Press Releases & News

Chicago, December 8, 2008 (word count: 271)

High-resolution images are available on request.

Teem Photonics is the leader in passively Q-switched microlasers, which generate picosecond pulses with peak powers that can exceed 200kW and repetition rates as high as 70kHz. Wavelengths of operation are in the near infrared as well as the green and ultraviolet; applications include biophotonics, instrumentation, remote sensing, as well as micro-machining and marking. Teem Photonics USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Teem Photonics S.A., in France, and will present its microlasers at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 1609.

Teem Photonics is featuring PicoSpark™, which brings together Passively Q-Switched (PQS) microchip laser technology with fiber amplification, resulting in a multi-watt laser that generates picosecond pulses with hundreds of kilowatt peak power.

The PQS microchip laser is PicoSpark™’s seed and sets the pulse width in the hundreds of picoseconds. The microchip laser output is coupled into a fiber amplifier, which serves as the gain stage.

This Master Oscillator Fiber Amplifier (MOFA) architecture allows the pulse width to stay constant, while allowing the user to vary the pulse energy (or peak power) and the repetition rate independently of each other.

PicoSpark™ produces pulses with energies of hundreds of microjoules at repetition rates of a few tens of kilohertz, providing average powers of several watts. Versions are available at 1064, 532, and 355 nm. PicoSpark™ is housed in a compact, turnkey package, with an output collimated in free space. It requires only 350 watts from a standard wall plug.

Applications:
- micro-machining
- LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectrometry)
- material processing (drilling, scribing)
- marking on hard materials
- wafer dicing

For more information, please contact:

Teem Photonics USA
Jay Liebowitz
President
Tel.: (303) 325 5470
E-mail: j.liebowitz@teemphotonics.com

Teem Photonics S.A. (Headquarters)
61 Chemin du Vieux-Chene
Meylan 38246 Cedex
France
Tel.: +33 (0)4 76 04 05 06
Fax: +33 (0)4 76 04 03 02
Web: www.teemphotonics.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 5, 2008 (word count: 198)

High-resolution images are available on request.

Fastlite manufactures state of the art femtosecond lasers pulse shaping and measurement systems operating at UV, visible and near IR wavelengths. The company will show its new laser systems at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 6239.

All systems are based on Fastlite’s “Dazzler,” a widely used inline acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter known for its extreme compactness and pulse shaping accuracy. Dazzlers are commonly used in CPA, OPA and NOPA amplified systems, with shaping capabilities ranging from a few fs to ~10 ps. Dazzlers are also used in high repetition rate oscillators with pulse duration greater than ~50 fs (at 800 nm).

Fastlite’s new products are the “DazScope” and the “Phazzler” systems. The DazScope is an 800-nm pulse optimization system used in CPA lasers to automatically minimize and stabilize the amplified pulse duration.

The Phazzler is Fastlite’s full-pulse measurement system, implementing autocorrelation, FROG, XFROG, and single-shot SPIDER measurements, all in a common inline set up. With the Phazzler, one can switch between a FROG and a SPIDER measurement in a few seconds by clicking a button. Phazzlers are available in UV, visible and near IR wavelengths.

For more information, please contact:

FASTLITE
Bertrand Mennesson
Sales and Marketing Manager
North America
45-47 rue Croulebarbe
75013 Paris
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0)1 45 30 12 96
Fax: +33 (0)1 45 30 12 97
E-mail.: bertrand.mennesson@fastlite.com
Web: www.fastlite.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 4, 2008 (word count: 266)

High-resolution images are available on request.

SILIOS Technologies launches new series of very compact mini-spectrometers that cover a wide spectral range from UV to Mid-IR. SILIOS will be exhibiting at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 6249.

Low-cost and reliable, they are tailored to specific customer requirements. These mini-spectrometers are suitable for a broad range of chemical analysis and process control applications, in water treatment, agrifood and medical fields, or oil and microelectronic industries. They combine a proprietary optical micro-component, manufactured in SILIOS’ clean room facilities, a detector and an electronic board. The collective fabrication of optical chip (comparable to microelectronics) enables a drastic price-volume ratio reduction. In addition, the compactness of the spectrometer optical core is a huge advantage for measurement stability and reproducibility.

