Plymouth, MI & Hamburg, Germany—Citing his belief that the use of solid-state lasers in combination with fiber optics will increase in the future, Rofin Sinar President Dr. Peter Wirth commented that his company's recent acquisition of 90 percent of Swedish based Optoskand AB, a manufacturer of high-power, fiber-optic beam delivery systems, will "broaden our existing markets."
Optoskand, founded in 2002 as a spinoff from Permanova Lasersystems AB, which retains the remaining 10 percent of the Gothenburg company, has 20 employees and annual sales of approximately $3 million and develops, manufactures, and markets fiber-optic systems for solid-state lasers based on proprietary designs produced with technical expertise that dates back to the 1980s. Used predominately on laser cutting, welding, and marking applications, the systems offer the smallest losses with high damage threshold.
Rofin Sinar (www.rofin.com) has used these fiber-optic systems for some time and has enjoyed their product quality in combination with their various laser sources. Dr. Wirth says that Optoskand will operate as a stand-alone company, continuing to sell its products to other laser manufacturers while strengthening Rofin's position in the component sector.