Photon Machines focuses on two technologies: laser ablation and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The company, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, offers lab instruments, devices for field or on-site use and in-process equipment. In June 2010, Photon Machines partnered with CETAC Technologies to offer an expanded line of laser ablation products, including co-branding CETAC’s 266 nm and 213 nm platforms and Photon Machines’ 193 nm excimer laser system. In August 2010, Photon Machines partnered with Ocean Optics, under which Ocean Optics will distribute Photon Machines’ configurable Insight LIBS system.

Laser ablation and LIBS are both rapid elemental analysis techniques that work with solid samples. However, unlike many other atomic spectroscopy techniques, LIBS can also work with liquids and gases, said President Steve Buckley. “Increasingly, people are realizing that LIBS can do light elements that a lot of other techniques can’t do. It can do surface mapping and depth profiling—it’s really unique,” said Mr. Buckley. “I think LIBS has a lot of potential upsides.”

Mr. Buckley noted one such upside is the potential to detect hundreds of proteins in a sample. Photon Machines recently licensed a new technology from Delaware State University for the use of LIBS technology to tag and map proteins using a multi-element barcode. Early results, Mr. Buckley said, show that ppb levels of proteins are detectable. “The unique thing about this technique and the way it would be implemented is that unlike other techniques, which only measure one protein at a time, you can measure multiple proteins with a single sample,” he said. “You can’t do that with most techniques.”

Elemental 2D mapping applications are apparent on the laser ablation side of the company, according to Stephen Shuttleworth, manager, Marketing & Applications. “An interesting thing that we’re seeing is that the laser provides the ability to analyze very small areas, allowing for high-resolution mapping,” he told IBO. He has noticed a trend toward the use of 2D mapping, not just for materials, but also in tissues. “We work with third-party software that allows laser ablation coupled to an ICP-MS to produce that data, take it and produce a two-dimensional map of all the elements that are in a piece of tissue. We can map those trace elements, and trace elements are actually used as disease biomarkers now. So this is taking laser ablation to a new area.”

Photon Machines announced this month it will purchase XRF Scientific’s Spectrolaser LIBS system, which features advanced chemometric methods. “The system is really built for industrial, replicate measurements, where you want to get a certificate of analysis when you’re done,” said Mr. Buckley. “You can put a sample in, take a 20-second measurement and get a reading of the elements that are there with a certificate.”

Every year since the company’s inception in 2006, sales have grown in double digits. Mr. Shuttleworth attributes the 15-employee company’s success to its ability to offer customer-focused solutions. Mr. Buckley added that speed to market is also a factor. “We have a versatile staff, so when we need to get something done, between all of us, we know how to do it,” he told IBO.