The customer can select one of the following integration levels:
- Optical chip: The chips are manufactured on wafers, sliced, controlled and packaged.
- Optical chip/imager: The chip is mounted on pixelized sensors.
- Optical chip/imager/electronic board: The optical chip/imager system is integrated on electronic board that delivers raw data to a USB link (or other), or it performs signal processing to deliver spectrum or instructions.
- Full spectrometer: This integrates an optical chip/imager/electronic board and suitable light source with mechanical parts.

The main characteristics of SILIOS’ spectrometers include a measurement by transmission, reflection or back-scattering mode, a discrete spectrum delivery, the choice and number of wavelengths and the compatibility with various types of detectors (CCD, CMOS, Ge, AsGa, micro-bolometers, etc.) according to the targeted spectral range and a resolution down to 5 nm (FWHM).

For more information, please contact:

SILIOS TECHNOLOGIES
Thierry Berthou
Sales Manager
ZI Peynier-Rousset
Rue Gaston Imbert prolongée
13790 Peynier
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0)4 42 53 89 60
E-mail: thierry.berthou@silios.fr
Web: www.silios.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 3, 2008 (word count: 324)

High-resolution images are available on request.

Microcertec S.A.S combines its expertise of precision-grinding of ceramics with thin-film metallizing and laser micromachining with the aim of offering customized carriers or packaging solutions for such applications as, for instance, infrared detectors, high-power laser diodes, semiconductor lasers or LEDs. The company will present its 3-D interconnection chip carrier at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 6142.

3-D interconnection ceramic chip carriers are smart solutions for packaging photonics devices. The chip carriers manufactured by Microcertec S.A.S prove to be smart and reliable solutions for packaging chips and integrated circuits. They enable designers to reduce the size and weight of the packaging while guaranteeing precision in positioning the electrode array. Ceramics also offer better heat dissipation, electrical insulation, and dimension stability at extreme temperatures than plastics and metals.

Description of the technology: A three-dimensional ceramic body is fully machined to the required shape and tolerances. A thin metal layer is then deposited onto by vacuum thin-film deposition technology. Finally, ablation of the metal layer is operated by a micromachining laser which enables to precisely reveal the interconnection circuit.

Benefits of the laser-etching technology: Compared with photolithography techniques for 2-D surfaces, laser micromachining enables the manufacturing of monolithic 3-D interconnection devices, with more flexibility and no expensive tooling. Microcertec’s technology allows the production of typical runs from prototypes to a few thousands of parts per year.

It also often proves to be a cheaper solution for prototypes and low-quantity batches of 2-D or 2.5-D formats because it only requires NC programming and laser processing setting. Single parts can be treated and there is usually no need for expensive fixtures. If a change in the circuit pattern is required this only implies a programming modification.

Microcertec is an independent privately owned company specialized in the manufacturing of customized components in advanced ceramics using techniques of precision grinding, high-precision ultrasonic machining, laser micromachining and thin-film metallizing.

For more information, please contact:

MICROCERTEC
Alain Charbonnier
ZA Les Portes de la Fôret
47 allée du Clos des Charmes
77615 Collégien
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0)1 60 06 63 64
E-mail: alain.charbonnier@microcertec.com
Web: www.microcertec.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 3, 2008 (word count: 257)

High-resolution images are available on request.

Fibercryst produces laser thin crystal rods with a unique geometry — very thin and very long. It offers Nd:YAG or Yb:YAG thin rods with diameters of 0.3 mm to 2 mm, and lengths up to 500 mm. Upon request, it can provide other crystals in similar dimensions. Fibercryst will present these rods and their associated laser systems at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 6146.

The company also develops laser systems using a new concept based on the thin crystal rods. Lasers using standard bulk crystals are limited in terms of average power by thermal effect. Fiber lasers using double-clad silica fibers are limited in terms of peak power by non-linear effects. Using Fibercryst thin rods technology, one can benefit both from the crystal quality (high peak power) and from the geometry of the fiber (efficient thermal management).

