University of Illinois Selects Zecotek Devices

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physics department has ordered a Triple Seven Ti: sapphire laser and a resonant frequency doubler from Zecotek Photonics Inc., of Vancouver, Canada, for use in quantum research. The tandem device can deliver a super-narrow line of radiation in the blue spectral range for applications such as nanolithography, nanostructured materials and quantum physics in which single atoms and ions can be cooled, trapped and manipulated using laser beams. Zecotek said the laser specification is for an absolute line width of less than 10 kHz rms, but in performance testing, the output radiation line has been determined at 1 kHz. The frequency doubler has a conversion efficiency of more than 25 percent, it said. Zecotek's Ti:Sapphire lasers are manufactured under contract by a Russion-based laser manufacturer, Tekhnoscan J.S., for Zecotek Laser Systems Singapore Pte. Ltd., a Zecotek Photonics subsidiary.