Mar 8 2016
The Santa Rosa division of Viavi Solutions Thursday is unveiling a new line of spectrometers that can help drug makers and other manufacturers analyze a range of organic materials, from pharmaceuticals to foods.
The new devices are smaller, lighter and less expensive than most existing spectrometers and can allow producers to make real-time measurements of a drug as it comes off a manufacturing line, a Viavi spokeswoman said. That approach contrasts with current practices of taking samples from the line to a lab for analysis and holding back the batch until it is cleared for delivery.
Viavi's new hand-held spectrometer can even allow workers at a receiving dock to analyze materials still sealed in plastic bags.
"We can make an optical sensor that is one of the best," said Nada O'Brien, director of marketing and product management of the spectrometers, trademarked as MicroNIR.
O'Brien noted that one new spectrometer suitable for manufacturing lines weighs just 11.2 ounces. "You can't find anything like this, anywhere," she said.
Milpitas-based Viavi, formerly JDS Uniphase, employs about 480 employees in Santa Rosa, which is home to its Optical Security and Performance division. Some of its workers came from Optical Coating Laboratory Inc., which JDSU acquired in 2000.
The local division also makes color-shifting pigments used on the paper currency of more than 100 nations in order to thwart counterfeiting. Some of its optical coating materials are used in night vision goggles, satellites, smart phones and tablets.
Spectrometers work on the premise that all organic materials absorb and reflect differing levels of infrared light, O'Brien explained. By measuring the reflected infrared light, "you generate essentially a fingerprint" that can help identify the substance.
The Viavi team uses optical coatings to produce a "linear variable filter" that separates the light into individual wavelengths, O'Brien said.
The technology enables the miniaturization of spectrometers. For example, the new handheld device is only 5.75 inches long and weighs 7 ounces.
The cost of the products in many cases is half of that for competing devices, she said.
Staff in Santa Rosa began developing the products about four years ago and released their first spectrometer in 2014. That device, and three new models released Thursday, all are manufactured here.
Spectrometers can be used by police to identify illegal substances and one day might enable seafood buyers to confirm that, for example, a fish is low-cost tilapia rather than red snapper, she said.
But Viavi's current marketing push is aimed at drug and food makers.
"A lot of the pharmaceutical companies have been working with us," O'Brien said. The manufacturers have been giving feedback to improve the devices.
As "Internet of Things" technology connects devices and provides for continuous measurement and monitoring, manufacturers will look to spectrometers and other devices to build "smart factories," she said.
"We're starting to set the standards," O'Brien said.
You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or [email protected]. On Twitter @rdigit