Press Releases & News

FRANCE AND THE U.S. EXCHANGE IDEAS AT THE FRENCH-AMERICAN CONFERENCE FOR INNOVATION THIS MONTH, TAKING PLACE ALONGSIDE PHOTONICS WEST  IN SAN FRANCISCO

Chicago, January 11, 2010 (word count: 936)
During the Photonics West trade show to be held in San Francisco from January 26 to 28, 2010, French optics/photonics competitiveness clusters, together with nine of their member companies, will take part in a French-American meeting about technological innovation: the French-American Conference for Photonics Innovation. On that occasion, innovative French companies in the sector will introduce their R&D projects and expectations in terms of technological partnerships. This exchange forum on innovation will take place on Tuesday, January 26, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at San Francisco’s Westin Hotel, located steps away from the Photonics West trade show. Click the following links to download the official flyer and catalog for the event:

Flyer (500 kb .pdf)

Catalog (4 Mb .pdf)

The French delegation will include the three competitiveness clusters specializing in optics and photonics in France: ROUTE DES LASERS, POPSud OPTITEC and SYSTEMATIC, represented by the OPTICSVALLEY association.

This French-American meeting is organized by Ubifrance and the DGCIS (the French Economy, Industry and Labor Ministry’s Department for Competitiveness, Industry and Services) in order to bring about opportunities for cooperation and technological partnerships to the most innovative small and medium enterprises and research laboratories in France and the United States. It is expected that reciprocal discussions will be organized between key French and American players attending the Photonics West trade show. To kick off the event, two eminent French and American specialists, Jean-Claude Sirieys, chairman of CNOP (National Optics and Photonics Committee) and Alexei Glebov, president and CEO at Optigrate and member of the Florida Photonics Cluster, will offer their perspective on the outlook for photonics in France and the United States.

The United States are a major worldwide player in photonics and optics. French companies boast acknowledged proficiency in the sector, which suggests opportunities for setting up synergies or finding positive complementary conditions. The avenues for research are many:

Lasers and related instrumentation
Adaptable optics
Optical fiber
Optical coatings
Materials used in optics

To close the meeting, participants will be invited to a cocktail held at the Westin Hotel, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.

About the French companies in attendance:

Alpao is a manufacturer of adaptive optics for the research and the industry. It offers very rapid deformable mirrors with large strokes, extremely sensitive wavefront sensors, and complete adaptive optics loops. All of these products have been designed and adapted according to the application: astronomy, ophthalmology, microscopy, wireless optical communications and laser. www.alpao.com

Amplitude Systems has become the specialist in the field of femtosecond lasers. Our lasers range from oscillators to amplifiers including fiber lasers. It is the only company offering both crystal based lasers and fiber based lasers. It has launched high energy lasers with more than 2mJ energy per pulse, ulrashort pulses down to 50fs and more than 20W average power lasers. www.amplitude-systemes.com

Aquitaine Valo, the Technology Transfer Office of Université de Bordeaux, works in-between researchers and industrial partners. It is dedicated to promote laboratories skills & know-how, support and orientate innovative projects toward company needs, protect Intellectual Property of Universities & affiliates Schools. www.aquitaine-valo.fr

Azur Light Systems / Alphanov is a dedicated resource for the development of laser systems and their applications (laser processing and micro-machining, Terahertz applications, medical applications) in support of industrial and academic partners of the Bordeaux – Route des Lasers cluster. www.alphanov.com

Cilas is an expert in Optical Components and Thin Film Coatings. It works in Defense, Space, Astronomy, Scientific, Solar and Industry markets. It develops and manufactures high precision coated components in the visible range from 250 nm to 2,5 µm: Anti-reflective coatings, metal and dielectric mirrors, dichroics, longwave and shortwave pass filters, narrowband and broadband filters, Micro-structured components using lithography technique. www.cilas.com

Cordouan Technologies is a young startup which develops, manufactures and sales scientific optoelectronic instrumentation for physical chemistry analysis and optical metrology. Interests of research: nanotechnologies, nanomaterials metrology, laser beam and optical metrology. www.cordouan-tech.com

Egide SA is a European firm with international scope specialized in the manufacturing of hermetic packages for sensitive electronic or photonic components. The group is active in high-tech sectors including security, defence, space, aeronautics, telecommunications, automotives and medical. www.egide.fr

Eolite Systems develops and manufactures high power pulsed fiber lasers for a wide range of fine-technology micromachining applications, including cutting, engraving, ablation, drilling, annealing, printing, scribing, patterning… in different industry such as Photovoltaic, Semiconductor, Micro-electronic , Metal-processing. www.eolite.com

Imagine Optic is the world’s leading providers of Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensing hardware and software, adaptive optics technologies and professional services in applied optics. It works with scientists and industrials in domains including pure science, industrial quality control, space and defense, semiconductors and many others. www.imagine.optic.com

