Plymouth Grating Laboratory
Plymouth Grating Laboratory (PGL) designs and manufactures large, high-performance, custom diffraction gratings for high-energy and high-power laser systems. Their product portfolio includes multilayer dielectric (MLD), gold-coated, and hybrid gratings, as well as two-dimensional gratings.
- CEO / Founder
- Turan Erdogan
- Team Size
- 11-50
- Stage
- Active
- Total Funding
- $148.34K
- Latest Round
- Grant
- Key Investors
- Paycheck Protection Program, National Science Foundation
Technology & Products
Key Products
["Multilayer Dielectric (MLD) Gratings","Gold Gratings","Hybrid (MLD/Gold) Gratings","Two-dimensional Gratings","Custom Diffraction Gratings"]
Technological Advantage
The SBIL technology provides a significant competitive advantage by enabling the production of gratings with superior performance characteristics (damage threshold, efficiency, wavefront error) at sizes required for next-generation, high-energy laser systems. This positions PGL as a key supplier for advanced scientific and industrial projects.
Differentiation
Value Proposition
PGL's gratings offer exceptionally high diffraction efficiency, high laser damage thresholds, and superior wavefront quality and uniformity over large areas, which is critical for demanding laser applications.
How They Differentiate
PGL differentiates itself through its focus on large-format, high-performance gratings for the most demanding laser applications. While competitors offer a broader catalog of standard optical components, PGL specializes in custom, high-damage-threshold gratings manufactured with its unique SBIL technology, which provides superior performance over conventional methods.
Market & Competition
Target Customers
Researchers and manufacturers in the industrial, medical, aerospace, and defense sectors who utilize high-power laser systems. This includes national laboratories, universities, and commercial companies.
Industry Verticals
["Industrial","Aerospace/Defense","Medical","Research"]
Competitors
MKS Instruments (Newport/Richardson Gratings); Horiba (Jobin Yvon)
Growth & Milestones
Growth Metrics
Total federal awards of $3.7M, with specific awards including $394.6K, $2.2M, $148.3K, and $910.1K. Received a 2023 contract from the Smithsonian Institution and a FY 2024 DOE award shared with University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics for advanced broadband gratings development. Participated in University of Rochester's NSF award of nearly $18M over 3 years for EP-OPAL laser design. Company generates $2.83 million in sales and has 15 total employees.
Major Milestones
["2004: Company founded by Douglas Smith.","2005: Received NSF grant for SBIR Phase I.","2023: Turan Erdogan, co-founder of Semrock, joins as President.","2023: Selected by a team led by LLE to develop meter-scale gratings for the next generation of high-power lasers."]
Notable Customers
Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE); Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; TRUMPF Scientific Laser