Gooch & Housego Signs Switch Deal

February 1, 2013—Photonics components manufacturer Gooch & Housego (Ilminster, England) announced an agreement with Han’s Laser (Shenzhen, China) to provide acousto-optic Q-switches for use in high-power laser systems. The three-year agreement will supply conduction-cooled Q-Switches for lasers destined for applications in materials processing, surgery, lithography and rapid prototyping. Neither company disclosed the value of the deal. 

Gooch & Housego also announced the formation of a new corporate level engineering group specifically tasked with designing and developing externally funded systems. The new Systems Technology Group (STG) will combine the company’s existing expertise in customizing and integrating a wide range of optical technologies to help market-facing customers design new photonic system products and transition them into worldwide volume production. The group will initially comprise several senior engineers reporting to senior VP Andrew Robertson and CTO Murray Reed. The company expects to design systems in diagnostic and therapeutic life science markets, and in space, aerospace and defense applications. Consequentially, STG is expected to expand rapidly and significantly contribute to the continued growth of Gooch & Housego. The formation of the group is part of a strategic plan to add system design services to the company, in addition to components and modules.