CSU demonstrates x-ray vision

After less than three years in existence, the Engineering Research Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology at Colorado State University has already licensed a promising technology.

San Diego-based JMAR Technologies Inc. finalized a deal in February with the Colorado State University Research Foundation for use of soft x-ray laser technology developed at the center.

“This is the first official licensing of a product,” according to Sheila Davis, the administrative director for the center.

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The license is the first for the Engineering Research Center and the technology could have a broad range of industry applications.

“The CSU soft x-ray laser enhances JMAR’s ability to create an entirely new class of analytical instruments and nanostructure characterization tools,´ said Ronald Walrod, CEO of JMAR.

According to CSU, JMAR sought the soft X-ray laser technology to be the light source for a high-resolution analytical chemistry instrument.

JMAR develops laser-based equipment for imaging, analysis and fabrication at the extremely small or nano scale. Walrod said the CSU laser could be used in a broad range of applications including geolocation for nuclear forensics, molecular uptake imaging for cancer therapy, cellular uptake of carcinogens and repairs for the semiconductor industry.

In 2003, the National Science Foundation announced it would invest $68 million over the following five years to fund the creation of four new Engineering Research Centers. CSU – in partnership with the University of Colorado and the University of California – was charged with developing short-wavelength optical measurement instrumentation with the goal of furthering nanotechnology research. Thus, the Engineering Research Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology was formed.

The goal for the National Science Foundation is to have each of the Engineering Research Centers self-sufficient by the end of a 10-year cooperative agreement, with the organization providing $17 million to each center. The centers also receive funding from a number of industry partners.

JMAR officially became a partner of the Engineering Research Center in 2004. Also partnering at the CSU center are semiconductor manufacturers Intel, Motorola, Advanced Micro Devices and IBM; Sematech, a consortium of semiconductor manufacturers; laser manufacturer Spectra Physics, and advanced optics manufacturer CDM Optics.

Industry partners provide funding in return for benefits such as access to graduates, ongoing research and first claim on the technologies that come out of the center.

In addition to the license, the center has already applied for two patents, Davis said. Member companies will have first access to those as well.

The National Science Foundation requires each Engineering Research Center is to set out a roadmap of milestones, and by that measurement, the Engineering Research Center at CSU is doing well.

“We’ve actually reached our four-year goals in almost everything,” Davis said.

The license isn’t good news only for JMAR and the Engineering Research Center. The university has made it clear that it will push to increase technology transfer and research funding from non-government sources.

CSU Research Foundation is the organization that handles the university’s technology transfer, patents and licenses. According to Kathleen Henry, president and CEO of CSURF, the fiscal year – which runs from July 1 to June 30 – is shaping up well.

“Things are looking good,” she said.

As of Dec. 31, CSURF filed eight patents – a little behind fiscal 2005’s total of 32 patents filed and fiscal 2004’s 31. However, royalty income was at $977,000, on a pace to exceed royalty income that totaled at $1.23 million in fiscal 2005 and already ahead of the $743,000 earned in fiscal 2004.

These totals do not count the JMAR license. Henry could not divulge the financial specifics, but the agreement does give JMAR exclusive rights to the x-ray laser technology and generates royalties for CSURF. Additionally, the agreement lasts the life of the patent – 20 years from its approval.

The JMAR license also brings with it some notoriety for the research done at CSU and, more specifically, the Engineering Research Center.

“Due to the laws of physics, it’s very hard to build an x-ray laser,´ said Scott Bloom, general manager of JMAR’s research division. “Until fairly recently, they were not available at all.”

Bloom explained that the x-ray laser produces light of a very short wavelength. The CSU laser generates light at 46.9 nanometers, which allows users to analyze much smaller materials.

There are other x-ray lasers available, according to Bloom. But CSU’s laser is comparatively compact and inexpensive.

“The technology that JMAR is licensing, the capillary discharge laser is the most compact soft x-ray laser ever developed,” according to Carmen Menoni, CSU’s lead researcher on the project.

The CSU x-ray laser, excluding the laser power source, is roughly the size of a personal computer.   

In addition to being compact and inexpensive, the laser output is very bright.  Menoni said it exceeds by five orders of magnitude the brightness of comparable lasers sources other than x-rays at the same wavelength.

Menoni and the rest of her team at the ERC are continuing their work with soft x-ray lasers.  They are working with shorter light wavelengths and higher resolutions.

“Our research is in the forefront of optics,´ said Menoni.  “All of the applications of these lasers are tailored to nanoscience and nanotechnology.”