Photonis

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Photonis is a brand of image intensifier tubes and night vision devices by the company Exosens, with headquarters in France.

History

Philips

According to Photonis, the opening of a new manufacturing facility of Philips in 1937 can be seen as the main origin of the company. As WWII was looming over Europe, the Dutch electronics company chose Brive-la-Gaillarde in the southwest of France as a new manufacturing location for microwave tubes and other electrical components.

Philips Brive continued growing after WWII, even working on radar and nuclear power projects, cooperating with Laboratoire d'Electrophysique de Paris (LEP).

In 1960, the factory was flooded, taking two years to build a new factory.

In 1963, Philips Brive becomes Hyperelec, remaining a subsidiary of Philips. New products included cathode ray tubes comissioned for the French Atomic Energy Comission and microchannel wafers.

On January 1st. 1986, Hyperelec, together with RTC la Radiotechnique-Compelec and Cima become RTC-Compelec, with Philips still being a majority shareholder. In December 1988, RTC-Compelec changed its name to RTC Philips Composants, in 1990 to Philips Composants, and in 1994 to Philips Photonique.

In the late 80s and early 90s, the Philips subsidiary Mullard Limited produced various Gen. 2 image intensifiers in the U.K.

In 1998, the Brive branch of Philips becomes an independent company, Photonis.

Burle Industries

In 1942, a new facility manufacturing microwave and radio tubes for the U.S. Navy, operated by the RCA Corporation, called Burle is opened in Lancaster, PA, U.S.A. It is acquired by the RCA Corporation in 1946. In 1968, RCA is acquired by the General Electric Company. As part of that process, the Burle facility is sold off. Subsequently Burle Industries Inc. is founded through a management buyout in July 1987.

In 1998, Burle opened a second facility in Matamoros, Mexico, to manufacture vacuum tube assemblies.

In 1999, Burle Industries purchases the scientific detector products business (including MCP technology) from Galileo Corp. The newly acquired facilities are located in Sturbridge, MA, U.S.A.

Oldelft Groep / Delft Instruments / Delft Electronic Products BV

In 1952, the American company Old Delft Optical Corporation (ODOC), a joint venture of Oldelft n.v. and Aerojet General, was contracted to develop and produce the infrared sights of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. With the experience of this project, Oldelft opened a new subsidiary Delft Electronische Producten in Roden, Netherlands in 1970 to produce passive image intensifiers.

In the 90s the company received bad press, particularly due to 1981 Operation La Paz, in which the company supplied night vision equipment to Iraq under Saddam Hussein during the war with Iran, in violation of arms embargos. In 1983, the company was raided and put on trial, but later acquitted due to a legal loophole where the devices were sent to England and Portugal first. In 1984, export legislation was changed to require a declaration of the final destination.

In 1985, the name of the company was changed to Oldelft Groep. In 1990 Oldelft Groep merged with NV Verenigde Instrumentenfabrieken Enraf-Nonius to become Delft Instruments.

A second incident occured in 1990, as during the Gulf War U.S. soliders found night vision devices made by Delft Instruments in Iraqi positions. Delft had initially exported the devices using a Belgian subsidiary with a valid export license, but it continued exporting the devices for months after an arms embargo was placed. The U.S. decided to boycott the company, and began a criminal investigation, which was later settled, and the boycott slowly lifted.

In 1995, Delft Electronic Products BV (DEP) was founded as a subsidiary of Delft Instruments specialized on night vision technology.

Photonis

In 2005, Photonis Technologies SAS, also called Photonis Group, was formed from merger of Delft Electronic Products BV, Burle Industries and Photonis. Both Delft and Burle become subsidiaries of Photonis Group, based in the Lancaster facility in the U.S.A and the Roden facility in the Netherlands, respectively.

In the same year, Photonis establishes Photonis USA, based in the Sturbridge facility, a subsidiary of Burle Industries. The facility in Matamoros is renamed to PHOTONIS Mexico.

In 2009, Photonis transferred some of their production technology to Chinese buyers.

In 2011, Burle Industries becomes Photonis USA Pennsylvania.

In September 2011 Photonis is acquired by AXA Private Equity (now Ardian) through a leveraged buyout.

Photonis USA, Inc. based in the Sturbridge facility later becomes Photonis Scientific.

In July 2021, Ardian sells Photonis to HLD Group.

In December 2022 Photonis acquires the Belgian company Xenics, a manufacturer of Short Wave InfraRed (SWIR) imagers.

In April 2023 Photonis acquires Germany company ProxiVision, a manufacturer of ultra-violet detectors.

In July 2023 Photonis acquires the Israeli company El-Mul, a manufacturer of advanced charged particle detectors and devices.

In September 2023 the company rebranded from Photonis Group to Exosens, with Photonis remaining the brand name of their night vision products.

Company Structure

Today, Exosens S.A.S has a single subsidiary, Photonis France SAS.

Photonis France SAS in turn has the following subsidiaries:

• Photonis USA Pennsylvania
• Brennel Glass Ltd.
• Photonis Scientific
• MicroOLED S.A.S.
• Photonis-DEP B.V.
  • Hi-Light Opto Electronics B.V.
• Antheryon Optics
• Xenics nv
  • Xenics U.S.A. Inc.

Image Intensifiers

Photonis manufactures second generation image intensifiers exclusively. However, the company has continuously improved the technology, with the higher end of their lineup competing, if not outperforming, modern third generation image intensifiers.

