Organisation Description

Helia Photonics Ltd was formed in September 2002 and is based in purpose-built 8000 ft² facilities at Rosebank Park, Livingston, Scotland. The company raised substantial initial funding from private investors and has support from Heriot-Watt University.

The company was formed to address a need for coatings and back-end processing in semiconductor optoelectronic components and to address a gap in servicing the prototype precision coating requirements of SME’s and research institutions. Since 2006 the company has also worked closely in collaboration with Ciba Specialty Chemicals developing coatings for use in pigments, utilising physical effects for decorative and security applications.

Product/Research Description

Helia Photonics has extensive experience in design and fabrication of precision optical coatings for a number of applications. One specific area of expertise is the coating of semiconductor optoelectronic devices used in the spectral regions ranging from visible to mid-infrared. We specialize in high performance antireflection coatings for telecoms and datacoms devices either in mounted device form, individual bar, or jigs of many tens of bars and also high efficiency dielectric mirrors / couplers designed to meet individual requirements. The optical coating facilities are complemented by state-of-the-art scribe and break, pick and place, and laser bar testing. Optical coatings at Helia are deposited using ion-assisted deposition and sputtering. The engineering of specialist coating jigs are provided locally by our sister company, Ritchie Precision, who have years of experience of dealing with precision vacuum-compatible tooling.

Helia Photonics Ltd. offer innovative coating solutions across all aspects of the photonics industry. Helia’s engineering team has tackled a range of prototype and production challenges including:

• Coatings for high power semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers
• Ultra-low anti-reflection coatings for semiconductor laser facets
• Coatings for delicate optical crystals
• Ultra-low reflectivity coatings (less than 0.01%) on a variety of substrates
• Range of bandpass and dichroic filters in the ultra-violet, visible and infrared
• Cold plasma deposition on plastics
• Optical metallic coatings (Al, Ag, Au, Rh, Cr, etc.)
• Filters for biophotonics applications
• Coatings for optical fibres

New Products

• Facet coatings for ultra-high power semiconductor lasers
• Range of bandpass filters and dichroics for biophotonics applications

Quality Standards

Working towards ISO 9001

Main Markets

Telecommunications, bio-medical, defence, automotive

Services Offered

Optical coatings, optical coatings design

Collaboration Sought or Offered

Collaborations in field welcomed