News and Press
Releases
May 2005,
Presentation by Mesophotonics: Metallo-Dielectric Photonic Crystals for Reproducible Surface-Enhanced Raman Substrates
24 May 2020, 9:15am CLEO 2005 May 22-27, Baltimore convention center Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Presentation by Mesophotonics:Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering by 2D Photonic Crystals: Enhancement and Repoducibility
10 May 2020, 6:30pm 2005 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, May 8-12, 2005, Anaheim Convention Center, California, U.S.A.
April 2005,
Presentation by Mesophotonics: Chameleon Nano-Structured Metals for Molecular Detection
13 April 2020, 2:00pm Physics - A Century After Einstein, 10 - 14 April 2020 University of Warwick, UK
February 2005,
Mesophotonics Ltd named by Tornado Insider among Europe's top 100
private tech companies. More details.
January 2005,
Klarite substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy - new
product release. More details.
July 2004,
Mesophotonics releases next generation white light continuum generation
planar waveguides. More details.
July 2004,
Continuum generation chip mounts now available for most micro-positioners.
More details.
26 January 2004,
Mesophotonics secures $10 million (£5.5m) in second round
funding led by Quester. More details. Full
press release in PDF format available here
January
2004,
Mesophotonics continuum generation chips now available. More
details
18 September 2003,
Southampton, UK. Mesophotonics announces new method of generating
white light continuum.
Mesophotonics has demonstrated a new method of generating white
light continuum. The continuum, with over 600nm of bandwidth, was
produced from low power femtosecond ultrafast pulses using only
a 10mm long waveguide grown on a standard silicon wafer. More
details
11 August 2003, Southampton,
UK. Mesophotonics re-launches Web site.
The new site includes more up-to-date news stories, such as this
one, tracking important developments and future product launches.
More details
2 April 2003, Southampton,
UK. Mesophotonics Appoints CEO.
James McKenzie has been appointed to Chief Executive Office. More
details
Press Release on BTG's Investment in Mesophotonics
http://www.btgplc.com/news/31072001Mesophotonics.html
See also
February 2005,
Mesophotonics Ltd named by Tornado Insider among Europe’s
top 100 private tech companies
[ PDF
Version ]
Best Performing Companies of 2004
1
Feburary 2005, Mesophotonics Ltd has been selected as one
of the best-performing and innovative high-tech private companies
of Europe and Israel in the fourth annual Tornado100
list. Mesophotonics Ltd, headquartered in Southampton, England was
founded in 2001 and specializes in ground breaking optical components
using photonic crystal technology. This award coincides with the
launch of their latest Klarite product range for enhanced detection
of biological and chemical samples impacting a wide range of markets
including homeland security, forensics, environmental monitoring,
medical diagnostics and drug discovery.
“We are privileged that our efforts have been recognized
by Tornado Insider in its ranking of the Top 100 start-ups in Europe
and Israel,” said James McKenzie, CEO of Mesophotonics. “The
award acknowledges the effort our world class team has made in developing
this ground breaking technology that we anticipate will have a major
impact with analytical chemists at the upcoming Pittconn exhibition
in Florida.”
The 2004 Tornado100 list can be found on the website of Tornado
Insider (www.tornado-insider.com),
and includes a profile of Mesophotonics Ltd (www.mesophotonics.com)
and the other 99 most promising and innovative emerging companies
in the European IT and biotech sectors.
"The companies Tornado Insider selected are Europe's technology
stars." said Niels Valkering, Tornado Insider's Head of Research.
"Combining internal analysis with advice from industry specialists,
we identified the elite of Europe's high-tech entrepreneurial vanguard,
appreciating excellence both in innovative, commercial and financial
performance. Watch these companies in 2005, as the technology they
are commercializing today will change tomorrow's trends."
The selection of the 2004 Tornado100 Winners from thousands of
candidates was judged according to the following criteria:
Delivering an innovation that shows the promise to set new standards
- Creating a major new audience
- Supplying a key piece of the ICT infrastructure
- Commanding a significant customer base
- Having the potential to become a global brand or standard
- Influencing a major market
- Receiving a significant amount of funding
- Having a strong valuation for a lucrative exit
- Having a management with previous successful exit experience
The list was announced during the Tornado Insider/World Financial
Symposiums T100 Leadership Forum on January 26th, 2005 in London.
