Photonic Integrated Circuits As the end-markets and applications for PICs multiply beyond the data center, those who fabricate silicon photonic devices will see a rising wave of opportunity that could soon convert into a tsunami of demand that towers over current production capacities by several orders of magnitude. The industry will need to scale at a pace not seen since the early days of semiconductor chips. That puts particular pressure on solving traditional production bottlenecks, such as optical alignment of PIC components and modules — a function that represents 80% of PIC assembly costs. Michael Eisenstein talks to fabricators about the alignment thresholds their production processes currently achieve, and surveys OEMs to learn how automated solutions and other measures are helping streamline PIC alignment and throughput to help meet burgeoning demand. Key Technologies: photonic integrated circuits, motion control Raman Spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy's unique combination of highly precise and non-destructive identification of chemical signatures has made it an increasingly appealing technique for art & heritage analysis applications Tim Batten of Renishaw discusses the technology's growing value in this sector and describes the particular Raman spectrometer components and designs that aim to broaden adoption by museum curators and preservationists. His feature will also share representative case studies to illustrate where and how Raman technology is being applied. Key Technologies: Raman systems and their components, including excitation lasers, and detectors. Ultrafast Laser Processing In the last several years, OLED technology has transformed the display industry. As the technology continues to improve in image quality and cost, OLEDs are rapidly replacing older display technologies in devices from TVs and laptops to smartphones and wearables. Moreover, OLED technology is enabling new types of displays – curved, flexible, foldable, and rollable – that all require new manufacturing processes. Ultrashort pulse lasers (USPs), with their ability to precisely machine sensitive materials and devices with minimal thermal damage, are ideal for processing OLED materials. In his article, MKS's Herman Chui will present the latest advances in USP technology and their implications for laser processing capabilities. He will further demonstrate key USP applications in processing OLED materials and discuss the opportunities and challenges the industry faces. Key Technologies: Ultrashort pulse lasers, OLED displays, laser scanners, motion control. Lighting for Machine Vision As increasingly efficient LED designs make heat dissipation less of an issue, machine vision lighting products are more able to integrate control electronics to expand the performance and functionality of these sources. Smart Vision Lights’ Steve Kinney will explore how integrated microprocessors and other electronics are enabling LED lighting to deliver benefits such as adaptive illumination enabling more dynamic fields of view or reduced latency when synching light pulses with camera exposure times. Key Technologies: LED lighting for machine vision, high-speed machine vision cameras, liquid lenses" Art Analysis The range of optical imaging technologies applied to verify and analyze cultural artifacts is almost as varied, and rich as the objects studied. From microscopy to infrared photography to X-radiography, optical imaging provided popular methods for the examination of cultural heritage items before micro-chemical analysis became possible. More recently, the development of new imaging and spectroscopic techniques has enabled entire objects and collections to be examined, which will subsequently provide unprecedented amounts of historical data and insights. Antonio Raspa, Senior photonics program manager at the European Photonics Industry Consortium, discusses the growing range of image processing and visualization methods as well as the mounting data they provide. His article will also highlight some of the most recent examples of photonics applied to art and heritage science. Key Technologies: Hyperspectral imaging, time-resolved fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, OCT Adjacent technologies include NIR spectroscopy and imaging methods Get Pricing hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "4478512", formId: "a7c44d89-3d22-4bc6-99af-2a80699d39dd" });