Directed Light

Infobox Company
company_name=Directed Light Inc.
company_logo=
company_type=Private
foundation= California, USA (1983)
location_city= flagicon|USA San Jose, California
industry=Laser Technology
Medical Laser
homepage = [http://www.directedlight.com/ DirectedLight.com]

Directed Light, Inc. is a laser technology company located in San Jose, California.The company is an independent distributor of component parts for
medical,
industrial,and
scientificlasers worldwide and operates a laser job shop for the welding, drilling, cutting, marking and hermetic sealing of a wide variety of materials including stainless steel, titanium, nitinol, sapphire, silicon, copper and ceramics.

Directed Light is best known for itscomponents division and is North America’s largest distributor of replacement component parts for CO₂ and laser systems. [ [http://www.directedlight.com/components.html Component Division Website] . Directed Light, Inc. Retrieved on 11 October 2008.]

The company was founded in 1983 as a laser components distributor.Due to its location in Silicon Valleyand to the steady local demand for laser processing in the development of new medical and information technologies, Directed Light developed an advanced technology job shopusing the full spectrum of wavelenths available in commercial laser systems, from far IR (10.6 $mu$m) to UV (355 nm). [ [http://www.directedlight.com/jobshop/ Job Shop Website] . Directed Light, Inc.] Dead link|date=October 2008

As of 2008, the company has approximately 7,000 customers in over 20 countries.

History

Directed Light was founded in 1983 by David Knox in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley, and moved its operations to San Jose in 1989. The company originally supplied the growing number of scientific CO₂ lasers in California with replacement optics and on-site service. By 1990 the company began to offer fully-integrated laser machine tools to industry specializing in glove-box hermetic sealing using laser systems. In 1994, Directed Light added a third division, its laser materials processing group, operating with one Coherent, Inc. CO₂ laser system. By the time the company merged with [http://www.muc.miyachi.com/ Miyachi Unitek Corporation] in 1999, Directed Light had grown to over 65 employees, 12 laser systems and a large staff of sales, service technicians and customer service personnel. Miyachi Unitek Corporation subsumed the laser machine tool division into its own group in Southern California while the components distribution group and laser job shop remained in San Jose. In 2004, the company was divested by Miyachi Unitek and purchased by a private equity group based in Los Angeles.

Directed Light is a member of the Laser Institute of America and the company's current president, Neil S. Ball is a member of the LIA Board of Directors. [ [http://www.laserinstitute.org/membership/directory LIA Membership Directory] . Laser Institute of America. Retrieved on 11 October 2008.] [ [http://www.laserinstitute.org/company/board LIA Board of Directors] . Laser Institute of America. Retrieved on 11 October 2008.]

Divisions

Component Sales Group

The Component Sales Division of Directed Light Inc. was founded in 1983 and is the largest independent distributor in North America of replacement optics, crystals, Q-switches, flashlamps, cavities and cooling systems for most industrial, medical and scientific lasers worldwide. Directed Light is also a major distributor of laser safety products including safety glasses, barriers and shields. All of the division's products are OEM quality and are sourced from the OEM supplier whenever possible.

Advanced Technology Job Shop

Directed Light's "Advanced Technology Job Shop" performs contract laser materials processing and is capable of laser welding, cutting, marking, drilling and hermetic sealing.The division consists of 20 laser materials processing platforms spanning far IR (CO₂), near IR (Nd:YAG), green and UV wavelengths, as well as an engineering and technical staff targeted at a wide range of applications, from scientific research and industrial development, to full-scale production.

Technical Information Regarding Lasers and Laser Applications

Directed Light maintains a useful glossary of laser terms, as well as a collection of technical explanations of laser
rods,
Q-switches, optics and
laser pumping lamps.These documents are available as an appendix to the Directed Light [http://www.directedlight.com/docs/DLICATALOG.pdf components catalog] .

Notes

References

* [http://www.directedlight.com Company Website]
* [http://www.directedlight.com/components.html Component Division Website]
* [http://www.directedlight.com/jobshop Job Shop Website] Dead link|date=October 2008