Thanks to this advantage, Fibercryst can offer a high-power Q-switch Yb:YAG oscillator and an Nd:YAG amplifier that are ready to integrate high-power laser systems.

The Yb:YAG oscillator, with its simple laser design, insures low price and high performance. This oscillator has already demonstrated several mJ energy at a few kHz, with pulses below 20 ns. The laser performance can be fitted to specific requirements.

The Nd:YAG amplifier is based on a patented design that allows Fibercryst technology to amplify laser sources very efficiently with low average power. This amplifier can achieve gain higher than 30 for a laser seed of 100 mW average power and ns pulses.

For more information, please contact:

FIBERCRYST
Julien Didierjean
Optical Division Manager
La Doua - Bat. l’Atrium
Boul. Latarjet
69616 Villeurbanne CEDEX
FRANCE
E-mail: j.didierjean@fibercryst.com
Web: www.fibercryst.com

or:
FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 3, 2008 (word count: 281)

High-resolution images are available on request.

SESO is specialized in optical and mechanical design (ZEMAX, Pro-Engineer, FEM analysis with Nastran) and complete manufacturing, including AIT activities, of any kind of customized optics and fully integrated optomechanical systems. It will be exhibiting at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 6148.

SESO (Société Européenne de Systèmes Optiques, European Company of Optical Systems) is a private French SME created in 1965 (75 employees, more than 30% engineers and technicians, ISO-9001 certified since 1998). SESO produces high-accuracy optical components and systems mainly under customers specifications and with a special emphasis onto aspherical surfaces (mirrors and lenses), lightened optics (such as spaceborn mirrors), low roughness polishing process (down to a few angstroms RMS), high power laser optical coatings, high accuracy and stability assembly techniques (molecular adherence, glass/glass cementing, glass/metals bounding). Its capabilities for milling, grinding, lightening, polishing and coatings are for up to 2m-class optics.

SESO is active in the following fields:

- astronomy (mirrors, lenses, spectrograph optics and systems)
- space (spaceborn optics, complete telescopes, solar simulators, focal plane assemblies)
- high-power laser optics with low-roughness polishing process and high laser damage threshold optical coatings
- General industrial and military applications (collimators, visuals for simulators, infrared optics, optical benches)
- X-ray mirrors (long mirrors, with or without their benders, bimorphic mirrors, EUV optics)

SESO is promoting and developing its products and capabilities all around the world. It is the world leader for the production of X-ray optics for synchrotrons. More than 70% of the SESO business is exported out of France with a large part shared among the different countries of the European Union, the Americas, Asia, and Australia.
For more information, please contact:

SESO
Denis Fappani
Commercial Engineer
305 Rue Louis Armand
Pôle d’Activités d’Aix-les-Milles
C.S. 30504
13593 Aix-en-Provence
FRANCE Cedex 3
Tel.:+33 (0)4 42 16 85 38
E-mail: fappani@seso.com
Web: http://www.seso.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 2, 2008 (word count: 286)
Serving the special applications fiber optic market for more than 20 years, SEDI Fibres Optiques offers a unique range of optical components as well as custom designed products for applications including high-temperature, high-pressure, biocompatibility, radiation resistance, vacuum chambers, severe chemical environment, power lasers, UV, IR, polarization maintaining devices, etc. The company will present its new optical components at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 1710.

At Photonics West 2009, SEDI will exhibit new products and services for high-performance applications:

- HV (High Vacuum) hermetic feedthroughs with a variety of connector interfaces and UHV (Ultra High Vacuum) using in option a brazed fiber technology within stainless tube associated with a DN-CF flange.

- Metallized pigtails using a special PVD (physical vapor deposition) process for improved adhesion and geometric distribution of the metal layers. In addition SEDI offers related skills such as A.R. or filter coating, ferrule brazing, lensing, tubing, connectorization, etc.

- “4Power” connector for LASER delivery patch cords: a new design deriving from a high-power SMA model, but with a 4-mm copper ferrule compatible with Mitsubishi® interfaces. The connector body and assembly system have been optimized for thermal performance and very low stress on the fiber itself.

