JenLab GmbH (Germany) in cooperation with FEMTOLASERS Produktions GmbH (Austria) presents at Photonics West 2008 the first device for gene manipulation with shortest laser pulses. JenLab introduces the laser microscope femtOgene®, a unique optical tool for nanobiotechnology, gene therapy and stem cell research. This product is suitable for optical gene transfer (delivery of foreign DNA) particular into cells of interest.
FemtOgene®: Targeted transfection by sub 20 femtosecond laser pulses

Press Release FemtOgene (FEMTOLASERS)

Press Release FemtOgene (JENLAB)

TeraNova is an ambitious European Framework VI project, sponsored by IST, which exploits terahertz radiation — which lies between microwaves and infra-red — driving forward fundamental research and applications in this area.The consortium has 18 industrial and academic partners and will enhance the present state of terahertz technology and solve crucial practical problems.

Technical University Vienna is one of the academic partners in the TeraNova project, an ambitious European Framework VI project, sponsored by IST, which exploits terahertz radiation — which lies between microwaves and infra-red — driving forward fundamental research and applications in this area.The consortium has 18 industrial and academic partners and will enhance the present state of terahertz technology and solve crucial practical problems.

University of Vienna
Abstract of the joint research Project:
Writing nano structures is a technique which was growing with the evolution of ultrafast laser technology. New developed high energy oscillators offers now stronger light sources in the field of ultrafast laser pulses. Using those light sources for writing nano structures will gain this application in an economical sense: Oscillators have higher repetition rates then amplifiers. This leads to shorter process cycles and significantly reduced total cost of ownership for the required laser system.
Contact: Prof. Dr Wolfgang. Kautek

Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology (Profs. F. Krausz and Ch. Spielmann) FEMTOLASERS is a spin off from the femtosecond laser group at the Photonics Institute. The first systems shipped by FEMTOLASERS were copies of prototypes developed by researchers from the institute. FEMTOLASERS is currently carrying out its own development, but there are still close ties between the company and the institute. Current joint projects cover research and development activities in various fields such as: optical coatings, femtosecond oscillators, amplifiers and applications of femtosecond laser pulses.

Medicine Physics Institute, University of Vienna (Prof. W. Drexler) Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging ophthalmic diagnosis technology for non-contact, non-invasive, real time imaging of the human retina. Current medical OCT systems have an axial resolution of 10 to 15 microns. The main goal of this cooperation is to develop a new ultrahigh resolution OCT technology based on a femtosecond laser. With this type of system, resolution can be improved to such a great extent that it would allow for the early diagnosis and monitoring of retinal diseases. FEMTOLASERS' contribution to this project is the development of an ultra broadband Ti:Sapphire oscillator that does not require a laser laboratory's environmental conditions for long term stable operation.

FEMTOLASERS focuses on a multidisciplinary collaborative research involving investigators at the Institute of Medical Physics, (University of Vienna), and the Photonics Institute, (Vienna University of Technology). Therefore a new Christian Doppler Laboratory has been established. The main objective of the laboratory is to develop compact, reliable, user-friendly, low-cost ultrabroad bandwidth state-of-the-art laser technology that will be applied to specific diagnostic and therapeutic medical applications in order to dramatically enhance their performance and to establish a new generation of biomedical imaging and therapeutic technology.

In particular the application of these novel light sources to in vivo OCT imaging technology will be investigated, since it will significantly improve its axial resolution, will give access to new wavelengths ranges, will increase the sensitivity of Doppler flow OCT, and will give access to spatially resolved spectrometric tissue properties. Furthermore the impact of these novel light sources to enhance the performance of corneal refractive surgery in performing subsurface femtosecond photodisruption will be investigated.These novel light sources developed in the proposed laboratory might also have significant potential to improve other medical or biomedical technologies like multi-photon microscopy, coherent THz generation or time resolved spectroscopy.

TERAVISION (Shared-cost RTD grant, within the 5th framework program of the EU) The overall aim of this research project is the realization of compact, novel Terahertz (THz) frequency imaging systems, intended for application in medical imaging but also with other potential uses. The task of FEMTOLASERS is the development of a compact hands-off Ti:Sapphire sub 20 femtosecond oscillator for extra cavity optical pulsed generation of THz radiation. Together with the research partners, FEMTOLASERS will investigate the feasibility of intracavity THz generation allowing substantially increased THz emission. The consortium consists of research groups and companies from the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, and Austria. Details can be found on the TERAVISION web page.

SAFEST (joint project “Femtosekunden Technologie” within the framework of the sponsorship concept “Laser 2000” of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research) Femtosecond laser sources are currently most commonly used in laboratories, but they are also increasingly being employed in application laboratories and industrial fields. The femtosecond technology leads to complex safety-relevant issues relating to the operation of lasers. It is therefore crucial to determine whether or not the knowledge of hazards and dangers, and corresponding safety measures of conventional laser radiation can be transferred to the femtosecond technology. Within the scope of the joint project SAFEST, technical regulations and standards for industrial safety and eye safety for laser ranges between 5 fs and 10 ps will be elaborated. The project is funded by the German Ministry of Science and was initially intended to include only German groups. Due to FEMTOLASERS' expertise in this field, however, the company has been asked to participate and is now the only foreign participant in the program.

SAFEST EUREKA E! 2322: Femtosecond laser safety issues have also been recognized as worthy of being tackled at a European level. An EU EUREKA project has therefore been established to define safety regulations and standards for validity within Europe. Groups from Germany and Austria are currently involved. Groups from all over Europe have expressed their interest in participating and will join the consortium in the near future.