ThorLabs

ThorLabs is an optical equipment and engineering company headquartered in Newton, New Jersey.
==History==
ThorLabs was founded in 1989 by Alex Cable, who formerly was employed with Bell Labs. After purchasing a milling machine and using it to form optomechanical parts, Cable eventually resigned from Bell Labs and formed his own company. "Thor", of which came from a Marvel Comics character, and "Labs", of which came from a Labrador retriever, were combined into one element, ThorLabs, and the name came about for Cable's recently founded company. During the first year since its foundation, sales for ThorLabs was recorded at $370,000. Eight years later, in 1997, sales topped about $10 million.
During the 2000s decade, especially around the time of a telecom market collapse and economy collapse, some companies represented 45% of ThorLabs' business. Around the same time of the economic crash, ThorLabs had more products returned than shipped. The company successfully adapted, despite recording an 18% drop in revenue.
By 2004, ThorLabs began to expand by establishing locations in the European countries such as England, Sweden, and Germany. By the same year, sales for the company went up to $50 million. In 2009, Covega, a optoelectronic components manufacturer located in Jessup, Maryland, was acquired by ThorLabs. Covega would be renamed by the acquiring company, and ThorLabs had its sales boosted to $150 million by the end of 2009.
In late 2010, ThorLabs began building a new location in Newton, New Jersey, which became its headquarters. Construction for the building rounded to an estimated $20 million and was funded by a $4 million bond grant. The three-floor building opened in March 2012, which hosted multiple positions, including mechanics, laser R&D, assembly, fiber optics, and quality control. Its headquarters were formerly located in Andover, New Jersey, but the location still remained intact, acting as a machine facility.
Between October 2011 and January 2013, ThorLabs began to acquire multiple products from other known optic companies to expand their franchise. One of them was Maxion Technologies by Physical Sciences, which regarded quantum cascade laser and interband cascade laser lines. The next acquirement was an optical fiber product line from IRphotonics in Montreal. ThorLabs next acquired Digital Video Camera, a company in Austin, Texas, which ThorLabs renamed under their own aliases. After acquiring CompuCyte, ThorLabs relocated it from Westwood, Massachusetts to Sterling, Virginia.
In March 2014, ThorLabs established a new location in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The newly established location focused on a new topic, optoelectronics. In May 2014, ThorLabs established another new location in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal location focused on R&D work with support by École Polytechnique de Montréal and the University of Montreal.
In late 2019, ThorLabs announced that it was constructing a new location in Newton, New Jersey along with establishing a new mechanics department at the building of a former day care center known as Camp Iliff. 
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