Oct 13 2008
A consortium led by ultrafast fiber laser manufacturer Fianium is to develop and evaluate advanced white-light (supercontinuum) fiber lasers for biomedical imaging applications.
The "WhiteLase" project is co-funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board and brings together Fianium, the Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials (CPPM) at the University of Bath and Edinburgh Instruments Ltd.
The project aims to deliver UV-content supercontinuum sources and ultra-bright visible supercontinuum sources and evaluate the technology within fluorescence imaging applications. The new lasers will offer UV content down to below 300nm and provide spectral power densities an order of magnitude higher than those of existing, commercial supercontinuum sources.
John Clowes, Director of Business Development at Fianium and coordinator of the WhiteLase project, is extremely pleased with the award and excited by the potential resulting technology, "This award is a clear recognition of our achievements at the forefront of supercontinuum fiber laser technology. Fianium's past collaboration with the CPPM at the University of Bath has been extremely successful and will be a great benefit in developing revolutionary new white light fiber lasers for biomedical imaging applications."
William Wadsworth, who leads the CPPM team, added, "The CPPM has a long and distinguished history in supercontinuum generation and the challenging objectives of the WhiteLase project will undoubtedly lead us to exciting new developments in photonic crystal fibers."
Explaining the Technology Strategy Board's support for the WhiteLase project, Technologist for Photonics, Mike Biddle, said: "We are committed to stimulating the development and deployment of technologies which, as well as benefiting society, also represent major business opportunities for the UK. This project brings together the UK's world class expertise to research and develop an innovative technology that could be exploited globally. We are delighted to offer our support and investment to Fianium and their partners in this important project."
As end-user partners within the project, Edinburgh Instruments is gaining first access to the newly-developed supercontinuum fiber lasers and evaluating these sources in a host of fluorescence imaging applications. "Fianium is also working with several industrial partners in the US and government laboratories on developing applications of supercontinuum systems. Most of these applications require operation across UV spectral range, making the project very relevant to many of our customers," adds Vladimir Kozlov, Vice President of Business Development at Fianium, Inc.