Market Focus
Part of the CLEO: Applications program, Market Focus sessions cover business and commercialized applications and are held on the exhibit floor. Market Focus is free to all attendees.
Market Focus Chairs
Gail Overton; Laser Focus World, USA, CLEO Market Focus Chair
Nick Traggis; Precision Photonics Corp., USA, CLEO Market Focus Co-Chair
Market Focus Committee
Dr. Tony Hoult, IPG Photonics, USA
Bill Kozlovsky, Skyline Solar, USA
Keshav Kumar, Newport Corp., USA
L. A. (Vern) Schlie, Integral Laser Solutions, USA
Eric Takeuchi, Daylight Solutions, USA
Industrial Lasers
High Energy Lasers for Industrial Uses, L. A. (Vern) Schlie, Independent Consultant, Integral Laser Solutions, LLC, USA, Moderator
High Energy Lasers, particularly the closed cycle gas and solid-state laser systems, are becoming increasingly attractive for industrial uses for both creation of new applications and enhancing present uses. In this session, presentations on fiber, thin disk, and bulk SSL plus closed cycle RF waveguide lasers will be presented. The talks will concentrate on the unique features of the HEL systems that open new uses, with emphasis on system compact packaging, efficiency, 24/7 operation, and present commercial sales. Also, the future needs and trends for these HEL systems will be discussed. Following the presentations, a round-table “question and answer” workshop will be conducted whereby the audience can question the six presenters on matter dealing with present & expanded future uses of HEL industrial uses for the next decade, 2010–2020, throughout the world.
Speakers:
Industrial Perspectives of Ultrafast High Energy and High Average Power Fiber Lasers, Prof. Andreas. Tünnermann, Director, Fraunhofer Inst. for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, Germany
In the past years rare-earth-doped fiber lasers have emerged as attractive and power scalable solid-state laser concept due to the outstanding thermo-optical properties of an actively doped fiber. The large ratio of surface to active volume of such a fiber ensures excellent heat dissipation, furthermore the beam quality is defined by the refractive index profile of the active core and is therefore independent on the pump power. Fiber lasers and amplifiers offer a very high single-pass gain and therefore low laser thresholds and efficient diode-pumped operation.
Using advanced fiber designs, in continuous-wave operation output powers exceeding the multi-kW-level with diffraction-limited beam quality have been demonstrated. In the pulsed regime average powers in the order of several hundred Watt have been reported. However, power and energy scaling of ultrafast single-mode fiber amplifiers is restricted due to nonlinear pulse distortions, which are enforced by the large product of intensity and interaction length inside the fiber core. This limitation can be overcome by sufficient pulse stretching in the time domain and the enlargement of the mode-field diameter of the fiber to reduce the nonlinear effects such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and self-phase modulation (SPM). The application of this technique leads to a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) system based on large-mode-area fibers (LMA), where power scaling is limited by the maximum acceptable phase distortion due to self-phase modulation.
Rare-earth-doped LMA photonic crystal fibers combine the advantages of an extended mode field area of an intrinsically single-mode core and an air-clad PCF with very high pump core NA. Using these fibers, we demonstrated a LMA fiber CPA system with 950 W of average power at 78 MHz pulse repetition frequency with excellent beam quality. The pulses are efficiently compressed to 640 fs pulse duration and 830 W of average power. In optimising the peak power, pulse energies up to 1 mJ at femtosecond pulse duration have been demonstrated. The current status and perspectives of ultrafast fiber laser systems and the application in production technology will be reviewed.
Andreas Tünnermann received the diploma and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Hannover in 1988 and 1992, respectively. His habilitation was related to topics on ultrastable light sources for interferometric gravitational wave detectors.
In the beginning of 1998 he joined the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany as a Professor and Director of the Institute of Applied Physics. In 2003 he became the Director of the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in Jena.
He is known for his pioneering work in fiber laser technology and the application of high power femtosecond lasers for materials processing.
Professor Tünnermann´s research activities on optics and applied quantum electronics have been awarded with the Roentgen-Award 1997, WLT-Award 1998, Otto-Schott-Award 2003, Leibinger Innovation Award 2004 and the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Award 2005.
