NKT Photonics in Denmark has licensed parts of its photonic crystal fibre technology to German company PicoQuant, which specialises in pulsed diode lasers, single photon counting and fluorescence instrumentation. Picoquant will use the technology in its new Solea supercontinuum lasers, the first of which will be on display at Photonics West in February 2014.
The NKT patents that were licensed to PicoQuant include fundamental methods of drawing and subsequently processing the fibres for use in systems, and also for the use of a gain switched laser diode in the supercontinuum light sources.
‘Supercontinuum generation has been around since the sixties but it was not until we commercialised the SuperK sources, based on our patented nonlinear photonic crystal fibres, that supercontinuum lasers became a viable alternative to existing light sources,’ explained Jakob Skov, CEO of NKT Photonics. ‘Now, supercontinuum lasers are used in countless applications and we are happy to drive this change by giving companies around the world access to our technology.’
Rainer Erdmann, CEO of PicoQuant added: ‘We were looking for the perfect partner helping us to develop a freely triggerable supercontinuum laser, which extends the portfolio of our products. As the pioneers of this technology and the company with the broadest portfolio, NKT was a perfect choice.’
The first products using NKT Photonics fibers will be on display at the PicoQuant booth at Photonics West in San Francisco 4-6 February 2014.
