Optoelectronics Report articles from November 2003

Optoelectronics Report archives from November 2003

Coherent sees consolidation as key to growth.
November 15, 2003... SANTA CLARA, CA -- It has been a tougher-than-expected year for Coherent On the plus side, the company acquired Positive Light, which had been supplying its lasers and amplifiers to competitor Spectra-Physics through an exclusive distribution...

Laserscope finds success through customer focus.
November 15, 2003... SAN JOSE, CA -- Four years ago, Laserscope--one of the better known names in the medical-laser field in the 1990s--was on the verge of bankruptcy. Not only was the market for surgical lasers--which had long been Laserscope's focus--waning,...

Optical merger.
November 15, 2003... Optical merger: ASIP (Somerset, NJ) and ThreeFive Photonics B.V. (The Netherlands), have completed a merger of the two companies. The combined company will be known as ASIP, with ThreeFive Photonics B.V. operating in the Netherlands as a...

Plague detection.
November 15, 2003... Plague detection: Spire corporation (Bedford, MA) has been awarded a $100,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a more rapid method for the detection of...

Solid-state lighting studies highlight power savings.
November 15, 2003... CHICAGO, IL -- Two studies conducted by Navigant Consulting for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) found that energy savings to date from solid-state lighting--LEDs and OLEDs--exceed the power produced from one large electric power...

Optics advance.
November 15, 2003... Optics advance: Photo Sciences (Torrance, CA) has developed a method for transferring greyscale optics or graphics directly from a bitmap or other image file to a more permanent substrate material, such as borosilicate, quartz and sodalime,...

LCD joint venture.(NEC Corp. and SVA Co. Ltd. )(Shanghai SVA NEC Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd)(manufacture of thin film transistor liquid cystal display)(Brief Article)
November 15, 2003... LCD joint venture: NEC Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and SVA Co., Ltd. (SVA) have established a TFT LCD joint venture company in Shanghai, China, Shanghai SVA NEC Liquid Crystal Display Co., Ltd. The new company will plan, develop, and...

Instrumentation deal.
November 15, 2003... Instrumentation deal: UK particle characterization specialist Malvern Instruments (Malvern, England) has acquired Bohlin Instruments (Cirencester, England), which develops and manufactures rheology measurement systems. Bohlin's managing...

Femtosecond lab.
November 15, 2003... Femtosecond lab: A new 2 million [pounds sterling] (US$3.4 million) research center has been opened at the University of York (York, England). The York Center for Laser Spectroscopy and Photochemistry will use femtosecond laser sources to...

Biometrics gets shot in the arm with new center.
November 15, 2003... BUFFALO, NY -- The University at Buffalo has established the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS), a cross-disciplinary center that takes a unique approach to developing technologies in biometrics. Since 9/11, physical...

Corning, IBM partner on optical interconnects.
November 15, 2003... CORNING, NY and YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY -- Corning Inc. and IBM are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration on a $20 million project to develop high-speed, optically switched...

Seminar to focus on fiber laser future.
November 15, 2003... NASHUA, NH -- With momentum growing in the development of--and, potentially, market for--fiber lasers, Laser Focus World is including a session on industrial markets and applications for fiber lasers at its annual Laser Focus World...

Nano investment.
November 15, 2003... Nano investment: With the financial support of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Fortis Bank signed a 46.8 million [euro] (US$55.2 million) loan agreement with IMEC to finance the construction of a 300mm research facility at IMEC, Europe's...

Floundering.
November 15, 2003... Floundering: PhotonEx (Maynard, MA), reportedly has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Founded in 1999, the company was developing 40-Gbit/s, long-haul DWDM systems. In January 2002, PhotonEx helped form the 40G Collaborative, a...

New COO.
November 15, 2003... New COO: Scottish optoelectronics developer Intense Photonics (Blantyre, Scotland) has appointed Don McDonald as Chief Operating Officer. McDonald has more than 30 years experience in managing and improving businesses in the field of...

SEO sells off more assets, relocates.
November 15, 2003... ORLANDO, FL -- Schwartz Electro-Optics (Orlando, FL), which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since laser May, has now sold off most of its assets and relocated to new offices in the Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to...

