Across 30 years, Avantes has built a leadership position in the fibre optic spectroscopy field and used its recent showcase at Photonics West 2025 to talk about a range of market contexts and what makes the company, a member of the Nynomic Group, poised for greater success.
“We always like to talk about what our capabilities are, and this annual show is obviously important to remain in contact with our customers,” says Ger Loop, the company’s Product Manager. “We are, of course, highlighting the continuous improvement of our lines alongside something of a sneak preview at Photonics West 2025 – a spectrometer with enhanced NIR sensitivity.” That product – the ULS2048XL – is expected to hit the market sometime in the second quarter.
It has a specific target application: the inspection of fruits, where enhancing sensitivity can make all the difference. It’s a good example of the company’s focus on driving innovation where there is clear customer demand. Development has been relatively fast in this instance, but Avantes balances fast turnarounds with longer R&D stretches – much defined, of course, by the obvious need for customisation. “There’s always uncertainty,” says Loop, “but we have 30 years of experience in this industry and the frontiers of science are always advancing… one of things I would say is very unique to our company is the fact that we're big believers in our demonstration programme – that is really about de-risking an instrument that's close to the configuration so that customer can say, ‘OK, I'm confident’.”
“In reality, a lot of our work requires a lot of customisation, which you have to do in an individual context,” says Damon Lenski, the company’s General Manager, Americas. “It’s truly the iterative nature of it. You have to spend the time really developing understanding the use case and then adapting as you go.” Critical to this is the fact Avantes routinely fields its engineers to make sure customers understand and are happy with their products. “A lot of the bigger companies take the approach that you have all these engineers and then you have salespeople – that’s not our way,” says Lenski.
One of Lenski’s guiding principles is to be creative about that customisation, but to maintain a firm focus on a practical solution. “We're not going to always suggest the most expensive, highest performance spectrometer to solve a problem… The trick is to find where you really need customisation and to put the resources and the focus on that, instead of just doing it because we can do it!”
It’s this sort of common-sense ethos that has seen Avantes grow across more than three decades, with around 40,000 of its spectrometers now out in use globally. Headquartered in The Netherlands, its business is worldwide but has a nuanced delivery structure, inevitable because of some of the strict regulatory environments that Avantes operates in.
“Developing projects has really changed over the years – 10 years ago, it was a completely different story where you could move fast to market. It’s now much more conservative and things can be more difficult to react quickly to,” says Loop.
Don’t mistake this market sensitivity to any sort of cautious thinking, however. “I don't want to always make too big a deal out of anything we do launch-wise because almost everything is subject to continuous improvement,” says Loop. “You have to keep moving with your product… There are always more ideas and more opportunities, and then there are the realities of actually bringing them to life. The lifetime of electronics, for instance, is getting shorter and shorter – there are challenging options to choose to make sure that you can supply developing products over some time for customers, even if they operate in areas such as medicine where consistency over a number of years is usually important.”
One recent product that has attracted a lot of attention is the VARIUS™ – the latest of the company’s spectrometers and it joins a long list of distinguished models that have previously shaped the market. Its patented technology and improved optical bench design means it routinely outperforms its predecessors, guaranteeing accuracy and reliability across various applications. It integrates with the firm’s respected AvaSoft software and crosslink solutions for enhanced versatility.
The VARIUS™ spectrometer is available in standard and industrial (OEM) variations. It comes with a 2048 or 4096-pixel detector choice and features USB3 and Gigabit Ethernet high-speed data transfer. The OEM variation has a sturdy steel housing with electromagnetic shielding, which is specifically designed for easy integration into a range of devices or systems. Users can optimise performance by replacing the slit with different sizes and the innovative magnetic connector cover system allows simple access for slit replacement and broader customisation.
For such a special piece of equipment, it’s perhaps surprising that Avantes’ automated manufacturing process enables the company to produce high volumes of them with remarkable speed and accuracy; this automation ensures each spectrometer is identical to the next.
The OEM variant of the VARIUS™ is also optimised for seamless integration into existing systems or equipment. It comes in a robust housing that facilitates integration into production lines, manufacturing processes, medical devices, or other setups. This type of spectrometer is obviously engineered to withstand harsh conditions, provide reliable and accurate measurements, and enable efficient data integration with other machinery or control systems. It can be used for in-line quality control, process monitoring, and automation applications.
The outlook for the firm looks strong, especially now the US election is out of the way and the domestic geopolitical narrative is better defined. “We don't know exactly what the priorities will be in terms of scientific research, but we feel a sense of optimism,” says Lenski. The company’s strong showing at Photonics West 2025 in San Francisco suggests his outlook is justified – while geopolitical headwinds can be turbulent, there’s a calm and reassuring confidence that Avantes has perfected its approach across many years, while maintaining an ambitious focus on chasing that next big idea that might just transform everything.
