Business briefs

11 Apr 2003

Including news from XTREME technologies, Rofin-Sinar, DRS Technologies, Avantes and more.

•  XTREME technologies, a joint venture between German companies Lambda Physik and Jenoptik, has shipped its first prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source to microstepper maker Exitech, UK. "The EUV microstepper will be used in the initial test phase of the next generation optical lithography," said Exitech's chairman Malcolm Gower.

•  Rofin-Sinar of Germany, a maker of industrial lasers for materials processing, is licensing its high-power, diode pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser technology to Fanuc of Japan. Fanuc, a developer of robots and numerical controls, will now make and sell Rofin's DPSS lasers in combination with its robotic systems.

•  DRS Technologies of the US has received contracts totalling a value of USD 44 million to provide the kit the mass mounted sight (MMS) on the US Army's Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The MMS contains a variety of optical sensors including a high-resolution camera for long-range target detection; a thermal imaging sensor for navigation; and a laser range finder.

•  Avantes of the Netherlands, a maker of fiber-optic spectroscopy equipment, is opening a second office in the US. The new office in New Port Richey, Florida will provide sales and service support to customers in the south-east of the US.

•  Sumitomo Electric Industries has started volume production of the gallium-nitride substrates used to make blue lasers for optical disc drives, according to a report in the Japanese newspaper Nikkei. The report says the company is making 200 substrates per month and plans to increase this to 500 in October. They claim that each substrate can be used to make 10 000 lasers.

•  VISX, a US maker of laser vision correction systems, has paid USD 5.9 million for 20/10 Perfect Vision Optische Gerate's WaveScan product line. "We believe that outright ownership of the WaveScan technology is strategically important," said VISX chairman Liz Davilla. "It is the basis of CustomVue, a product that unique analyzes and corrects vision more precisely than ever before."