Impact of High Power Fiber Lasers on Materials Processing Market, Tim Webber, IPG Photonics, USA
This presentation will review the current status of fiber technology, especially power levels, beam properties, and product configurations. This will be followed by a description of successful applications in the transportation, medical, and microelectronics industries at power levels from 200 watts to 20,000 watts. This presentation will conclude with a look forward to fiber technology’s future applications at power levels of 30,000 watts to 50,000 watts.
Tim Webber, Market Development Manager at IPG Photonics, has been a contributor to the industrial laser technology since 1983. The author of nearly thirty technical articles published in leading professional journals or professional conference proceedings, Tim also contributed a chapter to a widely-used textbook, Laser Materials Processing (1996). Tim is a Manufacturing Engineering graduate of the College of Engineering, University of California at Berkeley.
High Power Ceramic Laser Technology, Prof. Ken-ichi Ueda, Inst. for Laser Science, Univ. of Electro-Communications (ILS/UEC), Japan
New technology on ceramic fabrication from nano-crystalline powder created new generation of solid state lasers. Ceramic lasers demonstrated higher power and higher efficiency in CW mode performance than single crystalline lasers. New concept of combined active media amplification allowed to generate ultrashort pulse generation from LD-pumped ceramic lasers with high efficiency. The review of ceramic laser technology and future prospects will be discussed.
Ken-ichi Ueda was born in Osaka in 1946. He received the BS and MS degrees from Osaka University and DrSci degree from the University of Tokyo.
After research works in R&D center of JEOL, and the Physic Department of Sophia University in Tokyo, he joined the Institute for Laser Science at University of Electro-Communications in 1981. In ILS/UEC he investigated a large scale excimer laser system for laser fusion and ultra-short and ultra-high peak power lasers. In 1990 he began to develop an ultra-stabilized laser-diode-pumped solid laser and ultra-high quality optics for gravitational wave antenna. He developed kW-output fiber-embedded disk lasers for industrial applications. He is a pioneer of ceramic lasers. He demonstrated 0.5 W and 60% efficiency in 1999, and demonstrated 1.5 kW output from Nd:YAG ceramics in 2002. In 2004 he reported a ceramic laser achieved better performance than a single crystalline laser for the first time. He has proposed many new ideas on solid state lasers and their applications.
Infrared and Green High-Power Lasers for Material Processing, Dr. Michael von Borstel, Vice President of Research and Development and Operations, TRUMPF Laser and Systemtechnik GmbH, Germany
TRUMPF Group is a company which develops and manufactures high-power lasers for material processing. In this talk new developments by TRUMPF in the field of high-power CO2 and disk lasers will be presented:
- A CO2 laser with cw power up to 50 kW.
- A Yb:YAG disk laser with cw power up to 20 kW.
- An intracavity-frequency doubled Yb:YAG thin-disk laser with 700 W at a repetition rate of 100 kHz.
Dr. Michael von Borstel studied Physics at the Universitiy of Giessen (Germany) and graduated as Diplom-Physiker. In 1987 he received his doctorate in Physics with a dissertation in the field of laser spectroscopy.
Since 1988 Dr. von Borstel has been Head of the CO2-Development Department of TRUMPF Lasertechnik GmbH in Ditzingen (Germany). In 2003 he became Vice President of Research and Development and Operations at TRUMPF Laser- und Systemtechnik GmbH.
High Energy Lasers: New Tools for Industrial Applications, Dr. Edward F. Stephens, Director of Engineering, Northrop Grumman-Cutting Edge Optronics, USA
Decades of research and development in the military and aerospace industry have produced diode pumped high energy lasers capable of being used as directed energy weapons. Continuously pushing the limits of laser technology, these programs have now achieved greater than 100kW CW with good beam quality. In parallel, manufacturing industries have demanded and developed unprecedented laser system reliability thus enabling their broad adoption across many manufacturing sectors. This presentation discusses examples of how high energy lasers that satisfy the needs of both industries have and will continue to enable new technologies for the foreseeable future.
