2018 Prism Awards Winners Shine

“Each year, categories for the awards are driven by the innovations entered, providing direct insight into thriving and emerging ‘hot’ markets,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs.

Co-sponsored annually by SPIE and Photonics Media, the “Oscars of the photonics industry” marks its 10^th year in 2018.

"These Prism Award-winning products and the companies behind them have reached new heights of technical achievement and innovation and have risen to the top of an impressive field of entries,” said Thomas Laurin, president and CEO of Laurin Publishing. “Photonics Media is proud to have stood with SPIE and the Prism Awards for 10 years in supporting breakthroughs like these that continue to transform the photonics industry and the world, and we extend our heartiest congratulations to the winners.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Detectors and Sensors

NKT Photonics (Birkeroed, Denmark)
A growing demand for efficient renewable energy resources makes the management of power networks more complex. The LIOS EN.SURE DTS & RTTR — a long range optical fiber-based temperature and strain sensing measurement system — is designed for such management, as it monitors underground transmission and distribution power cables, as well as overhead transmission lines. Using an optical fiber embedded in the power cable, or installed externally, the LIOS EN.SURE system is able to measure temperature and strain in the cable over single-ended distances of up to 70 km. Also, it can handle up to 16 fibers and 16 separate power cables, and its strain capability can be used to detect cable disturbance, abnormal bends and/or kinks in the cable before, during and after installation.

Environmental Monitoring

Block Engineering (Massachusetts, U.S.)
Utilizing QCLs combined with mid-IR spectroscopy, the LaserWarn can quickly detect and identify chemical clouds. The system touts the widest tunable external-cavity, eye-safe lasers, as it is able to scan across a 5- to 13-µm-wide spectral range in less than 40 ms. This allows the system to provide ultra-rapid, sub-second response to chemical threats and monitoring of chemical releases. Noteably, the system's lasers can monitor chemical clouds across thousands of square feet, whether indoors and out. LaserWarn allows chemical analysis algorithms, as well, providing the ability to detect and identify components of high number, multi-component mixtures in real-world environments.

Illumination and Light Sources

SoraaLaser (California, U.S.)
Touted as the world’s first white light, high luminance, remotely-delivered white laser light module, the LaserLight Fiber Module features the highest luminance light source available. It’s safe, high-efficiency fiber delivery of light from a blue laser diode to a remote phosphor module produces high-luminance, incoherent, broad spectrum white light. This device enables lighting effects such as long-range, highly collimated beam output, as well as compact ultrashort throw, high angle illumination, and glare-free pattern generation with sharp light gradients. It also includes active light level sensors for precise control.

Imaging and Cameras

Luminar (Florida, U.S.)
Addressing unmet needs for the autonomous mobility industry, the Model-G 3D LiDAR system delivers million data points at full range specification per second per second; each point is able to detect less than 10 percent reflective targets at more than 200 m away. It simultaneously achieves 38x greater spatial resolution and 6x farther range than most existing systems. The new architecture features a single laser and detector pair to rapidly collect information from the environment while remaining eye safe. Its sensor operates at 1550 nm, which requires InGaAs. A new Si-InGaAs hybrid ASIC is involved, with an order of magnitude higher performance and lower cost than other InGaAs receivers. The Model-G 3D LiDAR is the first dynamically configurable system operating at 1550 nm.