It's a common assumption that European-made tubes like those from Photonis are pricier than U.S. Gen 3 tubes from L3 and ESA. However:

• Local vs. Export Market: Gen 3 tubes may be less expensive in the U.S., but export regulations like ITAR often level the playing field by raising the cost of U.S. tubes sold internationally.
• Performance Factors: Exported U.S. Gen 3 tubes often have reduced performance compared to those sold domestically, making the price-to-performance comparison less straightforward.
• Military Sales: U.S. tubes sold through FMS aren't necessarily cheaper than Photonis tubes on the international market.
• Taxes: Local taxation can also skew the apparent cost of these products.

When accounting for these variables, the price and performance between Photonis and U.S. tubes are more comparable, especially for international buyers.

Photonis image intensifiers feature higher shock rating (min. 500G) and good dynamic range in mixed light conditions, e.g. urban environments.

Photonis image intensifiers are offered in many different formats, such as 18mm (with or without EGAC contact plate or flex cable and 4-pin connector) and 16mm with concave inverting fiber optic output.

XD4

Introduced in 2000.

XR5

Introduced in 2002. With Autogating. Aviation models are often referred to as golden bullet(s) due to their golden EMI shielded housing.

Photonis has started using the diffraction grated photocathode on some XR5, as well as other models that are generally not thought to be a part of the 4G family or their "fallouts".

Echo

Echo is the most recent line of Photonis image intensifiers aimed at the civilian market.

There are several different type designations for Echo image intensifiers, including ZG1499C and ZW1499C. Z = Echo, G/W = P43/P45, numbers = model or format, A/B/C = performance spec (with revisions).

Tubes with a postfix A are U.S. only, while B and C are for the rest of the world.

Echo tubes sold in the U.S. have a minimum FOM of 1800 and often exceed 2000, with no upper limit. In contrast, Echo tubes sold outside of the U.S. have a minimum FOM of 1600, with a maximum of 2000.

U.S. P45 Echos are lower gain than the worldwide market counterpart.

There are two theories that try to explain this, both based on the assumption that Photonis needs to produce higher performing tubes for the U.S. market to compete with American manufacturers of third generation image intensifiers.

• Photonis might have two separate production lines, one based in the U.S., and one based in the EU. The U.S. production line has much higher requirements. This would in result in one or more of the following:
  • Lower production volume
  • Higher rate of rejects / fallouts
  • Higher production cost / smaller sales margin
• Photonis might have one production line in the EU, separating the resulting image intensifiers by specs.

4G / INTENS

While the name can be misunderstood as Gen. 4, it really is just a product name by Photonis. All 4G image intensifiers are still technically Gen. 2.

Originally, 4G was released as a performance standard. The 4G specification is:

• Extended bandwidth of < 400 nm to > 1000 nm
• FOM > 1800
• Resolution > 57 lp/mm even in bright environments
• Halo of 0.75 mm

In 2014, Photonis launched a new line of image intensifiers called INTENS, intended to be compliant with the 4G standard. There is empiric evidence that early commercial INTENS tubes however did not actually meet the 4G specification, notably on the Halo size specification. It is unclear whether this is due to different measuring standards for tubes sold in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In 2017, Photonis has dropped the INTENS branding entirely and started selling the image intensifiers simply branded as 4G, making it impossible for other manufacturers to use the original 4G standard anymore.

Unlike Echo, 4G sold commercially in the American market are similar or the same as 4G sold outside of the U.S. Furthermore, Echos for the American market often have similar SNR to 4G.

Apart from surpassing the aforementioned 4G standard, 4G branded image intensifiers are advertised to surpass mil-spec standards and feature:

• Ultra Fast Auto-Gating (UFAG)
• Less black spots
• Longer lifespan (at least 7000hrs)

4G+

Released in 2019, the 4G+ series builds on the technology of 4G with various improvements, leading to a minimum 2300 FOM, with unconfirmed sources claiming some tubes reaching up to 3000 FOM.

In 2016 Photonis patented the use of diffraction grating which suggests a 80% increase in photocathode sensitivity.

Marketing material also mentions improvements in MCP technology.Experts have linked these improvements to a second patent from 2019 indicating the use of a Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) film to focus electrons emitted by the MCP, leading to a alleged 81% improvement of the MTF.

5G

In 2022, the CEO of Photonis USA, Larry J. Stack revealed on the forum snipershide.com that the 5G tubes will feature a drastically different flat form factor "specifically to be mated to a CMOS sensor for digital night vision" and a minimum FOM of 3000 with increased gain.

In September 2023, the official YouTube account of Photonis Defense Inc. has further confirmed this in a comment on a YouTube video, mentioning the upcoming line of 5G image intensifiers "that will supersede 4G".

The available information hints at the 5G tubes sharing technology similar to Intevac's EBAPS sensors.

Night Vision Optics

Visual comparison of mil-spec PVS-14 eyepiece (left) and DEP Ether eyepiece (right).

Ether ocular lens

Photonis-DEP developed and produced a night vision ocular assembly named Ether for use with PVS-14 pattern devices.

Marketed as an upgrade lens, the Ether eyepiece is more lightweight and has a larger eyebox compared to other mil-spec oculars. In practical terms the larger eyebox is a combined effect of a slightly wider diameter and an increased convexity of the lens.

Further Reading

Photonis marketing material:

Differences between Gen3 and 4G