GLOphotonics SAS (or 'GLO' for short) is a French start-up based in Limoges. GLO is set up to commercialize hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) and their functionalised form Photonic Microcells™ (PMC). GLO products are built upon its proprietary and disruptive specialty fiber technology and gas photonics. GLO is extending the capabilities of the HC-PCF and PMC even further by working with laser developers and system integrators, and with CNRS-University of Limoges joint Research Institute XLIM to keep giving its technology a continuous innovative edge.
Sales and Marketing
The Company is establishing an indirect sales channel through which it offers the photonic market players access to its disruptive platform technology by providing stand-alone and generic HC-PCF and/or PMC or via highly-customisable OEM photonic components to be integrated into laser systems. The company sells components through the existing eco-system and supply chain either through distribution as a finished product or via NRE projects to the major OEM's. GLO will provide samples, application notes and reference designs to its target markets to help them design-in GLO components into their new product development projects. GLO and its partners will generate application examples highlighting the features and benefits of the PMC and use all low-cost means to address the market.
Management
The Company is led by a CEO with over 30 years of experience in Technology Company with a pedigree as a financial and operational chief officer. The CEO is assisted by the company lead founder and technology inventor as a Non-Executive Director CSTO.
History and technology background
GLO's products are based upon the research activities of Fetah Benabid at the University of Bath and then at the CNRS. These activities led to the development of a new type of optical fibre in 2002, the Kagome Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibre (or HC-PCF) 1 and to a new gas photonic component, the Photonic MicroCell (PMC) 2. The Kagome fiber stands out because of its guidance mechanism called Inhibited Coupling (IC), which allows a wide range of wavelengths to be transmitted along the fiber. The PMC - the world’s first photonic gas-phase optoelectronic component consists of a length of HC-PCF filled with an active or passive gas which is hermetically contained by adequate fiber-end termination and/or connectorization. The PMC can provide a million-fold increase in the gas-laser interaction efficiency compared to traditional methods, within a match-box size package. The key advantage of HC-PCF is its ability to confine together gases and laser light over a μm scale while keeping them in interaction over several metres, a length-scale a million times longer than technically achievable in free-space. A family of PMC's utilize various types of HC-PCF and gases depending on the application. This work was recognised in 2005 when Fetah Benabid was awarded the prestigious Fresnel Prize (European Physical Society). Other accolades from the photonic industry community include the 2008 Laser Focus World Commendation of Technical Excellence for the invention of the PMC and related devices, the May 2010 Laser Focus World magazine special issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laser article on GLOphotonics' multi-line laser under the rubric 'Novel Lasers' LFW Article May 2010, and the September 2014 Laser Focus World cover magazine on the hypocycloid core Kagome fiber and its outstanding ultra-short pulse handling capabilities.
