New crystal growth company formed in UK

17 Jun 2002

Collaboration between government and academia to result in new supplier of optical materials

DERA (the UK ministry of defence research arm) and the University of Strathclyde, UK, have jointly formed The Crystal Consortium (TCC). The company will develop single-crystal materials, components and production processes for the telecommunications, medical imaging and ultrasound markets.

The firm will combine the expertise and facilities from the Optical Materials Research Centre at Strathclyde and the Bulk Optical Materials Group at DERA in Malvern. TCC will relocate to new premises in Strathclyde and will form part of the rapidly growing cluster of optoelectronics companies based in the Glasgow area of Scotland.

Tony Vere, TCC's chief executive who joined DERA's crystal research group in 1967, said: "The move by DERA and the university is seen as a positive effort to strengthen the transfer of technology from the UK's strong research base to full-scale production, giving the UK an assured supply of these strategic materials and creating a company with a significant growth potential."

Strathclyde's Optical Materials Research Centre was established in 1990 and is the only laboratory in the UK with facilities for the growth, assessment and processing of laser gain media and nonlinear optical crystals. It has developed procedures for the growth of more than 100 crystals of different compositions.

TCC will have a pilot production capacity of up to 500 ingots per year, but will license volume production to unspecified crystal growth partners.