Dr. Edward Stephens is currently the Deputy General Manager at Northrop Grumman’s Cutting Edge Optronics division based in St. Charles, Missouri. Since joining the company in 1996, he has held many positions including Director of Engineering, Director of Product Development, and Director of Semiconductor Packaging. He has been involved in all aspects of research, development, manufacturing, and marketing semiconductor lasers and diode pumped solid state lasers at the company. He has written numerous papers and presentations on semiconductor and solid state lasers and holds more than 25 patents in the area of semiconductor laser packaging and cooling.
Previous to Cutting Edge Optronics, Dr. Stephens worked in the McDonnell Douglas semiconductor laser group in St. Louis, MO. At McDonnell Douglas, he performed both theoretical and experimental research in the area of high-powered semiconductor arrays. Dr. Stephens received his PhD in Atomic Physics from University of Missouri-Rolla.
Photonics for Defense and Security
Threat Detection, Eric Takeuchi, Director of Business Development, Daylight Solutions, USA, Moderator
The threats from global terrorism continue to evolve. Both at home and abroad, the lives of our soldiers and citizens are continually at risk from attack. Photonics technologies are starting to play an increasing role in detecting and defeating a multitude of current and emerging threats. Stand-off detection of explosives and chemical agents, infrared imaging surveillance and aircraft protection are only a few of the applications in which photonics plays an enabling role. This panel will review a diverse cross section of these topics and provide perspectives on the future growth of photonics technologies in these applications.
Speakers:
Optical Method for Standoff and Contact Detection of Explosives, Adam Bingham, Research Scientist, ICx Technologies, USA
Explosive threats present a variety of challenges for detection at both trace and bulk levels. Optical technologies, such as Raman spectroscopy, chemiluminescence, and hyperspectral imaging provide enabling capabilities for detecting threat signatures in both contact and standoff geometries. Current state of the art methods for standoff and contact detection of explosives will be discussed, and the current challenges facing explosives detection will be explored.
Dr. Bingham received his BS in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester and his PhD in Photonics from Oklahoma State University. After graduation, he joined ICx Technologies, where his work has focused on Raman and infrared spectroscopy for standoff and contact identification of explosives, TICs/TIMs and other hazardous materials. Dr. Bingham has designed and built standoff detection systems based upon Raman, IR and fluorescence technologies. Dr. Bingham’s previous research involved designing and testing far-IR (THz) integrated optics for sensing applications. These devices, including filters, waveguides and resonators utilized lithographically fabricated photonic crystal technology.
Remote Detection and ID of Explosive and Chemical Threats, Price Kagey, Vice President, Advanced Technology; Surface Optics Corp., USA
We discuss two topics: (1) Battlefield chemical and explosive threats, and (2) specific E-O detection techniques for threat associated vapors and residues.
(1) Threats such as homemade explosives (HME's) and ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO) have relatively high vapor pressures, and are thus candidates for E-O exploitation, as are many chemical threats. (2) Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) develops and manufactures real-time VNIR-LWIR hyperspectral (HS) imagers, whose utility for remote explosive residue detection is being investigated with some positive results in the 1–2.7 micron band. SOC plans experiments with their imaging FTIR, ImageFTIR. SOC's 120/240 band VNIR imagers provide reliable vehicle/container tracking and locating, but as yet SOC hasn't seen reliable VNIR spectra associated with these threats. Laser wave mixing research shows promise for in-situ detection of vapors and with appropriate imaging system, remote detection. The increasing availability of higher power tunable QCLs provides both reliable target species detection and identification.
While serving in the 82nd Airborne Division Dr Kagey considered physics as an attractive alternative to night jumps. After receiving a PhD in theoretical physics from Temple University he joined The Aerospace Corporation and modeled nuclear effects and developed and modeled RF penetration aids for Minuteman II/III. This was followed by 10 years in the Central Intelligence Agency serving as a SIGINT specialist, operations officer, and as branch, division, and group chiefs. In addition to SIGINT he became increasingly involved with a variety of E-O related activities(MASINT). His career in industry includes the development of both RF and E-O collection and exploitation technologies and techniques; UV through LWIR and HF through 115 GHz (CO emissions). Prior to joining Surface optics Corporation Dr Kagey was a Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin where he sponsored research in some of the techniques discussed today.
