industry. The winners came from a total of nine categories and represent large and small
companies from five countries. The winners were: lAdvanced manufacturing: Nanoscribe (Germany), for the Photonic Professional GT (PPGT); based on TPP, the most accurate and fastest 3D laser lithography system commercially available;
lDefence and security: Hübner (Germany), for KG: T-Cognition, a terahertz spectrometer that has the ability to automatically detect and
SPIE President Philip Stahl welcomed
industry leaders to the Prism Awards
identifies hazardous substances in mail;
lDetectors, sensing, imaging, and cameras: Tornado Spectral Systems (Canada), for Octane-860, a small, inexpensive and robust spectrometer on a silicon chip designed for full- featured OCT imaging;
lIndustrial lasers: V-Gen (Israel), for the VPFL- ISP-1-40-HE-50000, a ytterbium fibre laser with the shortest pulsewidth, highest peak power, and highest pulse energy;
lLife science and biophotonics: AccuVein (New York, USA), for the AV400 Vein Viewing System, a handheld, augmented-reality laser camera that detects and projects a vein map on a patient’s skin;
lOptics and optical components: Compass Electro-Optical Systems (California, USA): r10004 Router, the first design to allow for a full mesh architecture and an ASIC-to-ASIC link using an optical interconnect;
lOther light sources: Necsel (California, USA): Frequency Converted Green Laser Array, offering an RGB laser solution for 3D digital cinema projection;
lScientific lasers: Hübner (Germany): C-Wave, a coherent continuous-wave source able to be tuned across the visible range without change of materials; and
lTest, measurement, metrology: Si-Ware Systems (Egypt): MEMS FT-IR spectrometer, an alignment-free, calibration-free, and shock- resistant FT-IR module on a chip scale. While photonics technology has an important role in improving quality of life, its applications have a vital economic impact as well, according to SPIE CEO Dr Eugene Arthurs: ‘We have more than 4,700 technical presentations at this year’s Photonics West. More than 21,000 author- researchers contributed to the work presented. One could reasonably value the research effort at more than $100 million dollars.’
Keep photonics simple, pleads Photonics21 president
Photonics needs to be explained in plainer language to increase awareness of the technology. This was the plea from Dr Michael Mertin, CEO of Jenoptik and president of the European photonics industry body, Photonics21, at Photonics West. Mertin said there was a great deal of complex science presented on photonics, but that it would have to be
made much simpler for politicians to grasp the benefits of the technology. Mertin’s comments come after Photonics21 announced its Photonics Public Private Partnership with the European Commission. It will advise the EC on where to spend investment for photonics as part of the Horizon 2020 EU funding programme. The EC has allocated
€700 million over seven years for photonics-related proposals. The European photonics market
for 2011 was €63 billion, 18 per cent of the global photonics market of €350 billion, Mertin said. The German Engineering Association, VDMA, predicts the global photonics market will reach €615 billion by 2020. It recorded three per cent growth in the
Needle microscope wins SPIE Startup Challenge
A miniature OCT probe encased in a needle that could help surgeons remove tumours in breast cancer patients has won the SPIE Startup Challenge competition at Photonics West in San Francisco. Robert McLaughlin from the University of Western Australia emerged victorious as the winning pitch among eight other finalists
6 ELECTRO OPTICS l MARCH 2014
competing for the prize. He was awarded $10,000 in cash and $5,000 worth of Edmund Optics products to further the venture. The eight entrepreneurs had only three minutes to pitch their technology and business proposals to a panel of judges. After their pitch, the judges questioned the contestants and then scored them
on the technical merit of the device, the quality of the business and financial case, the competitive advantage of the technology and the delivery of the pitch. McLaughlin, along with his
partners in the venture, has developed an imaging device based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) small enough to be encased
in a 30-guage medical needle. Surgeons removing a tumour in breast tissue, for instance, could use the needle to determine the tumour boundaries to reduce the chance of leaving cancer cells in the body. The group already has ties with Vytran among other companies and McLaughlin plans to commercialise the product soon.
@electrooptics |
www.electrooptics.com
German photonics market in 2013. In the US, the National Photonics Initiative (NPI), an alliance between industry, academia and government, aims to raise awareness of photonics technologies, and Mertin believes that the joint efforts of NPI and Photonics21 will put photonics on the political agenda to a much greater extent.
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