Raydiance Secures $20 Million of New Funding to Support Continued
Development and Commercialization of Ultrafast Laser Platform
Company Launches Next-Generation Ultrafast Laser Platform: Raydiance
Discovery 2.0
New System Delivers More Than Double the Pulse Energy, Shorter Pulse
Width and Enhanced Application Software Capabilities
PETALUMA, Calif. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) November 18, 2008 --
Raydiance,
the world’s first practical source of ultrafast light, announced today
that it has secured $20 million in new funding that will allow the
Company to scale its infrastructure, further evolve its technology and
enhance its ability to address larger commercial markets. Raydiance, led
by former CEO of AOL Barry
Schuler, also announced the launch of the new Raydiance Discovery
2.0 system, which delivers double the pulse energy of its
first-generation ultrashort pulse (USP), or “ultrafast,” laser platform.
“Similar
to the evolution of computing, Raydiance is pursuing a ‘Moore’s
Law’-like path to develop and bring to market ultrafast lasers that
are cheaper, smaller and more powerful with each generation,” said
Raydiance co-founder and President Scott
Davison. “The introduction of the Raydiance Discovery 2.0 system,
combined with our recently-secured round of funding, not only validates
this vision, but also will enable the development of even more
game-changing applications powered by Raydiance across a broader range
of industries.”
Over the past two years, Raydiance customers have been developing
next-generation applications in ophthalmology, dermatology, gene
transfection, surgery, and homeland security and defense. The
introduction of Raydiance Discovery 2.0 significantly expands
Raydiance’s market opportunities, most notably in the machining of
advanced vascular stents and thin film solar cell production. Early next
year, several new products powered by Raydiance that have the potential
to disrupt these and other industries are expected to begin entering the
marketplace.
Raydiance Closes $20 Million Round of Funding to Support Product
Development
Raydiance has secured $20 million in a new “Series D” round of financing
led by Greenstreet Partners and joined by Draper
Fisher Jurvetson, which provided the initial stage of funding for
the Company.
“Greenstreet Partners invests in companies like Raydiance that are not
only leaders in their industry, but also have the potential to
revolutionize the way we live,” said Ambassador
Steven Green, Founding Partner of Greenstreet Partners. “Raydiance
has clearly made great strides in harnessing the transformative power of
ultrafast light, and we are confident this company has the vision,
leadership and the cutting-edge technology necessary to help solve some
of the most pressing global challenges of our time.”
“After four successful years of developing the Raydiance ultrafast laser
platform, bringing the technology to market and establishing a solid
client base, this new round of funding will allow us to execute fully on
our next stage of growth and development,” said Davison.
Previously, Raydiance secured over $25 million in venture capital
financing and $10 million in government funded R&D contracts, which
enabled the launch of its first
commercial product in 2007. Raydiance has reserved an additional $5
million to raise from a strategic investor.
Raydiance Discovery 2.0 System Delivers Twice the Energy, Shorter
Pulse, Enhanced Applications Software Capabilities
By integrating photonics,
computing, and telecommunications fiber optic technologies into an
intelligent programming architecture, Raydiance makes the power and
precision of ultrafast lasers affordable and practical for the
development of new, revolutionary applications.
The
new Raydiance Discovery 2.0 system introduces vastly improved
performance metrics, including higher pulse energy and a shorter pulse
that, together, result in dramatically increased peak power (10
Megawatts). Discovery 2.0 retains the same compact, reliable and
easy-to-use software controls as its predecessor, while offering new,
extensive software capabilities that allow for seamless systems
integration into any commercial environment, whether a physician’s
office or manufacturing floor. The system’s state of the art design also
makes it capable of remote updates, system diagnostics and service. As
reliable as a PC, the Raydiance Discovery 2.0 can be installed in 30
minutes in any room with a standard electrical outlet.
“Since launching our first ultrafast laser platform eighteen months ago,
Raydiance has been committed to constantly evolving each generation of
this system while ensuring that customers have unencumbered access to
our newest technology,” said Davison. “To date, we’ve seen incredible
progress made by our customers and research partners, and we look
forward to seeing the new products and services that will be enabled and
powered by our breakthrough Discovery 2.0 product.”
Ultrafast lasers interact with matter in a way that is fundamentally
different from all other lasers, providing the capability to precisely
cut materials without generating heat, commonly referred to as “cold,”
or athermal, ablation. When deployed at lower, non-ablative energy
levels, ultrafast light can create molecular and cellular phenomena with
broad implications for genomics, materials science and medical
treatments.
With Discovery 2.0:
-
Higher pulse energy makes it possible to machine a broader
range of materials to greater depths and at much greater throughput
rates. Higher throughput rates enable a number of fast growth
applications such as thin film solar cell manufacturing.
-
Shorter pulse width allows users to achieve “cold” ablation
with larger volumes of material, impacting both the quality and speed
of processing. For example, drug-eluting or biodegradable vascular
stents—materials very sensitive to thermal damage—can be readily
machined to very precise dimensions.
-
The enhanced software system makes it possible to easily
integrate ultrafast laser technology with third party applications
programs such as LabVIEW,
C++,
or computer numerical control (CNC)
systems.
Key Features of Raydiance Discovery 2.0
-
Automated, “hands off” control of the system with its RayOS™ operating
system
-
“Plug-and- play” platform operated by a LabVIEW-based graphical
interface, which gives users variable control over all key laser
parameters, including pulse energy, repetition rate, and a variety of
pulse triggering and pulse packet options
-
Small size and scalable architecture designed for commercialization
-
User-controlled pulse energy from 0.5 to 10 microjoules
per pulse
-
User-controlled repetition rate from single shot to 300 kHz
-
Pulse width of 800 femtoseconds
(typical)
-
Exceptional beam quality: M² < 1.3 and pulse to pulse energy variation
< 2%
-
Programmable triggering and pulse packet macros
-
“Cold,” or athermal, ablation with micron-precision of virtually any
material, remote materials detection and identification,
non-destructive molecular modification, and a variety of imaging
techniques
-
Simple integration into CNC production environments and other third
party C++ and LabVIEW- based applications.
-
Highly-reliable optical telecom components to insure 24/7 operational
performance
-
Warm up time of less than five minutes
-
Ability to operate over a wide range of environmental conditions
About Raydiance
Raydiance is the world’s first practical source of ultrafast light, a
breakthrough technology platform that harnesses the incredible power and
precision of ultrashort pulse (USP), or “ultrafast,” lasers and makes it
easily accessible for the development of revolutionary new applications
across a broad range of industries. Built on an architectural framework
that leverages the billions invested in broadband communications,
microelectronics and software development, the Raydiance Discovery
system delivers a compact, reliable and intelligent programming
architecture with state of the art computing and software controls.
Raydiance is led by Barry Schuler, former CEO of AOL. For more
information, please visit www.Raydiance-Inc.com.
MULTIMEDIA GALLERY http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5835179
See the original story at: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/raydiance_discovery/ultrafast_laser/prweb1639454.htm
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