Biomedical keynotes highlight top growth areas at Laser World of Photonics 2011

Laser World of Photonics 2011 definitely seemed larger than the 2009 event--and the final tally confirmed that indeed it was. The top two growth areas were medical technology and biophotonics, according to Messe Muenchen GmbH; this year’s conference and exhibition attracted not only 8% more visitors (for a total of 27,500) but also a record number of exhibitors (1100).

The event celebrated the 20th anniversary of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with a CLEO Europe and European Conference on Biomedical Optics (ECBO) co-sponsored technology and applications tutorial by OCT pioneer Jim Fujimoto. The MIT professor drew a standing-room-only crowd; so did the two ECBO plenary talks. One, by another OCT powerhouse, Wolfgang Drexler of the Medical University of Wein (Austria), whisked audience members through OCT history highlights, and painted an enthusiastic picture of future technology and market development.

The other ECBO plenary featured Prof. Mary-Ann Mycek of the University of Michigan (USA) discussing an optical spectroscopy technique that offers exciting promise for early detection of pancreatic cancer.

Previewed at BiOS '11-Part 2

Among the products previewed in the BiOS 2011 exhibits was Oxxius’s 588 nm laser, which provides up to 50 mW of power. This is an upcoming addition to the company’s LaserBoxx laser diode product line that offers wavelengths from the ultraviolet (375 nm) all the way up to 785 nm, and is targeted to biotechnology applications.

Oxxius said that its SLIM DPSS laser line (already released) was getting a lot of attention from BiOS attendees; in particular, the 553 nm wavelength model, with up to 200 mW of power, which the company says is unique in the market. The SLIM light sources are offered in various versions: a plug-and-play version, an OEM version (for system integration), a CDRH-compliant version (for academic users), and "low noise" and "single longitudinal mode" versions.