The Role of Optical-Based Sensors in Security, Tim Rayner, EU Government Affairs Technical Director, Rapiscan Systems Ltd., UK
The methods and technologies used to ensure the safety of the travelling public have not changed much since the 1970s. Checkpoints are routinely used at airports and other high value buildings, with surveillance used in other scenarios such as mass transit. However as recent events have shown, new methods and technologies need to be introduced to ensure the continued safety of the traveler. Aviation checkpoints are currently undergoing a significant improvement program to counter non-metallic person borne threats. However these improvements come at the cost of reductions to the flow of commerce which is problematic for the transport system and traveler alike. New approaches are required that allow for an acceptable level of security, but with minimal interruption to the flow of commerce. Standoff threat detection holds out the promise of achieving such an outcome by means of optical techniques, which are at the forefront of developments in this area. Rapiscan is responding and developing processes and technologies to provide effective security with minimal disruption to the flow of commerce.
Prior to joining Rapiscan Systems, Ltd., as Director of Advanced Technology, Dr. Rayner was Director of Business Development for Daylight Solutions, Inc. Before this he worked in senior research and development roles at QRSciences, General Electric, InVision Technologies and Quantum Magnetics. Dr. Rayner has twenty-two years experience in the security business, developing technologies and sensors for various applications based on quadrupole resonance (QR), magnetic resonance (MR), computed tomography (CT) and mid-IR absorption spectroscopy At Daylight Solutions, Inc., his role was to build a viable government funded research business focusing on the development of optical standoff threat detection and imaging technologies. He was responsible for winning a number of key awards from the US Army, the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While at QRSciences, as Chief Technology Officer, his role was to consider technology development for the company and in this role developed a new product line focused on non-invasive weapons detection in baggage as well as continuing to push the state of the art with quadrupole resonance for explosive detection in a variety of scenarios including cargo, personnel and vehicles. He was responsible for executing over $35 million dollars worth of US Government funded programs resulting in technologies and solutions for aviation checkpoint, baggage, cargo, vehicles and infrastructure. Dr. Rayner holds a BS and PhD degrees from King’s College, University of London in Physical Chemistry.
Biophotonics
From the Lab to Market: Commercialization of Biophotonics IP, Keshav Kumar, Product Marketing Manager, Newport Corp., USA, Moderator
Biophotonics has evolved as one the active interdisciplinary area of research in the last decade of 20th century and shows an even greater potential for the 21st century. The development of efficient and stable light sources and many other optical components and systems has been a major catalyst behind this evolution. The usage of these new era components has helped researchers to understand the complicated biological molecules by measuring its interaction with light generated from variety of light sources. Getting a clear image of biomolecules on sub nanometer scale and understanding the molecular level dynamics on different timescales ranging from seconds to femtosecond scale has received most focus in recent times. The belief lies behind understanding the biomolecules and its time resolved dynamics that will allow us to diagnose the disease in very early stage and also help us in developing more effective medicines for different diseases arising from undesired molecular compositions and dynamical motions. However, this development in technology and its usage to understand biomoelcues would not have been effective without the great collaboration between researchers in university and industry who worked hard towards making this commercially available for betterment of human health. In this session we will focus on the upcoming technologies and solutions that will allow us to decipher the structure, kinetic and dynamical motion of biomolecules in greater detail and put us one step further in direction of better diagnosis and personalized medicine.
Speakers:
Skin Diagnostics: A Global Solution, Raj Chhibber, CEO, BrighTex Bio-Photonics LLC, USA
Quantification of skin conditions for developing new skin products, carrying out product studies for efficacy and safety by the independent labs. Formulating customized cosmetic for the end user and prescribing products and cosmetic treatments based on global skin conditions measured.
Raj Chhibber, CEO, BrighTex Bio-Photonics LLC, San Jose, California, US has 25 years experience in the Silicon Valley developing metrology equipment for the Semiconductor industry. He has held Senior management positions including engineering, research, and development at Nanometrics, Phase-Metrics, Therma-Wave, Micro Lithography, Eastman Kodak. He is the founder of many start up companies in the semiconductor metrology Technology sector and now a founder of BrigTex Bio-Photonics; the leader in Skin diagnostics for the cosmetic Industry. He earned a BSc and MS in Applied Physics from University of Essex, UK. He also received a Diploma in applied Physics from the Institute of Physics UK.
