INDUSTRY NEWS
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A 488-nm diode laser is an example of a future generation of lasers for biophotonic applications.
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A team of 18 European companies including Toptica Photonics AG (Gräfeling, Germany) has been granted € 10.1 million by the European Commission for a four-year project to develop a new generation of biomedical lasers in partnership with university researchers across Europe. Under the acronym FAST-DOT and the leadership of the University of Dundee (Dundee, Scotland, UK), new laser and resonator concepts will be investigated to generate new types of laser sources dedicated to biophotonic applications.
The new lasers are expected to be considerably smaller and more efficient than current lasers, which are not portable and draw significant energy. Potential applications of the lasers include microscopy and nanosurgery for high-precision cutting, imaging, and treatment therapies. The researchers hope that the new lasers will make possible new applications for lasers in biomedicine. “This project will revolutionize the use of lasers in the biomedical field,” says professor Edik Rafailov of the University of Dundee. “It will provide both practitioners and researchers with ultra-high-performance pocket-sized lasers at a cost that will make their widespread use affordable.”
Led by Toptica Photonics AG, the consortium also includes companies such as Time Bandwidth AG (Zürich, Switzerland), MMI AG (Glattbrugg, Switzerland), M-Squared Lasers (Glasgow, UK), and multinationals Philips (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Alcatel-Thales (Paris).
For more information about the European biomedical laser consortium, contact Toptica Photonics AG, Lochhamer Schlag 19, D-82166 Gräfeling, Germany; phone: +49 8985 837123; fax: +49 8985 837200; e-mail: elke.marchthaler@toptica.com; Internet: www.toptica.com.
