Super-resolution microscopes from Carl Zeiss and Leica Microsystems are among more than a dozen optics and photonics innovations to win one of this year’s R&D 100 Awards. Intended to recognize the 100 “most technologically significant products” introduced over the past year, the list also includes an all-fiber isolator from AdValue Photonics, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) diagnostic endoscope developed by NinePoint Medical, and a lunar laser communication system co-developed by NASA and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. In the microscopy sector, the R&D Magazine judging panel selected several winners, with Zeiss noted for the latest incarnation of its ...

In his letter to shareholders, Monz also highlighted the recent introduction of the first ophthalmic surgery microscope to feature an integrated optical coherence tomography (OCT) camera as evidence of the company’s ongoing innovation. “The unique combination of two established Zeiss gold standards means we can now offer surgeons more comprehensive visualization during surgery, which enables better treatment results,” Monz wrote. Fierce competition in diagnostics Though growing fast, the surgical ophthalmology business unit remains Meditec’s smallest, accounting for €73.4 million of sales in the six months to the end of March. Multifocal and premium toric lenses developed recently ...

For production of fiber-based systems for OCT and more, also to be sales and support center for Canada. Now in Canada: Alex Cable Founder & President Thorlabs. Thorlabs , headquartered in Newton, NJ, USA, has announced that it has added a new R&D and manufacturing site to its global operations. Based in Montreal, Thorlabs Canada ULC will focus on the development and production of a range of innovative passive fiber-based optical components. The opening of the Canadian operation expands the company's geographical footprint, which now includes 13 manufacturing entities in nine countries over four continents. The Montreal team, currently four ...

UK-headquartered Gooch and Housego (G&H) has won £0.8 million in government support via the UK’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The company, which says it will use the grant from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to boost investment in its new systems technology business unit in Torbay, was one of 37 companies selected for RGF support in the fifth round of the competitive fund . In total, the RGF is expected to hand out £3.2 billion to UK businesses over seven years. “The objective is to build a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in mechanical, electronic ...

Scientific laser unit set to be sold for just $7.5 million, pending due diligence. Scanning products, which GSI sells under its well-known Cambridge Technology brand, saw growth throughout 2013, ending up 8 per cent higher for the full year thanks to increased orders from applications including optical coherence tomography for retinal scanning, via hole drilling used in the microelectronics industry, and the emerging field of 3D printing.

Carl Zeiss Meditec says that despite ongoing market volatility it will continue to spend heavily on research and development activity, in a bid to ensure that it stays ahead in an increasingly competitive market. The Germany-headquartered company, which specializes in photonics-based healthcare technologies, made the comments as it posted a 5 per cent increase in annual revenues in its latest financial year. Sales of €906.4 million were near the upper end of the firm’s earlier predicted range, and improved margins delivered earnings before deductions for interest and tax of €133.9 million, up from €122.9 million last ...

A new system from optical imaging company Wasatch Photonics could provide greater contrast and deeper sub-surface imaging than competitive techniques, the developer claims. The system could be used in the fields of material inspection and medical diagnosis, including cardiovascular and dermatological research, leading to faster and more accurate analyses. Wasatch Photonics, based in Logan, UT, USA, has developed a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography system in the 1300 nm wavelength range. The Utah-headquartered firm also has locations in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and Purdue Research Park.

Vince Cable, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has opened a factory extension at photonics company Gooch & Housego ’s growing site in Torquay. The visit represents just the latest in a series of trips to optics and photonics facilities in the UK by the minister, who in recent months has also visited LED maker Plessey in Plymouth, industrial laser firm Rofin-Sinar’s site in Hull, and Southampton-based Trumpf subsidiary SPI Lasers. As well as expanding both its office and manufacturing capacity at the Torquay plant to meet increased demand for its products, last month saw Gooch ...

The potential value of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in applications beyond its established presence in ophthalmology has been clear to developers for some time, with significant strides being made in both imaging depth and scan rate. One attractive example is its use in imaging the soft tissues of the gastrointestinal tract and examining pre-cancerous conditions such as Barrett's esophagus, where conventional white light endoscopy suffers from a number of drawbacks. Launched commercially earlier in 2013, the NvisionVLE system from NinePoint Medical allows clinicians to evaluate the esophageal tissue microstructure with OCT during a standard endoscopy procedure. "NinePoint Medical was ...

Abbott has completed its $400 million acquisition of OptiMedica , one of a number of venture-backed companies to have developed a cataract surgery system based around the high-precision ablation possible with femtosecond laser technology. First announced in July , the deal is valued at $250 million, net of cash, initially, with the potential for additional payments of up to $150 million. Abbott says that the acquisition expands its vision care business to an application area where ultrafast laser-assisted procedures are just beginning to make inroads.

Its key customers for machine vision applications include Carl Zeiss Meditec, Canon and Optopol in the optical coherence tomography (OCT) and ophthalmology markets, and Orbotech and Basler for electronics

Surgeons addressing delegates at the LASER World of Photonics trade show in Munich expressed their need for “smarter” endoscopes with the capability of real-time detection of normal and abnormal cells. Orlando Guntinas-Lichius, a head and neck surgeon at the University Hospital of Jena, said that there was a particularly urgent need for more functional endoscopes to investigate the upper parts of patients’ bodies, and described current technology as something “from the Middle Ages”. While endoscopes have become indispensable tools for clinicians, Guntinas-Lichius said that the most important tool remains the surgeons’ eye, because the endoscope merely allows them a view ...