To cope with the success of its development in the specialty market, the company has recently heavily invested in production equipment: a second evaporation chamber for fiber metallization and dichroic filters deposition, a new clean room for medical assemblies, helium leak test and high pressure test equipment, and more. The association of SEDI’s long experience of specialty fibers as the French OFS distributor, strong R&D team and ISO 9001 manufacturing explain the rapid growth of the company.

For more information, please contact:

SEDI FIBRES OPTIQUES
Pascal Slobadzian
Export Manager
Tel.: +33 (0)1 69 36 64 57
Fax: +33 (0)1 69 36 64 19
E-mail: slobadzian.p@sedi-fibres.com
Web: www.sedi-fibres.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 2, 2008 (word count: 286)

High-resolution images are available on request.

PHASICS manufactures high-resolution wavefront sensors and associated devices and software for laser characterization and optical metrology. The company will present an adaptive optics loop based on its wavefront sensor and its software to drive a deformable mirror at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, on the French Pavilion at booth 1611.

The high-resolution wavefront sensors (SID4) are based on an innovative and patented technology: 4-wave lateral Shearing Interferometry, which offers the optimal design features for laser characterization and optical metrology: sensitivity, high resolution and dynamic range measurement.

The SID4 device gives the main information for a complete characterization of a beam in a single measurement, including:
- beam’s wavefront with the aberrations (high-resolution phase map up to 160 x 120 measurement points)
- the intensity profiles with a Gaussian fit, beam size, ellipticity
- M² value (according to ISO11146 standard) and Strehl ratio for the beam quality

PHASICS adaptive optics systems offer the prospect of beam focusing optimization and beam shaping in real time. For imaging systems, the company ensures diffractive limited performances. OASys includes the high-performance SID4 wave front sensor, a deformable mirror and the software to drive both the analyser and the deformable mirror, all best suited to the application. The OASys software is dedicated to control the correction device (deformable mirror, SLM, or deformable membrane) and is linked to the SID4 main interface software.

For optical metrology, Kaleo measures at the same time the aberrations, the focal length and the MTF of spherical and aspherical optics. Our innovative technology allows characterizing highly opened optics (up to f/1.6) without any relay lens. Kaleo is particularly adapted to industry needs and allows a complete diagnostic of the lens quality.

For more information, please contact:

PHASICS
Françoise Le Doze
Administrative Assistant
XTEC Bldg. 404
Campus de l’Ecole Polytechnique
Route de Saclay
91128 Palaiseau
FRANCE
Tel: +33 (0)1 69 33 89 87
E-mail: ledoze@phasics.fr
Web: www.phasics.fr

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 2, 2008 (word count: 499)

High-resolution images are available on request.

The new Digital Wavefront Sensors® (DWS®), by PhaseView, are smart and cost-effective optical instruments providing the highest resolution and dynamic range available on the marketplace for wavefront analysis and laser beam profiling. They deliver fast and reliable evaluation of wavefronts with ultimate performances at any wavelengths. They measure wavefronts with an outstanding resolution (typically 360,000 points) only limited by the resolution of CCD sensors. Thanks to its flexibility in dynamic and resolution, DWS® sensors can address the most demanding applications in optics, laser beam analysis or in ophthalmology. The company will present its DWS® sensor at Photonics West 2009 in San Jose, Calif., from Jan. 27 to 29, at booth 6245.

DWS represents the latest advances in wavefront sensing providing unique advantages compared to conventional Shack-Hartmann sensors. With 600 x 600 measurement points available, DWS® yields wavefront measurement with l/100 accuracy and l/200 sensitivity while attaining dynamic range of 1500l for the wavelength range between 350 nm and 1100 nm.

For laser beam measurement, DWS® is used to obtain high-resolution intensity and wavefront images of the propagating beam at one location on a 1M pixel CCD array camera. From the one-shot intensity and phase measurements and numeric propagation the laser beam is obtained at >10 positions. The instrument is suitable for measurement of both CW and pulsed lasers down to single-shot rates, and provides quantitative measurement of M2 parameter and numerous other beam spatial characteristics. Beam diameters are obtained with accuracy to better than 2% that translates to M2 measurements with accuracy to better than 4%.

