History

Invented in the 1960s, the laser continues to play a vital role in the development of tomorrow’s technologies. The Lumibird Group is one of the pioneers of a field born of the invention of the laser, with the creation in 1970 of Quantel to design lasers for scientific instrumentation.

Some dates

1970

Creation of Quantel by Mr. Georges Bret, to design and manufacture lasers for use in scientific instrumentation.

1994

Creation of Quantel Medical, specializing in lasers and ultrasound products designed for ophthalmology.

1997

Quantel is listed on the Nouveau Marché of the Paris stock exchange.

Creation of the company Keopsys (at the time Optocom) by Marc Le Flohic in Lannion, to design and produce fiber lasers for the defense, space, industry and scientific sectors.

1998

Acquisition by Quantel of the American company Big Sky Laser (now Quantel USA).

Signing by Quantel of a contract with the CEA for the development of PAM as part of the Mégajoule project, to replace nuclear testing in real conditions with testing in a laboratory.

2007

Acquisition of the Nuvonyx Europe company, which becomes Quantel Laser Diodes.

Acquisition of the Wavelight Aesthetic company, which will become Quantel Derma.

2012

Sale of the Dermatology Division to the Alma Lasers company.

2013

Keopsys creates Sensup, a company that produces and sells electro-optic systems based on fiber lasers, for the defense, security and transportation sectors.

2014

Creation by Keopsy of LEA Photonics, resulting from the acquisition, in October 2014, of the assets located in Lannion of 3S Photonics. Design and production of fiber lasers for the industrial, medical, telecom and scientific sectors.

2016

The holding company of Keopsys Group, specialized in fiber lasers, becomes Quantel’s reference shareholder.

2017

The Keopsys Group transfers its companies to the Quantel Group for the business combination between Quantel and Keopsys. The Group continues to be listed on the stock market following this operation.

2018

Keopsys-Quantel Group becomes Lumibird.

The Keopsys-Quantel combination

Lumibird was created through the business combination between the Keopsys and Quantel Groups, approved by Quantel’s shareholders in October 2017. This created a major European operator with leading technical and industrial positions through its unique expertise in the most important and innovative laser technologies. This alliance between Quantel and Keopsys has opened up outstanding opportunities for growth, particularly for defense, optical sensors for the automotive and environment markets, and the medical sector.

A new European champion for lasers, Lumibird is a mid-size firm. More agile than a diversified large group, more powerful than a mono-application technology firm, it is ideally positioned to conquer the global laser market.