Albis and Exalos take over OptoSpeed’s products
Since then two new companies have emerged to continue OptoSpeed’s superluminescent LED (SLED) and detector product lines.
Exalos was set up by the team responsible for OptoSpeed’s SLED product line and has a facility in the Technology Park in Zurich, Switzerland, although manufacturing is being outsourced.
The company plans to sell SLEDs - optical devices with a stable, broad-wavelength emission - to the fiber-optic gyroscope, medical, test equipment and sensor industries.
Fiber-optic gyroscopes are used in applications such as avionics, aerospace and navigation. Medical applications for SLEDs include optical coherence tomography, while test equipment using SLEDs includes channel monitors and passive component characterization. Fiber-optic strain sensors are used for monitoring structures such as bridges and oil pipelines.
Albis Optoelectronics
Albis Optoelectronics AG was founded in August 2003 by Markus Blaser, former product line manager of photodiodes at Opto Speed, and Joerg Wieland, president and CEO of Helix AG, and acquired OptoSpeed’s photodiode business line.
The company took over all the business line’s assets, including intellectual property, key employees, and the 2000 sq. ft clean room facilities and equipment located in Rueschlikon near Zurich, Switzerland.
Financing has been committed to the company by a group of private individuals including the founders and senior management.
Albis Optoelectronics has a well established, world class manufacturing base for high performance data- and telecom photodetectors based on more than 20 years experience inherited from Opto Speed and ETH Zurich.
The company designs, manufactures and sells a complete line of mature and fully qualified InGaAs/InP-based pin photodiodes for optical interconnects, long-haul, metro and high-speed LAN/SAN applications as well as analog optical microwave signal transmission.
Albis will have a strong focus on the development of highly advanced photodiode products for 10 Gbit/s short reach data communication, says Markus Blaser, Albis’ CTO.
"An active area of 65 to 70 micron diameter at speeds of 10 Gbit/s and operating bias voltages below 2 V has been demonstrated,” said Blaser. "Development of such products is finalized and single channel as well as array prototypes are available immediately."