About Mesophotonics Ltd
Mesophotonics is commercializing breakthrough photonic crystal technology
that allows light to be bent, routed and processed at sub-millimeter
scale. The company was founded in 2001 by a team of 7 founders from
3 departments at the University of Southampton with expertise in
modeling, fabrication, design and characterization. Venture capital
funding is provided by Quester Capital Management (London), BTG
(London), Auriga Partners (Paris) and NIF (Tokoyo).
For further information please contact:
John Lincoln, Director of Business Development,
Tel: +44 23 8076 3752
Email: john.lincoln@mesophotonics.com
Web: www.mesophotonics.com
2005 Mesophotonics Ltd all rights reserved. Mesophotonics Ltd
is a trademark used under license by Mesophotonics Ltd. All other
logos, brand names and product names are trademarks of their respective
companies.
24 January 2005,
Southampton, UK
Mesophotonics releases Klarite Surface Enhanced Raman Substrates.
[ PDF
Version ]
Mesophotonics Ltd, a developer of disruptive photonic crystal
technology, announced at Photonics West 2005 the release of its
Klarite substrates for surface enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS).
Offering unparalleled levels of reproducibility, Klarite SERS substrates,
mounted on standard 3” glass slides, allow the unique Raman
finger print present in all molecules to be easily and repeatedly
identified. Klarite substrates enable faster, higher accuracy detection
of biological and chemical samples at lower detection limits for
a wide range of markets including homeland security, forensics,
environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics and drug discovery.
Previous
SERS substrates have been plagued by 100% signal variations and
by hot spots where only small areas of the total device showed amplified
Raman signals. Systematic nanometre scale patterning of the Gold
surface of the new Klarite substrates forms photonic crystals which
fundamentally control the physics of the Raman amplification process.
By leveraging their experience of photonic crystals and semiconductor
manufacturing, Mesophotonics is able to tightly control the surface
enhanced Raman amplification process producing consistent SERS signals.
Raman signal variations of less than 15% have been consistently
measured without any data selection.
Klarite substrates are completely compatible with existing micro-Raman
instruments. However, the SERS signals that are generated from Klarite
substrates are many orders of magnitude more intense than traditional
Raman signals and enable detection with low sensitivity detectors
and low power lasers. This will open the door to the development
of low cost Raman detection systems compatible with volume OEM applications.
John Lincoln, Mesophotonics Business Development Director commented,
“We believe that Klarite substrates offer a new method
of controlling surface enhanced Raman amplification that provides
the reproducibility necessary for a vast range of detection applications”.
About Mesophotonics
Mesophotonics is commercialising breakthrough photonic crystal technology
that allows light to be bent, routed and processed at sub-millimetre
scale. The company was founded in 2001 by a team of 7 founders from
3 departments at the University of Southampton with expertise in
modelling fabrication design and characterisation. Venture capital
funding is provided by Quester Capital Management (London), BTG
(London), Auriga Partners (Paris) and NIF (Tokoyo).
For further information please contact:
Mesophotonics
John Lincoln
Director of Business Development
Tel: +44 23 8076 3752
Email: john.lincoln@mesophotonics.com
Web: www.mesophotonics.com
July
2004
Mesophotonics releases next generation white
light continuum generation planar waveguides.
[ PDF
Version ]
Mesophotonics Ltd, a developer of disruptive photonic crystal technology,
today announced release of the next generation of planar waveguides
optimised for white light continuum generation. These 2 dimensional
waveguides offer users a convenient way of generating low noise,
low ripple spectrum of 100’s nm bandwidth for frequency metrology,
spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography applications.