What Is Holding Back Ultrafast Laser Applications? Marcos Dantus, President and CEO of BioPhotonic Solutions Inc. and Distinguished Professor at Michigan State Univ., USA
Ultrafast lasers are critical for a number of biophotonic applications including two-photon imaging, corrective eye surgery, and even proteomics. In general, shorter pulses yield better results. Presently, the most significant technical bottle neck is delivering reliable ultrashort pulses to the target. This task requires accurate measurement of nonlinear optical dispersion and compensation. Biophotonic Solutions Inc. has developed the award winning MIIPS technology which seamlessly incorporates measurement and compression to deliver transform limited pulses. MIIPS has successfully compressed most ultrafast laser sources including those using supercontinuum from PCF fibers. We will present the latest developments in automated pulse compression from Biophotonic Solutions and discuss how these advances eliminate the need for manual tweaking, significantly reduce the cost of design, manufacture and operation of ultrafast lasers, and finally enable scientific research.
Dr. Dantus received his PhD in Chemistry (1991 Caltech) on the development of Femtochemistry, and his postdoctoral work on the development of Ultrafast Electron Diffraction under Professor Zewail (1999 Nobel Prize). He is a University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Physics at Michigan State University. His interests include ultrafast laser pulse theory and design, control of nonlinear laser-matter interactions, and biomedical imaging. Dantus has more than 150 publications, 43 invention disclosures and 13 patents related to the characterization, compression and applications of ultrashort shaped laser pulses in the areas of nonlinear optics, communications, biomedical imaging, and analytical chemistry instruments. Dantus has started three companies and is presently serving as the President and CEO of BioPhotonic Solutions Inc. Dantus is the President of the OSA Ann Arbor, MI chapter and serves on the board of advisors for Chemical Physics Letters.
Advancements of Ultrafast Lasers for Multiphoton Microscopy, Arnd Krueger, Senior Director of Strategic Marketing, Newport Spectra-Physics, USA
The development of compact, fully automated and widely wavelength-tunable ultrafast lasers has triggered an explosive growth in their use in a broad array of multiphoton microscopy techniques. Over the past decade laser manufacturers have constantly improved the performance characteristics of these sources to meet the requirements of the biomedical user community for live cell imaging with longer cell viability and deeper tissue penetration. We will review the latest advances at Newport Spectra-Physics in the development of lasers and supporting systems for nonlinear microscopy, and discuss how they benefit the end user and progress application development.
Dr. Arnd Krueger is currently Senior Director of Strategic Marketing at Newport Corporation in Santa Clara, California, responsible for the company’s Life & Health Sciences and Research markets. Prior to his current appointment, Arnd was leading the team of Product Managers, Product Specialists, and Application Engineers as Senior Director of Marketing at Spectra-Physics, which since 2004 has been a Division of Newport Corporation. Earlier he was in charge of a cross-functional team of marketing, factory service, and engineering, focusing on growth opportunities and products in the ultrafast laser market. Arnd joined the German subsidiary of Spectra-Physics in 1995 and transferred to the company’s California headquarters in 1999, holding a variety of positions in marketing, product management, and technical sales. Born and raised in Germany, Arnd received his PhD in Physics from the University of Düsseldorf in 1994. Subsequently he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Leiden in Netherlands.
Liquid Array for Proteomic Analysis, Bao Nguyen, Director of R&D, Arrayomics Inc., USA
There is an increasing demand for accurate and cost-effective high multiplex platform for quantitative protein analysis. The most commonly used systems involve either a 2-D microarray or liquid based microbeads. Separately, these systems have significant limitations and advantages. Our ArrayableESP™ platform combines the high multiplexing capabilities and design adaptability of the 2-D arrays with the resilience and flexibility of the bead-based arrays. Protein and DNA based assays have been successfully carried out on our particles as small as 20x30x3 microns. This talk will focus on the detection methods, in junction with ArrayableESP™ platform, that would enable overcome current plexing limitations.
