Business briefs

16 Jul 2010

• Cinema giant IMAX Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Laser Light Engines, a developer of ultrahigh brightness, laser-driven light sources. Under the terms of the agreement, IMAX plans to make an equity investment in Laser Light Engines, and Laser Light Engines will develop a custom version of its laser light technology for exclusive use in IMAX digital projection systems.

"We are thrilled to be tapped by IMAX Corporation, which is strong validation of Laser Light Engines' technology in the most demanding application of digital cinema and large format film presentations," said Doug Darrow, chief executive officer of Laser Light Engines. "Laser Light Engines looks forward to designing and developing systems and products that will best harness our high brightness, solid-state illumination laser engines including but not limited to d-cinema, large venue and others."

• Mobius Photonics, a developer of short pulsed fibre lasers has developed the "Meight" connector – a detachable optical fibre connector designed for precision power applications such as pump light delivery and fibre coupling in commercial and industrial lasers. The connectors are said to accommodate up to a few hundred watts of power via multimode fibres with core diameters from 50 µm to 1 mm.

"Our goal is to establish a new standard for optical fibre connecting," said Red Byer, Mobius' vice-president of operations. "We've engineered a design that combines high power delivery with simple, repeatable insertion and extraction capabilities, and is compatible with a sealed bulkhead laser design. Through licensing, we plan to introduce Meight connectors to the market, ultimately giving laser makers a new option in performance from an optical power connector."

• EPIC, The European Photonics Industry Consortium has released Report on Photovoltaics: PV Market Overview 2009. The report, which is distributed exclusively to EPIC members, says that worldwide sales of photovoltaic (PV) panels reached US$37.2bn in 2009. During the same period, the photovoltaic electrical generation capacity installed was 7.3 GW. Europe remains the leader for deployment, accounting for more than 70% of the PV installations worldwide. PV production volume is now dominated by manufacture in China, where about 32% of PV cells were made in 2009. Together, China and Taiwan now account for about 45% of world supply. Production in Europe is about 50% higher than that in Japan. According to EPIC, in the space of three years the geography for solar cell production has been totally transformed.

• TRIOPTICS of Germany has founded a subsidiary in the US – TRIOPTICS Inc. – and has acquired Davidson Optronics, a manufacturer of high precision optical test equipment. TRIOPTICS Inc. will sell TRIOPTICS' products and will provide application support and service in the US. The company is located at Davidson Optronics' headquarters in West Covina, California. Mildex Inc., TRIOPTICS' previous distributor, will continue selling products in the North Eastern part of the US.

Davidson Optronics Inc. continues operating as a stand-alone company but will cooperate closely with TRIOPTICS. A joint development of high-precision electronic autocollimators has already begun. TRIOPTICS has appointed Ron Hartmayer as the CEO of Davidson Optronics, Inc. and TRIOPTICS Inc.

• Nichia says that it has successfully developed a green GaN-based laser diode and will start shipments of the laser from August. The company quoted an estimated lifetime of 10,000 hours with the condition of 50 mW in continuous-wave operation at 60 °C case temperature.

• E Ink, a leading developer of electronic paper display technology, today announced the Q2 release of its next-generation display technology, Pearl, which is said to expand the capabilities of reflective displays and take electronic paper performance to the next level.

"As the electronic reading market continues to expand, there are more opportunities for expansion not only in the eBook space, but also for eNewspapers, eMagazines and eTextbooks," according to Felix Ho, chairman of E Ink. "E Ink Pearl enables further adoption with a next generation product that is a more lightweight and eco-friendly product than ordinary paper, with less eye strain and longer battery life than an LCD."

• Edinburgh Instruments (EI), a manufacturer of photonics and electro-optics equipment and systems, has announced the appointment of Alan Faichney to the board as CEO, effective 14 June 2010. Faichney has been appointed to continue development of the business infrastructure and drive company growth.