Photonics Developers Are Bolstering Important Research Baystreet Staff - Tuesday, February 13, 2018
How Photonics Developers Are Bolstering the World’s Most Important Research
Among the predictions for 2018, are a series of scientific breakthroughs including from, many of which involve optics, lasers and other light sources, otherwise known as photonics.
It’s an advanced field, that’s powering much of the world’s most important research, from scanning bodies in a search for cures to the body’s most troubling ailments, to the search for the origins of life itself.
As scientists celebrate the fruits of their research, so too do the photonics and imaging developers of the technology used by the scientists, including ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML), Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR), Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX), IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ: IPGP), and Zecotek Photonics Inc (TSX.V: ZMS) (OTC: ZMSPF).
According to a report by Research and Markets, the photonics market is projected to grow from $530.52 billion in 2017 to $795.54 billion in 2022.
Overall, optics and laser companies had a record-breaking year in 2017—with spending on equipment in the sector surpassing an annual mark that has stood since 2000.
Significant breakthroughs are happening across the entire photonics sector, and within the surge the sector has created and sustained several multi-billion-dollar companies, including ASML Holding N.V. (NASDAQ: ASML), Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ: COHR) and IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ: IPGP).
Now there are openings for junior photonics developers like Zecotek Photonics Inc (TSX.V: ZMS) (OTC: ZMSPF) to catch up some ground.
Zecotek has already made strides in the right direction, with key partnerships spanning from their proprietary crystals being used in both CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the world’s first full-body PET scanner, to developing 3D head-up displays (HUDs) with two major European automakers.
LFS SCINTILLATION CRYSTALS AT FOREFRONT OF MONUMENTAL RESEARCH
Probably the most notable of Zecotek’s roles in major research is their technology being used in the search for the origin-mechanics of the universe—questions that when answered could be the largest contribution to humankind… ever!
Back in 2012, scientists at CERN using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) reported that they observed a particle “consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson.”
But that wasn’t even close to the end goal of the project—the LHC is just getting started.
In fact, last summer CERN announced it will build a particle collider that’s three times as big as the LHC and seven times more powerful.
Through a relationship that started in 2014, Zecotek’s LFS crystals found a home in CERN’s Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment—one of the largest international scientific collaborations in history. It was a major vote of confidence for Zecotek to have their LFS crystals involved in the world’s most precise particle detection.
By the same year that Zecotek’s technology had been brought on bard, the CMS experiment had involved 4,300 particles physicists, engineers, technicians, students, and support staff, from 42 countries.
“Zecotek provides LFS crystals required for the CMS experiment as they had the necessary energy resolution and radiation hardness,” says Professor Brad Cox, Leader of the University of Virginia, CERN’s Compact Muon Solenoid experiment, led by the University of Virginia. “In using the thin LFS crystal plates [our] team were able to reduce the technical and cost risks associated with measurements in such experiments.”
The Zecotek LFS crystal is quickly being recognized as a world-class photonics technology—However, it’s just one of Zecotek’s 50+ patented, and patent-pending technologies.
LFS CRYSTALS ALSO POWERING MASSIVE HEALTHCARE ADVANCEMENTS
Equipped with over 560,000 detector elements, the UC Davis-based EXPLORER scanner is designed and ready to make some of the biggest breakthroughs ever recorded in the field of clinical diagnostics.
“A system with this detection sensitivity will dramatically improve our ability to study cancer and other diseases as well as advance diagnostic capabilities in our industry,” said lead researcher Simon Cherry, Head of Cherry Labs, and professor in the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering.
The EXPLORER technology fits within the growing Biophotonics Market which is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.5% through 2020 to $50.18 billion.
Zecotek already has three key patent-protected and proprietary technologies with the potential to revolutionize the $15 billion medical diagnostics industry: LFS Scintillation Crystals; Solid-State MAPD Photo Detectors and Transistors; and Integrated Detector Modules (IDM).
Much like the futuristic sick bay on Star Trek’s USS Enterprise, the EXPLORER can view all organs of the body simultaneously, with a 40-fold increase in effective signal over current technology.
Positron emission tomography (PET) is widely considered the most sensitive technique available to safely study metabolism, physiology, and molecular pathways in the living human being.
Total-body PET has the potential to completely revolutionize clinical diagnostics, and the understanding and treatment of disease through analysis of better imaging data from the whole body.
Trusted by the developers of the EXPLORER scanner, it was Zecotek’s proprietary LFS scintillation crystals they employed in the technology—based on the crystals’ renowned quality and effectiveness in their application.
“Zecotek provided Cherry labs with a selection of scintillation crystals from their patented LFS-3 range. After preliminary testing Cherry labs found the crystals to have the fast decay constant they required, enhancing results for their depth-encoded PET detector designs,” added Simon Cherry of UC Davis. “This combined with the competitive pricing Zecotek is able to offer made for an ideal solution.”
Official delivery of the prototype EXPLORER scanner is expected later this year.
On top of the UC Davis order, Zecotek secured an order worth $1.2 million for their patented LFC scintillation crystals with EBO optoelectronics.
Should the prototype meet and surpass its technological goals, scanners of this magnitude could very quickly be purchased and installed in other hospitals and university research facilities around the world.
As research gains are made, so too will gains be made by companies powering that research with their technological advancements, like Zecotek Photonics Inc (TSX.V: ZMS) (OTC: ZMSPF).
https://www.baystreet.ca/articles/stockstowatch/36361/How-Photonics-Developers-Are-Bolstering-the-Worlds-Most-Important-Research