A RESEARCH facility that will help to produce vacuum thin film coatings has been set up at a St Asaph technology centre.

The OpTIC Technology Centre’s new research, development and production facility will use the Bühler Leybold Syrus Pro 1350 vacuum coating machine, which is hoped to boost Welsh businesses in developing the next generation of thin film coatings for products.

The facility, which is owned by Wrexham Glyndwr University as part of its Centre for Phonetics Expertise (CPE), is said to be the first of its kind in the country, with spectrophotometry and environmental testing capability.

“The new vacuum coating research facility provides a unique to the UK state-of-the-art, production scale dedicated research facility to allow Welsh businesses to develop the next generation of thin film coatings to provide new products and processes to market,” said OpTIC director and professor Caroline Gray.

“The CPE program is designed to support Welsh businesses from all sectors with their manufacturing challenges and together with our academic project partners, applying their photonics expertise to resolve business challenges directly.”

The facility, which is fully operational, will also be used by phonetics experts at universities in Aberystwyth, Bangor and south Wales.

Other supported technologies produced at the OpTIC centre include precision optics, sensors and filters, laser and mirror coatings, camera lenses and systems, night vision and distance control, as well as microscopes and telescopes.

The centre also provides incubation facilities, business and conferencing and is a hub for opto-electronics technology and scientific innovation.