About the competitiveness clusters:

ROUTE DES LASERS
The Route des Lasers competitiveness cluster gathers industry, research and education actors from the optics and lasers sector in Bordeaux, Aquitaine. It is dedicated to facilitate optics and lasers technology development and diffusion, primarily laser systems and their applications, metrology and imaging and innovating physics, in industrial sectors such as: aeronautics, health, vision, chemistry, food industries, electronics. www.routedeslasers.com

POPSud OPTITEC
Optitec is a leading French competitiveness cluster specialized on complex optics and imaging systems dedicated to space, aeronautics, defense, medical and green-photonics application. It is a major European-scale centre for optics-photonics and image processing with more than 20% of French R&D in optics, 12 363 jobs for qualified staff, including 3 900 for researchers and engineers. www.popsud.org

OPTICSVALLEY/SYSTEMATIC
Opticsvalley is the Paris-Region’s network in the fields of Optics, Electronics and Software. Supported by local and regional governments, Opticsvalley unites more than 160 members: large, medium and small sized companies, research and training centers, as well as institutional partners. www.opticsvalley.org

For more information, please contact:

UBIFRANCE – FRENCH TRADE COMMISSION
Gaétan Gachet
IT Trade Advisor, San Francisco
Tel.: (415) 458-4573
E-mail: gaetan.gachet@ubifrance.fr
Web: www.ubifrance.fr

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

BORDEAUX ROUTE DES LASERS, THE PHOTONICS COMPETITIVENESS CLUSTER IN AQUITAINE-FRANCE AT PHOTONICS WEST IN SAN FRANCISCO

Chicago, January 8, 2010 (word count: 489)
The Route des Lasers competitiveness cluster Bordeaux, France, brings together the region’s players in research, industry, training in optics and lasers. The cluster welcomes First Solar to the Aquitaine region, the French region that includes the city of Bordeaux. First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) and EDF Energies Nouvelles (Euronext: EEN) have announced that they are in the final stages of exclusive negotiations with the town of Blanquefort, near the city of Bordeaux, to locate a new solar panel manufacturing plant. The cluster will be on the French Pavilion, booth 1723, at Photonics West in San Francisco from Jan. 23 to 28.

Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2010 and a full production capacity of more than 100 megawatts (MW) a year is to be reached in early 2012. The plant is expected to create up to 400 jobs in the region of Aquitaine and represent a total investment of approximately EUR 100 million (approximatively $150 million). The decision to focus on Blanquefort for the manufacturing plant follows an extensive review of potential sites throughout the country.

The Route des Lasers is dedicated to jointly conduct actions that structure and stimulate the sector, primarily in laser sources, fiber lasers, high-power and high-energy lasers, instrumentation, metrology and imaging, digital vision systems etc., for industrial applications in aeronautics and space, embedded systems, biomedical equipment, electronics, agribusiness, energy/environment/photovoltaics.

Route des Lasers is the place where one can find:

- Innovative companies in photonics technologies
The Route des Lasers competitiveness cluster brings together 70 companies, a network of SMEs working with optical-photonic technologies and lasers, high-technology spin-offs from R&D Bordeaux university laboratories, and corporate groups that lead their sectors.

- One of Europe’s highest concentrations of scientific expertise in photonics
R&D centered on optics, such as short-pulse lasers, intense lasers, nonlinear optics, spectroscopy, laser-plasma interaction, inertial confinement fusion, optics equipment; or on a more multidisciplinary level, nanophysics, bio-photonics, and image processing, have contributed to build the international reputation of the Route des Lasers cluster’s laboratories (CELIA, CPMOH, CEA, ICMCB, etc.).

- Commercial real estate, specifically targeting the sector
The Route des Lasers competitiveness cluster offers a range of business, science and technology sites in the optics-laser sector, suited to industrial needs, with shared services and resources (for instance Laseris, La Cité de la Photonique/Unitec, near the Laser Megajoule and the University of Bordeaux).

- Technological development tools and training
The ALPhANOV optics and lasers technological center is a unique center in France for technology transfer between academic laboratories and companies in laser processes and micro-machining, lasers sources and instrumentation, development in optics and imaging, terahertz applications. The PYLA platform is an exemplary resource for continuing education in laser related various professions.

- The Laser Megajoule, a scientific flagship for global visibility
With the arrival of the Laser Megajoule (LMJ), the Bordeaux region gains exceptional research equipment. This pivotal instrumentation opens opportunities for research in the physics of matter, energy and astrophysics.

