Startup Unilase prepares to enter the market with DPSS lasers and amplifier modules
Unilase (London, UK) says it is set for growth by developing and supplying high-performance, competitively priced diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers and amplifier modules. The company is led by founder and CTO Ara Minassian and photonics veteran Dennis Camilleri, who has joined the Board as CEO. The company is wholly-owned by its management team and private investors and is at the point of testing its prototypes prior to final manufacture and market launch.
Unilase technology is based on side-pumped slab designs that offer a route for power scaling laser and amplifier output by providing independent control over pump delivery, cavity geometry, and thermal management. Current projects include a high-gain laser amplifier architectures and a diode-pumped Alexandrite laser for a European Space Agency scientific lidar project.
“We are confident that Unilase products will deliver significant technological advantage in a compact footprint that is becoming more critical in many industrial laser manufacturing applications. Our ability to provide Q-switched, high power and high beam quality laser sources with ultra wide pulse repetition rates will offer our customers the option to fulfil their laser manufacturing requirements with fewer sources. The company also plans to launch stand-alone DPSS laser amplifier modules capable of taking output of low-power seed lasers to tens of watts,” said Minassian.
“There is a growing trend in the laser industry in outsourcing of innovative laser solutions to keep up with demanding market requirements. Large corporations are collaborating with expert agile suppliers who can help them accelerate their product roadmaps. Several OEMs are talking to the company with a view to securing early sales,” said Camilleri.
Unilase was established in 2013 at the Imperial College Incubator in London. Minassian was previously the co-founder and CSO of Midaz Lasers (London, UK), which was sold to Coherent in 2012. He then joined Coherent as a Senior Laser Development Engineer and was responsible for transfer and integration of Midaz technology within Coherent.
Source: Unilase
Conard Holton | Editor at Large
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.