36Kr Exclusive: "Altronic Photonics" Secures Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series C Financing to Be Used for the Large-Scale Application of Femtosecond Laser Technology
Author｜Chang Minxiao
Editor｜Yang Yafei
36Kr has learned that "Aurora Photonics" has recently completed a several-hundred-million-yuan Series C financing round. This round of financing is jointly invested by Sunny Optical Technology Group Co., Ltd. Industrial Fund, CDH Investments, Huaxia Hengtian, Junquanxin and other investment institutions. This Series C financing is the second round of financing completed by "Aurora Photonics" since 2024.
"Aurora Photonics" was founded in 2018 and is a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the research, development, production and application of industrial femtosecond lasers and their core components.
NALM (Nonlinear Amplifying Loop Mirror) all-fiber long-life mode-locked seed source mass production process is one of the core technologies of Aurora Photonics. This technology achieves mode locking by relying on optical nonlinear effects rather than relying on special materials for mode locking, thereby avoiding material damage and aging problems during laser irradiation.
The seed source made by NALM technology has the advantages of longer lifespan and higher reliability.
In addition, the high-gain innoslab amplifier packaging process technology is also one of the core technologies of Aurora Photonics. This technology maximizes the heat dissipation area of the crystal by making the laser crystal flat. This enables the material to withstand higher pumping and is suitable for making high-power laser amplifiers.
The packaging process technology also supports the laser beam to pass back and forth through the laser crystal multiple times, thereby allowing the laser to obtain higher gain.
The founder and CEO of Aurora Photonics, Qiu Hangkai, graduated from the Computer Science Department of Hong Kong Baptist University and once led the management work in the industrial laser field and other related fields at Focused Photonics Inc.
Provided by "Aurora Photonics"
In 2018, when Qiu Hangkai and his friends from the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics inspected a consumer electronics factory, they discovered a market gap in the industrial laser field.
The laser equipment used in the factory for processing mobile phone glass covers mainly relies on imports. Qiu Hangkai realized that as the world's largest consumer electronics production and consumption market, China has failed to achieve domestic substitution in the field of laser equipment.
Therefore, Qiu Hangkai cooperated with the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics to establish Aurora Photonics. The Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics has more than 30 years of technical accumulation in the field of femtosecond lasers, mainly applied in high-precision and advanced fields such as aerospace. At the same time, with the support of the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Aurora Photonics has successively recruited more than 50 scientists and R & D personnel to join the core R & D team.
"Aurora Photonics" has established several advanced laboratories in China, including the Femtosecond Fiber Laboratory, Femtosecond Seed Source Laboratory, Femtosecond Slab Laboratory and Reliability Laboratory. At the same time, it has established three R & D centers in Hangzhou, Xi'an and Shanghai, and overseas R & D centers in Aachen, Germany and Southampton, UK.
"Aurora Photonics" has built three femtosecond laser production lines in Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing, forming a femtosecond laser industrial base with a total area of approximately 10,000 square meters.
Currently, as one of the few femtosecond laser companies in China that can mass-produce for the industrial market, its products have been applied in the fields of semiconductors, solar photovoltaic, biomedicine, aerospace and other fields.
Qiu Hangkai, the founder of "Aurora Photonics", told 36Kr that the funds raised in this round of financing will be mainly used to accelerate the business progress in aspects such as the layout of the industrial chain, capacity expansion, product matrix expansion and market expansion, aiming to further improve the femtosecond laser technology.