R&D Highlights: Photonics West 2011
Nearly 4000 papers from the top researchers in lasers, green photonics, biomedical optics, optoelectronics, and other light-based fields were presented at SPIE Photonics West in January.
The accepted papers are published in the SPIE Digital Library, the world's largest collection of optics and photonics literature.
Among the numerous awards that were presented to students, early career professionals, and veteran researchers were papers in the new Green Photonics virtual symposium. SPIE President Katarina Svanberg and SPIE Fellow Stephen Eglash, chair of Green Photonics, presented green photonics awards to:
• Manfred Ruske and Holger Schwab of Philips Technologie (Germany) for "Laser-based manufacturing of shunt lines for OLED lighting"
• Tino Petsch, Jens Hänel, Bernd Keiper, Maurice Clair and Christian Scholz of 3D-Micromac (Germany) for "Laser processing of organic photovoltaic cells with a roll-to-roll manufacturing process"
• Gregory N. Nielson, Murat Okandan, Jose L. Cruz-Campa, and Paul J. Resnick of Sandia National Labs (USA); Mark W. Wanlass of National Renewable Energy Lab (USA); and Peggy J. Clews, Tammy C. Pluym, Carlos A. Sanchez, and Vipin P. Gupta of Sandia National Labs for "Microfabrication of microsystem-enabled photovoltaic (MEPV) cells"
• SPIE members Aaswath P. Raman and Zongfu Yu with SPIE Fellow Shanhui Fan of Stanford University (USA) for "Broadband all-dielectric nanophotonic light trapping for thin active layers in organic solar cells"
• SPIE member Daisuke Nakamura, Akio Kumeda, Kazuyuki Toya, Kota Okazaki, Kazuki Kubo, Koji Tsuta, Mitsuhiro Higashihata, and SPIE member Tatsuo Okada of Kyushu University (Japan) for "Synthesis and characterization of layer structured ZnO nanowire for ultraviolet light emitting diode"
• Alex Henzen of IREX Technologies (Netherlands) for "Improvements in in-plane electrophoretic displays"
• Soichiro Nakanishi and SPIE member Wakao Sasaki of Doshisha University (Japan) for "A novel approach to smart grid technology for electrical power transmission lines by a self-organized optical network node based on optical bistability"
• SPIE member John A. Rogers, director of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center University at Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), for "Microscale, printed LEDs for unusual lighting and display systems"
Rogers, who is also the Lee J. Flory Founder Chair in Engineering Innovation, described how unconventional designs for inorganic LED lighting and display systems may find use in biomedicine and robotics. His paper discussed systems that consist of arrays of interconnected, ultrathin inorganic LEDs configured in mechanically optimized layouts on unusual substrates such as elastic membranes and bands, sheets of aluminum foil, paper, balloons, thin ribbons, and fine threads.
Light-emitting sutures, implantable sheets, and balloon catheters that are compatible with complete immersion in biofluids illustrate the suitability of these technologies for possible use in biomedicine, Rogers says. Waterproof proximity sensor tapes capable of conformal integration on curved surfaces of gloves are also a possibility in robotics.
James Loudin, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University (USA) received the Pascal Rol Award for best paper in Ophthalmic Technologies during the Ophthalmic Technologies XXI conference. Loudin presented "Photovoltaic retinal prosthesis" in which he and co-authors Keith Mathieson, Ted I. Kamins, Lele Wang, Ludwig Galambos, Philip Huie, Alexander Sher, James Harris, and Daniel V. Palanker have designed and conducted initial testing on a high-resolution PV retinal prosthesis.
The device, intended to restore sight to patients with retinal degenerative disorders, is fabricated with a pixel density of up to 177 pixels/mm2. Photodiodes within each pixel of the subretinal array directly convert light to stimulation current, avoiding the use of bulky coil implants, decoding electronics, and wiring and thereby reducing surgical complexity. A video camera mounted on goggles captures the visual scene and transmits data to a pocket processor. The image is replicated using pulsed infrared light (~900 nm) from a laser diode array. The resulting images are projected into the eyes, to the subretinal implant with enough intensity to activate retinal neurons. Using infrared avoids complications from any residual viable retina.
The group reports that electrophysiological tests in two mammalian models demonstrate that PV stimulation is possible with multi-diode circuits as well as single-diode circuits.
Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Lab sponsors the award through the Pascal Rol Foundation.
