The LASER World of PHOTONICS Trade Fair and Congress (May 12 – 16, 2013, Munich) will include a special focus on medical advances and technology using biophotonics to detect and kill cancer cells with little damage to surrounding tissue. It is already possible to mark tumors such as those in the bladder with substances that accumulate in tumor cells and fluoresce under special light. This helps physicians determine the optimum biopsy location. In the future, however, removing tissue samples may be replaced with an “optical biopsy”. Current optical biopsies examine tissue using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). This technique, well known in ...

In this video, Ron Grunsby, editor of Photonics Online, interviews Eric Swanson at Photonics West 2013, asking him questions about his industry background, the challenges associated with the invention and development of optical coherence tomography (OCT), its impact in the ophthalmology field, and its future areas of application and development.

At a time when many industries are plagued by uncertainty or are in decline, biomedical optics and biophotonics are thriving. A 2012 report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. predicts that the global market for biophotonics will exceed $99 billion by 2018. Based on the opinions of experts I recently interviewed and the level of participation expected at SPIE BiOS 2013 , such projections appear realistic.

G&H is pleased to announce the signing of a million Euro contract with a large European OEM for a range of components to be used in fiber laser systems. These include AO modulators, Fiber-Q’s, RF drivers and laser pumps which are all manufactured by the G&H group. G&H are market leaders in the provision optical components for Q-switched fiber laser systems. With the growing use of fiber optics in non-telecom applications in recent years G&H have able to use their expertise in acousto-optics and fiber optics to supply sub-systems to OEMs in a broad range ...