Omega Optical History
About Omega Optical

Omega’s History

Frontier technologies advancing human health, mobility, connectedness, and security.

OMEGA
1936

EMF is Founded

Evaporated Metal Films is the first US company to offer thin film coatings

1965

Optometrics is Founded

Leading supplier of wavelength selection solutions including standard and custom optical components and pre-aligned sub-assemblies

1969

Omega Filters is Founded

Founded by Bob Johnson in West Brattleboro, VT

1972

Band Filter Development

Developed sub-nm Narrow Band filters

1973

Omega Growth

Reached $1 million in sales

1978

Fluorescence

First high S/N (10^6) filters produced for fluorescence

1980

Spectral Systems

Integrated optical manufacturer of infrared optic

1980

Flow Cytometry Pioneers

Fluorescence filters for flow cytometry introduced

1984

Halley’s Comet

12-wavelength monolithic filter for Halley’s Comet flyby

1985

Fluorescence Microscopy

Custom fluorescence microscopy sets introduced

1986

Human Genome

Human Genome project began – Omega filters were integral to this project

1987

Stock Filters

First stock filter sets offered

1990

Hubble Telescope

Production of filter set for Hubble wide-field planetary camera repair mission

1991

WWW

Omega’s website debuted

1992

Simultaneous Visualization

US Patent # 5,173,808 – Multiband filters for simultaneous visualization of up to 4 fluorophores

1997

SpectraPlus

US Patent # 5,646,781 – SpectraPlus triple-bandpass coating for enhanced color vision

2000

Curv-o-matic

First web-based spectral viewer introduced (curv-o-matic)

2004

Mars

Mars Spirit and Opportunity rovers

2005

Air-Spaced

US Patent # 6,918,673 – Air-spaced filter assembly

2007

PARMS

First Plasma-Assisted Reactive-Magnetron Sputtering (PARMS) system Relocated to Delta Campus

2008

Endoscopy

NIH-NCI SBIR fast-track for multispectral microscopic confocal imaging endoscopy

2009

Department of Energy Award

DOE award for PVT

2010

3D White Light

Development of 5-color white-light 3D technology Dome coater and another PARMS system added to triple capacity

2015

Multispectral Imaging of Fluorescence

ISO9001:2008 certification US Patent #9,155,474- System for Multispectral Imaging of Fluorescence- describes the process of coating fiber tips which are serially arranged to realize a fast, 10-wavelength bin spectrometer Acquisition of Rugate Technologies, a company with expertise in graded index (Rugate) filter designs in infrared wavelengths

2017

Linear Variable Filters

Linear Variable Filters developed with gradients up to 100 nm/mm

2018

ISO Certification

ISO9001:2015 certification

2020

Artemis

Artemis acquires Omega Optical. Company name changes from Omega Optical, Inc to Omega Optical, LLC

2020

Start of Omega Optical Holdings, LLC

Following Artemis acquisition of Omega Optical, parent company Omega Optical Holdings is formed to support future growth

2021 July 06

Omega Optical Holdings acquires Spectral Systems

2021 December 16

Omega Optical acquires EMF Corp and Optometrics

2022

Introduction of Priority Gratings in a Week

Our ultra-fast and volume-sensitive replication capacity allows your rapid delivery of any of our 400+ grating designs without sacrificing performance and accuracy.

2023

Introduction of DUV Transmission Gratings

Extend into the DUV for analysis instrumentation at a reasonable cost. Our proprietary and revolutionary way to manufacture highly efficient DUV Gratings for high volume OEM requirements.

2023

Our own Dave Ventola awarded Photonics 100 designation for his contributions to Diffraction Gratings and Spectroscopy

2024

DUV Transmission Gratings awarded 2024 2024 Innovators Awards by Laser Focus World

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