Farmington’s Horizon Technology Finance Corp. is betting $6 million that a California firm’s expertise with ultrafast lasers will be the master key unlocking the world’s next generation of precision manufacturing.
Horizon President Gerald A. Michaud said its venture loan to Raydiance Inc. will support the Petaluma, Calif., firm’s continued growth.
According to Raydiance’s homepage, its expertise is an outgrowth of early U.S. defense department research into using femtosecond lasers as weapons.
However, the lasers’ ability to ionize and remove material atom by atom has awed manufacturers eager for the capability to trim minute amounts of metal, plastic, wood, even human tissue, measured in microns, without damaging the remaining material or the need for finishing work such as grinding and polishing.
Dentists and opthomologists use similar lasers to custom-shape tooth implants and for eye surgery