Via the Rochester Business Journal For years, ultrafast mode-locked lasers have been the gold standard for high-precision applications like molecular analysis, advanced biological imaging, and microscopic material processing. These specialized instruments act like ultra-high-speed strobe lights, emitting light in hyper-fast, microscopic pulses. This unique pulsing allows industries to scan, cut, or analyze delicate materials such as pharmaceutical compounds or microelectronics with extreme precision and zero heat damage. Yet, for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) trying to integrate these powerful optical tools into commercial products, adoption has been nearly impossible because the hardware is bulky, expensive, and notoriously difficult to scale. “Our team had worked at a number of biotech startups, and we found that trying to integrate a mode-locked laser was almost unachievable,” explains Faisal R Ahmad, PhD, co-founder and CEO of AB Photonics. “We talked to many laser suppliers, and they always highlighted that the combination of skilled workers and complicated supply chains that are needed to scale this class of lasers is very challenging. Based on this reality and our own experience, we recognized this as a problem that needed to be solved.” The urgency to fix this bottleneck intensified during the global pandemic, when supply chain disruptions brought

Via the Rochester Business Journal Unmanned vehicles, drones, and advanced robots handle increasingly dangerous missions. Yet, operators control these multi-million-dollar systems using flat monitors and narrow video goggles. This restrictive setup creates dangerous blind spots, disorientation, and heavy cognitive overload. During active emergencies or hazardous defense maneuvers, a split-second delay in human perception can cause a total mission failure. These risks aren’t acceptable to Hypervision Ltd. Instead of forcing operators to view complex scenes through a restrictive digital window, the startup has introduced a more practical way for humans to interact with remote machines. Its proprietary technology, Reality First Person View (rFPV), merges multiple camera feeds into a continuous, wide-field view. Because this view matches the natural scale, depth, and wide boundary of human sight—a concept known as human-scale telepresence—operators can easily spot peripheral obstacles and make quicker, more confident decisions from a safe distance. Turning fragmented feeds into immersive scene awareness Traditional remote-control setups force users to toggle between multiple monitors or look through basic, narrow First Person View (FPV) goggles. Hypervision eliminates this friction. Its rFPV platform maps 360-degree, stereo, and low-light camera feeds into a continuous view. This design ensures operators instinctively notice motion, obstacles, and peripheral

Via the Rochester Business Journal For decades, traditional hardware materials have underpinned the global tech economy, but today’s fastest-growing industries are hitting a hard physical limit. Whether dealing with extreme heat bottlenecks in artificial intelligence infrastructure, optical distortion in advanced sensors, or the everyday scratching of smartphone cover glass, legacy materials simply cannot keep pace with modern demands. Innovation is increasingly constrained by these material limitations. To break through these barriers, industries have long eyed diamond as the ultimate upgrade because of its exceptional thermal, optical, and durability properties. However, diamond technologies have historically been trapped in research laboratory settings due to extreme processing costs and manufacturing disruption. The startup Diamond Quanta aims to change all of that with its proprietary Adamantine Platform™, a scalable, engineered-diamond interface platform. Based in Mountain View, California, the company is using this platform to develop diamond interface technologies optimized for integration within existing semiconductor manufacturing workflows. Because the platform is built for compatibility, it allows high-volume factories to leverage the properties of diamond across multiple verticals—ranging from highly durable smartphone glass and rugged sensors to high-power semiconductor wafers and advanced chiplet interposers. By integrating within existing production workflows, the platform is designed to improve

TL;DR: The National Science Foundation will award $15 million over the next two years to launch the NSF STELLAR Engine in the Rochester/Finger Lakes Region of New York, matched by $16 million in New York State support. Led by URochester with key partners including NextCorps, STELLAR will build a national hub for laser research, commercialization, manufacturing, and workforce development. The initiative responds to a major U.S. competitiveness gap in a technology essential to sectors from medicine to defense, and builds on Rochester’s long history of leadership in optics, photonics, imaging, and laser technology. NextCorps and Luminate will help strengthen and support a growing pipeline of early-stage laser companies on their path to commercialization. The Rochester/Finger Lakes region has been selected by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) as one of the newest Regional Innovation Engines, marking a major federal investment in the future of laser technology and U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. Led by the University of Rochester, STELLAR (Science, Technology, and Engineering for Laser and Laser Applications Research) will launch with $15 million from NSF over the next two years, matched by $16 million in New York State support over the next six, to build a globally competitive hub for laser

