Newton, NJ – October 27, 2014 - Thorlabs announced today that it has acquired Corning Incorporated’s (NYSE: GLW) quantum cascade laser (QCL) business and associated optical semiconductor technologies research group in a private transaction. Corning developed its quantum cascade lasers for the sensing, scientific, and defense markets.

Thorlabs will integrate the assets and intellectual property rights acquired from Corning into its existing Maryland-based semiconductor fabrication facility, Thorlabs Quantum Electronics (TQE). TQE was founded with the acquisition of the Covega Corporation in 2009. This 60,000 square foot end-to-end manufacturing facility includes large scale vertically integrated production capability and is already home to Maxion Corporation, a QCL and ICL (interband cascade laser) company purchased by Thorlabs in November of 2012.

Peter Heim, CTO and General Manager of TQE, commented, “Integrating Corning’s Advanced Optical Semiconductor Research Group into Thorlabs’ existing optical semiconductor fabrication facility not only allows us to ramp up the production of these devices and make them readily available for defense, security, commercial, and research applications but also adds a highly talented group of R&D technologists that significantly expands the depth and range of our core semiconductor laser competencies for future product development.”

David Morse, chief technology officer for Corning remarked, “We expect that this acquisition will complement Thorlabs’ core competencies, market understanding and production capacity to enable them to accelerate their commercialization of quantum cascade lasers.”