Boosting its fiber laser business, nLight buys Arbor Photonics

Vancouver, WA--nLight has acquired Arbor Photonics, a spinoff company based on the work of Almantas Galvanauskas at the University of Michigan Center for Ultrafast Optical Science. Arbor has pioneered chirally-coupled core (3C) fiber technology.

Conard Holton

Jan. 8, 2013

Vancouver, WA--nLight has acquired Arbor Photonics (Ann Arbor, MI), a spinoff company based on the work of Almantas Galvanauskas at the University of Michigan Center for Ultrafast Optical Science. Arbor has pioneered chirally-coupled core (3C) fiber technology, which enables high-power fiber lasers for material processing, defense, and medical applications.

Scott Keeney, nLIGHT President and CEO, said, “Vertical integration of core technology is critical to our growth strategy.” The 3C fiber technology enables applications requiring high peak-power and single-mode beam quality. It is also polarization maintaining, which is essential for generation of green and UV wavelengths.

Chirally-coupled-core optical fiber has an internal structure that maintains a single-spatial-mode output even when the fiber's core is very large. This allows higher-energy output, as the pulses' energy is spread out over a larger core cross-sectional area. 3C fiber has previously been used to amplify nanosecond pulses with up to 100 kW peak power, 100 W average power, and single-mode (M2 < 1.1) beam quality.

nLIGHT employs over 400 people in five locations worldwide and develops and manufactures fiber lasers, diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and direct-diode lasers based on proprietary semiconductor lasers and optical fiber technology.

About the Author

Conard Holton

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.