New solid-state laser maker looks for growth
DPSS Lasers Inc. (Santa Clara, CA), a new maker of diode-pumped solid-state lasers, hopes to ship between 50 and 100 units in 1999, vice president for marketing Kenneth Ibbs says. DPSS, which had been a research program within Liconix for three years, began selling Q-switched Nd:YVO4 lasers in early 1998 and became a separate company in September, when Melles Griot Inc. (Carlsbad, CA) bought Liconix. DPSS has completed its first round of financing, with former Liconix president Mark Dowley, former chief financial officer Thomas Hogan, and venture capitalist Don Lucas as its major investors. The people who had composed the executive group of Liconix are now on the DPSS board, which Dowley chairs; Alex Laymon, formerly vice president of engineering at Liconix, is president.