Lasers to be a $3 billion market by 2008
Worldwide demand for all types of lasers, which represented more than a $2 billion market in 2003, is rising by 9.1 percent each year and should exceed $3 billion by 2008, according to market analysts at Business Communications Co. (BCC) Inc. in Norwalk, Conn. Diode-pumped solid-state lasers will show the strongest growth, rising by 14.8 percent each year to $490.5 million in 2008, yet lamp-pumped lasers will continue to constitute the largest market as it grows by 8 percent each year to reach $980.9 million by 2008, BCC analysts say. These predictions are in the BCC report, RGB-292 Solid State, Gas and Dye Lasers: Outlook for the Future. Within solid-state lasers, the most common type is Nd:YAG, with either a flash-lamp-pumped or diode-pumped configuration, BCC analysts say. Nd:YAG holds 50 to 65 percent of the market of crystals for all solid-state lasers. The market share of other crystals such as Nd:YLF or Nd:YVO4 is about 10 percent of the solid-state market. A high average annual growth rate for diode-pumped systems, relative to other types of lasers, is primarily due to growth for medical and instrumentation applications. Excimer lasers will show a high annual growth rate through 2008 for basic research, industry, and medicine. A minor share of the market involves lasers for sensing, image recording, inspection, optical data storage, and entertainment. For more information contact BCC online at www.bccresearch.com.
DOD chooses Sensors Unlimited to develop high-speed camera
Sensors Unlimited Inc. in Princeton, N.J., won a $2 million Phase 1b contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a high-frame-rate camera for combined imaging and ranging, using an in-pixel digitized, monolithic PIN/APD focal-plane array. The U.S. Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency is providing the money, and the Air Force is managing the contract. "Over the next year we will develop and deliver a single camera capable of high-resolution three-dimensional imaging, wavefront sensing, and low-light-level imaging based on this unique technology," says Matthew O'Grady, principal engineer of imaging products at Sensors Unlimited. The new camera consists of a 256-by-256-pixel array capable of flash-laser radar reception and photosignal integration and has frame rates as fast as 15,000 frames per second for a 128-by-128-pixel window. The focal-plane array includes a custom integrated circuit, based on a new digital output pixel design, which will enable unique performance and features for the signal measurement and readout functions. For more information, contact Sensors Unlimited online at www.sensorsinc.com.
JPSA Laser announces laser refurbishment services
JPSA Laser in Hollis, N.H., is offering UV laser refurbishment services for UV excimer lasers. JPSA's refurbished lasers perform better than the product's original factory specifications through upgrades, modifications, and better quality parts and designs used in the refurbishment engineering process, company officials claim. JPSA builds UV laser systems and operates a laser job shop performing micromachining operations and a variety of other applications in electronics packaging, medical, semiconductor, and other industries. JPSA products and services include UV-excimer and DPSS-laser micromachining systems, UV- and VUV-laser beam-delivery systems, UV-laser materials-processing development, optical damage testing, and excimer-laser refurbishment services. For more information contact the company online at www.jpsalaser.com.
