The Finger Lakes Regional Center for Advanced Optics Manufacturing was awarded $675,000 today in the New York State Regional Economic Development Competition. Kudos to the FLREDC Optics & Photonics Committee and its chairmen, Jim Sydor of Sydor Optics and Jay Eastman of Optel for their leadership. The money will be used to purchase two pieces...Continue Reading

Toptica has positioned itself at the center of the optics universe, with a Victor office that handles sales, support, service and light manufacturing for its North American clients and a president who holds physics and business degrees from both the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. “We have the best right here in...Continue Reading

Researchers in Rochester, NY are finding ways to understand some of the mysteries of space without leaving earth. Using high-intensity lasers at the University of Rochester’s OMEGA EP Facility focused on targets smaller than a pencil’s eraser, they conducted experiments to create colliding jets of plasma knotted by plasma filaments and self-generated magnetic fields, reaching...Continue Reading

Component and system provider Thorlabs has continued its expansion up the photonics value chain with the acquisition of Corning’s optoelectronics research group – including significant expertise in quantum cascade laser (QCL) development. And the company has immediately followed that up with a strategic partnership involving Daylight Solutions, the San Diego firm that has developed QCL-based products...Continue Reading

A multikilowatt diode laser system that’s bright enough to cut and weld — even through a half-inch of steel — at greater efficiencies than today’s industrial lasers is being commercialized by MIT Lincoln Laboratory spinout TeraDiode. The 4-kilowatt TeraBlade runs on a novel power-scaling technique developed at MIT that manipulates individual diode laser beams into a single...Continue Reading

Rochester, New York is bursting with energy, photonic energy! The New York (NYSTAR) MEP Center, aka High Tech Rochester, is a key player in the revitalizing this industry, along with various economic and business development entities in the Rochester region. To strengthen and grow this industry the Rochester region has received three grants; the Advanced...Continue Reading

“If China shuts off the flow of glass, the United States will be out of drones in six months.” – CEO of a critical components contractor to the DoD It was anticipated and heavily lobbied for.  Does it look like anyone expected? On Monday, June 2nd, the Department of the Air Force, through Air Force...Continue Reading

New York Photonics Manufacturing Initiative Goal: Assist in developing national and regional technology roadmaps for the U.S. photonics industry and laying the groundwork for a national institute dedicated to advancing and diffusing photonics-based manufacturing technologies. Lead: University of Rochester, Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences 260 Hutchison Rd. Rochester, NY14627 Award Number: 70NANB14H054 Federal Funding:...Continue Reading