IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA) has acquired OptiGrate (Oviedo, FL), whose volume Bragg grating (VBG)-based components improve performance, miniaturization, and cost reduction of ultrafast lasers for micromachining, medical, and other applications. OptiGrate is a supplier to IPG Photonics, so the two companies determined that there was a strong mutual benefit to joining together.
OptiGrate will help IPG Photonics to develop new solutions and improve upon its current products and components, says Felix Stukalin, IPG Photonics' senior vice president of North American operations. The acquisition, he says, completes the company's internal set of core components for its new ultrafast laser product lines being introduced to the market.
OptiGrate was founded in 1999 by Dr. Leonid Glebov, research professor of optics and photonics at the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL), which licenses certain technology to OptiGrate. The company's president and general manager, Dr. Alexei Glebov, and CTO, Vadim Smirnov, will continue to run the business.
IPG Photonics anticipates that OptiGrate's operational location will remain in Oviedo, FL, and that current employees will continue with the company.
For more information, please visit www.ipgphotonics.com and www.optigrate.com.