Precision optical systems maker Navitar Inc. has announced the sale of its coatings division, Navitar Coating Labs of Newport Beach, Calif., to its president, Dan Coursen, for an undisclosed amount. The company said it based its decision to sell the division on the success of Special Optics, a Wharton, N.J., firm Navitar acquired a year ago that has quadrupled the company’s optical design capabilities and expanded Navitar’s in-house optical coating capabilities (See Navitar Buys Special Optics). Navitar supplies precision optics and optical subsystems for applications including semiconductor chip fabrication, flat panel display inspection, solar photovoltaic cell inspection and laser scribing, fluorescence imaging, laser micromachining, and lab automation and digital projection. Special Optics specializes in the optical design and rapid prototyping of complete electro-optical systems. After the acquisition, additional optical design personnel were added at both the Special Optics facilities and at Navitar’s Rochester headquarters. “The purchase of Special Optics was the beginning of a dramatic surge in our design efforts and the rapid development of next-generation optical systems. Navitar is now one of the few optical companies that can seamlessly integrate optical and mechanical engineering, rapid prototyping and volume custom lens production in one operation,” said Jeremy Goldstein, Navitar co-president. With in-house optical coating capabilities at the Special Optics facilities in New Jersey, the Navitar Coating Labs facility in Newport Beach became a noncore asset, the company said. Formerly the GM Vacuum Coating Laboratory, Navitar Coating Labs was purchased by Navitar in 1998 and has remained a separate organization with its own customer base, producing vacuum-deposited and -sputtered coatings for ultraviolet, visible and IR applications. Coursen, who has been with Navitar for more than 35 years, purchased Navitar Coating Labs for an undisclosed amount. The name will be changed to Coursen Coating Labs Inc., with a new Web site, www.coursencoatinglabs.com, Navitar said. “The transition will be seamless to Navitar Coating Labs customers, as they have always been serviced by the same core management group,” Goldstein said. For more information, visit: www.navitar.com