Newton, NJ and Austin, TX – June 5, 2013 – Thorlabs announced today the acquisition of Digital Video Camera Company (DVC). Located in Austin, Texas, DVC specializes in the design and manufacture of high-performance digital imaging solutions for scientific and industrial applications. Founded by Ash Prabala, the organization’s products have been incorporated into a wide range of physical and life sciences applications.

Over the past several years, Thorlabs has invested heavily in the life sciences market space with the addition of its Virgina-based imaging systems group, which offers a range of microscopy-based products. The acquisition of DVC further strengthens Thorlabs’ life sciences portfolio through the addition of scientific cameras. Thorlabs’ camera offering will now include interline CCD cameras with optional  time delay imaging capability, a novel approach that significantly increases the throughput of whole-slide scanning when compared to conventional methods.  The group’s extensive experience with leading OEMs will be leveraged to further expand into the physical and life sciences OEM space while continuing to serve research scientists and other end users through traditional Thorlabs catalog channels.

“We are pleased to expand our life sciences product offering to include scientific cameras,” said Alex Cable, founder and CEO of Thorlabs. “Our initial step into the life sciences market began over a decade ago with the development of our Optical Coherence Tomography systems. Since that time, a focused effort by our VA-based team has expanded our imaging systems offering to include confocal and multiphoton imaging systems. The acquisition of DVC is yet another step forward in terms of providing the tools and systems life sciences researchers need.”

“We are excited to be a part of the Thorlabs team” said Ash Prabala, founder of DVC and now chief technologist and co-manager of Thorlabs Scientific Imaging. “We will continue to create new products and add value for our world-class OEM customers, while also serving the scientific imaging needs of Thorlabs’ expanding customer base. In addition, we look forward to developing solutions for whole-slide scanning and other challenging applications in collaboration with other groups within Thorlabs.”

The DVC group and manufacturing facility will remain located in Austin, Texas and will operate under the name Thorlabs Scientific Imaging (TSI).

About Digital Video Camera Company:
Founded in 1998, DVC specializes in low-noise, high-speed digital imaging with a focus on the needs of researchers and OEMs in the life sciences, materials sciences, and other high-performance scientific imaging markets.

About Thorlabs:
Thorlabs, a vertically integrated photonics products manufacturer, was founded in 1989 to serve the laser and electro-optics research market. As that market has grown and expanded into new research areas,  Thorlabs has extended its core competencies in an effort to consistently serve its industry  at the research end, as well as the industrial, life science, medical, and defense segments. The organization’s highly integrated and diverse manufacturing assets include semiconductor fabrication of VCSEL lasers that are being integrated into OCT systems,  fiber towers for drawing glass optical fibers (silica, fluoride, tellurite, and hollow core), brushless DC motor technology for advanced microscopy positioning stages, advanced thin film deposition capabilities, and optomechanical and optoelectronic shops.