KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M., Sept. 30, 2022 — The Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing site’s Advanced Electro-Optical System, or AEOS, the Department of Defense’s largest telescope, measuring 3.6 m, has been recoated. Results of the recoating process were sent to private industry coating experts in Albuquerque, N.M., and Tucson, Ariz. Located on the summit of the 10,023-ft volcano Haleakala, the telescope is part of a series of telescopes called the Maui Space Surveillance System, which the U.S. Space Force uses for space domain awareness. The first mirror recoat occurred in 2008, about 12 years after application of the original coating. 

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A team from Boeing poses with the Advanced Electro-Optical System, or AEOS, primary mirror following a recoat at the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing (AMOS) site, Maui, Hawaii. This was the second recoat of the mirror since AEOS’s initial installation in 1997. AMOS is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the 3.6-m AEOS telescope supports the U.S. Space Force’s space domain awareness mission. Courtesy of Boeing. 

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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Laser manufacturing company Integrated Optics opened a sales office in Germany to strengthen and expand sales in the DACH (Germany, Austria, and Swiss) region. Marion Rösler, the newly appointed CEO of Integrated Optics GmbH, will be responsible for all activities in the region. The office is centrally located within the region in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria.

CHRIST CHURCH, Barbados — Evolution Optiks launched three health and wellness brands focused on eye care, brain health, and neuro fitness. Optokare, focused on eye care, debuted its first product, a compact, portable, fully digital tele-phoropter called LFR-260 and is in the final stages of gaining FDA approval. Neuro Dynamiks’ DeCon diagnostic tool provides access to dozens of established and novel neurological tests based on visual input from the patient. OcuRay is a lifestyle and wellness brand developing FalconFrames, a vision-based wearable focused on neuro-optical training to improve vision and reaction speed.

BOSTON — Leuko, an MIT startup developing PointCheck, an at-home noninvasive white blood cell monitoring technology, closed a $5 million series A funding round. The funding will accelerate Leuko’s clinical trials to obtain regulatory approval in collaboration with leading cancer centers, including Boston Medical Center and MD Anderson in the U.S., and Dexeus and Hospital 12 de Octubre in Europe. Leuko will also continue to pursue its go-to-market and partnership activities with health care providers, medical device distributors, and pharmaceutical companies.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Transparent ceramic manufacturer Surmet Corp. expanded its 75,000-sq-ft facility in Buffalo by more than 4000 sq ft to house new ceramics processing equipment. The company also invested in new production furnaces and renovations to the existing facility. As a result of a $14.5 million project, the company will create up to 17 new jobs in the next three to five years. The company provides specialized capabilities in ceramics processing, precision polishing, advanced coatings, and surface treatments. The company is well known for its ALON transparent ceramic offering.

MONTREAL — 5N Plus Inc., a specialty semiconductors and performance materials producer, renewed and increased its existing multiyear agreement with First Solar Inc. for the supply of semiconductor materials associated with the manufacturing of thin-film photovoltaic modules. The agreement will enable 5N Plus to make planned investments in its Montreal facility to increase the domestic supply of materials to the North American market by late 2023, incrementally to its current international offering. Per recently announced growth plans from First Solar, the solar panel manufacturer’s annual volume is expected to increase by 35% in 2023 and by more than 100% in 2024 over current levels. 5N Plus’s specialty semiconductor materials are imbedded in First Solar's Series 6 and 7 PV modules. The companies will collaborate on the development and the supply of other renewable energy products to support the growth and improvement of cadmium telluride thin-film technology.

SEATTLE — Kubota Vision Inc., a clinical-stage specialty ophthalmology company, entered into a material transfer and collaboration agreement for its patient-based ophthalmology suite (PBOS) in-home OCT device. Boston-based Joslin Diabetes Center is conducting two clinical studies to evaluate the ability of PBOS to identify cases of diabetic macular edema that may need treatment compared to a commercially available OCT device. The studies aim to determine if home-based OCT is useful in the evaluation of diabetic macular edema, and inform on how to monitor patients at risk for losing vision from the condition, according to Paolo Silva, co-chief of telemedicine at the Beetham Eye Institute of the Joslin Diabetes Center, and who is leading the studies.

AMSTERDAM — Optics11 Life, a fiber optics life science instrumentation company, received €5 million ($4.89 million) in new venture capital from FORWARD.one and returning investor Value Creation Capital. The funding will support the rollout of products applying Optics11 Life’s novel technology for experiments at scale requiring high-throughput screening of in vitro models and biomaterials. According to Niek Rijnveld, co-founder and CEO of Optics11 Life, the company is preparing to deliver measurement instruments to enable medical treatments and regenerative medicine breakthroughs. Rijnveld will shift from his split role overseeing both Optics11 Life and its industrial sensing unit Optics11, and be dedicated full time to Optics11 Life. He will oversee an expanded presence in the U.S., which is to include new offices on the West Coast and an expanded sales team.

KAOHSIUNG CITY, Taiwan — A research team from National Sun Yat-Sen University (NSYSU) built and verified what it described as the first high-power thin-disk laser. The advancement stems from ongoing cooperation: This year, NSYSU established the Taiwan and Lithuania Center for Semiconductors and Materials Science in the Lithuanian state research institute Center for Physical Sciences and Technology. Center. The research topics of the center focus on laser cutting of next-generation compound semiconductors and development of high-power thin-disk laser crystals. NSYSU has also signed MOUs and a joint statement with three Lithuanian universities and has sent students to study in Lithuania and received Lithuanian students to study in NSYSU this year.