Advance Nanotech, Inc., a
leading provider of financing and support services to drive the
commercialization of nanotechnology-related products for homeland
security and display technologies, today provided an update on its
ULTRATUBE collaboration with Dow Corning - a joint venture
between Corning Inc. and Dow Chemical Co. - and the University of
Cambridge.
At the International Conference on Optical, Optoelectronic and
Photonic Materials and Applications in London, from July 30 through
August 3, 2007, scientists from the ULTRATUBE team reported significant
progress in the realization of a compact and rugged fiber laser capable
of delivering sub-picosecond (trillionth of a second) optical pulses.
Led by Dr. Andrea Ferrari and Prof. Bill Milne at the Centre
for Advance Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) of the University of
Cambridge, ULTRATUBE is a CAPE Partner Project that has benefited from
Advance Nanotech’s funding and commercialization resources as
well as Dow Corning’s provision of high-performance photonic
polymers. At this and other recent conferences, the ULTRATUBE team has
demonstrated the excellent robustness of this packaged laser, which
stems from the reduced sensitivity of the CNT-based technology to
optical misalignment and mechanical perturbations. The team has shown
how the laser module can be moved, shaken and tapped without affecting
the laser output. Increased laser operating power will soon enable a
wide range of applications, and the ULTRATUBE team has started to
collaborate with an established European laser manufacturer for the
custom development of CNT-based components for commercial pulsed lasers.
Commenting on the demonstration of the laser module, Dr.
Claudio Marinelli, Advance Nanotech’s Entrepreneur in
Residence at the University of Cambridge said: “This
demonstration provides further evidence of the continued progress of
the ULTRATUBE program. That we can demonstrate a device the size of a
paperback book with these performance characteristics not only confirms
the potential of nanotechnology but also unlocks new market
possibilities.”
ULTRATUBE researchers have mixed polymers with carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) to create very low-cost, nano-composite films that
interact with laser light to turn a continuous light beam into a train
of ultrashort pulses, with durations of only few hundred femtoseconds
(a femtosecond is one billionth of one millionth of a second).
Short-pulse lasers are used for processing (drilling, cutting and
micromachining) a wide range of materials, as well as for medical
imaging, basic research, instrumentation, inspection, measurement and
control applications. This market is currently served by diode-pumped
solid state lasers and fiber lasers. ULTRATUBE
“plug-and-play” photonic components can be
installed in existing laser systems to enable or enhance the generation
of high-quality, ultrashort optical pulses.
In recognition of their technical breakthroughs and the high
commercial potential of their work, Dr. Ferrari and his team were
short-listed in February 2007 as one of the four finalists for the
$500,000 Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation 2007. This
prestigious Royal Society award was set up in 2001 to help scientists
develop already proven prototypes in the field of nanotechnology
through to market products for commercial exploitation.