The University of Dundee and 18 European partners have been granted around £8m to develop a new generation of biomedical lasers.
The lasers will be much smaller and more efficient than current lasers, which are not portable and are heavy on energy consumption, and will also be designed for use in microscopy and nanosurgery, where high precision cutting, imaging and treatment therapies will be made possible.
The four-year project, funded by the European Commission, is being lead by Dundee with a range of collaborating European Partners.
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As the worldwide economy struggles to cope with rising fuel prices and falling consumer confidence, industry experts predict continued growth for laser manufacturers.
Novel laser designs, falling costs and continuing miniaturization are driving sustained growth in the laser market, says Steve Anderson, editor-in-chief of Laser Focus World, in an update of his 2008 laser market forecast. Speaking in Birmingham, UK, Anderson said that the laser market is unlikely to hit the 7% expansion he predicted back in January, but that laser manufacturers will still enjoy positive growth in 2008.
Anderson was speaking at a UK version of the Laser Marketplace Seminar, which is presented by Laser Focus World every year at Photonics West. The UK event, supported by the UK’s Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and hosted by the Photonics Cluster, also featured an updated forecast from David Belforte of Industrial Laser Solutions and an insight into the European photonics market by Arnold Mayer of Optech Consulting.
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The photonics-industry trade publication Laser Focus World (Nashua, NH) and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA; Washington, DC), a not-for-profit association that serves as the nexus for vision, transformation, and growth of the photonics and optoelectronics industry, recently announced a new conference and exhibition, OPTOmism: Photonics for the Green Revolution, to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, May 18-20, 2009.
As the global community increasingly recognizes the importance of energy conservation, thinking “green,” and low carbon footprints, the photonics and optoelectronics industry is gearing up to provide many of the solutions that will enable the “Green Revolution.”
From highly efficient solid-state lighting to clean manufacturing using laser processing, and from new low-power display and communications technologies to photovoltaic energy generation, the photonics industry will deliver solutions that enable greater efficiency, smaller carbon footprints, and promote economic growth.
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The days of simply reading the riot act to an angry crowd are long gone. The Home Office has been investigating the use of high-tech pain rays against mobs as an alternative to the good old water cannon, according to a report by its Scientific Development Branch due to be published next month.
The so-called active denial system (ADS) projects microwave-like radiation for distances of more than 500 yards, creating an excruciating, full-body burning sensation in anyone caught in its beam. The millimetre-wave rays penetrate skin to a depth of about 1/64in but cause no permanent damage, according to Raytheon, the system’s US-based maker. Prototypes of the weapon, called Silent Guardian, weighed about three tons and were mounted on trucks.
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Scientists are carrying out a laser scanning survey of Djosers Step Pyramid – Egypts oldest pyramid complex, in an attempt to create its virtual three-dimensional model.
The Step Pyramid was built during the reign of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty (2687-2668 BC). It is the first pyramid in Egyptian history, and the earliest stone structure of its size.
The scanning of the pyramid is being done with the help of the Zoser Scanner.
Carried on the backs of three professional climbers as they grappled to descend all four faces of the pyramids six gigantic steps, the Zoser Scanner records data at the exceedingly fast rate of 40,000 points per second using infrared signals to gather coordinates and elevations of thousands of points on the monument.
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Stretch marks are unsightly; there are no two ways about that. These annoying red, purple – or if you’re lucky and they’ve faded – silver marks, can be found on the legs, stomach, buttocks and even on your arms.
If you have ever been embarrassed by your stretch marks and just wished you didn’t have to cover them up all the time, you may want to consider laser removal, which is becoming very popular with the beauty industry.
It is only recently that laser treatment has begun to be used to remove stretch mark scars. The excimer laser which is used is very similar to that used in laser eye surgery, which has been around a while now. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002 as a safe and effective way to reduce the appearance of stretch marks.
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In the online issue of European Urology, Dr. Robin Ruszat and associates report a single institution experience of GreenLight laser vaporization of the prostate. The investigators used the technique of photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) with the 80-W GreenLight laser system.
Beginning in 2002, 500 consecutive men with BPH underwent standard evaluation and treatment with PVP. Elevated PSA had appropriate work-up and other causes of LUTS were excluded from the dataset. Seven surgeons performed the PVP at their clinic.
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Australian Police have just arrested a 19-year-old man who shone a green laser at a Police helicopter.
The crew were temporarily distracted and disoriented, but managed to land safely.
This has become something of an epidemic in Australia, with dumb kids shining the laser pointers at aircraft attempting to land at Sydney Airport.
There is a nice flash video of what this looks like from the cockpit here.
In response, the Government has banned the importation and use of these lasers unless the operator has good cause. Theoretically, this should not impact Astronomers and laser light shows!
Class 3 and 4 lasers however have been declared as prohibited weapons, and carrying them could attract a jail sentence of 14 years.
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Scientists are one step closer to fusion power thanks to work at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory that heated significant volumes of solid matter to temperatures of 10 million degrees Kelvin.
The international team of physicists from Japan, the EU and the US used intense laser pulses – producing is 100 times the entire world’s electricity production – from the Vulcan petawatt laser facility at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
A reasonable volume of matter is needed to initiate the fusion process to enable energy gain (to get more energy out than the energy needed to produce it). Previously only ultra-thin layers of matter had been heated to similar temperatures.
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37 participants attended the ‘kick-off’ launch meeting for the new four-year collaborative project FAST-DOT (‘Compact ultrafast laser sources based on novel quantum dot structures’), which is funded by a €10.1m (£8m) grant within the European Community Seventh Framework Programme.
The project aims to develop portable, low-cost, reliable, highly efficient ultrashort pulse and ultra-broadband tunable laser sources, based on novel semiconductor nanostructure clusters (QDs), for critical biomedical applications.
The FAST-DOT consortium comprises 18 complementary European research groups and companies involved in QD science, QD devices, system integration and biophotonics.
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