Infleqtion, Thorlabs Partner on Quantum Commercialization: Week in Brief: 10/4/24

Photonics.com
Oct 2024OXFORD, England, Oct. 4, 2024 — Infleqtion, a neutral atom quantum technology company, has signed a licensing agreement with Thorlabs to commercialize Infleqtion’s integrated optical fiber collimation package. The package delivers a linearly polarized collimated beam with high extinction ratio and integrated power monitoring for quantum technology applications. The agreement will allow researchers and product development teams to have more access to collimation capabilities.

Infleqtion’s fiber collimator with Thorlabs’ RSP1D/M continuous rotation mount and pedestal pillar post. Courtesy of Infleqtion.

NEWTON AYCLIFFE, England — The U.K. Government has acquired Coherent’s semiconductor factory for an undisclosed amount. The newly rebranded Octric Semiconductors UK, which has the capability to manufacture gallium arsenide semiconductors, will be used to boost the U.K.’s defensive industrial capacity and exports.

IRVINE, Calif. — Defense wireless and connectivity solutions company Mobix Labs, Inc. has submitted a proposal to inertial navigation solutions provider EMCORE Corporation’s board of directors for the acquisition of all of EMCORE’s outstanding shares for $3.80 per share in cash. Mobix’s offer represents a more than 200% premium over EMCORE's current stock price as of September 27, 2024. This comes after Mobix acquired J-Mark Connectors Inc. in August.

SILVERWATER, Australia — BluGlass, a semiconductor developer, has signed an agreement with Macquarie University and defense company Aurizn to develop and test a laser-based method to measure subsurface water temperature and depth. Partially funded by an Australia’s Economic Accelerator seed grant worth AUD $182,000 (~$125,000), the project will develop and run commercial trials of fully-functional blue ocean lidar technology to improve maritime situational awareness in defense and environmental settings where satellites and marine buoys are currently used.

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Integrated photonics and quantum optics technology company Quantum Computing Inc. (QCi) has extended its cooperative research and development agreement with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The agreement focuses on QCi’s entropy quantum optimization machine, Dirac-3, and its capabilities to quickly solve highly complex problems associated with quantum simulations, social networks, protein structure prediction, and telecommunications. QCi’s Dirac-3 quantum optimization machine is able to solve beyond quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problems, addressing high-dimensional discrete variables with multi-body interactions using nonlinear quantum optics.

(Top row, from left) QuPIDC deputy director Alexandra Boltasseva and QuPIDC principal investigator Hadiseh Alaeian. (Bottom row, from left) QuPIDC principal investigators Sabre Kais, Tongcang Li, and Vladimir Shalaev. Courtesy of Purdue University.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to lead the Quantum Photonics Integrated Design Center (QuPIDC) Energy Frontier Research Center. The $13.9 million, four-year award is funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and will drive forward quantum photonics research. QuPIDC will be directed by professor of chemistry Libai Huang while professor of electrical and computer engineering Alexandra Boltasseva will act as deputy director.

A cryomodule that will be used in the LCLS’ upgrade. Courtesy of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

A cryomodule that will be used in the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) upgrade. Courtesy of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The Department of Energy has commenced the construction on a high-energy upgrade worth $716 million that will further boost the performance of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The LCLS was previously upgraded in 2023 where technologies including a superconducting accelerator and two magnetic structures were added. The new project will double the energy of the electron beam coming out of the superconducting electron accelerator, which will more than double the maximum X-ray energy and deliver a 3,000-fold performance increase in average X-ray brightness for high-energy X-rays.

DUBAI, U.A.E. — Deep tech company XPANCEO has entered a partnership with microLED display producer JBD to deliver ultrathin smart contact lenses with an integrated microLED display. The companies have tested two methods using a projector and hologram combination as well as an integrated microdisplay that projects the image directly from inside the lens, which the companies plan to use to advance AR technology.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Hamamatsu Photonics has entered into a strategic partnership with PictorLabs, an AI-powered virtual staining technology company, to develop applications to advance virtual staining in routine laboratory practices. The collaboration aims to explore the growing demand for scalable digital pathology solutions that can streamline the workflows and accelerate the adoption of digital pathology at an enterprise scale.

Mikros Technologies’ head quarters in Claremont, N.H. Courtesy of Jabil.

Mikros Technologies’ headquarters in Claremont, N.H. Courtesy of Jabil.

ST. PETERSBERG, Fla. — Jabil Inc. has acquired manufacturer of liquid cooling solutions for thermal management Mikros Technologies LLC. The acquisition will provide Jabil with capabilities for helping its customers manage thermal requirements of its current and next-generation products. The company also said that Mikros’s technologies and capabilities will complement Jabil’s portfolio of data center lifecycle solutions, semiconductor test equipment solutions, and energy and transportation solutions.

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