- An effective assistance network through ALPhA organization, the Route des Lasers cluster’s governing body

For more information, please contact:

ALPhA ROUTE DES LASERS
42 rue du Général de Larminat
33001 Bordeaux Cedex
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 5 57 57 84 83
Fax: +33 5 56 24 06 39
E-mail: alpha@2adi.aquitaine.fr
Web: www.routedeslasers.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

A  SUBSTANTIAL PARTICIPATION FROM FRANCE COMING TO PHOTONICS WEST IN SAN FRANCISCO – JANUARY 26 to 28, 2010

Chicago, January 4, 2010 (word count: 299)
From January 26 to 28, 2010, 23 French companies will take part in the Photonics West trade show in San Francisco, at the French Pavilion, booths 1723 and 1823. As innovators in optics and photonics, the exhibiting companies will be using the event to unveil their latest products. The sectors concerned are involved with medical optics, imaging, lasers, micro/nano interfaces and optoelectronics.

In France, the photonics sector currently represents over 1,000 companies and 50,000 jobs, a EUR 10 billion  turnover, 200 laboratories and 13,000 researchers (source: CNOP). The France Pavilion will also be hosting three competitiveness clusters – Bordeaux Route des Lasers, Optitec PopSud and Elopsys – which constitute genuine exchange platforms. The competitiveness cluster policy has been launched by the French government in order to comply with the Lisbon agenda objectives, to increase the share of private research in the innovation process at the national level and to improve the cooperation between research bodies and enterprises.

International strategy is one of the priorities of the competitiveness clusters. This priority has been reinforced by the results of the national clusters’ evaluation conducted in 2008. International strategy means the ability to establish profitable relationships for the companies and labs of the clusters with foreign partners both at the level of research and development projects and at the level of industrial cooperation agreements. This also means to improve mobility of talents and companies between France and foreign countries. Therefore, foreign companies cooperating with French actors of clusters can benefit from the same advantages as French companies if they perform research and development in France.

The French Pavilion will be located in the Moscone Center’s South Hall (Booth 1723  and 1823) over a surface area of about 200 square meters.

A full list of exhibitors is available upon request.

For more information, please contact:

UBIFRANCE
Ms. Magali Voisin-Ratelle
NTIS Department- ICT Department
E-mail: magali.voisin-ratelle@ubifrance.fr
Tel.: +33 1 40 73 31 26

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Tel.: (312) 327-5260
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

CILAS PRESENTS NEW THIN FILM COATING CHAMBER AT PHOTONICS WEST IN SAN FRANCISCO THIS MONTH

Chicago, January 4, 2010 (word count: 295)
CILAS, an expert in optical coated components and thin film coatings, is launching the largest thin film coating machine in Europe. The company will exhibit at Photonics West 2010 in San Francisco, from Jan. 26 to 28, on the French Pavilion at booth 1823.

Involved in defense, space, astronomy, scientific, and industrial markets, CILAS develops and manufactures high-precision coated components in the spectral range from 250 nm to 2.5 µm. The company has recently invested in a new coating chamber using magnetron sputtering technology, which can coat large optics up to 2 x 2 meters with a very high uniformity and thus makes industrial volume serial production possible. The platform also includes a large automated chain to clean optical components, as well as a variety of control and metrology devices.

This platform boasts unmatched productivity and has already been selected to perform the coating of protected silver plating on the Megajoule Laser’s amplifier reflectors for the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), as well as to produce the mirrors used in space telescopes on behalf of the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA), and to refurbish the mirrors in the French Weaponry Department’s (DGA) Odeillo solar furnace.

CILAS’s know-how is based on its expertise in thin-film vacuum-coating deposition and its use of dense coating technology. The company’s coating equipment is equipped with optical control systems designed to control its thin film deposition in real-time. CILAS has developed its own coating design software, to master the production process from design to manufacture.

For high-resolution imaging applications of Earth observation from satellites, CILAS has combined ultra-dense coating processes with the latest microstructure manufacturing technology issued from microelectronics, in order to supply high precision optical coated components.

For more information, please contact:

CILAS
Richard Palomo
Sales and Contract Manager
Tel.: +33 4 42 36 97 00
E-mail: palomo@cilas.com
Web: www.cilas.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Tel.: (312) 327-5260
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

KERDRY’S HIGH-PRECISION THIN FILMS AND METALLICS FOR OPTICS COMING TO PHOTONICS WEST THIS JANUARY

Chicago, December 4, 2009 (word count: 276)
Founded in 2003, the KERDRY company has developed industrial equipment based on technology stemming from applied research laboratories in telecoms. It will be attending the upcoming Photonics West 2010 trade show in San Francisco from Jan. 23 to 28 at booth 1823 to present its thin films for optics.

The thin films manufactured by KERDRY make up both the metal deposition intended for component brazing and the dielectric deposition that helps achieve optical functionalities. The metal coating deposition (Au, Ag, Al, Ti, Ni/Cr, Cu, etc.) can be achieved on any kind of substrates with precise location upon the parts. One should note the company’s specific know-how in processing for brazing (positioning, hermetic packaging).

