The Company

BioPhotonic Solutions Inc. (BSI), a Michigan State University spin-out venture founded in 2003 by University Distinguished Professor Dr. Marcos Dantus, is in the early phases of revolutionizing the ultrafast laser industry with its MIIPS^® technology. The BSI intellectual property allows femtosecond laser users to not only measure pulses but shape and compress them as well, a dramatic step forward given that shorter pulses improve the utility of ultrafast lasers materially. While the ability to shape, compress and measure ultrafast laser pulses is not new, automatically accomplishing this at the target, which is achievable with MIIPS^®, is truly state of the art. MIIPS^® technology has been validated both technically and in the market, and has been recognized as groundbreaking by various thought leading institutions in the laser industry. BSI has been the recipient of several awards and honors, including the PhAST/Laser Focus Innovation Award in 2009 (along with honorable mention in 2007 for this award), and.was also a finalist for the 2008 Prism Award for Photonic Innovations. More importantly, despite the economy and the fact that BSI started manufacturing just this year, revenues are already approaching $1 million and are poised to increase materially over the course of the next few years..
At inception in 2003, BSI was simply a technical concept of founder, president and CEO Marcos Dantus in his work as a Michigan State University professor. After the initial development and technical validation, BSI entered, in 2005, into an exclusive licensing productization agreement with Coherent, the world's largest laser manufacturer. Coherent maintained an exclusive license to manufacture and sell the MIIPS^® technology until early 2009, at which point BSI made the leap from licensor to manufacturer. BSI now maintains solid distribution contracts with 12 laser companies around the world, including a line of products manufactured in Michigan with worldwide sales capability.

Market Analysis

Femtosecond lasers comprise a relatively small portion of the overall laser industry but the sector has an enormous potential for growth through 2012, according to a Strategies Unlimited market analysis. There are a number of factors contributing to the paucity of femtosecond lasers, the most important being the complexity of the device. In the past a laser expert was needed in order to run a femtosecond laser but with MIIPS^® that is no longer the case. The beauty of BSI's systems is that laser optimization is totally automated, essentially "push-button." The MIIPS^® technology eliminates the need for constant manual tweaking, making femtosecond lasers accessible to a wider array of end users, including those without formal laser operational training. To make femtosecond lasers even more user friendly, BSI offers an installation and tutorial service where one of four laser scientists will install the system and teach the customer how to use the pulse shaper for their specific purpose. With this technology and the associated service, more users in a greater number of fields will be able to utilize these state of the art lasers for research and applications. In effect, BSI will have a catalytic effect on industry growth, and will then be positioned perfectly, with multiple product applications, to capitalize on it.

Potential Applications

Given the prevalence of laser use across multiple sectors, along with the revolutionary nature of BSI's MIIPS^® technology, numerous market applications are available. One of these opportunities is research and development for medical technology, where femtosecond lasers with extremely short pulses can cut any material, including human tissue, thus making them ideal for procedures such as bladeless Lasik and dentistry. Shorter pulses mean no heat damage which allows patients to heal faster than ever before. In the last two years BSI, in collaboration with MSU has engaged in a development grant from the MEDC to demonstrate the commercial viability of protein sequencing using the femtosecond laser-scalpel technology with commercialization anticipated in 2010. In addition to medical procedures, ultrafast lasers are ideal for biomedical imaging. When a high powered microscope is used in conjunction with a femtosecond laser, MIIPS^® technology increases the sensitivity by one or two orders of magnitude, thus creating a drastically clearer image that will aid scientists in fields such as microbiology and medical diagnostics.

Founded in 2003, BSI is a leading provider of pulse shapers for ultrafast lasers. More…

MIIPS^®eliminates laser tweaking.
Ideal for time/frequency pulse shaping!

Try the free download of our new femtoPulse Master™ simulation software!

The ultrafast laser market depends on delivery of ultrashort (femtosecond = millionth of a billionth of a second) pulses at the target. BSI's disruptive MIIPS^® pulse shaping technology automates ultrafast pulse measurement and pulse compression allowing delivery of the shortest pulses at the target resulting in breakthrough performance.

There are approximately 100 leading research laboratories around the world using our award wining MIIPS^® technology with their ultrafast laser systems from Coherent, Spectra Physics, Venteon, Quantronix, K&M Labs, Femtolasers to achieve breakthrough results. Call us to find out why others have abandoned the established methods and have adopted MIIPS^® automated pulse characterization and compression.

See short movie on YouTube: femtoFit^™ with MIIPS 2.0 Software measurement, compression and more!.

MIIPS^® Certified Ultrafast Optics