EKSPLA is a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

and laser electronics manufacturing company based in Vilnius,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. EKSPLA is known for their lasers and laser systems, as well as other photonics components. The company is supplying their products for scientific, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) & industrial applications.

History

All Lithuanian laser technology companies trace their roots to Vilnius University and the Institute of Physics. Members of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Physics organised an experimental workshop and established the EKSMA company in 1983. In 1992, EKSPLA started operating as a separate legal entity. Gradual development of the company can be illustrated by its customer base expansion to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1993, and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1996. Today it covers all the world. The first EKSPLA commercial picosecond diode-pumped laser was developed in 2002. In 2004, EKSMA became a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

through acquisition of EKSPLA. The

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

s agreed to consolidate all laser and photonics related businesses of both companies into EKSPLA, and two divisions were established: Laser & Laser Systems and Photonics Components. Although company operates under the EKSPLA name, both EKSPLA and EKSMA

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

s are used for laser and components businesses. Effective from 1 July 2008, all components business activities (covering

optical components Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

, laser & nonlinear crystals, positioning mechanics, mounts and optical tables) were moved from EKSPLA to an Optolita company with the brand name of and doing business as EKSMA OPTICS. The company now sells its products directly or through distributors in 80 countries all over the world, mainly in NATO and the European Union. In 2022, EKSPLA severed trade relations with Russia and Belarus because of the war in Ukraine. 80 out of 100 top universities use EKSPLA’s lasers in their research facilities.

Awards

In 2005, EKSPLA was awarded as the

knowledge economy The knowledge economy (or the knowledge-based economy) is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific inno ...

company of the year. The award was given as an acknowledgement of the company's constant investments and achievements in development and marketing of knowledge-based products, cooperation with research institutions, and support to the knowledge-based economy development projects. In 2007, EKSPLA CEO Kestutis Jasiunas, together with other scientists and entrepreneurs (Dr. Romualdas Danielius, Dr. Rimantas Kraujalis and Prof. Habil. Dr. Algis Petras Piskarskas), received the Partnership Award of the National Advancement Awards. This was an acknowledgement of major contributions to Lithuania laser science and industry consolidation. EKSPLA also holds two prestigious Prism Awards by SPIE, unofficially also known as the photonics Oscars, given by the International Society for Optics and Photonics: for the NT200 nanosecond tunable wavelength laser system series, won in 2010, and for the femtosecond laser FemtoLux 30, awarded in 2024. The company has also been recognized with the Laser Focus World Awards on two occasions, claiming the Gold award in 2022 for the FemtoLux 30 and receiving Bronze honors in 2023 for the PT277-XIR series laser.

Products

EKSPLA has 4 product lines: scientific lasers and laser systems, industrial lasers, laser spectroscopy, and laser electronics components. The company manufactures and supplies photonic products and services for

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

and R&D applications.

Lasers and laser systems

Since its foundation, the company was manufacturing only flash-lamp pumped lasers. But as diode pumping results in better overall efficiency and beam quality, a decision was made to replace them with diode-pumped lasers. Currently the EKSPLA laser product line comprises mainly tunable wavelength and diode-pumped lasers. If classified by pulse duration, the company manufactures femtosecond, nanosecond and

picosecond A picosecond (abbreviated as ps) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10−12 or (one trillionth) of a second. That is one trillionth, or one millionth of one millionth of a second, or 0.000 000 000 ...

lasers.Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology
/ref> Most common EKSPLA lasers applications: *

Research and Development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

Laser spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

* OPG/ OPA, OPO pumping *

Plasma Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood pla ...

studies *

LIDAR Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...

Photobiology Photobiology is the scientific study of the beneficial and harmful interactions of light (technically, non-ionizing radiation) in living organisms. The field includes the study of photophysics, photochemistry, photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis, vis ...

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 nm), visible light (400–7 ...

* Micromachining * Marking * Seeding *

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

Ablation Ablation ( la, ablatio – removal) is removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosion, erosive processes or by other means. Examples of ablative materials are described below, and include spacecraft materi ...

* Other applications

Laser micromachining

In 2007, EKSPLA developed the Master Series laser marking systems for material processing. A diode-pumped laser integrated in the system enables higher productivity. This product line has been designed with industrial applications in mind. Laser marking systems can be used to perform various tasks: to mark

serial number A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it. Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...

s, barcodes for identification, small "invisible" signs for

protection or even to scribe

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their Plasticity (physics), plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be Injection moulding, moulded, Extrusion, e ...

. Laser marking systems are suitable for creating 2D and 3D patterns inside

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

. Later all laser material processing workstation business was transferred to ELAS – laser micromachining workstations manufacturer.

Opto-electronic components

The following opto-electronic components are produced: * Pockels cells. The material for Pockels cells are BBO and KD*P nonlinear crystals. Pockels cells are used in DPSS

Q-switching Q-switching, sometimes known as giant pulse formation or Q-spoiling, is a technique by which a laser can be made to produce a pulsed output beam. The technique allows the production of light pulses with extremely high (gigawatt) peak power, much hi ...

lasers and are the basic components of

electro-optic modulator An electro-optic modulator (EOM) is an optical device in which a signal-controlled element exhibiting an electro-optic effect is used to modulate a beam of light. The modulation may be imposed on the phase, frequency, amplitude, or polarization ...

s. Pockels cells applications: high repetition rate regenerative

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

control, beam chopper,

cavity Cavity may refer to: Biology and healthcare *Body cavity, a fluid-filled space in many animals where organs typically develop **Gastrovascular cavity, the primary organ of digestion and circulation in cnidarians and flatworms *Dental cavity or too ...

dumping. * Drivers for Pockels cells. These have been designed to enable Q-switching of nanosecond lasers without the use of phase retardation plates. High voltage applied to the Pockels cell inhibits

oscillation Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

. At a certain time HV is switched to ground, thus allowing the laser to radiate. * Crystal Ovens. Ovens accommodate temperature-sensitive nonlinear crystals. They are used for precise temperature stabilization of laser harmonic crystals of various sizes, and for heating of both bulk and thin periodically poled crystals. * Flashlamp drivers * Laser cooling units * Laser crystal ovens

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Manufacturing companies of Lithuania Manufacturing companies of the Soviet Union Companies based in Vilnius Companies established in 1983 1983 establishments in Lithuania Science and technology in Lithuania Lithuanian brands