June 30, 2005, Orsay, France--Thales Group (www.thalesgroup.com), a worldwide manufacturer of electronic and optoelectronic systems with 65,000 employees, is reinforcing and re-positioning its laser strategy by linking Thales Laser (Orsay, France; www.thales-laser.com) to its Device hardening Instrumentation & Safety division (DIS; Colombes, France), part of the Land and Joint Systems Business Group, to allow an even stronger position on scientific, medical and defense-related markets.
Last April, Thales Laser left the High-Tech Optics (HTO) business unit and joined the DIS division managed by Gerard Labaune in order to expand on high-end laser markets. The ultrafast lasers manufactured by Thales Laser are now seamlessly integrated in the cyclotrons, synchrotrons, and particle accelerators manufactured by DIS. They provide both accelerator seeding with excellent photoelectron beam quality and high-power beams to interact with the accelerated particles. This opens a new field of applications such as medical X ray. "The strong synergies between Thales Laser and DIS will enable customers to get a full system solution that goes beyond the laser source," says Antoine Duret, marketing & application engineer at Thales Laser.
Major examples that illustrate this re-positioning strategy are the recent contract for a 100-Hz diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) ultrafast system by Stanford University (Stanford, CA; www.stanford.edu) to seed a linear accelerator (LINAC), the order of a Terawatt system by a major United States aerospace company, and the strong involvement of Thales Laser in programs to develop new diode-pumped laser solutions.