CLIMATE CHALLENGE - Isis Innovation

Spider Technology for Ultrashort LaserPulse MeasurementAPE GmbHAPE GmbH was founded in 1992 in Berlin. Itdevelops, manufactures, and sells devices forgeneration, manipulation and measurement ofultrashort laser pulses and has developed intoa leading company in this field. The productrange covers amongst others optical parametricoscillators (OPO), frequency converters (SHG,THG), acousto-optical devices (modelockers, cavitydumpers, pulse selectors), laser spectrometers,and autocorrelators.The LX SpiderNotably, the technique of ultrashort laser pulse measurementhas a long tradition, and is a core business of APE.With the tendency of the available laser pulses becomingshorter and shorter the phase resolved SPIDER (SpectralPhase Interferometry for Direct Electric-field Reconstruction)technology has increasingly moved into focus during the lastfew years.It is a technology which will soon became standard forthe full characterization of the shortest pulses availabledue to its competitive advantages. The most important ofthese advantages are intrinsic single shot measurement,direct access to the spectral characteristics of the pulse’selectric field, and a robust, fast and direct reconstructionalgorithm. APE GmbH is looking back on 10 years of afriendly and very fruitful cooperation with the inventorof the SPIDER method, Professor Ian A. Walmsley, whowas then working at Rochester University and is now withOxford University.In 1999 APE licensed the SPIDER technology from Rochesterand developed the first commercial SPIDER measuring systemwhich has been sold to customers worldwide (i.e. USA, France,Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Japan). In this context APE hasalready had very good experiences with technology transferthrough its cooperation with Professor Walmsley.About three years ago Professor Walmsley and his Oxfordteam produced a new invention that remarkably improvedthe conventional SPIDER technology with respect to itspotential for a more compact, economic, and easy-to-usephase measuring device called LX SPIDER or ARAIGNEE.Consequently and in order to continue this successfulproduct line APE entered the process of technologytransfer with Professor Walmsley’s team and Isis Innovationthat culminated in an exclusive licence of the LX SPIDERtechnology to APE. A new product has now been on themarket since the beginning of this year.With this latest advance in phase sensitive pulse measurementthe main drawback of the previous device – the relativelycomplex optical setup and alignment – is now overcomewith the new Long Crystal (LX) design that is implemented inthe LX SPIDER. Simple alignment and a reduced number ofoptical components promote a compact device, smaller thana shoe box, and a degree of automation unprecedented inthe field.After an initial simple alignment in the process of setting upthe device, daily measurement routine is wholly softwarecontrolled. Pulse durations from 300 fs down to below 20 fsare measurable within a wavelength range between 750 nmto 900 nm. Therefore, this new device is a comfortablealternative for monitoring and optimising the operation ofstate-of-the-art Ti:Sapphire laser systems.contactDr Rakesh RoshanProject Manager, Technology Transfer GroupT 01865 280853E rakesh.roshan@isis.ox.ac.ukW www.isis-innovation.com18