Gary Colquhoun
Industry Development

SPIE Europe

Dr Anatoly Grudinin
Managing Director

Fianium Ltd

Profile

Anatoly started his work in the area of fiber optics in 1980 when he joined Physical Lebedev’s Institute, Russian Academy of Science (FIAN) after graduation from Moscow State Technical University. He was one of first researchers who studied nonlinear properties of silica fibers and pioneered the discovery of Raman solitons in single mode optical fibers.

In 1992, Anatoly joined the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton where his main areas of interest were soliton fiber lasers, high power fiber laser and fibre amplifiers. Over his scientific career Anatoly published over 200 papers and gave numerous invited talks at major international conferences (CLEO, OFC, ECOC, Photonics West).

In 2003, Anatoly left his professor’s chair at the ORC and founded Fianium, a fiber laser company focused on the development and volume manufacturing of ultrafast fiber lasers for bio-medical and industrial applications.

Over the past four years, Fianium has grown without external funding, doubling revenues each year. The company has developed a product range of unrivalled diversity, competing with established solid-state lasers across numerous market sectors.

CVI Melles Griot Europe

Profile:

Originating from Germany, Dr. Kessler studied Physics at Hannover University, specializing in both optical coatings and laser spectroscopy and obtaining a PhD in 1995. In the same year, he started work as Coating Design Engineer at what was then Technical Optics Ltd in the Isle of Man. Following a change in ownership of the company he eventually became Sales Manager and, in 2002, General Manager of CVI Technical Optics Ltd, being in charge of CVI Laser LLC’s European business.

Following the acquisition of Melles Griot, Dr. Kessler is now General Manager of CVI Melles Griot Europe, running the Isle of Man operation and the UK sales team on a day-to-day basis and taking overall strategic responsibility for CVI Melles Griot’s European optics business. At the same time, he still takes an active interest in the company’s coating designs and plays an active role in the development of new products and technologies.

Outside CVI Melles Griot, Dr. Kessler takes an active role in the Isle of Man community, being a member of the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce Manufacturing Committee and a committee member of various other clubs and societies. His hobbies include classic cars, classic cameras and photography.

Profile

John has been involved in the optics industry since 1986 when he became Managing Director of MBM Technology Ltd. MBM then went on to acquire Spanoptic Ltd. In 1989 he organised the buy-out of Davin Optronics Ltd from its Plc owner and stayed as Chairman until 1999 after arranging VC backing. Subsequently he served as non-Executive Director at Davin whilst looking further opportunities in the optical sector. John is now Chairman of number of high technology SMEs including Stratophase Ltd, NanoSight Ltd, and Michelson Diagnostics Ltd. His main interest is in the funding and commercialisation of high technology in general and optical technology in particular.

Profile

Alfons is experienced in the field of Optical Coatings more than 30 years. In 1976 he took up his employment at the Leybold Group. After 13 years of development of optical monitors and automatic control systems he drove the development of the APS Plasma Source and the basic plasma ion assisted coating processes. From 1991 to 1999 he headed Leybold’s R&D Optical Coating Lab. His responsibility included the coating equipment and process development for precision optics and ophthalmic applications. Between 1997 and 1999 he was focused on the development for DWDM optical filters. From 2000 to 2002 he was Plant Manager and Managing Director of Corning NetOptix’s German operation. In this position he drove a start up facility for development and production of DWDM thin film filters for fibre optic applications. In 2003 he restarted his Leybold Optics employment as Manager R&D. In this position he is responsible for R&D of coating equipment and processes for precision optics applications

Dr Graeme Malcolm
Chief Executive Officer

M Squared Lasers Ltd

Graeme attained a first class honours B.Sc. degree in Laser Physics and Optoelectronics at Strathclyde University in 1989. From 1989 to 1992, he continued his academic and practical interest in laser technology, conducting post-graduate Ph.D. research into compact solid-state laser sources.

In 1992, he co-founded Microlase Optical Systems Ltd to develop commercially the technology pursued within his Ph.D. studies. Microlase developed rapidly as one of the most successful Scottish optoelectronic startup companies. Graeme held the roles of Research Director, Joint Managing Director and Managing Director at Microlase through the period 1992 to 2000.

Graeme has travelled extensively worldwide, building partnerships with both key blue chip and specialist technology companies. Using this experience, he led the strategic alliance that culminated in the acquisition of Microlase in 1999 by Coherent, Inc (NASDAQ listed, and one of the world's largest laser companies). After the acquisition, Graeme continued in the role of Managing Director of the newly renamed Coherent Scotland Ltd, growing the business to a turnover of $25M, and leading the development of and move to a new world-class R&D and manufacturing facility for the company.

Additionally, Graeme held the role Director of Product Business Management within Coherent, Inc. Within this role he held P&L responsibility for a major portfolio of solid-state laser products and a substantial part of the corporation’s world-wide business activities.

Tim Stokes
General Sales Manager

Hamamatsu Photonics UK Ltd

Profile:

Since graduating with a physics degree from Manchester University in 1987 Tim has worked in opto-electronics in various sales roles. Since 1992 he has worked for Hamamatsu Photonics, working his way up through the ranks to land his current role of General Sales Manager. With responsibility for sales of Hamamatsu products throughout the UK and Ireland.

Much of the Hamamatsu range sells to OEM manufacturers operating in diverse industry sectors, the rest sells to a considerable customer base in academia. Hamamatsu employs 29 people in the UK and over 150 people Europe wide. Hamamatsu invests over 12% of it's revenue back into basic research, not only with the aim of developing new, innovate products but also to continually research future uses and establishing new applications for photonic technologies.