Traycer's Brad Beasecker.

Carrie Ghose

Staff reporter-Columbus Business First

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2014/11/traycer-hires-new-ceo-moves-to-san-francisco-after.html?page=all

Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc., which makes imaging systems based on terahertz technology developed at Ohio State University, has hired a new CEO from the broadband network industry and moved to the West Coast.

Dave Buse started as CEO in mid-October, the company confirmed to me Friday. Founder and Chief Technology Officer Lee Mosbacker has moved product development to South San Francisco.

The changes come one year after a $5 million investment from a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Phoenix Venture Partners, of San Mateo, California.

Buse was most recently vice president and general manager of the storage network test business at Milpitas, California-based JDSU (NASDAQ:JDSU). He had been a senior vice president of that business atFinisar Corp. when JDSU acquired the division in 2009. Buse led growth of the testing division to 50 percent market share in the highly competitive industry of testing equipment for fiber-optic and broadband networks, according to Traycer's website.

Traycer's camera-like device uses terahertz waves, just below infrared in frequency, which penetrate materials like ceramic coatings to make images to check for flaws without damaging a product like X-rays do. It has been selling to laboratories and since the investment has been developing products that can withstand harsher production environments to get into manufacturing and security industries.

The seven-employee company decided as a team to move because a team of contract engineers was available in the San Francisco area, spokesman Tim Fulton said. Brad Beasecker, who had been CEO, is now CFO and stayed in Columbus with Fulton and Don Burdette, research director.

"We maintain a presence in Columbus," Fulton said.

Buse has 30 years of experience, including sales and management jobs at Raychem andTexas Instruments. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he has a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and MBA from University of California–Los Angeles.

Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering Announces Grant Completion - See more at: http://www.csuohio.edu/news/wright-center-for-sensor-systems-engineering-announces-grant-completion#sthash.PkhPGilG.dpuf

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=124073320791841682&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=6216624801759666608

Sensor testing and development infrastructure from $24 million Ohio Third Frontier Grant available to support private commercialization efforts

July 2, 2014 ­— CLEVELAND – Sensor technology development partners in the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering (WCSSE) are fully operational and available to support private commercialization efforts, Cleveland State University announced. CSU served as the lead grantee for the $24 million Ohio Third Frontier program that concluded this year.

The program created a network of commercialization partners in Ohio with goals of reducing time to market for sensor products and supporting job creation. The collaborating institutions will continue to offer facilities to companies interested in developing sensors and systems.

Examples of available capabilities include microelectronics packaging and testing at Lorain County Community College’s SMART Center, semiconductor design and energy management at University of Akron, human motion and control at CSU, terahertz applications and development lab at Ohio State University, machine imaging and quality assurance at Youngstown State University, as well as biomedical prototyping and evaluation facilities at Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Center and Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron.

“The Wright Center collaborative has helped spur the creation of several start-up companies with sensor technology and we are open for business to others interested in utilizing our resources,” said Dr. Jerzy Sawicki, Principal Investigator for WCSSE and Vice President for Research at CSU.

One company that has emerged from the grant is Columbus-based Traycer Diagnostic Systems, Inc., which raised more than $5 million in private equity to advance its terahertz imaging technology.

Traycer Systems’ CEO Brad Beasecker said WCSSE offered his company essential access to test equipment that is unaffordable for most early-stage companies. “When you’re a start-up, every dollar and minute saved help you survive another day and speed the path to the market,” said Beasecker.

A complete listing of available capabilities as well as contact information at these and other facilities can be found at www.csuohio.edu/research/wcsse and www.ohiosensors.com. Interested companies can also contact Cleveland State University’s Office of Research at 216.687.9364.