The
latest generation of continuum generation chips (CGC’s), which
are only 1cm long, feature two dimensional planar waveguides with
tapers on the input and output ends of the waveguide to simplify
pump launching. This design has enabled over 40mW of continuum to
been generated with only 200mW of incident power. The generated
continua also feature very low spectral ripple and are fully polarisation
preserving as a result of the unique waveguide design which also
means that the continuum is generated into a high quality single
mode output. Extensive tests have shown that in excess of 150nm
of 3dB bandwidth can be generated from most femtosecond pump lasers
at 800nm, 1µm or 1.5µm pump lasers with as little as
10mW (100pJ) of power launched into the waveguide.
Each supplied chip contains over 40 waveguides of differing sizes
effectively providing 40 devices in one and enabling the user to
easily investigate the effect of changing waveguide geometry without
changing the sample. To further increase ease of use, these latest
generation of chips can also be supplied mounted with adapters compatible
with most common translation stages.
John Lincoln, Mesophotonics Business Development Director commented,
“We believe that these continuum generation chips offer
a genuine alternative method of creating continuum which combines
some of the best features of fibre and bulk continuum generation
such as low threshold and low spectral ripple making this method
ideal for applications such as optical coherence tomography. The
small size and silicon base of the chips also makes them ideal
for integration with existing laser sources. For the future we
are investigating integrating additional functionality on the
chip, such as filtering to further tune the continuum output”.
About Mesophotonics
Mesophotonics is commercialising breakthrough photonic crystal technology
that allows light to be bent, routed and processed at sub-millimetre
scale. This will enable multiple optical functions and complex systems
to be implemented at high density on a single silicon chip, leading
the way to low cost, high volume production of integrated optical
devices. Additional optical devices will also be possible at efficiencies
and sizes not previously achievable as photonic band gaps are used
to modify fundamentally how light is generated inside photonic crystals.
The company was founded in 2001 by Prof. Greg Parker and a team
of 7 founders from 3 departments at the University of Southampton
with expertise in modelling fabrication design and characterisation.
Venture capital funding is provided by Quester Capital Management
(London), BTG (London), Auriga Partners (Paris) and NIF (Tokoyo).
For further information see www.mesophotonics.com
For further information please contact:
Mesophotonics
John Lincoln
Director of Business Development
Tel: +44 23 8076 3752
Email: john.lincoln@mesophotonics.com
Web: www.mesophotonics.com
July
2004
Continuum generation chip mounts now available for most micro-positioners.
26
January 2004, Southampton, UK
Mesophotonics secures $10 million (£5.5m) in second round
funding led by Quester.
[ PDF
Version ]
Mesophotonics Ltd, a developer of disruptive photonic crystal
technology, today announced the closing of a $10 million second
round fund raising. Quester led the investment alongside participating
investors which include Auriga Partners (Paris), NIF Ventures Co.
Ltd (Tokyo) and existing investor BTG. As part of this investment,
Jamie Brooke, of Quester, and François Lainée, of
Auriga Partners, will join the board of directors of Mesophotonics.
Mesophotonics' new investors with the
management team
After nine years of research at the University of Southampton,
Mesophotonics was founded in 2001, in partnership with BTG, to further
develop photonic crystal devices, design products and take them
to market. The new financing represents a significant milestone
for the company and comes at an important juncture as it moves from
a prototyping to a product development phase aimed at bringing a
new class of photonic crystal optical devices to the market within
2 years. The company has already received its first purchase orders
and is currently in discussions with a number of potential partners
to bring further products to market
James McKenzie, CEO of Mesophotonics commented:
“We are extremely pleased to attract some of the most
well-known international investors in the high-tech industry.
The possible markets for Mesophotonic’s technology are vast
and this new funding puts us on a firm footing to complete commercialisation
of our exciting ideas. The team is already designing products
to meet the visible light source demands of next generation projection
display and optical storage manufacturers.”
Jamie Brooke, Investment Director at Quester who will join the
company’s board commented:
“This is an excellent example of the high quality companies
introduced to us through our strong university network and relationship
with BTG. We are backing a sound, fast growing business and are
delighted to play a role in supporting its growth ambitions. Mesophotonics
has the ideal combination of large market opportunities, well
protected disruptive technology, and proven management talent
that are key for a successful start-up company. ”
Mesophotonics was advised by Matt Rogers and Rogere Capital on
the financing.
About Investors
More information
For further information please contact:
18
September 2003, Southampton, UK.
