Jan 29 2010
Andor Technology plc (Andor), a world leader in scientific imaging, spectroscopy solutions and microscopy systems, today announced the appointment of ALPAO as their new Value Added Reseller for the Adaptive Optics market. ALPAO, based in Grenoble, France, is a manufacturer of Adaptive Optics solutions, especially of extremely sensitive wavefront sensors, for research and industry.
Excellent results obtained with adaptive optics in diverse applications such as astronomy, ophthalmology and microscopy have shown the highly practical importance of this technique. A key requirement for such systems is the ability to rapidly and precisely correct variations in the observed optical wavefront.
ALPAO has recently developed a Shack-Hartmann sensor, leveraging the Electron Multiplying technology implemented by Andor in its cameras. A wavefront sensor fulfilling the most demanding adaptive optics applications was made possible thanks to the low electronic reading noise (<1e- RMS) and the high frame rate (up to 495 fps), offered simultaneously by the EMCCD technology from Andor.
The sensitivity of the EMCCD detector also allows the use of these wavefront sensors in applications where the power level is limited for either safety reasons or to avoid destroying observed samples. Thanks to intensive R&D realised both at the software and hardware level, ALPAO takes full advantage of the Andor Camera.
Frédéric Rooms, CEO of ALPAO, said : "The commercial availability of these wavefront sensors will greatly improve the performance of the most demanding Adaptive Optics systems, thanks to the ultrafast and yet ultra-sensitive EMCCD camera from Andor. We are also very excited by the latest development of camera technology at Andor that will address a wider range of Adaptive Optics applications".
Dr. Aislinn Rice, Sales Director at Andor, said: "This new relationship with ALPAO will enable us to be present in the Adaptive Optics market with a complete solution. ALPAO has the skills to get the best of our technology for dedicated Adaptive Optics applications."
Source: http://www.andor.com/