- See more at: http://www.csuohio.edu/news/wright-center-for-sensor-systems-engineering-announces-grant-completion#sthash.PkhPGilG.dpuf

TeTechS Blog -THz camera

Terahertz Camera: The Industry's "Holy Grail"

Posted by Daryoosh Saeedkia on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 in Terahertz

http://www.tetechs.com/blog/index.php/categories/listings/terahertz

A recent $5M investment by Phoenix Venture Partners on Traycer's terahertz camera technology indicates the market potential for terahertz imaging technologies. Most of the existing terahertz imaging solutions on the market are based on single point detection scheme. While being useful tools for proof of concept purposes, the time it takes to acquire an image of an object with these systems is prohibitively long for most of the real-world applications, where a real-time image acquisition is needed. A terahertz camera that can capture images of objects in real-time can open up its way into numerous industrial and security applications, where revealing a hidden object/feature behind an enclosure or inside a package is required.

The existing uncooled terahertz cameras on the market are based on microbolometer sensor technologies, the technology that has been traditionally used in night vision cameras. The uncooled microbolometer based camera technologies suffer from low sensitivity at the terahertz frequency range and hence need high power terahertz sources to operate. To increase the sensitivity of the detectors, superconductive based terahertz cameras have been developed and commercialized. This camera technology can detect tiny natural terahertz radiations from the objects and provide real-time terahertz images. The New York Police Department has started testing such terahertz camera technologies to detect firearms concealed beneath layers of clothing. The price one pays to achieve high sensitivity with these camera technologies is a six-figure price tag for a bulky system that can't be adopted into many industrial applications where cost and size of the system is critical. Recent advancement in CMOS based terahertz detectors can potentially lead to high sensitivity, uncooled, compact, and low-cost terahertz camera technologies. There has been several proof of concept reports on CMOS based terahertz detectors, but no commercial system has been introduced to the market yet.

An uncooled, low-cost, and compact terahertz camera for non-destructive test and security applications remains the industry's "holy grail".

Traycer Capitalizing on Breakthrough Terahertz Technology

 

Author Bio: Susan Post:
http://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/traycer-capitalizing-on-breakthrough-tetrahertz-technology/
Terahertz imaging equipment may sound like something out of a science fiction story, but one Columbus business is bringing such technology to life. Capitalizing on resources available to startups in Central Ohio, H. Lee Mosbacker founded Traycer in 2007.
Traycer was one of the first companies to sell T-ray imaging equipment and components. As the market has expanded, the company has leveraged cost and performance advantage to set themselves apart. T-ray imagining equipment can be costly, but Traycer aims to keep the price between $5,000 to $15,000, or the cost equivalent of a good digital camera.
In describing the technology, Mosbacker says, “T-rays are the last window of the universe we can see in to be commercialized.” Radio waves, microwaves, visible light, UV rays, X-rays and Gamma rays build the spectrum, but T-rays make up the last part of the spectrum that no on has been able to see before.
The technology can be used in a variety of applications. T-ray imaging equipment is used to look through materials for corrosion and is able to see past layers of paint. Pharmaceuticals can be scanned for defects. And, the equipment is used for security purposes. Long-term Traycer plans to forage T-ray technology in the biomedical field.
T-rays present a safe form of scanning technology. Mosbacker says the rays are absorbed in the first layer of skin, and especially at these levels, are less harmful than a cell phone.
Traycer does a significant amount of work with the Air Force, including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Most of their other customers in the U.S. are located on the coasts. The company has also achieved international success with several clients in Europe and Asia.
While the market for T-ray imaging systems may not have as large of a base in Columbus, the city has played an integral role in the company’s success.
En route to a PhD in Physics from Ohio State, Mosbacker took an entrepreneurship class.
“I knew I wanted to start a company based on the technology out of Ohio State,” he says. In 2007, Mosbacker won the Fisher College of Business Business Plan Competition and received an investment from the Ohio Tech Angel Fund and TechColumbus. Once the technology was developed, Traycer created revenue by selling the imaging equipment to researches and the Air Force.
Traycer has recently been rewarded another investment. Bay-area Phoenix Venture Partners is putting $5 million toward the technology.
“We fit their model perfectly,” Mosbacker says. Phoenix Venture Partners is made up of a group of scientists, so they “speak the same language.” The Partners want to get hands-on with the technology. Such an investment means opportunities for new markets and higher production. The group has access to a supply chain that will help Traycer reduce costs.
“That investment was possible by everything happening in Columbus,” Mosbacker says. Columbus is building a name for technology commercialization. Investors believe in the Midwest and talent in the Midwest.
For more information, visit traycer.com.

