IMRA America, Inc.
Fact Sheet

IMRA America is a key member of a global network of companies anchored by its parent company AISIN SEIKI in Japan, one of the world's top ten manufacturers of automotive related components. The original IMRA, "Institut Minoru de Recherche Avancée", and now IMRA Europe S.A. – was established in Valbonne/Nice, France and has expanded to include additional sites in the United Kingdom and Germany. The IMRA network is dedicated to the creative research and innovative development of key technologies for future industrial applications through the international exchange of ideas and advancements.

Drawing on its participation in this global network of operations, the company has assembled a team of top-notch research and engineering professionals from many disciplines, representing some of the best talent America, Asia and Europe has to offer. IMRA America has developed the scientific expertise, technical know-how, and international resources to adapt ultrafast fiber laser technology to a wide range of applications, in the following industries:

• Photonics
• Microelectronic/Semiconductor
• Telecommunications
• Sensors
• Medical Device Manufacturing
• Medical Diagnostics & Imaging
• Ophthalmology, Dentistry & Dermatology
• Materials Processing
• Automotive
• Basic Research

IMRA America is driving the use of ultrafast lasers in commercial and industrial applications through its Applications Research Laboratories, collaboration with leading researchers, such as the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan, and by offering customer-site laser demonstrations.

To date, the company has developed an intellectual property portfolio of more than 80 national and international patents.

IMRA America has a staff of 55 support and professional personnel at its Ann Arbor facility and in Fremont, California.

WHAT:
IMRA America conducts research, development, prototyping and manufacturing, marketing and sales for ultrafast fiber lasers at its Ann Arbor headquarters. From the creation of the first turnkey erbium-based, femtosecond fiber oscillator in 1993, the company went on to develop the Femtolite™ ultrafast fiber laser series, which now includes the higher-power Femtolite F-100 and the compact Femtolite Ultra, as well as the high-energy, high repetition rate FCPA µJewel™ series. The ever-increasing market demand for higher-power and higher-energy lasers is guiding IMRA’s development of new products into cutting edge markets. IMRA America also disseminates its own patented technologies by licensing them to third parties in order to grow the ultrafast laser market more rapidly.

WHEN:
IMRA America was established in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1990. The original IMRA, now IMRA Europe S.A., opened in Valbonne/Nice, France, in 1986.

WHERE:
Although IMRA America is physically located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it is a globally active company. Its lasers are distributed worldwide through their own sales forces in the United States and Japan and with an international network of sales representatives. They have also established an Applications Research Laboratory (ARL) in Fremont, California, where they collaborate on pulsed laser micromachining applications with the semiconductor, display, as well as biomedical, medical device, and other high-tech manufacturing industries. A similar facility at the headquarters in Ann Arbor opened in 2005.

WHY:
The company's guiding principle is to use its products as a vessel to achieve harmony through the sharing of science and technology, which is an extension of the visionary philosophy of "World Harmony Through the Development and Sharing of Science and Technology" developed by Mr. Minoru Toyoda, honorary advisor to their parent company, AISIN SEIKI.