Thursday, November 11, 2010

A Booklet for Properties of Optical Materials

Probably most of you know that many companies have small booklets regarding different topics/ technologies on their webpages. One which I personally like is from the Oriel-LOT company and summarizes the properties of optical materials, especially transmission curves. Unfortunately it is only available in german but this will not limit you as the booklet contains to 95% transmission curves and datas, understandable for everyone.

(copied from the bookled, page 8)


You can download the booklet (pdf) here:
booklet properties of optical materials

If you know other booklets which helped you in your work, feel free to post a comment!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Attogram - free software

This post addresses more the specialists working with attosecond pulses. If you want to learn more about attosecond optics and its techniques, please read following article "attosecond physics" or visit "attoworld".

Measuring the pulse duration of an attosecond pulse is not so easy as you do with a 20fs pulse. To do so, you have to perform a streaking measurement from which you can reconstruct the desired data. Attogram is a programm designed "to reconstruct the temporal profiles of an attosecond pulse and a laser field from a streaking measurement". It also enables to analyze the chirp of the attosecond pulse.

(from attoworld)


Attogram is based on a blind FROG algorithm, and can also perform PG, SHG, THG and SD FROG retrievals. More detailed informations about the algorithm and its operation can be found in Applied Physics B 92, 25-32 and for the programm in the manual

Please download (free, no registration) Attogram from following page:


There you can find the system requirements too. Don't hesitate to contact the programmer if you have any questions or comments (contact on the download page).

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Big Laser Assembling...

In May 2008, the assembling of one of the largest laser systems in the world, hosted at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at University of Rochester, was after 3 years completed. This laser system is used for the same objects like at NIF (see post), namely for inertial confinement fusion. The following time lapse movie of the laser construction gives you a nice idea about its dimension. The main view is on this hall, which contains the "OMEGA EP" laser system.


(taken from LLE homepage)


Have fun watching it!



More time lapses movie can be found here.

If you are interested in more information, please check the links in the text.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Infinity Mirror Illusion!

Time for a movie! It doesnt need much words for this one, have fun!



(it takes some seconds, sorry)

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology

The open access "Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology" by Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta is well-known and very often consulted by researchers. I already have mention it briefly in an earlier post (literature search I) but i think it is really worth to draw your attention again on it by a separate post to this valuable and helpful encyclopedia.

Around 570 articles are listed, still growing. The navigation is clearly laid out. Most of the articles are very detailed, inlcuding references to scientific articles. They explain

"the physical principles and common techniques in laser technology, while also covering major areas of fiber-optic technology and nonlinear optics, and addressing supplementary topics like ultrashort pulses, optical communications, general optics, optoelectronics, and quantum optics."

quoted from the encyclopedia. During august 2010 around 160 000 page hits have been counted. If you havent yet known this encyclopedia, then click the link and take a minute for it. Test some keywords! You will not regret it. Have fun.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Companies & Photonics

If I ask you to write down how many companies you know working in the optic area, how many would it be? I think everyone knows Thorlabs and Newport, where most of us buy our optical components. And then... some other general well-known companies, some special companies working on your research topic, and then... i guess you know that there are much more companies.

There are several benefits for your research why to search once for other companies as to stay always at the same one:
  • finding same product but cheaper (e.g. crystals, mechanical components, daily used things)
  • better quality or performance (measurement devices)
  • better support/ shorter delivering time (that is an important aspect)
  • new products/ ideas for your research
But how to find them? A simple search with google or another search engine will often lead you to a useable result. Asking your working colleagues is good invested time too. Advertisement of new released products you can find in the different optic magazines (like Photonics Spectra and many others) or in the newsletters of the companies (wanted or unwanted you receive them ;) ). But in this post i want to draw your attention to something what many people know but also many doesnt. There are guides of companies where you can browse by subject to find different companies concerning your search. I want to introduce the one of Photonics Spectra:


You can browse by product/ service/ company name and region. The guide contains profiles and contact information for more than 4000 manufacturers and suppliers of photonics products and services worldwide. The page is clearly laid out and information are updated. Try it!

One more motivation why to know such a guide... if you are searching a job in the optics industry, you can find with the guide easily all the companies in your country ;).

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Summer School!

In my opinion, every graduate student should at least have visited one summer school during his graduate studies. Why... because you benefit a lot from a summer school!

A summer school handles of a main topic and tries to bring together graduate students and young Post-docs from diverse range of fields relevant to the main topic. Lectures are normally given by leading researchers in the field. As a graduate student you will not only learn new things but you also have the chance to talk with the lectures in a relaxed atmosphere. In the postersession you can present your own work. A summer school goes between 1 and 2 weeks.
What I liked very much was to learn other graduate students from different places, working on the same/ similar project. Very nice for everyone are the social events during the school. Mostly you are going for sightseeing a day. And, in the evenings you are free to do what you want.
Normally, there is a small summer school fee but often you can apply for a scholarship which overtakes most of the fee. Summer school anouncements you can find everywhere... in journals (Photonics Spectra), on the blackboard of your department, but best thing is to ask simply your professor/ supervisor.

As an example for a summer school:

66th Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics
International Summer School in Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics 2010

Take the chance to visit a summer school!