SPIE member Kouhei Kimura of Utsunomiya University (Japan) received the Frontiers in Ultrafast Optics: Biomedical, Scientific, and Industrial Applications best paper award for his presentation, "Holographic spatiotemporal lens (HSTL)." Kimura and collaborators at Utsunomiya, Satoshi Hasegawa and SPIE member Yoshio Hayasaki, have proposed an HSTL as a new focusing technique of a femtosecond laser pulse to improve spatial resolution of two-photon excitation.
Runner-up in the ultrafast optics conference was SPIE member Sören Richter of Friedrich-Schiller-Universität-Jena (Germany), for "Breaking stress of glass welded with femtosecond laser pulses at high repetition rates."
The competition was among graduate and undergraduate students.
At the BiOS symposium, four groups of researchers received awards sponsored by Seno Medical for best oral presentation and best poster presentation in the Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing Conference.
For best poster in the Photons Plus conference, two groups from Washington University in St. Louis (USA) were cited for their work on photoacoustic imaging and sensing.
Konstantin Maslov with SPIE member Song Hu and SPIE Fellow Lihong V. Wang won for "Second generation optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy with improved sensitivity and scanning speed." It was Maslov and Hu's fourth best paper or poster award at Photonics West within the last five years.
Adam Q. Bauer, Ralph E. Nothdurft, Changhui Li, Lihong V. Wang, and Joseph P. Culver also received a poster award for "Quantitative high resolution photoacoustic spectroscopy by combining photoacoustic imaging with diffuse optical tomography."
Wang is editor in chief of the SPIE Journal of Biomedical Optics, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University, and served as co-chair of the Photons Plus conference with Alexander Oraevsky.
Two groups from Europe won a best oral paper award from the Photons Plus conference:
• SPIE member Krista Jansen, Geert Springeling, and Robert Beurskens from Erasmus MC (Netherlands); Antonius F. W. van der Steen from Erasmus MC and Interuniversity Cardiology Institute (Netherlands); and SPIE member Gijs van Soest from Erasmus MC for "A 1.2 mm diameter integrated photoacoustic and ultrasonic catheter for intravascular imaging"
• Jan G. Laufer, Peter Johnson, Edward Z. Zhang, Barbara Pedley, and Paul C. Beard of University College London (UK) for "In vivo longitudinal photoacoustic imaging of subcutaneous tumours in mice"
Two researchers received the PicoQuant Young Investigator Award for the best oral presentation at the Single Molecule Spectroscopy and Imaging conference. The award is for presenters under the age of 35.
Daniel Aquino of the Max-Planck-Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie (Germany) was awarded a PicoQuant prize for "Optical switching and time-sequential coherent detection of markers through opposing lenses enables multicolor 3D-nanoscopy with 10-nm resolution of large intracellular volume."
Julie Biteen of University of Michigan (USA) also won for "Live-cell single-molecule and superresolution imaging of proteins in bacteria."
The $750 prize was donated by PicoQuant of Germany.
A team of European researchers won the Ocean Optics Young Investigator Award for a paper given in the Colloidal Quantum Dots/Nanocrystals for Biomedical Applications conference. The paper was "Time-resolved and steady-state FRET spectroscopy on commercial biocompatible quantum dots," by David Wegner, Daniel Geissler, and Hans-Gerd Löhmannsröben of University of Potsdam (Germany) and SPIE member Niko Hildebrandt of Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Polymerforschung (Germany).
The award consists of $1000 cash to the lead author, Wegner, and $2000 worth of Ocean Optics equipment to Hildebrandt's Fraunhofer laboratory where the work was performed. Hildebrandt is currently at Université Paris-Sud 11 (France).
Nineteen students received Newport Spectra-Physics Research Excellence Travel Awards at SPIE Photonics West in January. They were:
Serap Aksu, Salvatore Campione, Ludwig De Clercq, Sarah Erickson, George Fercana, Liang Gao, Melanie Gault, Eric Glowacki, Dag Heinemann, Ninad Ingle, Stephanie Kennedy, Jong-Ha Lee, Wonju Lee, Jheng-Jie Liu, Paul McNamara, Gilad Sharon, Shivaranjani Shivalingaiah, Tristan Swedish, and Bowen Wang.
The awards program provides funding for university students to attend SPIE Photonics West and SPIE Optics and Photonics.
Students with accepted papers for SPIE Optics and Photonics in August should submit their applications for the Newport Spectra-Physics travel awards no later than 10 June. More information: spie.org/travelgrant.
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