European firms strong in MEMS packaging.
November 15, 2003... BERLIN, GERMANY -- The latest intelligence information from enablingMNT estimates the market size for MST/MEMS specific equipment at approximately $730 million of which $270 million for front-end equipment. According to enablingMNT,...

Optoelectronics Report 40.
November 15, 2003... Optoelectronics Report 40 Company Ticker Oct. 29 Nov. 14 ADC Telecom ADCT 2.64 2.52 Agere Systems AGRa 3.57 3.52 Agilent A 24.09 ...

NSF support.
November 15, 2003... NSF support: Ekips Technologies (Norman, OK) has received a $500,000 Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for continued hardware and software development of the The Breathmeter, a laser-based breath analysis instrument...

Military sensing.
November 15, 2003... Military sensing: DRS Technologies (Parsippany, NJ) received a new contract with a total value of $8.5 million, including options, to develop and demonstrate a new integrated focal plane array and adaptive filter technology for improved day...

Quantum-dot startup.
November 15, 2003... Quantum-dot startup: A new company, Nanosemiconductor (NSC; Dortmund, Germany), that specializes in growing the material for quantum-dot lasers has been spun out of the loffe Institute in St Petersburg, Russia, and the Technical University of...

New firm.
November 15, 2003... New firm: A new company, OptoWorks, has been incorporated in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to address opportunities in computer-to-screen (CTS) technology. Optotek Ltd., the National Research Council of Canada, and 4109490 Canada Inc. (an affiliate...

FLIR to buy Indigo for $190 million.
November 1, 2003... PORTLAND, OR and GOLETA, CA -- FLIR Systems and Indigo Systems Corporation have entered into a definitive agreement whereby FLIR will acquire Indigo Systems for $190 million in stock. Indigo security holders will receive cash consideration of...

Hitachi Digital Graphics acquires NanoVia.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... SAN JOSE, CA -- Hitachi Digital Graphics has acquired patents and trademarks for high speed laser processing technology from NanoVia (Londonderry, NH). The acquisition also includes the employment of NanoVia's core development engineers and...

Patent suit.(News Briefs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Fitel USA (Norcross, GA), the parent company of fiberoptic supplier OFS, has a patent infringement lawsuit against Alcatel in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. The suit charges infringement of U.S....

New digs.(News Briefs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... CVI laser (Albuquerque, NM) has completed a new expanded Class 1000 clean room assembly area. The new facilities enable an increase in capacity for CVI's growing opto-mechanical assembly business. Serving the semiconductor, biotech,...

Wayne Knox to give LFW keynote address.(Laser Focus World Marketplace Seminar)
November 1, 2003... NASHUA, NH -- "The New Era of Ultrafast Manufacturing" will be the focus of the keynote presentation given by Wayne Knox at the annual Laser Focus World Marketplace Seminar, to be held January 26, 2004, in San Jose, CA during Photonics West....

EU commits major funds to photonics.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... BRUSSELS -- According to a report from Reuters (October 22), the European Union hopes to beef up anemic economic growth with $257.4 billion of public investment in transport and research projects between now and 2020. Satellites, lasers,...

Photonex reflects upbeat mood in UK.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... COVENTRY, ENGLAND -- October's Photonex exhibition found the UK laser and photonics market in an upbeat mood. With seven technical seminars and 150 exhibitors, the event attracted more visitors than last year despite the problems with the...

SBIR grant.(Spire Corp. awarded small business grant from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)(development of optimal instrument that can identify plague)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Spire Corporation (Bedford, MA) announced today that it has been awarded a $100,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a more rapid method for the detection of...

Materials pact.(LPKF Laser & Electronics signs licensing agreement with Ticona)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... LPKF Laser & Electronics (Wilsonville, OR) has entered a know-how and license agreement with Ticona (Kelsterbach, Germany) that enables Ticona to modify its liquid crystal polymer material for the LPKF laser direct structuring (LDS) process...

Defense contract.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Intense (Blantyre, Scotland), a supplier of optoelectronic products to the telecom, printing, and defense industries, has won an 80,000[pounds sterling] (US$136,000) research contract from BAE Systems for the new Defense Technology Centre...

