Bookham shines light on biophotonic technology

Santa Rosa optical technology maker Bookham Inc., long known for its telecommunications products, is branching into biotech.

Its newest product, the ZoroLight LED multiplexing module, is aimed at the growing market for biophotonic technology, which uses light for biological research and medical diagnosis.

Light can be harnessed to analyze, image and manipulate living tissue at the cellular and molecular levels without damaging it, according to the Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology at UC Davis.

The global market for biophotonics products and services has swelled to $50 billion, with some segments growing 40 percent a year, said Dennis Matthews, who heads the Davis center.

Bookham's new technology is targeted at companies designing machines for DNA analysis, cellular research, drug development and other fields.

It marks the latest move by Bookham to find new uses for its optical technology. The San Jose-based company started its Santa Rosa unit in 2003 when it acquired local startup Cierra Photonics for about $3.7 million in stock.

Cierra was one of several companies with ties to Santa Rosa's Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., the pioneering tech company acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2000.

Bookham's Santa Rosa unit still focuses mostly on optical products for fiber communications networks. In recent years, however, the company has experimented with new ways to use its expertise in optics, said Ben Standish, product manager at Bookham's Thin Films Division in Santa Rosa.

"We were looking for other places to apply it," he said.

Bookham first entered the biophotonics market in 2004 with thin-film optical filters for fluorescence studies, in which tissue samples are bombarded with different wavelengths of light.

The samples glow or scatter light in response, providing cell "fingerprints" that reveal their structure, health and other data. Coated filters control the wavelength, or light color.

Its new ZoroLight LED multiplexing module, developed in Santa Rosa, improves brightness and efficiency in biophotonics instruments, Standish said.

The device utilizes light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and special filters. LEDs, which use less energy and last longer than conventional incandescent lamps, are a key advance for biophotonics, Standish said. They've become cheaper and brighter in recent years, he said.

"LEDs are just starting to get a foothold," Standish said. "It's a good time for lighting."

The ZoroLight LED multiplexer produces multiple wavelengths at different intensities, trapping light in a tunnel of highly-reflective dielectric coated surfaces.

It's the first compact LED system with a filter and light source bright enough for analytical applications such as fluorescence and screening, the company said.

It also has uses in video displays and endoscopy -- a way to view the inside of the body using an inserted tube, light and lens system.

The device will cost several hundred dollars to more than $1,000, depending on its use, Standish said.

At Bookham's Santa Rosa location, glass filters are coated with multiple layers of thin film in computer-controlled deposition chambers. The device also is assembled and tested in Santa Rosa, where Bookham has 67 employees.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.