Our collaborations
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Our collaborations
With its state-of-the-art facilities and recognized expertise, COPL-ULaval has built up a strong tradition of sharing and transferring scientific knowledge to the user community. The collaborations it develops promote technological innovation and actively contribute to the creation of value within a dynamic ecosystem.
Anchored in an approach based on complementary expertise, these collaborations continually strengthen the photonics value chain, from the emergence of ideas to their transformation into concrete innovations, supporting their integration and generating positive spin-offs for the regional socio-economic network.
COPL-ULaval is particularly proud of the lasting links it maintains with players in the sector and in the region, and aims to increase its impact by responding ever more effectively to the needs of innovative organizations looking for photonic solutions to bring their projects to fruition.
Trajan
"Our collaboration with COPL began a few years ago when we were looking for a capillary solution for mass spectroscopy that would increase efficiency in detecting molecules with large molecular weights. Professor Y. Messaddeq proposed an innovative polyimide-coated capillary with a 9-hole structure. To this day, the intellectual property is still held by Université Laval."
Trajan Scientific and Medical is an international company, founded in 2011, specializing in the design, manufacturing, and marketing of high-precision scientific and medical devices. With an estimated turnover of CAD 140 million and international coverage across four continents, Trajan is distinguished by its expertise in chromatography, mass spectrometry, and analytical technologies, offering innovative solutions for the biology, food, and environmental sectors.
Castor Optics
As part of our collaboration, COPL provided us with characterization services and custom fiber fabrication compatible with our technologies, including our flagship product — the double-clad fiber coupler. COPL's expertise enabled us to iterate on our fiber design to meet the technical specifications we were targeting. Within our research and development efforts, optical fibers meeting tight tolerances were drawn using the fiber-drawing towers — a strategic asset within COPL’s infrastructure. The expertise and contribution of COPL played a key role in successfully completing the development of Castor’s innovative products.
Castor Optics, a fast-growing company, was founded in 2013 by Caroline Boudoux and Nicolas Godbout of Polytechnique Montréal, two COPL faculty members, along with Alex Cable, founder of Thorlabs, and Normand Brais, founder of Sanuvox, to bring innovative fiber optic technologies to the market. The company provides enabling technologies for rapidly evolving sectors, including biomedical imaging, long-distance sensing, environmental monitoring, and quantum technologies.
Femtum
"A partner of our company since its very beginning, COPL plays a key role in our technological development. In addition to the fact that Femtum was born in its laboratories, we still maintain close collaboration today. The center contributes in particular to the design of our products, by intervening at the stage of depositing thin layers of an anti-reflective coating applied to internal laser components, which optimizes their efficiency. The center also helps us analyze samples treated with our lasers, in particular using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an FTIR spectrometer. The company also collaborates with several professors at the center on the development of lasers and laser processes."
Founded in 2017, Femtum was born out of a technological innovation based on lasers emitting short pulses in the mid-infrared range. The company's mission is to help innovative companies in the fields of electronics, photonics, and semiconductors increase their manufacturing efficiency and develop new devices for artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Ciena
"Thanks to our collaboration with COPL, we had access to cutting-edge equipment, particularly their scanning electron microscope coupled with FIB (Focused Ion Beam) technology. This combination, unique in Quebec, allowed us to carry out advanced microcharacterization of our silicon chips. Access to this tool was crucial for deepening the analysis and optimizing the performance of our components."
Ciena, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Hanover, Maryland, USA, is the global leader in high-speed connectivity solutions and intelligent optical networks. The company employs more than 8,000 people worldwide, serves more than 1,600 customers, and holds a portfolio of more than 2,000 patents. Its annual revenue is approximately US$2.6 billion. Ciena's Quebec City branch is a strategic research and development (R&D) center dedicated to innovation and the creation of advanced optical technologies that fuel the group's global innovation capacity.
Opsens
“For more than ten years now, we have been working closely with COPL to benefit from their expertise in dielectric thin film deposition. This step is fundamental to our microfabrication process for fiber optic sensors for medical applications. The services offered by COPL facilitate access to state-of-the-art equipment, a key element in the collaborative vision for the Quebec City region and a determining factor in OpSens/Haemonetics' history in the development of our pressure sensor. More recently, this collaboration has led to the joint implementation of robust methods targeting process control, which has helped to strengthen the quality and efficiency of our operations.”
Opsens is a Quebec-based company founded in 2003. It is recognized worldwide for the design and manufacture of high-precision optical sensors, primarily used in interventional cardiology, as well as in the industrial and energy sectors. In 2023, the company was acquired by Haemonetics, a global medical technology company based in the United States. Opsens' revenue prior to its acquisition was approximately CAD 40 million. Its valuation was estimated at CAD 345 million upon its acquisition by Haemonetics.
