Company Announcements

In October, UK-based Photonic Solutions, a supplier of laser and photonics systems, announced an employee-backed buyout with the support of Panoramic Growth Equity.

NevadaNano, the developer of Molecular Property Spectrometer gas sensing solutions, announced in October the closing of an $18 million Series B Funding led by Chairman Ray Stata. NevadaNano had raised $1.5 million in Series A financing.

In November, TOPTICA Photonics announced the opening a new US headquarters and manufacturing facility in Farmington, New York.

Princeton Instruments announced in November a distribution agreement with Quantum Design UK and Ireland (formerly LOT UK) for its FERGIE line of imaging spectrographs.

Product Introductions

X-Rite, a Danaher company, released in August the MetaVue non-contact imaging spectrophotometer for retail paint matching. It features live video preview.

In September, X-Rite debuted the MA-T12 multi-angle spectrophotometer, a 12-angle device, and the MA-T6, a 6-angle device, calling them “the first instruments to combine color imaging and multi-angle spectral measurement to quantify color, sparkle and coarseness.”

In September, CRAIC Technologies introduced the GeoImage Vitrinite Reflectance Measurement System, which is designed to determine the thermal maturity of coal and coke. Features include the acquisition of high-color images of the reflectance and fluorescence of coal samples.

CRAIC Technologies released in November UV laser sources for use with its 20/30 PV^T microspectrometer. The major application is to serve as an excitation source for fluorescence and photoluminescence microspectroscopy. This adds to the company’s product line of Vis and NIR lasers.

Spectro Scientific launched in September Microlab software 11.0 and new MicroLab Companion Kits for on-site oil analysis. Version 11 features new signal processing methods.

In October, Bruker unveiled the new ALPHA ll compact FT-IR spectrometers, featuring a new optical touch panel OC and OPUS-TOUCH touchscreen software.

Shimadzu introduced in September the compact IRSpirit Series of FT-IR spectrophotometers, consisting of the IRSpirit-T and IRSpirit-L systems. The company calls them “the smallest (installation footprint) and lightest FT-IR spectrophotometers in the world that can be used with optional products from other manufacturers.” Features include the IR Pilot Program of 23 application-specific workflow without a complicated parameter setup process.

In October, Ocean Optics released the Ocean FX miniature spectrometer, featuring acquisition speeds of up to 4,500 scans per second and integration times as low as 10 µs.

Metrohm introduced in October turnkey NIR solutions for testing the quality of commodities such as diesel gas, jet fuel, polyols, palm oil and wood pulp.

Edinburgh Instruments debuted in November a stopped flow accessory for its FLS1000 Fluorescence Spectrometer, which enables reaction kinetics to be recorded with microsecond time resolution.

In November, Hitachi High-Technologies announced that three peripheral systems of its UH4150 UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer are now available as standalone systems: the automatic variable-angle absolute reflectance measurement system, the automatic polarization measurement system and the 5 Degrees reflectance/transmittance measurement system with automatic X-Y stage. The systems can now be purchased individually.

Princeton Instruments announced in November the introduction, with McPherson, of a new add-in for its 64-bit Lightfield Software for control of McPherson’s deep UV and soft x-ray spectrometers, and Princeton Instruments’ software x-ray cameras.

In November, Parker Kittiwake launched its new IB-based Attenuated Total Reflection analyzer for the simultaneous testing of base number, total acid number, insoluble, soot loading, viscosity, FAME and water content of oil samples on a ship.

In November, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the addition of 45 new substances, including 14 new forms of fentanyl, to its library of substances detected by the Thermo Scientific TruNarc handheld narcotics analyzer.

Sales/Orders of Note

In October, Bruker announced that Israel’s Weizmann Institute Department of Chemical Research had completed its installation of a Biospec 15.2 Test USR preclinical high-field MRI system. The lab’s instruments include the Bruker BioSpec 4.7 Tesla MRI and the Bruker 400WB (wide-bore) spectrometer.

AMRI, a contract solid state and analytical testing service, installed in October the Cobalt Light Systems TRS100 Transmission Raman Spectrometer.