Canadian funding will commercialize aerospace laser-beam deflection technology
With an investment from Innovacorp, Nova Scotia's early stage venture capital organization, Metamaterial Technologies (Halifax, Nova Scotia) will commercialize large-scale production of the nanocomposite material called metaAir, a product that deflects bright light and laser beams that can disorient pilots and impact jetliner flight paths.
"We've developed new optical thin films using proprietary nanofabrication and design techniques which are essentially capable of manipulating light, by blocking, absorbing and enhancing it, depending on the application," said George Palikaras, president and CEO of Metamaterial Technologies. "Until now, it has not been possible to produce this new class of smart materials in large sizes, but our technology can be mass produced, making it a true game-changer."
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Metamaterial Technologies will use the $2 million ($1.5 million in equity investment and $500,000 in non-repayable funding) from Innovacorp to tailor its product for the aerospace industry. The metaAIR technology selectively blocks and controls light from a range of angles when applied to cockpit windshields.
Last year, Metamaterial Technologies announced a product development and testing partnership with leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus and in July, secured $3 million in research and development funding from ACOA's Atlantic Innovation Fund.
"metaAIR is the long-awaited answer to a serious and growing problem for the aviation industry," said Charley Baxter, vice-president of investment at Innovacorp. "Metamaterial Technologies has the capability to design new optical materials for other applications such as clean energy. The market for metamaterials is expected to reach $1.9 billion by 2021, making this a great investment opportunity for Innovacorp."
SOURCE: Innovacorp; https://innovacorp.ca/news/nova-scotia-innovation-protects-pilots-flight-paths
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.