Melles Griot Optics Group consolidates in Rochester
In a move to consolidate and strengthen the company's product portfolio and enhance customer access to its advanced optical engineering team in Rochester, NY, Melles Griot has completed a major reorganization. The OEM industrial optics portion of the Photonics Components Group, previously located in Carlsbad, CA, has relocated to the Optics Group business unit in Rochester under a single leadership and management structure. "Our global OEM optical component clients require ever more sophisticated products and support to achieve their business goals," said Blake Fennell, CEO. "By relocating our OEM optical components business to Rochester, we position ourselves for the continued growth of our optics business and the advancement of the related technologies."
The Photonics Components Group will continue to serve the Melles Griot institutional and research market customer bases, while enhancing its product offerings, distribution network, and catalogue of more than 25,000 standard photonics components.
Nanotechnology grant to support research in optics and biotech
Polytec PI (Auburn, MA) has established PI NanoInnovation Grant, an annual program to support research related to nanotechnology, optics, and biotechnology. The $25,000 PI NanoInnovation Grant program will award funding in the form of equipment to U.S. and Canadian researchers to help them reach their goals in developing new technologies, products, or processes. The equipment award is available to graduate students and post doctoral researchers at academic institutions and research labs pursuing research, experimentation, or development in which PI nanopositioning equipment and technologies are enablers to advance their research. Deadline for submitting applications is Dec. 31 with award announcements scheduled for March 31, 2004.
Winners will be chosen by the Polytec PI NanoInnovation Grant Advisory Board: Bharat Bhushan, director of Nanotribology Laboratory for Information Storage and MEMs, Ohio State University; Martin Culpepper, director of Precision Systems Design and Manufacturing Labs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Eric Sanchez, assistant professor of ultra-high-resolution scanning microscopies, University of Portland.
Report assesses LED opportunities
Intertech (Portland, ME) has released a new industry report assessing global market opportunities for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), Light Emitting Diodes for Lighting and Display Applications: A Market Assessment, Technical Appraisal and Strategic Outlook 2003–2015. According to the company, it includes comprehensive data and narrative on the global LED supply chain, technology status, applications, R&D roadmaps, comparisons to other light sources and display technologies, costs, economics, environmental impacts, standardization metrics, and system design issues.
"LEDs dominate the North American exit-sign market, serve 20% to 80% of the traffic signals in some major cities worldwide, and are making fast strides into the automotive, aviation, and marine sectors," said Kathryn Conway, consultant to Intertech and author of the report. For information, see www.intertechusa.com/LEDreport.html
Special Optics partners with Metastable, U.S. Air Force
Special Optics (Wharton, NJ) and Metastable Instruments (St. Charles, MO) have signed a joint licensing agreement for the in-line beam steerer developed by Metastable Instruments. Special Optics will market and manufacture this device, which makes optical alignment and beam steering simpler than conventional two-mirror set-ups. Additionally, Special Optics plans to design the devices into novel optical products.
In related news, Special Optics has been awarded a second Phase I SBIR contract, the first was from the U.S. Army in April, and now from the Air Force Research Laboratory. The goal of the program, Non-Mechanical Wide-Angle Image-Pointing System, is to design a wide-angle imaging system that operates in the mid-infrared waveband that can zoom in on specified subregions of the wide field with high resolution.
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Also in the news . . .
Zygo (Middlefield, CT) has received a $6 million contract to produce high-quality optics for next-generation semiconductor equipment. The contract runs from 2004 through April 2006; the work will be performed at Zygo's optical manufacturing center in Middlefield. . . . Optimax Systems (Ontario, NY) manufactured most of the lenses for the 10 cameras built into each Mars Rover. According to the company, the optics in these cameras will be used for position sensing and near- and far-field vision for maneuvering the Rovers.