Bao Nguyen received his BS in Bioengineering from University of California, San Diego and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from San Diego State University. As Director of R&D at Arrayomics, he is involved with designing and manufacturing ArrayableESP™ platform, optical detection system, as well as assay development. Prior to joining Arrayomics, Mr. Nguyen studied cartilage regeneration and tissue engineering at Shiley Center for Orthopedics Research and Education at Scripps Clinic.
Why Biophotonics Can Help Find Cures to Diseases, Quoc-Thang Nguyen, CEO, FemtoScience, USA
Pharmaceutical companies (“pharmas”) will experience a severe loss of revenues in the next few years. The patent of their currently marketed drugs will expire soon and their drug pipeline is running dry. Their internal R&D is shut down to reduce costs. To overcome this situation, pharmas increasingly outsource drug development to smaller partners. These companies often rely on specific proprietary technologies to accelerate drug development. There is a window of opportunity for biophotonics entrepreneurs to enter new markets worth tens of billions of dollars.
Quoc Thang Nguyen is the founder and CEO of FemtoScience, a biotech startup that uses biophotonics to find cures for brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, epilepsy and nicotine addiction. Femtoscience relies on a novel assay to detect specific brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. This IP-protected technique was invented by Quoc while he was a NIH-funded scientist in the Physics Department at UCSD. Quoc has a BS in engineering, a MS in Molecular Biophysics from the University Paris VI and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of California Irvine. Quoc won the Ralph Gerard Prize and is a Grass Fellow.
Photonics for Energy
Why the Solar Industry Excites Photonics and Laser Suppliers, Dr. Tony Hoult; General Manager, IPG Photonics, USA, Moderator
Lasers and solar photovoltaic (‘PV’) cells are often top-10 listings when scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century are compiled; all the more topical considering they share both theoretical origins (embedded in quantum theory of the early 1900s) and world-firsts announced at the Bell Laboratories during the 1950s. But increasing progress worldwide towards aggressive ecological targets on emissions–coupled with advances in low-cost manufacturing of high-efficiency solar panels–has propelled the solar industry in size (revenues, employees) way ahead of the laser industry. Market trends however within the laser and solar industries have become somewhat interwoven. Solar manufacturers are constantly finding new applications for laser-based tools: conversely, laser manufacturers are accelerating new product developments of ‘solar-specific’ laser sources. This session includes a diverse range of speakers to provide their perspectives on the relevant technical background and emerging market trends impacting on future laser source adoption within the solar industry.
Speakers:
Recent Advances in Laser Tools for Photovoltaic Manufacturing, David Clark, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing – Photovoltaics, Newport Corp./Spectra-Physics, USA
Solar in California: Policy and Technical Overview, Jurgen Daniel, Senior Scientist, Palo Alto Research Center, USA
Solar technology is perceived as the most viable long-term solution to the future global energy demand.
Particularly, in regions such as California with abundant sunshine, solar technology has significant growth potential. Californian government policies have been put into place to foster solar technology and utilities are increasingly embracing solar installations as part of their alternative energy mix. California, and in particular the San Francisco Bay Area, has also been the breeding ground for many new solar technologies.
This presentation will focus on solar photovoltaics and review some of the recent policies and technological developments in California. Examples of technological advances from industry and academia will be given including first-, second- and third-generation photovoltaics.
Jurgen Daniel is Senior Scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center where his research includes printed electronics, display technologies, micro-electro-mechanical systems and photovoltaics. Previously, he worked at Oxford Instruments and at FEI Europe and in 1998 he was visiting scientist at the Matsushita Research Institute, Tokyo. He holds a Dipl. Phys. degree from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK. Jurgen Daniel is founder and president of the Silicon Valley Photovoltaics Society (SVPVS).
Laser Processes within Solar Manufacturing, Corey Dunsky, President, Aeos Consulting, Inc., USA
The Need for 3-D Surface Characterization in PV Solar Cell Manufacturing, Andrew Masters, Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Business Development, Metrology and Instrumentation Group, Veeco Instruments, USA
The solar energy industry has experienced dynamic growth over the last several years, due in part to factors such as high oil prices, government energy initiatives, and a growing worldwide awareness of the potential impact of greenhouse gas emissions and associated carbon footprints on the environment.
