The acquisition of Fastlite by French ultrafast laser giant Amplitude is expected to be completed early next year

On December 19 local time, Amplitude, France's leading ultrafast laser manufacturer, announced the acquisition of Fastlite, a French high-tech company specializing in ultrafast pulse shaping, characterization and optical parameter amplifiers.

It is reported that this acquisition is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2023, and is currently awaiting consultation and approval from the regulatory authorities. According to the news, Amplitude and Fastlite have a long-term cooperative relationship, and both parties work together to bring advanced ultra fast technologies to the market.

For this cooperation, Eric Mottay, president and CEO of Amplitude, said: "We have worked with Fastlite team for many years, and we are very honored to let them join the Amplitude family. The two companies have complementary expertise, which will enable Amplitude to design and manufacture the next generation of ultra fast lasers."

Pascal Tournois, CEO of Fastlite, commented: "Fastlite and Amplitude share the same passion for ultrafast laser technology, and we look forward to our team working together. Amplitude's ultrafast laser portfolio will become a valuable asset for both of us to provide ytterbium pumped OPA and OPCPA products and solutions to the market."

Public information shows that Amplitude (including Amplitude Systemes and Amplitude Technologies), located in Bordeaux, France, is the largest laser company in France and the largest ultrafast laser company in Europe. Amplitude is committed to Yb doped solid medium femtosecond lasers and picosecond lasers, and is a global leader in commercial femtosecond lasers in industrial, medical and scientific applications. The company has a production area of nearly 5000m2, and more than 25000 products are sold to more than 40 countries and regions around the world. The following are the main regional distributions of its low production and manufacturing base, laboratories, support and commercial offices:

(Image source: Amplitude official website)

With its manufacturing bases in Europe, Asia and North America and extensive support and application development facilities, Amplitude is committed to expanding laser applications through product quality and segmentation and cooperation with partners and customers. In April this year, Amplitude merged its two North American divisions (Continuum Electro Optics in Milpitas, California and Amplitude Laser in Cambridge, Massachusetts) into Amplitude Laser. In the Chinese market, Amplitude has successively designed and developed corresponding laser schemes and customized a number of large-scale laser systems for the Institute of Physics, Li Zhengdao Research Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University and other higher research institutions. In 2021, Amplitude commercial Paiwa laser will be officially launched in Chinese Mainland.

Fastlite, a recognized leader in the field of ultrafast scientific instruments, is located in Vagabbana, France. It was founded in 1999 by two academicians of the French Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Technology, Daniel Kaplan and Pierre Tournois. Since 2016, the company has been providing customized ultrafast laser sources based on Yb pumped optical parameter chirped pulse amplifiers to the ultrafast scientific community, In the same year, the company released Fastlite high-throughput MIR OPCPA products for attosecond science and infrared spectroscopy. The first batch of OPA products dedicated to spectrum will be delivered in 2019. The company is committed to ultra fast pulse time domain shaping, diagnosis and control technology, and its representative products are DAZZLERTM, PHAZZLERTM, WIZZLERTM, etc. At present, Fastlite has installed more than 800 instruments worldwide, including ultrafast laser products. The following are its main customer gathering areas:

(Image source: Fastlite official website)

Source: OFweek