Traycer lands $5M in VC funding for terahertz camera

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2013/09/06/traycer-lands-5m-in-vc-funding-for.html?page=all

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File photo by Jack Kustron | photoj.com

Traycer CEO Brad Beasecker says the company is "very much attacking commercial markets."

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Carrie Ghose

Staff reporter-Business First

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Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc. has closed a $5 million investment round led by a Silicon Valley venture capital firm to complete the commercial launch of its imaging system using non-harmful terahertz frequencies.

Phoenix Venture Partners, of San Mateo, Calif., is a fund that specializes in technologies using advanced materials and optics, which made it a perfect match and helped hook up Columbus-based Traycer with a more efficient supplier network, Traycer CEO Brad Beasecker said.

Traycer’s technology was developed by physicist Lee Mosbacker while completing his doctoral degree at Ohio State University. The company’s website bills it as “the first real-time, broadband, cost-effective terahertz (THz) camera.”

The company has a simple tutorial on what all this means, but basically terahertz waves, just below infrared in frequency, can penetrate materials like ceramic coatings to make images to check for flaws without damaging the product like X-rays. Mosbacker then got the technology into a device that handles like a camera and produces images in real time.

“Traycer’s technology offers the first real opportunity to bring terahertz to a broad set of applications ranging from quality control to defense,” said a statement from Phoenix Venture co-founder Frank Levinson.

“Traycer’s unique approach improves sensitivity, measurement speed, and provides image resolutions that were impossible in the past thereby opening up multi-billion dollar markets for this wavelength band,” he said.

Phoenix General Partner Zach Jonasson said Traycer’s system opens “multiple significant industrial applications for terahertz that were not possible before.”

The product has been sold to laboratory markets – the company isn’t releasing revenue yet – but this financing will help make it more robust to withstand the environment of a factory production line and perform consistently with repetitious use.

“We are very much attacking commercial markets,” Beasecker said.

A common complaint about Central Ohio’s funding landscape is that once companies get to this level of investment they can’t find local VCs and the ones on the coasts tend to pluck them away. Both Levinson and Jonasson join Traycer’s board, but the company won’t move to Silicon Valley.

“They appreciate Midwestern values,” Beasecker said.

Beasecker credited TechColumbus and financing from the Ohio TechAngel Funds for helping get the company to this point. Last week Traycer “graduated” from the TechColumbus incubator to offices on Long Street downtown. It’s hiring its sixth employee, and he said the pace of future growth depends on sales.

Carrie Ghose covers health care and medicine, higher education, technology and business services for Business First.

Industries:

 Banking & Financial Services, Technol

Traycer Invited to Present Recent Developments in Terahertz Imaging at Ohio State University’s Institute for Materials Research Annual Symposia

http://www.techcolumbus.org/traycer-invited-present-recent-developments-terahertz-imaging-ohio-state-university’s-institute-mate

Columbus, Ohio, September 15, 2011 – Traycer Inc’s Chief Technical Officer, Lee Mosbacker Ph.D., was one of the presenters invited to present at The Ohio State University Institute for Materials Research 4th annual Materials Week symposia, September 12-14, 2011.  Dr. Mosbacker’s presentation, “New Developments in 80x64 Terahertz Focal Plane Array Imaging,” highlighted, for the first time publicly, some of the advances Traycer is making in Terahertz imaging.

“We are very excited with the images achieved to this point and look forward to even greater strides forward in this emerging field,” said Brad Beasecker, CEO of Traycer.  “The Terahertz research community has been working to produce this type of image for many years, and we are pleased to be able to bring this evidence to light.”

“Recent developments in the Terahertz technology continue to demonstrate that it’s evolution and growth will mirror that of the infrared industry,” according to Elliott Brown, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

The annual Materials Research conference showcases materials-allied research at Ohio State and beyond.   The event brings together hundreds of researchers from OSU, other universities, industry and government labs at technical talks, poster sessions and evening receptions covering the full spectrum of materials-allied research.