Multiple photovoltaic technologies are presently competing for share of this growing market from traditional “bulk” crystalline silicon, through thin-film technologies including amorphous silicon, Cadmium Telluride CdTe and CuInGa(Se)2, or CIGS,.cells.
As with any industry, the key driver for commercial success is the overall cost to the end user, be it residential installations or grid-connected, utility-scale systems. While there are advantages and disadvantages to each of these technologies solar cell manufacturers are united in the goal to decrease the cost per kilowatt-hour for electricity over the life of the system. This cost can only go down if solar cell technologies continue to evolve.
Accurate 3-D surface metrology of key features is a critical to increasing solar cell efficiencies and improving yield, thereby decreasing manufacturing costs.
Andrew Masters is the Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Business Development for Veeco Instruments Metrology and Instrumentation Group. Prior to joining Veeco he was Director of Marketing for the OEM and Instrumentation markets at Coherent Inc. Between 2001 and 2005 Andrew held a number of positions within Coherent including Senior Business Development Manager – Microelectronics, North American Sales Manager for the Lambda Physik subsidiary and Sales Manager for Latin America and Australia. Prior to moving to the US in 2001 Andrew was the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Physical Sciences division within Coherent Scientific Pty Ltd. Andrew undertook his undergraduate studies in Math and Physics at the Flinders University of South Australia and PhD studies in the Laser Atomic Physics Group at Griffith University in Brisbane Australia.
Opportunities for Concentrating PV, Bill Kozlovsky, USA, Moderator
Large-scale commercial solar deployments are being planned with a wide array of alternative architectures. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) system use focused sunlight to generate power via steam turbines and sterling engines. Concentrating Photovoltaic systems (CPV) use focused sunlight to reduce the amount of PV materials that are needed for electrical generation. In both CPV and CSP architectures, traditional optics and optical materials play critical roles. Reflective materials, coatings, Fresnel lenses, and secondary optics are key components to enabling efficient, low cost, and scalable solutions. This session will cover the demanding cost, performance, and reliability specifications needed for CPV and CSP components, as well as volume needs for their rapidly expanding deployments.
Speakers:
Title to Be Announced, Steve Horne, Chief Technical Officer, SolFocus, Inc., USA
Why Medium Concentration CPV? Eric Johnson, Co-founder and Director of Advanced Development, Skyline Solar, USA
As standard crystalline silicon PV modules are pushed down the price-volume curve by expanding Chinese capacity, and CSP projects are beginning to get financed again, what are the system level requirements for medium concentration CPV to de-risk and scale in a carbon-meaningful way?
Eric co-founded Skyline Solar (with Bob MacDonald and Bill Keating) in 2007. Previously, he consulted for a variety of solar companies - both independently and as a Senior Engineer with GreenMountain Engineering, a consultancy focused on clean technology. Prior to GreenMountain, he was ‘the MechE’ at Phasebridge (aquired by Emcore) where he co-invented a bracket for laser welding photonics components with sub-micron accuracy. His career began in energy storage at Beacon Power, developing high performance (25,000 RPM) flywheel systems. Eric received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell.
Title to Be Announced, Wayne Miller, Vice President of Engineering, GreenVolts, Inc., USA
Mr. Miller has a proven 20-year track record designing groundbreaking solar and high technology products. Previously, he was Vice President of Product and BOS (Balance of System) Engineering at Solyndra where he led the company’s product development and field operations team for their non-penetrating cylindrical CIGs thin film solar module. Additionally, he built and led the engineering team at SolFocus where he was responsible for the development of the company’s original concentrating photovoltaic system. Prior, Mr. Miller spent 15 years designing products for high volume production at a number of global technology leading companies, including Credence Systems, Apple Computers, In Focus Systems and AT&T Bell Labs.
Mr. Miller holds 19 patents and has led design on nine products that have been awarded International Design Excellence Awards while at Apple Inc, Credence Systems, and In Focus Systems. He holds a BS and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University.