A Powerful Debugger and Further New Software Features In recent months, I did heavy programming work – not for a new software product, but for improving the existing ones. Now it is time to report some news. All of the news are related to script programming. I emphasize that our software can also well be used with convenient forms. It is only that script programming gives you an amazing level of flexibility, which can probably not be achieved in any other way. Therefore, some of our users heavily engage in that – and will presumably be quite happy about these news. The most important new feature – applicable to RP Fiber Power, RP Resonator, RP Coating and RP ProPulse – is the new script debugger. For longer while I thought that this would be nice to have – it was just an awful amount of work to implement it, but it came out very nicely. The details of the debugger and of further software improvements have been described in detail in my latest article of the RP Photonics Software News: https://www.rp-photonics.com/software_news_2017_05_31.html

New article: "At which wavelength will a laser emit?" https://www.rp-photonics.com/software_news_2017_03_28.html

New blog article: "Interesting Features of Over-long Fiber Lasers": https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2017_03_15.html That should be quite interesting for anyone wanting to learn on laser physics - even when not working on fiber lasers.

Software news: numerical beam propagation in RP Fiber Power can now include stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). https://www.rp-photonics.com/software_news_2017_03_01.html

Read our new Spotlight article: "Photonics in Times of Trouble for International Trade" https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2017_02_17.html

Second opinion: a useful tool not only in medicine, but also in technology! https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2017_01_27.html

Dr. Paschotta is offering two short courses at Photonics West 2017 in San Francisco: - Sunday Jan. 29, 2017: SC 1181, Ultrafast Lasers and Amplifiers (full day): http://spie.org/PW/course/ultrafast-lasers-and-amplifiers - Thursday Feb. 2, 2017: SC 1207, High Power Laser Technologies (half day, morning): http://spie.org/PW/course/high-power-laser-technologies

There is a new Spotlight article in the area of laser physics: "Nonlinear Input-Output Curves for Lasers". https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2016_12_13.html

Upcoming short courses of Dr. Paschotta at Photonics West 2017 in San Francisco: - Jan. 29: "Ultrafast Lasers and Amplifiers" (full day): http://spie.org/PW/course/ultrafast-lasers-and-amplifiers - Feb. 2: "High Power Laser Technologies" (half day): http://spie.org/PW/course/high-power-laser-technologies Why not register there (from Oct. 21 on) when you attend Photonics West anyway and are interested in these topics!?

Another interesting Spotlight article: "An Apparent Paradox Concerning Light Beams in Fibers": https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2016_09_12.html You will see that some common claims in the context of fiber optics are in fact wrong!

New article in the RP Software News: "Ultrashort Pulse Simulations with RP Fiber Power". Anyone interested in ultrafast laser physics might be interested - even when using home-made software for such things. https://www.rp-photonics.com/software_news_2016_07_22.html

New article in the Photonics Spotlight: "The Round-trip Phase Shift in an Optical Resonator". Have fun and learn about the physics of laser beams and optical resonators! https://www.rp-photonics.com/spotlight_2016_07_05.html