About Traycer, Inc. 
Traycer, Inc., based in Columbus, Ohio, is a leader in developing terahertz components for researchers and application developers in the field of imaging, detection and generation of terahertz light.  Traycer is dedicated to providing unique solutions to realize terahertz applications in nondestructive evaluation, quality control and security screening.

                                                                      ###

WRIGHT CENTER FUNDING BOOSTS TERAHERTZ SENSOR RESEARCH AT OHIO STATE

A new, high sensitivity terahertz camera could enable visibility in brown-out conditions, such as during sand storms and/or rotorcraft take-off and landing in desert environments. Terahertz sensors could monitor the purity and quality of pharmaceutical products while on the production line, and be used by consumers to identify unmarked pills. These are just two examples of the groundbreaking research that is ongoing and will continue to grow at The Ohio State University’s new center for research, testing and commercialization of terahertz sensors.

The Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering, an Ohio Third Frontier program, recently awarded Ohio State $3 million to establish the Hyperspectral Engine Lab for Integrated Optical Systems (HELIOS). Ohio State will provide an additional $5 million in cost-share funding for equipment and services.

Through HELIOS, researchers aim to explore the still uncharted terahertz spectrum—a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum at frequencies between those of microwaves and infrared light—and utilize Ohio’s resources to develop smaller, faster and lower power terahertz devices.

“Terahertz is much like X-ray imaging as it can penetrate a wide variety of materials,” said John Volakis, director of the ElectroScience Laboratory and principal investigator of the Wright Center grant. “But it is far superior, because it is not harmful to tissues, and can reveal much more information.”

HELIOS’ research focus areas include terahertz wave imaging, active monitoring of electronics chips and pharmaceutical products for purity and quality control on the production line, diagnosing skin hydration for a variety of medical and cosmetic applications; and the next generation of radio frequency integrated circuits for high data rate proximity communications.

Kubilay Sertel, a research scientist at Ohio State’s ElectroScience Laboratory, is currently working with Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc. to develop the first real-time, high sensitivity terahertz camera that will enable several critical imaging systems. Among these, the immediate applications include diagnosing skin hydration for a variety of medical and cosmetic applications; security screening through clothing and identification of explosive chemicals; enabling visibility in brown-out conditions, such as during sand storms and/or rotorcraft take-off and landing in desert environments; and high resolution subsurface imaging for packaging and quality control.

HELIOS researchers will also investigate new materials for reliable, low loss and low cost printing approaches, and for high performance terahertz devices and systems. HELIOS hopes to acquire and develop a millimeter-wave fabrication facility for peanut size electronics that can be used for low-cost commercial applications. This facility will serve as a learning and technology-transfer center for Ohio electronics companies.

As part of the ElectroScience Laboratory, HELIOS will be housed in the new Radio Frequency and Wireless Communication Research Building, which is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

“Locating HELIOS at the ElectroScience Laboratory leverages Ohio State’s strong academic research base and engineering expertise in sensors and imaging, and capitalizes on existing investments in facilities, software and instrumentation,” Volakis said.

Three-year projections suggest that HELIOS will result in 62 new Ohio jobs created in addition to 16 academic research jobs. Within eight years, the center is projected to generate 222 new, high-paying technology jobs.

Seven companies and organizations are currently collaborating with the ElectroScience Laboratory in HELIOS: Raytheon Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., Valtronic Technologies, Traycer Diagnostic Systems Inc., TerraView Ltd., and the Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST).

The ElectroScience Laboratory is a major center of excellence within The Ohio State University College of Engineering and is one of the largest radio frequency and optics research laboratories in the country. Established in 1942, ESL’s more than 100 faculty, research scientists and graduate students are involved in all aspects of electromagnetic, radio frequency and terahertz technologies.

The Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering  was established by a $24 million grant from Ohio’s Third Frontier Program to Cleveland State University. WCSSE addresses the opportunity to enhance Ohio products using Ohio business and university resources through the development and commercialization of sensors and sensor systems technologies.