Fiber Optics

Thorlabs to acquire fiber-optic processing company Vytran from NKT

Aug. 20, 2015

Thorlabs entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire Vytran from NKT Photonics.

Vertically integrated photonics products manufacturer Thorlabs (Newton, NJ) entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire Vytran (Morganville, NJ) from NKT Photonics (Birkerød, Denmark). Vytran produces products to taper and fuse optical fiber. Their fiber-optic processing technologies are used in a broad range of precision applications including telecommunications, medical components, fiber lasers, and sensing systems. A closing of the transaction is anticipated to take place in September 2015. The acquisition follows a string of prior photonics industry acquisitions by Thorlabs.

"We are excited to have Vytran join the Thorlabs team," said Alex Cable, president and founder. "Their expertise and product offering are natural additions to our current fiber draw and cabling competencies. As we bring them on board, we will leverage the extensive experience Thorlabs has in nanopositioning, imaging, electronics, and mechanics to further develop their core competencies so as to remain at the forefront of current market needs while also expanding the product line to address new market opportunities."

Vytran's New Jersey manufacturing facility as well as its customer support centers in Exeter, United Kingdom and Hangzhou, China will continue to operate from their current geographical locations. In addition, Thorlabs will fully integrate Vytran's product line into its ecommerce site and provide service and support through its global offices.

Vytran supplies fiber fusion splicing and glass processing solutions for the fiber laser, sensing, medical, telecom, aerospace, and specialty fiber products markets. The company’s patented filament fusion technology is paired with machine monitoring and control capabilities to provide process control unattainable with other fusion splicing methods.

Thorlabs was founded in 1989 to serve the laser and electro-optics research market. Its integrated and diverse manufacturing assets include semiconductor fabrication of Fabry-Perot, DFB, and VCSEL lasers, fiber towers for drawing glass optical fibers (silica, fluoride, tellurite, and hollow core), MBE/MOCVD epitaxial wafer growth reactors, extensive glass and metal fabrication facilities, advanced thin-film deposition capabilities, and optomechanical and optoelectronic shops.

SOURCE: Thorlabs; http://www.thorlabs.us/PressReleases.cfm?ReleaseID=83

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.