Business Briefs

01 Sep 2006

Including news from nLight, Optikos, Intralase, Wavelight, Pioneer, Omron and others.

• nLight, Vancouver, Wa, US, a manufacturer of high-power semiconductor lasers, has acquired the assets of Flextronics Photonics (FP), a subsidiary of Flextronics International, of Singapore. The acquisition adds an array of new fiber-coupled and hybrid microelectronic products that will complement nLight's existing range. FP will be combined with nLight's semiconductor laser technology to expand the total product portfolio.

• Optikos, Cambridge, MA, US, has been awarded a contract from ITT to develop an Optical Focus Verification System for telescope-to-film and telescope-to-CCD camera image plane alignment. The work will be performed for ITT's System Division in Colorado Springs, CO, US. Optikos's Optical Engineering Group successfully demonstrated the OFVS proof-of-principle in April, 2006.

• The US Food and Drug Administration has approved WaveLight's wavefront-guided procedure, a LASIK treatment approach that combines the Allegro Analyzer with Wavelight's 200 Hz Allegretto Wave excimer laser.

• Fuji Photo Film, Tokyo, Japan, and SVA Electron Co., a leading Chinese home appliance and electronic components company, are establishing a JV called SVA-Fujifilm Opto-Electronic Materials to manufacture color filters for TFT liquid crystal displays in Shanghai, China.

• Data Optics, a US manufacturer of precision optical research equipment and optical test instruments is now distributing Applied Scintillation Technologies' products, including the CamIR1550 infra-red camera and CamIR infra-red camera adapter. Also available are the range of AST phosphorescent targets for IR / VIS / UV beam detection and positioning.

• Phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode (PHOLED) developer Universal Display Corp. (UDC) and OLED research company Novaled have created a "record-breaking" red PHOLED device that offers improved power efficiency and operating voltage. The device has a luminous efficiency of 15 cd/A at an operating voltage of less than 4 V, resulting in record power efficiency of 12 lumens per W.

• Organic light-emitting diode microdisplay manufacturer eMagin, Bellevue, Wa, US, will. work with the US Army to develop better ways of assessing the applicability of active-matrix (AM) OLED displays in military systems based on the their usable lifetimes. eMagin says that current methods for measuring the lifetime of non-emissive displays such as liquid-crystal displays do not apply to OLEDs.

• Pioneer is buying 10 hectares of land in Minami-Alps City, Yamanashi, Japan, to build and develop a 30 billion yen ($260 million) plasma TV plant, according to Forbes. Pioneer aims to capture 10% of the global plasma TV market in sizes over 40 in. A report in the Japanese business publication Nihon Keizai Shimbun ("Nikkei") stated the plant would commence operations by March 2008, initially producing more than 300,000 TVs a year.

• Omron has reached a preliminary agreement with NHK Spring Co to acquire NHK Spring's FTTH optical coupler business. This coupler business includes component micro-fabrication technologies and film deposition technologies required to produce high-performance quartz optical waveguides and the development, manufacture, and sale of optical coupler modules.

• IntraLase, Irvine, Ca, US, the manufacturer of the ultra-fast laser that is revolutionizing refractive and corneal surgery, today announced that Taiwan has granted approval for the sale of the company's femtosecond laser in that country. Intralase now plans to commercialize its IntraLase FS laser in Taiwan, expanding its global presence.