Fab pact.(Fabrinet signs manufacturing agreement with K2 Optronics)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Fabrinet (San Francisco, CA), an electronics manufacturing services company specializing in the engineering and manufacture of complex optical, mechanical, and electronic components, modules, and subassemblies, will manufacture...

2003 ICALE0 is the largest ever.(International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro Optics )
November 1, 2003... JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The 22nd International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro Optics (ICALEO), hosted October 13-16 by the Laser Institute of America (Orlando, FL), showed great vitality, with more than 450 attendees and presenters...

OSA launches applications conference at CLEO.(Optical Society of America, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics at the International Quantum Electronics Conference )
November 1, 2003... WASHINGTON, DC -- With the Optical Society of America's (OSA) introduction of the Photonic Applications, Systems and Technologies (PhAST) Conference, product development engineers have a new forum to exchange ideas and information on the use...

EUV development.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Schott Lithotec AG (Jena, Germany) has signed an access agreement with International SEMATECH's extreme ultraviolet (EUV) research program in Albany, NY. The agreement allows Schott Lithotec to send researchers to SEMATECH's EUV Mask Blank...

Strategic partners.(TILL Photonics, Rapp OptoElectronic)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... TILL Photonics (Grafelfing, Germany), a supplier of fluorescence microscopy systems, and Rapp OptoElectronic (Wedel, Germany), a manufacturer of flash-lamp systems for scientific, industrial, and medical applications, have formed a strategic...

Optical assets.(SBG Labs acquires DigLens)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... SBG Labs (Sunnyvale, CA) has acquired all patents and trademarks of DigiLens through an open-bid foreclosure sale held by a syndicate of DigiLens' secured lenders. DigiLens, a developer of optical components based on Bragg gratings, had...

MEMS merger.(MEMSCAP to acquire Opsitech S.A.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... MEMSCAP (San Jose, CA) has entered into definitive agreement to acquire Opsitech SA (Grenoble, France). A spin-off from the French "Laboratoire d'Electronique et des Technologies de I'Information (LETI)" of the "Commissariat a I'Energie...

NA distributors.(New Laser Generation GmbH names distributors Blue Hill Optical Technologies, Market Tech Inc. )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... NLG-New Laser Generation GmbH (Teltow, Germany) has appointed Blue Hill Optical Technologies (Canton, MA) and Market Tech Inc. (Scotts Valley, CA) as distributors for its industrial and scientific laser product lines in the United States and...

Optical scientists explore links to societal priorities.
November 1, 2003... TUCSON, AZ -- The unifying physics that allow optical scientists and engineers to understand each other at interdisciplinary scientific meetings differ significantly from the widely varying applications that interest potential funding...

Optoelectronics Report 40.(Illustration)
November 1, 2003... Optoelectronics Report 40 Company Ticker Oct. 10 Oct. 29 ADC Telecom ADCT 2.62 2.64 Agere Systems AGRa 3.44 3.57 Agilent A ...

Ups and downs.(Lumenis stock price up despite restructuring)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The long-term future of Lumenis (Yokneam, Israel) continues to appear uncertain. In mid-October, a week after the company announced the layoff of a quarter of its work force (300 people) as part of a major restructuring program, the company's...

OLED partners.(OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH signs marketing agreement with Three-Five Systems)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH (Regensburg, Germany), a wholly owned subsidiary of OSRAM, one of the world's largest lamp manufacturers, has appointed Three-Five Systems (Tempe, AZ), a provider of electronic manufacturing services and display...

Raman spectroscopy.(Intel Corp., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center form research partnership)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA) and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, WA) are collaborating on a research effort to apply Inters expertise in Raman spectroscopy to develop improved methods of studying, diagnosing and...

Thermo divests T&M business.(Thermo Electron Corp. test and measurement business sold to Ling Dynamic Systems)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... WALTHAM, MA -- Thermo Electron Corporation has sold its test and measurement business to the Ling Dynamic Systems (LDS) business of SPX Corporation (Charlotte, NC) for an undisclosed cash amount. The Thermo business, formerly part of the...