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09 July 2009
Industry Newsmakers Second Quarter 2009
Industry Newsmakers
Second Quarter 2009
The following is a corporate news roundup from the Optical Society (OSA). This quarterly gathering of industry news is a complimentary service offered by the OSA PR team.
For more information on these or other OSA corporate members making news, please contact Lyndsay Meyer at lmeyer@osa.org or +1 202.416.1435.
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OSA CORPORATE MEMBERS Coherent, Inc. – New Green Laser Supports Cost Sensitive, High-Throughput Micromachining Corning, Inc. – Corning Applies Bend-Insensitive Fiber Innovation to Create Cutting-edge Data Center Solution Edmund Optics – Edmund Optics Expands Options For Laser Material Processing Applications Luna Technologies, Inc. – Luna's Fiber Optic Sensing Used in Railway Test in France New Focus and Newport Corporation – Oclaro, Newport Announce Major Strategic Asset Exchange Ocean Optics, Inc. – ALICE Finally Sent ‘To the Moon’ TOPTICA Photonics AG – TOPTICA Acquires Majority of Bioimaging-Specialist TILL Photonics GmbH |
Second Quarter 2009 Industry News
Summary
The optics and photonics industry is continuing to change and evolve, all the while offering innovative solutions for real-world applications and manufacturing processes. OSA Corporate Members are leading the industry in these areas.
Acquisitions & Business Agreements
German laser manufacturer TOPTICA Photonics AG acquired the assets and assumed certain liabilities of biophotonics imaging company TILL Photonics GmbH last week. TILL is known for its innovative microscopy solutions and its focus on live-cell imaging. According to TOPTICA President Thomas Weber, “TILL Photonics GmbH will be operated as an independent entity with an independent organization and its own sales channels adapted to the microscopy market.”
Oclaro, Inc. (the company formed out of the merger of Bookham and Avanex earlier this year) announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Newport Corp. Newport will acquire the New Focus business of Oclaro’s Advanced Photonics Solutions division in exchange for the Newport Spectra Physics high power laser diode business.
Applications
A custom-engineered spectrometer from Ocean Optics, part of the scientific payload on NASA’s Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, was successfully launched into space last month. “ALICE,” as the spectrometer is affectionately known, was drafted for the mission to help analyze the makeup of the lunar craters, with the goal of locating water below the moon’s surface.
Luna Technologies' fiber optic sensing system, the Optical Backscatter Reflectometer 4400 device with distributed Rayleigh sensing, was used in an experiment on the French National Railway for the possible use as a cavity detection or sink hole warning system on railway track beds and tunnels. Current technologies are increasing in use to locate cavities, but do not offer continuous embedded cavity monitoring, a major concern for rail companies and a key benefit of Luna's solution.
Corning Inc. recently announced a new optical fiber data center solution that is enabled by Corning’s bend-insensitive ClearCurve® optical fiber technology. “Our solution allows for a reduced data center footprint, simplicity of installation with plug and play assembly components, and promotes improved airflow efficiency with reduced energy consumption and cost. All lead to increased data center efficiency and lower cost,” said Clark Kinlin, president and chief executive officer, Corning Cable Systems.
Manufacturing
Optical components-maker Edmund Optics recently announced an expanded line of F-Theta scanning lenses along with laser accessories for laser material processing applications. These new introductions help increase scanning system life and reduce downtime while improving the efficiency and uniformity of materials processing.
In the micromaching arena, Coherent recently announced the new MATRIX 532-8-100, a Q-switched, diode pumped, solid state laser designed for demanding micromachining tasks in solar, semiconductor and medical device manufacturing. Specifically, it provides 8W of output power at 532 nm at a pulse rate of 100 kHz, in order to support high-throughput applications. Coherent says the laser is designed to deliver an unmatched combination of long lifetime, high reliability and low total cost of ownership.
