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09 Jan 2025
French high-tech group gains supercontinuum laser expertise with deal to buy Limoges-based company.
Exail, the France-headquartered technology company previously known as iXBlue, has expanded its photonics offering with the acquisition of Leukos.
Based in Limoges after being spun out from the “XLIM” research institute back in 2006, Leukos is acknowledged as a pioneer in supercontinuum sources - the ultra-broadband lasers that are now used regularly in spectroscopy and metrology applications.
Leukos has itself expanded since then, partly through the 2013 acquisition of ultrashort-pulse laser specialist Horus Laser, and now offers a range of broadband and ultrafast sources, alongside photonic crystal optical fiber and other accessories.
“This acquisition marks a significant milestone for [us],” announced Exail, which is a subsidiary of the diversified industrial enterprise Gorgé Group.
“By combining Leukos’s advanced technologies with Exail’s expertise in specialty fibers, modulation, micro-optical assemblies, and quantum systems, the group enhances its product offerings and expands its solutions to address new markets, including biophotonics and microelectronics.”
It adds that Leukos will now operate as a subsidiary of Exail, retaining its product portfolio and branding to ensure continuity for customers and partners.
Broader portfolio
Leukos CEO Guillaume Huss, who founded the company nearly two decades ago, commented in a joint statement: “With the added value of Exail’s proven technologies, we see new directions of innovation focused on developing unique products.
“Joining Exail will also accelerate the commercial development of our laser technologies and laser-based systems.”
Exail CEO Fabien Napolitano added: “This acquisition perfectly aligns with our photonics strategy by broadening our technological portfolio, accelerating innovation, and strengthening our global reach.
“Together, we will combine our expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions to our scientific and industrial customers worldwide, while supporting Leukos in scaling its unique technologies to new markets.”
Via iXBlue, Exail already offers a range of fiber lasers operating across the visible and near-infrared spectrum, for applications including materials processing, directed energy weapons, high-energy physics, lidar, and biomedicine.
The firm also has expertise in the emerging quantum realm thanks in part to iXBlue’s 2021 acquisition of the Bordeaux startup Muquans, which developed a pioneering quantum gravimetry sensor deployed on Mount Etna and also by the French military.
iXBlue also offers high-specification optical components, including micro interferometers, optical switches, and collimator arrays, thanks to another Bordeaux subsidiary in the form of Kylia.
Last year the company signed a €1.1 million contract with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide space-grade lithium niobate phase modulators for the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Continuity (GRACE-C) mission’s laser ranging interferometer.
• Exail and Leukos are both among the exhibiting companies at the SPIE Photonics West event, which takes place at San Francisco's Moscone Center later this month.
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