Raydiance rethinks lasers

A Petaluma tech startup is leveraging Defense Department research to create next-generation lasers that can zap cancer cells or disable roadside bombs.

The technology, called ultra-short pulse lasers, could lead to breakthroughs in medicine, manufacturing and defense, said Scott Davison, president at Raydiance Inc.

"We saw a new way for light to interact with matter," said Davison.

Raydiance, a four-year-old company that moved to Petaluma in December, expects to see the first commercial application of its technology later this year.

The business has some big-name backers, including its chief executive, Barry Schuler, ex-CEO of Time Warner's AOL unit, and former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.

It also has $25 million in venture funding and a $10 million research contract from the U.S. Navy.

Raydiance, which has about 30 employees in Petaluma, could double its staff in the next year, Davison said.

Lasers produce narrow, concentrated beams of light that can scan data, power fiber-optic networks and cut or etch a variety of materials.

They've been used for years in barcode scanners, CD players, manufacturing tools and medical instruments.

Conventional lasers produce heat that can damage surrounding materials, including human tissue.

Short-pulse lasers use brief pulses of light -- typically a trillionth of a second -- to disrupt the atomic bonds of a targeted material. It happens so quickly that the material is vaporized before there's any damage to its surroundings.

The advantages of short-pulse technology, including precise targeting, low power and high-resolution imaging, promise a variety of new applications for lasers, Davison said.

They could be used for cosmetic surgery, erasing tattoos without the pain or lengthy healing times, he said. They also could improve laser eye surgery and treat buried tumors.

"You can remove what you don't want and not damage what you do want," Davison said.

Short-pulse lasers with higher power could be deployed to remotely sense explosive devices and disable them, he said.

Scientists have been experimenting with the lasers in university research labs but haven't perfected them for real-world uses, Davison said.

The equipment is expensive, bulky and requires highly trained operators, he said. Until now, short-pulse lasers weren't able to process large amounts of material.

Schuler, an Internet pioneer who headed AOL from 2000 to 2003, was introduced to the technology by the Pentagon, which recruits high-tech entrepreneurs to help bring scientific discoveries to market.

Raydiance, founded in Florida in 2003, acquired the core technology from the University of Central Florida's laser program, which had been working on a short-pulse project in cooperation with the Defense Department.

Since then, Raydiance has developed a desktop, software-driven laser that's powerful and easy to use, Davison said. The company used fiber optics to shrink the device and substituted software for mechanical controls, he said.

Operated by a laptop, "it looks a lot more like a computer than an optical device," Davison said.

So far, Raydiance has placed about 15 of the $400,000 systems in research and development labs. Under the company's business model, Raydiance retains the rights to the core laser and software technology, leasing the systems to applications developers. Its partners control the rights to their applications.

One of its customers, EpiRay, is developing new ways to remove tattoos with the Raydiance laser. Others are experimenting with cancer and burn therapies.

Raydiance moved its headquarters to Sonoma County's Telecom Valley because of its engineering resources, Davison said.

"Petaluma is rich with our type of talent pool, and it's less expensive than Silicon Valley," he said.

Agilent, JDSU, L-3 Sonoma EO and other local companies also make laser and opto-electronic technology.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.