Public offering: Bookham (San Jose, CA) announced the pricing of a public offering of 16,000,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $2.75 per share. All of the shares are being offered by Bookham. Net proceeds to Bookham from the offering are expected to be approximately $41.0 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses associated with the transaction. The offering is expected to close on November 13, 2007, subject to customary closing conditions. Bookham has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,400,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.
Hyperspectral solution: Headwall Photonics (Fitchburg, MA), supplier of integrated spectrometer systems for spectral imaging and chemical sensing solutions, announced that NASA selected Headwall’s Hyperspec imaging sensor to augment the AVIRIS (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) program in providing much-needed hyperspectral data for remote-sensing researchers. According to Jeffrey Myers, manager of the Airborne Science & Technology Lab, “NASA had a need for high-quality, aberrationcorrected imaging with high spectral and spatial resolution.” In related news, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $2 million funding bill that allows Headwall Photonics to design and manufacture miniature hyperspectral imaging sensors for deployment on a range of unmanned aerial vehicles and small unmanned ground vehicles.
Military displays: Kopin Corporation (Taunton, MA), manufacturer of microdisplays for mobile consumer and military applications, announced the adoption of its new CyberDisplay 640M LVR for use in the U.S. Army’s new thermal weapon sight program, the TWS Bridge, which has potential volumes exceeding 150,000 units. This high-tech display is specifically designed to operate at temperatures as low as -40 degrees C with nearly “Instant-On” capability. This performance is achieved without the need for an external heater, significantly reducing display system power consumption. “Kopin’s Instant-On displays raise the bar significantly in terms of battery life and operational readiness for ultraportable military systems,” stated Michael Presz, the Company’s VP of Government Programs.
Dental imaging contracts: e2v technologies (Essex, England) signed orders with three existing key dental imaging customers, worth a total of $28.9 million dollars. e2v’s x-ray sensitive CCDs are incorporated into digital dental imaging systems. Intra-oral systems capture x-ray images of individual or small groups of teeth whilst extra-oral panoramic systems capture images of the whole mouth in a single sweep. These systems offer high performance image capture, instantly viewable on a PC monitor, from significantly lower radiation doses than film. Keith Attwood, chief executive of e2v said, “These contracts, which were anticipated, demonstrate the continued strength of our position within the global dental imaging marketplace and are also an early indicator of stabilisation within the sector following a period of industry consolidation.”
SBIR for IR optics: LightPath Technologies (Orlando, FL) was awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the Naval Air Warfare Center to develop molding technologies for infrared (IR) optical components that will provide lower costs for both government and commercial applications. LightPath has more than 20 years of experience molding visible and near-IR aspherical optics; the grant will expand LightPath’s existing molding technology and provide enhanced capabilities for larger-diameter lenses in the midand long-wave IR spectrum. James Magos, VP of sales & mktg. for LightPath said, “The U.S. government and commercial industries are making significant investments in reducing infrared detector costs. This program is the first step in reducing the cost of optical components, which are a large factor in overall system design.”
SBIR for OLEDs: Universal Display Corporation (Ewing, NJ) was awarded a $750,000 SBIR Phase II grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the DOE’s solid-state lighting program to focus on the demonstration of a simpler white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) design that should reduce manufacturing costs, without compromising performance. This program is based on Universal Display’s proprietary phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) technology and materials. The new white OLED design will use two PHOLED emitters that will be specially designed to emit broadly so that the color spectrum can be optimally covered. The device is targeted to have a high color rendering index (CRI), an important metric for lighting applications, as well as excellent power efficiency.
U.K. silicon photonics: The U.K.’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) awarded a grant valued at about $10 million for silicon research to a consortium led by the University of Surrey (Surrey, England). The consortium, headed by Graham Reed and Goran Mashanovich of the University’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), includes researchers from St. Andrews University (led by Thomas Krauss), Leeds University (Robert Kelsall), Warwick University (David Leadley), Southampton University (Graham Ensell), the British defense research organization QinetiQ (Mike Jenkins), and Intel (Mario Paniccia). “Silicon photonics promises to revolutionize the next generation of integrated circuits by providing solutions for optical interconnections between chips and circuit boards, optical signal processing, optical sensing and the ‘labon- a-chip’ biological applications,” the University said in a statement.
Waveguide design software: Optiwave Systems (Ottawa, ON, Canada), provider of optical component and system design tools, announced the immediate availability of OptiBPM 9.0—the latest version of its waveguide optics design suite. Optiwave product manager Steven Dods said, “Sophisticated electro-optic devices employing several electro-optic materials in arbitrary orientations can now be modeled accurately in one flexible simulation environment.” New features in OptiBPM 9.0 include a simplified method of creating slanted waveguides in the design environment, 3-D path monitoring, and a robust bi-directional data interface with ZEMAX, the popular lens design tool.
New hires: Laser manufacturer TOPTICA Photonics (Munich, Germany) hired Michael Holmes as its new scientific sales director for the U.S. Holmes received his PhD from the University of Rochester with a background in laser cooling and ultra-cold atom physics. In his new position, he will work to expand TOPTICA’s leadership position for the scientific laser market.
Minoo Mortazavi has joined Infinera (Sunnyvale, CA) in a newly created position, VP, strategic materials, to support Infinera’s strategic focus on building an optimized supply chain that supports scaling efficiency, lowering costs, and creates even greater flexibility through the value chain. Before Infinera, Mortazavi was VP, global materials at JDS Uniphase.
Aculight Corporation (Bothell, WA), developer of laser technologies, appointed Robert Afzal VP of R&D; Cheryl DeBoise has also been hired as CFO. Afzal was formerly Aculight’s director of technology development and prior to Aculight, was VP of R&D for Spectra Systems Corporation and held several positions within NASA. DeBoise joins Aculight from Plymouth Housing Group, where she was responsible for finance, human resources, administration, and information technology for the company and 11 related entities.
DisplaySearch (Austin, TX) added 11 new market analysts and staff members. The new hires included Rich Alires as VP of North America business development; Michael Boo as DisplaySearch Korea’s director of TFT LCD market research; Calvin Hsieh as DisplaySearch Taiwan’s research director; and Hidestoshi Himuro as DisplaySearch Japan’s director of IT market research.