Bruker Unveils Contour LS-K Optical Profiler

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) on Tuesday (April 24) announced the release of its new Contour LS-K 3D optical profiler at the ongoing 32nd Control 2018 International trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany.

According to the company, the new optical profiler comes with LightSpeed focus variation technology. It uses optimized focusing technique with advanced algorithms to construct 3D surface maps at speeds that are impossible to achieve with other methods.

“At Bruker we have a solid foundation of industrial metrology excellence; it is a core part of our culture,” James Earle, vice president and general manager of Bruker’s Tribology, Stylus and Optical Metrology Business, said in the press release.

“With LightSpeed focus variation, we expand the reach of that gold standard approach to provide an underserved community with all the benefits of speed and convenience, but without compromising the integrity of the metrology,” he added.

The company said that Contour LS-K uniquely enables both easy-to-acquire, high-resolution images and reliable metrology data. Further, the system rapidly captures surface data with market-leading field of view at vertical scanning speeds up to 5 millimeters per second.

According to a report by Market Research Store, the 3D optical profiler market is expected to exceed more than US$124 million by 2022 at a CAGR of 5.4 percent. 

In a different report from QYResearch, it’s been said that sales of global 3D optical profilers increased from 1,305 units in 2011 to 1,689 units in 2015, with an average growth of 6.6 percent.

North America is the largest market for 3D optical profilers based on production revenue. The report further states that the CAGR of this market will increase to 8.3 percent between 2017 and 2021.

QYResearch is forecasting $126.37 million in revenue by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 6.99 percent.

According to Bruker, the LightSpeed focus variation method is ideal for surfaces with significant roughness, large step heights or steep angles, and complements its existing product, Bruker Contour GT, which is optimized toward smoother surfaces and nanometer resolution.

“We have been familiar with Bruker and their excellent reputation in white light interferometry for many years now,” said Professor Maxence Bigerelle, director of ENSIAME, University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambresis.

Apart from 3D optical microscopes and other surface and dimensional analysis products, Bruker also manufactures products under mass spectrometry and separations, magnetic resonance, fluorescence microscopes, IR and near-IR Raman spectroscopy and products for preclinical imaging. 

After the product announcement on Tuesday, Bruker closed at $29.88 on Wednesday (April 25) and was down 0.67 percent during that period. The company will report its 2018 first quarter results on May 3rd.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.