Photonics Spectra

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Sept. 30, 2026 — Teledyne’s vice chairman, Jason VanWees, will be retiring from his position. During his tenure, VanWees led the identification and acquisition of 75 complementary businesses for cumulative consideration of $12.8 billion. Additionally, Mary Grace DeForest, senior vice president and general manager of Teledyne Microwave, has been appointed corporate vice president of investor relations and mergers and acquisitions.

ERLANGEN, Germany, Sept. 30, 2026 — Diseases can alter the composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and thus body odor. These characteristic irregular patterns can be detected in exhaled breath and in bodily fluids — the human volatilome. However, existing analytical methods are often complex, time-consuming, and require specialized personnel. As such, there’s currently a lack of rapid, simple methods that can be used on-site for widespread application.

WAKEFIELD, Mass., Sept. 29, 2026 — Optical engineering, manufacturing, and metrology services provider Optikos has acquired Omega Optical, a precision optical coatings and component designer and manufacturer. Both companies are members of the Artemis portfolio; Artemis acquired Optikos in April, roughly five-and-a-half years after purchasing Omega Optical in September 2020.

ACHIM, Germany, Sept 29, 2026 — RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology, the parent company of ficonTEC, has begun trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange following the completion of its Hong Kong listing. The listing represents an important development milestone following its initial public listing in Shenzhen in 2019. Proceeds are intended to support further investment in ficonTEC, the group’s specialist provider of high-precision intelligent manufacturing equipment for photonics.

ZURICH, Sept. 29, 2026 — Next-generation displays and integrated photonics will require miniaturized light sources that are high-performing and scalable. OLEDs can produce the tiny, yet bright, crystals that are needed to make displays smaller and sharper. But the lithographic scaling processes that underpin silicon electronics are incompatible with traditional methods used for OLED fabrication.

STUTTGART, Germany, Sep. 25, 2026 — Key industry leaders as well as the engineers and developers behind the technology driving machine vision will once again converge in Germany for the biannual VISION conference from Oct. 6 to 8 at the Stuttgart Trade Fair Center.

SILVERWATER, Australia, Sept. 25, 2026 — BluGlass, a semiconductor developer, collaborated with Coherent to develop a gallium nitride (GaN)-based device for scientific and medical markets. The collaboration is valued at $286,000 AUD ($200K USD) and combines BluGlass' advanced GaN epitaxy and laser manufacturing expertise with Coherent's photonics engineering and commercialization experience.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 25, 2026 — PicoJool, a pioneer in optical connectivity for AI infrastructure, has raised $27.5 million in Series A funding led by Socratic Partners, with participation from Hudson River Training. The financing follows a $12 million seed round led by Playground Global and brings the company’s total funding to $39.5 million. Funding will be used to expand PicoJool’s teams and facilities in the U.S. and Taiwan as it brings its VCSEL and optical link products to market.

VELDHOVEN, Netherlands, Sept. 24, 2026 — Morphotonics, a provider of large-area nanoimprint lithography technology, has secured more than €40 million (~$45 million) to scale its manufacturing technology for AI glasses, augmented reality (AR) waveguides, and advanced photonic components. The expanded reflects continued support from existing investors 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, and BOM, alongside Invest-NL as a major new investor.

DURHAM, N.C., Sept. 24, 2026 — Ramona Optics, a biotech company developing massively parallel computational imaging, has closed a $25 million Series A financing round. Funding will be directed toward scaling commercial operations, advancing Ramona’s proprietary multi-camera array microscopy (MCAM) technology, expanding on-platform assay capabilities, and furthering strategic partnerships.