Photonix Limited
Cluster member Photonix Limited was established in Glasgow in 1998 with £7 million support from the European Regional Development Fund, Scottish Enterprise and the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde. Originally called Compound Semiconductor Technologies, the not for profit facility changed its name in November 2003.

The Centre for Surface and Materials Analysis
Cluster member CSMA Limited have over 25 years experience in problem solving and surface characterisation in the optronics, optical coatings and photonics related industries.

Enfis Limited
Cluster member Enfis is a leader in the design, development and manufacturing of high power intelligent Light Emitting Diode (LED) light source illumination systems. Enfis is headquartered in the UK and is funded predominantly by the venture capital company Wesley Clover Corporation, chaired by Sir Terry Matthews, founder of Mitel and Newbridge Networks.

Intense Photonics
Cluster member Intense is an optoelectronic solutions provider working with key customers in the printing, telecoms and defence market sectors. Intense delivers bespoke engineering solutions and volume manufacturing. Establishing customer partnerships drives market dominant positions for the next generation of system products.

Syntec Technologies Inc
Polymer optics designed for demanding applications - From innovative designs for manufacturability, through proprietary Rapid Assembly and Manufacturing Processes to full supply chain management, Syntec Technologies delivers polymer optics solutions that make your products succeed.

Seminar Programme will Appeal to University and Industry Visitors...
PHOTONEX to be held at Stoneleigh Park on the 5th & 6th October will be a much more extensive event than last year following the addition of several new initiatives adding value for visitors and participants.

£100m boost for great British ideas
Science and Innovation Minister, Lord Sainsbury, recently announced the next £100 million of funding under the DTI's Technology Programme.

Given the underpinning nature of photonic technologies, there are likely to be opportunities in many areas for the photonics community. The competition opens on 25 April; the deadline for registering interest is 13 June.

Flexible film stars
Electronic displays are on the brink of a technological revolution.

Just a year into its three-year programme, the LINK Information Storage and Displays (ISD) FAMS project is changing the shape of electronics as we know it. If progress continues at its current pace, FAMS, which stands for Flexible Active Matrix Backplane Substrates for Low Cost Electronic Paper, could help to make electronic displays go all floppy on us.

Meeting the demands of plankton
An adaptation of an existing laser from Daventry-based Elforlight is set to become a major component of the electronic holographic camera under development by the University of Aberdeen.

The primary function of E-HOLOCAM will be in creating underwater holographic movies of events such as the lifestyle of the plankton, although as automatic underwater vehicles (AUVs) become more commonplace many commercial spin-offs are also expected.

Photonics Focus Conference 2005
This year's Photonics Focus Conference will be held on Wednesday 22 June 2005 at the CBI Conference Centre, in central London.
The Photonics Focus Conference 2005 has been organised as a key networking event to engage the photonics, displays and information storage communities in the discussion of areas of common interest and to highlight the latest developments in these fields.

The event will comprise a number of formal presentations given by high-profile speakers from relevant university and industry sectors, supplemented by a poster exhibition of LINK ISD and LINK OSDA projects.

Arden Photonics Ltd Releases Interferometer for Large Diameter Fibres.
Building on the proven VF-20, Arden Photonics Ltd announces the introduction of the VF-20-W interferometer for inspection of end quality and flatness of optical fibers up to 1mm in diameter.

Feinmess assigns new UK distributor
Feinmess Dresden GmbH of Germany, a member of the Steinmeyer Group and a supplier of high precision motion systems for the semiconductor, optical, biotechnology and precision mechanics industries, has appointed Armstrong Optical Ltd of Northants, UK as its exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland.

Photon Announces New Tool for M-squared Measurements
Now available from BFi OPTiLAS Ltd is the new NanoModeScan from Photon Inc., a leading optical test and measurement equipment firm. The NanoScanMode is a tool to measure M-squared and other beam propagation characteristics of lasers.

Metal Backed PCB's for High Power LED Applications
Due to recent developments in LED technology a range of High intensity Surface Mount LED's have enabled designers from many industries such as traffic signals, concealed lighting, decorative work and many others, to use LED's where once they may have used conventional bulbs or lamps.

Pro-Lite Technology Limited
Cluster member Pro-Lite are pleased to outline the qualities of the ProMetric® 1000 Colour Photometer Enables High Speed Testing of Displays and Backlightsfrom Radiant Imaging (Duvall, Washington, USA).

Trumpf Limited
Making the right connection - Albon makes around 350,000 connecting rods a month for a worldwide customer base that includes Caterpillar, Cummings Diesel, Detroit Diesel, Daimler Benz, SAAB Cars. These are mostly for diesel engines, with the majority destined for seven to sixteen-litre truck engines, and TRUMPF YAG lasers play a vital role in their manufacture.

One of the many member benefits is access to the fully equipped cluster labs, these include specialist areas of:

ModelMaker - The Fastest, Smallest and Lightest Hand-held Laser Scanner
The ModelMaker from 3D Scanners (UK) Ltd. of Coventry is an extremely versatile tool for rapid collection of 3D data in real time and usually in a single co-ordinate system.

Optical Fibre Test & Measurement Equipment
The cluster laboratories contain a comprehensive selection of specialist Test & Measurement instruments as well as much ancillary equipment.

ProMetric™ CCD Light and Colour Measurement System
The photometric laboratory enables its members to access the latest computer controlled photometric testing equipment.

High Speed Photographic Imaging Labs
The imaging lab is the joint venture between Oxford Lasers and Photonics Cluster (UK). The Oxford Lasers VisiLase V227 includes the highest data-rate digital camera in the world.

The "Micro-measure" 3 axis
3-D surface mapping system features the passive "optical pen" measurement head and high resolution translation stages giving better than 0.1 µm resolution is X, Y and Z.

Laser Ablation System
The UP-266 is a second-generation, high-performance Class 1, Nd:YAG laser micro-electronics trimming and repair system. It is a compact, table top, self-contained laser machining system that includes laser, stages, video system and control software to allow trimming and repair of a variety of micro devices.

Non-Contact Vibration Test & Measurement Equipment
The cluster laboratories contain a comprehensive selection of specialist Test & Measurement instruments as well as much ancillary equipment.

PLC Optical Fiber Alignment and Attachment Station
This system is designed to align the optical axis of optical waveguide with the input - and - output fibre arrays for optimization, and then fix them by UV curing.

Cluster News