Avotec, Biodesy and Convergent Dental are among 27 finalists in nine categories for the 2016 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. The awards are sponsored by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and Photonics Media. Winners will be announced by industry leaders on February 17 during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco at a gala banquet that has become the largest gathering of CEOs, VIPs and entrepreneurs in photonics. Entries are judged by an independent panel of experts including industry executives, leading academic researchers, venture capitalists and past Prism Award winners. Winners of the 2015 Prism Awards. Courtesy of SPIE. Finalist companies and their products are: Biomedical Instrumentation Company: Avotec Inc. (Florida, U.S.) Website: www.avotecinc.com Product: Real Eye Nano The Real Eye Nano is designed to offer visual presentation and eye tracking in high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications. The device represents an order of magnitude reduction in size from previous technology, which allows it to be positioned and operated in very confined MR head coil spaces, dramatically increasing eye-tracking performance. It works by illuminating a patient’s eyes with NIR (980 nm) light supplied by an IR LED/fused fiber cable/fiber bundle system. The reflected IR is collected by a miniature multi-element lens and imaged onto a wound bundle image guide, which is then coupled to an MR-compatible IR camera. The output of the camera is relayed over a fiber optic link to an eye-tracking computer to a speed of 240 Hz. Company: Biodesy Inc. (California, U.S.) Website: www.biodesy.com Product: Biodesy Delta The Biodesy Delta — comprised of an optical instrument with liquid handling robotics, a custom 384-well microplate with integrated prism optics, proprietary reagents and software — is an optical system based on a Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG) nonlinear optical process. The system reveals static protein structures in motion in their native environment, as an ultrafast mode-locked Ti:S laser excites the SHG signal and detects protein conformation instantaneously. The system’s full automation enables real-time detection following ligand injection with throughput of thousands of measurements per day. Company: Convergent Dental (Massachusetts, U.S.) Website: www.convergentdental.com Product: Solea The Solea CO2 laser system is designed for use on all tissue (soft, hard and osseous) and is the first computer-aided preparation system for dentistry. The laser’s 9.3-µm wavelength can be highly absorbed by hydroxyapatite, improving speed and precision for dentists. Unlike other traditional dental experiences, Solea offers “virtually soundless, painless and sensationless” procedures, and essentially replaces the drill as the primary tool for tissue procedures. This represents a major step forward as the system can execute multi-quadrant dentistry in a single appointment. Detectors and Sensors Company: Alakai Defense Systems Inc. (Florida, U.S.) Website: www.alakaidefensesystems.com Product: PRIED Company: Hamamatsu Corp. (Massachusetts, U.S.) Website: www.hamamatsu.com Product: MEMS-FPI Spectrum Sensor Company: Spectral Engines (Helsinki, Finland) Website: www.spectralengines.com Product: Wireless IR Analyzer Displays and Lighting Company: Crystal IS (New York, U.S.) Website: www.cisuvc.com Product: Optan SMD Companies: Necsel IP Inc. (California, U.S.), Christie Digital (California, U.S.), Dolby Laboratories (California, U.S.) Websites: www.necsel.com, www.christiedigital.com, www.dolby.com Product: Dolby Vision Cinema Laser Projector Company: QD Laser Inc. (Kanagawa, Japan) Website: www.qdlaser.com Product: Retinal Imaging Laser Eyewear Imaging and Cameras Company: First Light Imaging (Meyreuil, France) Website: www.first-light.fr Product: C-RED One Company: Rochester Precision Optics (New York, U.S.) Website: www.rpoptics.com Product: CNOD (CMOS Night Observation Device) Company: Stream Technologies (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Website: www.streamtechinc.com Product: ColorFlow Lens Industrial Lasers Company: Coherent (California, U.S.) Website: www.coherent.com Product: Diamond J-3 Series 5 µm CO laser Company: LightFab (Aachen, Germany) Website: www.lightfab.de Product: LightFab 3D Printer Company: Onefive (Regensdorf, Switzerland) Website: www.onefive.com Product: Katana–06 HP Materials and Coatings Company: Element Six (Luxembourg) Website: www.e6.com Product: Diamond PureOptics Company: Nanoco (Manchester, England) Website: www.nanocotechnologies.com Product: Nanoco CFQD quantum dots Company: Shasta Crystals Inc. (California, U.S.) Website: www.shastacrystals.com Product: All-Crystalline Cladded Single Crystal Fibers Optics and Optical Components Company: Boulder Nonlinear Systems (Colorado, U.S.) Website: www.bnonlinear.com Product: Large Aperture LCPGs Company: GLOphotonics (Limoges, France) Website: www.glophotonics.fr Product: Kagome Hollow Fiber Company: OZ Optics (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Website: www.ozoptics.com Product: Directional Fiber Optic Power Monitors in Specialty Fiber Other Metrology Instrumentation Company: 4D Technology (Arizona, U.S.) Website: www.4dtechnology.com Product: FlexCam Metrology Module Company: Neaspec (Munich) Website: www.neaspec.com Product: Neaspec nano-FTIR Company: PI (Physik Instrumente)(Massachusetts, U.S.) Website: www.physikinstrumente.com Product: Fast Multichannel Photonics Alignment (FMPA) Engine Scientific Lasers Company: KMLabs (Colorado, U.S.) Website: www.kmlabs.com Product: XUUS4 Company: Lasertel Inc. (Arizona, U.S.) Website: www.lasertel.com Product: Megawatt-Class Laser Diode Module Company: Lytid (Paris, France) Website: www.lytid.com Product: TeraCascade