Powered by DWS®, the new PhaseViews’ WaveGauge® instrument is ideally suited for testing aspheric lenses with diameters from 3 mm to 8 mm. With 250,000 measurement points and repeatability of l/1000 and absolute accuracy of l/100 over entire tilt dynamic range 1500l and in real time (measurement frequency of 15Hz), WaveGauge® offers reliable quality control on line and improves productivity by saving production cost. WaveGauge® is the only aspheric lens tester on the marketplace providing ultra high precision that ensures to always meet the most demanding needs in optics manufacturing in cost-effectiveness, improving productivity with fast return on investment.

The new PhaseViews’ SurPhaseHS® sensor allows very fast 3-D measurement for the shop floor or in line production. Roughness with Ra below 1nm or profiles up to 500 µm height can be measured in less than 1 second for 1M measurement points, with high accuracy and repeatability. PhaseView offers both turnkey and OEM version to ease integration in automated inspection systems.

This new 3-D optical instrument comes in a smart light-weight packaging, and is completely insensitive to vibrations for use in any industrial environment. The total measurement and processing time for an area of 2 x 2 mm does not exceed 2 seconds. With axial range up to 500 µm, axial repeatability of 10 nm is achieved. Roughness from 0.1 to 3 µm can be measured. Areas of up to 100 x 100 µm can be measured and processed with enhanced software stitching capability.

For more information, please contact:

PHASEVIEW
Gael Launay
Marketing & Sales Manager
7, rue de la Croix Martre
91120 Palaiseau
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0)1 69 32 12 78
Cell: +33 (0)6 07 76 22 41
Fax: +33 (0)1 69 20 60 41
E-mail: contact@phaseview.net
Web: www.phaseview.net

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, November 26, 2008 (word count: 349)

High-resolution images are available on request.

MARCOSERUSSI is an original retail apparel concept with an Italian flavor dedicated to men that centers around shirts and includes ties, sweaters, sports shirts, fashion accessories, and more. This convivial store presents MARCOSERUSSI products, a wide range of articles combining fashion and quality at a reasonable price for men of all ages and styles. The company opened its first U.S. location in Miami in April 2008 with a great response and is looking to open more locations. It will be exhibiting on the French Pavilion at Franchise Expo South in Miami from Jan. 9 to 11, booth 817. In addition to the recent success in Miami, the company has plans to open a store on Fifth Avenue in New York as well as an office.

The MARCOSERUSSI aim is to satisfy the customer needs by offering them a rich choice and permanent renewal of products at an attractive price (shirts start at EUR 25, about 30 USD). There are nearly 250 different models of shirts in the store on average. The brand also includes sweaters made of merino wool, cotton, and cashmere in a wide range of shapes and colors. It also offers sports shirts, tee-shirts, silk ties, socks, and underwear.

Being the market leader in men’s shirts in France with 80 locations, MARCOSERUSSI is a popular concept that sells easily to men. The store integrates a cozy Franco-Italian ambience evoking quality and masculinity with a welcoming boutique feel. To top it off, the concept includes friendly, personal, and professional customer service for fashion advice.

For the potential franchiser, the company puts its expertise and potential at their service. The label’s success comes from working with highly motivated professionals with a strong sense of trade relations. The company’s network management team, which works closely with the franchises, and its marketing team are dedicated to the franchisees’ interests. These teams help add to the reliability of permanent partnership and uphold the brand identity.Together, they enhance the MARCOSERUSSI label’s strong and fast-expanding development.

The Miami store’s address is:

MARCOSERUSSI
Mark Brickell Village
900 S. Miami Ave., Ste. 175
Miami, FL 33130

For more information, please contact:

MARCOSERUSSI
Fabrice Calvo
Network Communications Manager
12, rue de l’Epine Prolongée
93170 Bagnolet
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 (0)1 48 70 97 97
E-mail: fabrice@marcoserussi.com
Web: www.marcoserussi.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr