Business briefs

15 Jun 2010

Featuring news from Teledyne Technologies, Optical Research Associates, Schott, Anteryon and more.

• Teledyne Scientific & Imaging, a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies, has acquired Optimum Optical Systems. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Optimum Optical manufactures custom lenses and optomechanical assemblies for the infrared, visible and ultraviolet spectrums. Its products are primarily used in tactical military imaging systems found on defence platforms, such as UAV systems. Optimum Optical Systems will now change its name to Teledyne Optimum Optical Systems.

• Optical Research Associates (ORA) and QED Technologies (QED) have announced a co-operative agreement that will facilitate a complete design, tolerancing and manufacturing solution for lens systems incorporating aspheric surfaces. Under the terms of the agreement, ORA will integrate superior aspheric design and analysis capabilities into its CODE V software. The integration includes the Forbes polynomial surface formulations, developed by Greg Forbes of QED.

• "The Forbes polynomials deliver superior mathematical formulations that facilitate easier design, analysis and tolerancing of aspheric surfaces," said George Bayz, president and CEO of ORA. "We are excited to partner with QED to provide this innovative solution that will help optical designers more easily take advantage of the unique image quality and cost benefits that aspheres offer, particularly for today's increasingly compact optical systems."

• Bern Optics of the US can now supply sub-millimetre optical lenses as small as 0.20 mm, roughly the size of a grain of salt. The lenses can be ground and polished in a variety of difficult configurations, including plano-convex, plano-concave, bi-concave, bi-convex, as well as positive and negative meniscus. Created from optical and filter glasses, the lenses can also be produced with spherical and cylindrical radii with sub-millimetre curvatures and diameters.

• Qualcomm has invested in Anteryon, an expert in wafer-based, miniature optical module production for mobile phone cameras and laser projection. The funds will be used to develop Anteryon's WaferOptics optical module production technology and expand Anteryon's Asia production facility. Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.

• Schott has patented a precision molding process for producing strips and arrays of high refractive miniature lenses out of glass. "These lenses can have a very high and steep curvature and be placed very closely together," said Ralf Biertümpfel, application manager at Schott in Mainz, Germany. "This makes them particularly attractive for light sources with several LEDs. Strips and arrays of lenses are much easier to process and mount than individual lenses." As an example, Schott says that 19 aspherically formed lenses 5 mm in diameter and 2.5 mm in height can be combined on an array that is only 25 mm in diameter.

• The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) has selected Schott to build the 4 m primary mirror blank for the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), which will be the world's largest solar telescope. The primary mirror has a diameter of 4.25 m, which will be masked to a clear aperture of 4 m, and focuses the incoming sunlight through a heat-stop then into the telescope's optical system. The curved primary mirror substrate will be made of the Zerodur glass-ceramic from Schott and is approximately 76 mm in thickness at its thinnest point. "Our glass-ceramic features the outstanding characteristic of having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is close to zero," explains Thomas Westerhoff, head of the Zerodur product group at Schott. "This allows for light to be reflected without being distorted."

• SiOnyx has added Jeannine Sargent, the former CEO of Oerlikon Solar, to its board of directors. Sargent will help guide the company's advancement of its black silicon in solar and imaging applications.

• Soraa, the company founded by semiconductor pioneers Shuji Nakamura, Steven Denbaars and James Speck, has announced that Eric Kim join the company on 6 July as president and CEO. Kim has previously served as Intel's chief marketing officer and head of its global sales and marketing group. He will work out of Soraa's new corporate headquarters in Fremont, California, US.