An application panel session on day two of the LASER World of Photonics trade show in Munich demonstrated the huge potential of biophotonics for early diagnosis of cancer and sepsis, but also the “Catch-22” problem facing therapeutic technologies – and photodynamic therapy in particular.

US-based healthcare and medical device giant St Jude Medical has launched a new system based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging that is designed to improve the treatment of coronary artery disease. The “ILUMIEN OPTIS” system, launched in Japan, is said to help physicians make personalized decisions about the placement of the stents that are used to ensure that blood flows freely through a patient’s coronary arteries, based on the individual’s particular anatomy and disease state.

Carl Zeiss Meditec has posted a solid start to its latest financial year, with the German biomedical optics giant saying that its recent investments in Asia are “really paying off”. The Jena-headquartered company posted sales of €219 million for the first quarter of its financial year 2012/2013, up 4% on last year’s figure. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) also jumped more than 10% to €31.2 million as the firm’s profit margin widened. But as CEO Ludwin Monz explained, the underlying story was one of very different trends in different sectors, with the company benefiting from ...

Market for the ultra-broadband sources and related technology estimated at $50 million, with microscopy a key application. After transitioning from a laboratory curiosity to a genuine commercial tool in recent years, supercontinuum sources have emerged to create a fledgling marketplace. The point was one of several made by Wilhelm Kaenders, co-founder and co-president of Toptica Photonics, at the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar in San Francisco last week. “This new light source is finding applications in fields ranging from optical coherence tomography (OCT), frequency metrology, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), to optical communications and gas sensing,” he told the conference ...

With myriad future uses for biophotonics, the message from Invest in Photonics was the need for the right business model. The message that photonics is set to have a huge impact on the biomedical sector, thanks to its role as a key enabling technology, was stressed again at Bordeaux's Invest in Photonics convention in December 2012 by delegates from both large multi-nationals and more specialized SMEs. The trick for smaller developers remains knowing how to attack the market, and appreciating the interests of those financiers looking to invest. As an illustration, Pierre Billardon, president of Carl Zeiss France , described ...

Carl Zeiss Meditec has reported double-digit increases in both sales and earnings for the year ended September 30. The Germany-headquartered company, which is a global leader in optics-based medical instruments, posted sales of €861.9 million, up nearly 14% on the previous year's total (though only 9.4% after currency fluctuations are accounted for). And despite the weak global economy, that translated into a strong bottom-line performance, with earnings before interest and taxes increasing at an even faster rate, up 19% on last year to €122.9 million thanks to wider margins. As a result, Meditec is increasing its ...

The fourth joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology , held in Chicago in November 2012, demonstrated that the pace of development for photonics-based technologies in the field shows no sign of slacking. Among the products and technologies presented at the conference were a new suite of high-definition optical coherence tomography (OCT) products from Carl Zeiss Meditec . The CIRRUS family comprises of two HD-OCT models, the 5000 and 500, along with two instruments that integrate OCT with fundus imaging systems, the CIRRUS photo 800 and 600. These additions to the company's Cirrus platform ...

Another femtosecond laser system for cataract surgery is about to launch in the US, following clearance from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for LensAR’s “next-generation” platform. The latest FDA approval means that the LensAR Laser System can be used both with and without a laser phacofragmentation step during cataract surgery. The venture-backed Florida firm, which raised $24 million earlier this year, says that its system has an advantage over those of its rivals resulting from precise three-dimensional imaging of a patient’s eye – accounting for individual anatomical quirks such as lens tilt and visual axis for a more “personalized ...

Swiss institution with a strong focus on technology transfer aims to turn scientists and engineers into entrepreneurs.  Ambitious young scientists and engineers who want to start their own companies are the target of a new initiative launched by the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). Based at various locations around the Alpine country, notably Zurich and Neuchâtel in terms of its optics and photonics expertise, CSEM has an extremely strong reputation for technology transfer – and wants to encourage young entrepreneurs to develop practical experience of the business world through its “postdoc for industry” scheme. The new program is aimed ...

IDEX Corporation, the diversified fluidics firm that became a major player in the photonics sector with the $400 million buy-out of CVI Melles Griot last year, has followed up with the acquisition of Boulder-based Precision Photonics. The $20 million cash purchase is confirmation of the company’s promised policy of consolidating the photonics business, as outlined by IDEX’s Mike Cumbo in an interview with optics.org last month. Cumbo, president of IDEX’s optics and photonics business unit, said that the company’s model was to achieve 50% of its total growth through acquisitions, and highlighted light detection and ...

Sovereign debt crisis cannot stop the optics-based medical technology company posting a 13.5% jump in sales. Meditec sales breakdown by business unit Germany-based medical technology firm Carl Zeiss Meditec has reported a strong increase in sales for the opening quarter of its fiscal year 2011-2012, thanks to strong demand in Eastern Europe and fast-growing sales from its “microsurgery” business unit. For the three months that ended December 31, 2011, the company, which is headquartered in Jena, reported sales of €210.3 million, up 13.5% over the same period in 2010. With margins also on the up, Carl Zeiss ...