Each year, Luminate brings its startup teams to New York City for a high-impact week of investor meetings, industry access, and unfiltered feedback that sharpens both their technology and strategy. By the time they take the stage at the Investor Summit, the real work has already started to pay off. On the way to the Summit The week began with a visit to Cornell Tech, one of the country’s most forward-thinking campuses. Arriving via the Roosevelt Island Tramway, the group was welcomed by Tomer Joshua and Samantha Laite, who gave us a closer look at the Runway Startup Postdoc Program — followed by a shared pitch session for Luminate teams and Runway participants. Housed within the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Runway brings together research, education, and entrepreneurship to help translate innovation into startups and real-world impact. For cohort 9, it offered a compelling example of how academic institutions can play a direct role in moving deep-tech ideas from concept to commercialization. Arthur Rabner, PhD, founder and CEO of HyperVision, said the trip resonated on a personal level. “As someone who studied computer engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, I was happy to visit Cornell Tech and see that strong connection

Strategic Support and Investment Fast-Tracks Industry-First Solutions within New York’s Expanding, World-Class Photonics Hub Luminate NY is Supported by “Finger Lakes Forward” – The Region’s Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy via Empire State Development March 18, 2026, ROCHESTER, NY—Empire State Development (ESD) today announced the 10 startups chosen for round nine of the New York State supported Luminate NY accelerator, investment fund, and competition. Selected by a panel of industry experts for their transformative work in OPI-enabled technologies, these startups were identified from a pool of 138 applicants from 33 different countries. The 2026 cohort will begin their time in Rochester on April 13, utilizing an initial $100,000 investment to continue to scale their businesses leveraging New York’s ecosystem. At the accelerator graduation on September 30, they will vie for up to $2 million in follow-on funding to help commercialize their next-generation manufacturing, medical, and sensing solutions. Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said, “Congratulations to the ten forward-thinking companies selected to take part in Luminate NY’s ninth cohort. The cutting-edge ideas from these optics, photonics and imaging startups will further drive innovation to create new opportunities in the Finger Lakes region and throughout New

Damon Diehl, PhD Luminate Director of Technology Integration My observations from Photonics West 2026 If you want a clear sign that AR glasses have gone mainstream: Two speakers at Photonics West revealed that the eyeglasses they were wearing—Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2—were serving as their teleprompters. Across technical sessions and conversations on the show floor, it was evident that extended reality is shifting from speculative promise to real market pressure. Here are some of my observations. Demand is real, but manufacturing isn’t ready: Meta reported Ray-Ban smart glasses sales at 3x expectations, but scaling is constrained by cost, customization, and manufacturing precision. The bottleneck is not imagination—it’s production. The “impossible sandwich” problem: Near-eye displays can require roughly 11 precision layers and air gaps, all aligned to near-perfection because the human eye is unforgiving. This is as much an assembly challenge as an optics one. “100 million for $100:” Jason Hartlove of Meta set a quantitative benchmark that was quoted all week. True market success requires the ability to make 100 million AR/VR/MR displays every year for $100 each. Standardization enables scale: Multiple speakers emphasized that without optical and system-level standards, manufacturing complexity will continue to cap growth. Efforts like the AR

World’s Largest Accelerator for Optics, Photonics, and Imaging (OPI) Offers $100K Immediate Funding and Strategic Access to the “Optics Capital of the World” ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Early-stage technology companies have just four days remaining to secure a spot in Cohort 9 of Luminate NY, the world’s largest business accelerator for technologies enabled by optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI). With applications closing at 11:59 PM EST on January 12, 2026, founders are invited to compete for a share of millions in funding designed to bridge the “valley of death” between laboratory innovation and global commercialization. Selected startups receive an immediate $100,000 investment upon admission to the six-month program. At the program’s conclusion, participants compete for a portion of $2 million in follow-on funding provided through Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Fueling the Future of Deep-Tech Managed by NextCorps, Luminate NY has become a global hub for sectors that rely on OPI, including Quantum Computing, Autonomous Vehicles, Climate Tech, MedTech, and Defense. The program’s hybrid model allows for primarily remote participation, with strategic in-person sessions in Rochester, NY, to connect founders with the region’s world-class OPI ecosystem. “Luminate is helping us bridge the

As we head into 2026, the optics, photonics, and imaging ecosystem is being reshaped by shifting capital dynamics, emerging technologies, and new expectations for commercialization. At Luminate, we see this moment as an opportunity to rethink the pathways that turn breakthrough research into real-world impact. Members of our team share the trends they’ll be watching most closely—and why they matter for the future of deep-tech innovation. Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer: “I will be watching to see if universities and federal funding will continue to seed core research and development, or if we will need to look elsewhere for support. This will require us to closely examine where emerging technologies are coming from—which countries and who is funding them—to devise a new path forward.” Dr. Damon Diehl, Director of Technology Integration: “Over the next 12 months, I will be closely watching how the de-authorization of the federal SBIR/STTR program affects early-stage deep-tech startups. The SBIR/STTR program is indispensable for supporting OPI innovation, where commercialization timelines often span a decade. Private investors rarely want to support R&D. The SBIR/STTR program fills that funding gap and ensures that US-funded technology remains domestically rooted. When a country does not