General application description:
- Applications which use single mode laser light in the visible to NIR wavelength range
- Best value proposition in compact systems which require tight specifications but are cost sensitive (e.g. point-of-care systems).
Life Sciences market
- confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, OCT, endoscopy, spectroscopy, optical Biosensors
In several Life Sciences applications such as confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, molecular diagnostics and spectroscopy systems, multiple laser sources are being used. Typically also the position and spot size of the light at the substrate or target is subjected to tight specifications. These systems are currently built using discrete optical components. Our PICs can be beneficial to increase robustness, reliability and compactness in combination with lower system costs
Optical Metrology
- Interferometry (homodyne, hetrodyne, multi wavelength)
- Spectrometry
In many applications for optical metrology one or more lasers are used to measure distances, surfaces or motion. PIC technology can make more compact devices and open the route to new methods of measuring.
Agro-Food market
- sorting systems, quality control systems, quality analysis systems.
In food industry and pharmaceutical industry many product lines contain large sorting machines to detect defects and contaminating products. These machines are typically equipped with a combination of camera vision systems and laser systems. Especially for sorting organic materials, the use of reflected laser light is an efficient way to discriminate different products and contaminations. In these systems our PICs can be used to increase robustness and reliability. The lack of optical alignment of our devices also facilitates easier maintenance of these systems and enables a plug&play configuration.
Electronics/Instrumentation market
- Laser based display applications
Using red, green and blue laser sources for imaging purposes has the advantage over a system using conventional light sources that there is no need for a lens system and that the image is always in focus, at any distance from the combined laser source. Especially when the image is projected on a non-flat surface, for instance a front shield of a car, this has great advantages. For these systems our technology can be used to replace the current discrete component based beam combiners. This will enable more robust systems with smaller form factors and lower cost.
Examples
Integrated Laser Beam Combiner
The Integrated Laser-Beam Combiner combines up to eight visible wavelengths between 405 and 680 nm. The combining is polarization maintaining and the combiner can be assembled with polarization maintaining fibers.
The ILBC is a compact and robust module that can be extended with different functions like:
- an integrated power tap enabling powermonitoring functionality in the combined output signal.
- the integration of intensity control function on the input channels, allowing full control over the combined output wavelength combination.
- adding a spatial switch at the output of the combiner, creating multiple output positions of the combined signal.
