Thorlabs has announced their intention to acquire Columbia-based Cirtemo, LLC. Founded in 2012, Cirtemo designs and manufactures patented optical filters, called Multivariate Optical Elements, which are encoded to detect complex chemical compounds. The acquisition includes this technology plus Nanopatterning Tools known as MagAssemble, which are used to “3D print” photolithography masks using nanoparticles.
The Cirtemo team will remain in South Carolina, form a division called Thorlabs Spectral Works (TSW), and operate as an R&D facility reporting to Thorlabs’ Optics Business Unit in Newton, NJ.