ALPhANOV, the optics and lasers technology center of the Route des Lasers cluster in Aquitaine, and MuQuans, a Bordeaux-based start-up specializing in ultra-precision instruments based on cold atom technology, have just announced a technology transfer agreement. The agreement covers fiber laser sources emitting at 780 nm, developed by ALPhANOV's R&D teams.
Thanks to this transfer, MuQuans will now be able to manufacture the lasers it uses to cool a cloud of atoms trapped in a vacuum chamber to a temperature close to absolute zero. This quantum physics principle is the basis on which MuQuans has developed its range of high-tech instrumentation capable of measuring gravity with extreme precision, or providing time references unrivalled in terms of stability and accuracy. This technology transfer will enable MuQuans to accelerate the time-to-market of its instruments, and ALPhANOV to fulfill its role in supporting photonics start-ups and developing the industrial activity of the Route des Lasers competitiveness cluster.
For Benoit Appert-Collin, Director of ALPhANOV, which has been supporting MuQuans since its creation in 2011, " This technology transfer is the culmination of a collaboration and support program that began when MuQuans was founded in 2011, and is fully in line with ALPhANOV's mission to support the creation of photonics companies. ". For Bruno Desruelle, President of MuQuans, " The skills and resources made available by ALPhANOV have been essential to our progress in developing and industrializing the laser technologies required for our instruments. Clearly, our progress would have been much more difficult without this collaboration. This transfer will enable us to internalize know-how that is essential to our business. "
The technology center and the start-up are also continuing their collaboration on several other collaborative projects, including GRAVITER, a DGA-funded project to develop a field quantum gravimeter, and MIGA, a project to detect gravitational waves using matter waves.
Learn more: www.alphanov.com