Concerning the optical deposition, KERDRY provides a range of traditional processing in AR, HR, dichroic or bespoke filters over the 350-nanometer to 12-micron spectral bandwidth. These thin films also provide a strong coating adhesion, substantial stability in temperature and high resistance to lasers. KERDRY’s expertise in photolithography enables the combination of both optical and metal coatings on the same part.

All production is performed in vacuum-sealed facilities in two categories: electron beam gun evaporation and cathode pulverization. All processing is done inside a 500-sq. m. clean room.

The company is in a position to work to order. It provides its customers with high-quality processing services that precisely meet their specific needs. Constantly seeking to improve its expertise, KERDRY has been nurturing close relationships with universities, engineering schools and research facilities. Thanks to this approach, it is currently established in a wide variety of markets, including the biomedical sector, the defense industry, aeronautics, telecommunications, the luxury industry and research.

KERDRY
Jean-Claude Keromnes
Chairman and Managing Director
5, rue Louis de Broglie
22300 Lannion
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 2 96 48 84 77
Fax: +33 2 96 48 84 78
E-mail: jean-claude.keromnes@kerdry.com
Web: www.kerdry.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

Chicago, December 2, 2009 (word count: 256)
Fibercryst produces laser thin crystal rods with a unique geometry — very thin and very long. It offers Nd:YAG or Yb:YAG thin rods with diameters of 0.3 mm to 2 mm, and lengths up to 500 mm. Upon request, it can provide other crystals in similar dimensions.  Fibercryst will present these rods and their associated laser systems at Photonics West 2010 in San Fransisco from Jan. 26 to 28, on the French Pavilion at booth 1823.

The company also develops laser systems using new concept based on the thin crystal rods. Lasers using standard bulk crystals are limited in terms of average power by thermal effect. Fiber lasers using double-clad silica fibers are limited in terms of peak power by non-linear effects. Using Fibercryst thin rods technology, one can benefit both from the crystal quality (high peak power) and from the geometry of the fiber (efficient thermal management). Thanks to this advantage, Fibercryst can offer a high-power Q-switch Yb:YAG oscillator and an Nd:YAG amplifier that are ready to integrate high-power laser systems.

The Yb:YAG oscillator, with its simple laser design, insures low price and high performance. This oscillator has already demonstrated several mJ energy at a few kHz, with pulses below 15 ns. The laser performance can be fitted to specific requirements.

The Nd:YAG amplifier, with its flexible design, can amplify various laser sources from high energy sources to high average power sources. For example, Fibercryst achieved a gain higher than 20 for a 350 mW average power nanosecond seed laser.

For more information, please contact:

FIBERCRYST
Julien Didierjean
Optical Division Manager
La Doua – Bat. l’Atrium
Boul. Latarjet
69616 Villeurbanne CEDEX
FRANCE
E-mail: j.didierjean@fibercryst.com
Web: www.fibercryst.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr

SILIOS TECHNOLOGIES WILL PRESENT NEW MINI-COLORIMETERS BASED ON ITS DVF TECHNOLOGY AT PHOTONICS WEST IN SAN FRANCISCO

Chicago, November 30, 2009 (word count: 220)
SILIOS Technologies designs and manufactures micro-optics, diffractive optics, miniaturized spectrometers and optical instrumentation. New to its products is a mini-colorimeter for online control and analysis that use the visible spectrum. The company will be at Photonics West 2010 from January 23 to 28 on the French Pavilion, booth 1823.

The new mini-colorimeters are based on SILIOS’ DVF (discrete variable filter) technology for any application of analysis and control of online products using the visible spectrum. It is composed of a DVF mounted on a CMOS bar plus an electronic board for the control command and the recovery of data via a USB link.

The integration of these colorimeters is simplified by their small size (36 x 36 sq. mm) and their ease of connection (USB). They can be delivered with a library of DLL functions allowing easy application programming. A development kit including demonstration software is also available.

DVF technology allows the supply of very compact, efficient, low cost multi-spectral filters. DVF chips are composed of a set of cells, each of them filtering a narrow band of wavelengths. They are collectively made according to the production methods of microelectronics.

The application fields are numerous: color measurement, printing industry, LCD displays, environment (water, air, waste), photovoltaic cells and thermal solar panels, medical, agrifood and more.

For more information, please contact:

SILIOS
Thierry Berthou
Sales Manager
ZI Peynier-Rousset
Rue Gaston Imbert Prolongée
13790 Peynier Cedex
FRANCE
Tel.: +33 4 42 53 89 60
E-mail: thierry.berthou@silios.fr
Web: www.silios.com

or:

FRENCH TECHNOLOGY PRESS OFFICE
205 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3740
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax: (312) 327-5261
E-mail: contact.ftpo@ubifrance.fr