News Briefs

New York-based L-3 Communications has appointed James D. Benham to the newly created position of president of the Electron, Microwave and Power Devices Group within the company's Products Group. In this new role, Benham will oversee L-3's electron devices and electron technologies businesses. Since 2000, Benham has been president of L-3's Electron Devices Div. He held the same position at Northrop Grumman and has also been president of Electro-Optical Sensors Inc. L-3 makes intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and high technology products primarily for communication, guidance and navigation. . . . Veeco Instruments Inc. of Woodbury, N.Y., a provider of solutions for nanoscale applications in the data storage, high-brightness LED (HB-LED)/wireless, semiconductor and scientific research markets, announced that Epitech Technology Corp. and Huga Optoelectronics, manufacturers of HB-LEDs, have upgraded their GaNzilla MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) systems to Veeco's next-generation reactor technology. Veeco says the new technology allows for higher yields in the production of blue, green and ultraviolet LEDs and blue spectrum lasers, used in the making of GaN-based devices for applications including flat-panel LCD TV backlighting, automotive and specialty architectural lighting. . . . European optoelectronic components manufacturer Khatod Optoelectronic of Italy has announced its expansion into the North American market with the naming of Alliance Electronics Corp. of Wilmington, Del., as its master distributor. Khatod also announced it has a new catalog, K-52, featuring over 70 new synthetic lenses and collimators for power LEDs from 1 to 5 W.