AMS Technologies acquires Elforlight

08 Jun 2017

Acquisition of UK photonics firm strengthens German distributor’s potential to “solve challenging photonics applications”.

AMS Technologies, a distributor for optical, power and thermal management technologies, has acquired UK photonics company Elforlight. With access to Elforlight’s know-how, AMS says it is “now able to realise turnkey solutions, even for particularly challenging problems in optics”. Terms of the deal were not released.

AMS said that the acquisition of Elforlight is part its strategy to provide customers with comprehensive design services, including specialised turnkey solutions. Based in Daventry, UK, Elforlight has more than 20 years of experience in lasers, beam forming and other optical technologies, especially in the areas of diode pumped solid state lasers and optical parametric oscillators.

Photo-acoustic imaging

Elforlight founder Keith Oakes says the company has developed extensive know-how beyond technological systems optimisation. “We have expertise in application areas like photo-acoustic imaging (turning laser pulses into ultrasonic waves by means of absorption) and the MALDI method for mass spectroscopy,” he commented.

AMS has recently opened a design centre for thermal management and electronics in Krakov, Poland. The company’s new announcement about the acquisition said that thanks to Elforlight’s expertise AMS Technologies can develop customised turnkey photonics systems that are realised using products of its broad product portfolio.

CEO Jan Meise commented, “With this approach, we are continuing to expand AMS Technologies into a systems integrator with engineering services. Customers come to us with their demands and requirements, and with the extensive experience of our specialists we are able to work on and deliver optimal solutions.”

As AMS Technologies line card products are primarily used for building systems, Meise views this strategy as, “the next logical step of development for our company that up to now has rather been perceived as a distributor – quasi a natural evolution of our existing distribution business.”

Elforlight’s Oakes commented, “AMS Technologies’ competent sales and application team maintains close relations with a very broad European customer base. As AMS customers operate and act in a far wider range of applications, this collaboration means that new markets will open up for our solutions.”

At LASER World of PHOTONICS

Elforlight will be present on the AMS Technologies booth at LASER World of PHOTONICS trade fair, 26 – 29 June in Munich, Germany (Booth B2/203) with live demonstrations of its new solid state laser concepts.