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Finding a photonic detector with the ideal combination of sensitivity, speed, size, and cost can be a
challenge with any application. So why not start your search with the company that practically has them all?
With more than 1,500 detectors to choose from, Hamamatsu has the expertise to guide you to the right choice.
Take the next step today at
www.hamamatsu.com
Toll-free: USA 1-800-524-0504
manufacturer Innolume (Dortmund, Germany) forecasts
2015 sales growth of between 25 to 30%, leveraging its
product expertise in communications and medical mar-
kets. “Our biggest contributor to sales growth has been in
medical applications, specifically, 1064 nm multimode la-
ser chips for physiotherapy and a new biophotonic appli-
cation for 2015 using tunable chips,” says Innolume CEO
Guido Vogel. “Having control over a vertically integrated
laser diode manufacturing line from epitaxial growth to fi-
ber coupling and supplying both quantum-dot and conven-
tional quantum-well semiconductor laser chips and complete
modules from 780–1320 nm positions us well for future
growth. Our intense focus on sampling/prototyping activi-
ties with our customers over the past few years should bear
fruit in 2015 and beyond.”
In addition to biomedical instrumentation demand for
chips and packaged devices, Vogel adds that data commu-
nications is an important future market for Innolume. “Our
comb laser is a single-cavity DWDM [dense-wavelength di-
vision multiplexing] engine at 1310 nm able to power 8–16
channels of a datacom DWDM system and perfectly match-
es developments going on in the silicon photonics arena.”
Gas lasers—in it for the long run?
One of the most popular articles on the Industrial Laser
Solutions website in 2013 and 2014 was “Fiber versus CO2
laser cutting,” wherein Bystronic (Coventry, England) GM
David Larcombe explains the pros and cons of each type
of laser—both of which are manufactured by Bystronic.
For typical 2 to 4 kW cutting applications, Larcombe
showcased real-world cutting examples from subcontractor FC Laser (Ilkeston, England), thin-material (up to 2
mm) cutter Brattansound Engineering (Sutton, England),
electrical-enclosure maker ICEE (Waterlooville, England),
and 1. 5–4.0 mm sheet-steel cutter WEC (Lancashire,
England). The article concluded that fiber lasers—a better choice for subcontractors that cannot anticipate the
material needs of their next customer—cut thin and reflective metal materials up to 4 mm typically 50% faster and with half the power consumption of CO2 lasers,
which continue to excel in cut quality and speed for nonreflective, thick metals.
“It is the 50th anniversary of the CO2 laser and yet, surprisingly, sales continue to be strong even for U.S. manufacturers,” says Ron Schaeffer, CEO of PhotoMachining (Pelham,