Mesophotonics announces new method of generating white light continuum.
Mesophotonics, a UK start up specialising in photonic crystal technology,
has demonstrated a new method of generating white light continuum.
The continuum, with over 600nm of bandwidth, was produced from low
power femtosecond ultrafast pulses using only a 10mm long waveguide
grown on a standard silicon wafer.
The continuum output shows an exceptional smooth output spectrum
with no visible spectral noise. The lack of noise is a result of
designing the waveguides to operate far from the zero of group velocity
dispersion thus avoiding the competing non-linear processes that
are present in the high noise continuum generated in optical fibres.
Spectrum of Mesophotonics
chip generated continuum
In terms of threshold and damage the Mesophotonics continuum generating
chips (CGC’s) combine the best of bulk and fibre media. The
continuum was produced with pulse energies as low as 10nJ, far lower
than threshold observed in bulk media and comparable to that observed
in fibre. Meanwhile damage testing has shown the waveguides capable
of withstanding femtosecond pulses with energies of several picoJoules
and several watts of blue light, far higher than fibres and close
to bulk media such as sapphire. All of this in chips measuring only
10x5x1mm
Top view of continuum
being generated in a 10mm Mesophotonics chip
The continuum generating chips are expected to have a direct impact
on applications in frequency metrology, optical coherence tomography
and spectroscopy, which require the high bandwidth, but have been
hampered by the lack of stability in previous continuum generation
methods. Mesophotonics aims to make CGC’s commercially available
by the end of the year.
About Mesophotonics
Mesophotonics is commercialising breakthrough photonic crystal technology
that allows light to be bent, routed and processed at sub-millimetre
scale. This will enable multiple optical functions and complex systems
to be implemented at high density on a single silicon chip, leading
the way to low cost, high volume production of integrated optical
devices. Additional optical devices will also be possible at efficiencies
and sizes not previously achievable as photonic band gaps are used
to modify fundamentally how light is generated inside photonic crystals.
The company was founded in 2001 by Prof. Greg Parker and a team
of 7 founders from 3 departments at the University of Southampton
with expertise in modelling fabrication design and characterisation.
Venture capital funding is provided by BTG.
Contacts
John Lincoln, Mesophotonics Ltd, Chilworth Business Incubator, 2
Venture Road, Chilworth Science Park, Southampton, England SO16
7NP
Tel: 44 (0)23 8076 3752
John.Lincoln@mesophotonics.com
2 April
2003, Southampton, UK.
Mesophotonics Appoints CEO.
Mesophotonics
Ltd a company founded to commercialise planar photonics crystal
technology has appointed James Mckenzie to Chief Executive Office.
James has over 20 years experience
in commercial, and engineering management in early stage high growth
companies including being a key member of the team that brought
Bookham Technologies to IPO in 1999. On joining Mesophotonics James
will lead the companies focus on market orientated product development
targeted at maximising the incredible potential of photonic crystal
technology.
James said ”this is fundamental technology capable of changing
many things people think about optics, I am looking forward to working
with the team to realise the incredible potential of the Mesophotonics
photonic crystal technology to develop highly disruptive products
for the market ”
James joins a team with over 35 years experience in fabricating,
modelling and characterising photonics crystals and with over 100
years combined experience in optics and semiconductors. Ian
Vance, Mesophotonics Chairmen said “We are delighted to
welcome James to the company; he brings a wealth of experience and
energy that will ensure Mesophotonics’ continued growth and
success”.
August
2003, Southampton, UK.
Mesophotonics re-launches Web site.
Mesophotonics Ltd re-launches its website to provide an improved
portal on the development and launch of its disruptive photonic
crystal based products. The new site includes more up-to-date news
stories, such as this one, tracking important developments and future
product launches. The site also includes further information and
back ground on photonic crystals and how this break through technology
will impact most areas of traditional optics and lasers.
The information in this website is provided for those with an interest
in Mesophotonics and the commercialisation of photonic crystal technology.
Please read our Legal Notice
regarding the site content.
For comments about the content of this site or for further information
about Mesophotonics please contact info@mesophotonics.com
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