Spectrum Achieves First Light Imagery from Prototype and Announces Public Unveiling Date
NexOptic Technology Corp. (“NexOptic”) (OTCQB: NXOPF) (TSX VENTURE: NXO) (FRANKFURT: E301) (BERLIN: E301) and Spectrum Optix Inc. of Calgary, Canada (“Spectrum,”) and together with NexOptic, the “Companies”) are pleased to announce that they have completed assembly of their proof of concept telescope prototype lens stack and successfully captured its first set of unprocessed images of the moon.
Alignment and assembly of the optics, construction of the casing and testing of the full lens stack are complete. The Companies are pleased with the unprocessed imaging results from the prototype lens stack. Tests of the prototype delivered image resolutions comparable to conventional 5-inch-aperture telescopes while maintaining the device’s unique form factor. The prototype incorporates the Companies’ breakthrough Blade Optics™ system which allows the entire device to be housed in a body approximately 5 inches deep while keeping a diagonal aperture of roughly 5 inches. The prototype’s lens stack depth is significantly thinner than comparable conventional telescopes on the market today.
The Companies commissioned electrical engineer Larry McNish, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, to field test the prototype. McNish has been an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer for 30 years and has served as president of the Calgary Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
After field testing the prototype, Mr. McNish stated, “I’ve observed and imaged through a lot of different shapes and sizes of telescopes over the last 30 years. Having the opportunity to take images with the NexOptic prototype, I believe that they have potentially created a “paradigm shift” innovation in optical design.”
John Daugela, CEO of Spectrum Optix and Director of NexOptic stated:
“I commend our teams for their tremendous efforts and for making this milestone event possible.”
He added:
“We now aim to completely shift the direction of optical design for many applications from this point forward.”
Prototype Specifications Highlights
Selected specifications of the Companies’ telescope prototype are as follows:
- Focal length: 1460mm
- Aperture: 89.6 by 89.6mm, square
- Spectral band: 486-656nm
- Field of view: 0.2 by 0.2 degrees
- Resolution: 2.7 arcsec
- Hyperfocal distance: 6.8km
- Overall Dimensions of device: ~10 by 9 by 5 inches
Camera used for prototype testing: Point Grey Blackfly S color, 7.066 by 5.299mm, 2048 by 1536 pixels (3.2 MP)
Ruda Cardinal, Inc. (“Ruda”) of Tucson, Arizona is a world renowned optical engineering and manufacturing firm whose expertise has provided cutting edge solutions to Fortune 500 companies, universities, the US government, tech industry and start-ups for over 22 years. Their diverse customer base includes the following market segments: space, aerospace, military, bio-medical, commercial & consumer products, machine vision, spectroscopy, projection lithography and inspection, illumination, remote sensing and much more. Furthermore, Ruda’s quality management system is built upon the detailed procedures, guidelines and practices required by the aerospace ISO standards AS9100, to which they’ve been certified to for over 10 years. Their strong engineering skills sets and quality workmanship have played an essential role in the Companies design and development efforts of the Blade Optic’s system. Ruda-Cardinal is also ITAR’s certified as they provide services to many international firms across the globe.
Proprietary Software Development
Spectrum has completed the initial iteration of its proprietary software that captures, processes and displays images from the prototype. Spectrum is refining its image processing techniques for the prototype unveiling event.
Exclusive Prototype Unveiling Event
The Companies are also pleased to announce that they will be hosting the first public unveiling of their prototype, in the evening of April 4, 2017, at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. Seating for the event will be limited. The event will be open to members of the media and investment community. For availability, please contact the company exclusively through email: media@nexoptic.com. The Companies will issue further details on this exclusive engagement in a subsequent news release during the month of March 2017.
About NexOptic Technology Corp.
NexOptic is a publicly traded company, which has an option to acquire, in the aggregate, 100% of Spectrum Optix Inc., a private corporation. The Companies are, in essence, working as a single corporation at this time, with their respective CEOs sitting on each other’s boards of directors. Please see NexOptic’s news release dated November 18, 2014 for additional details regarding this relationship.
Spectrum is developing technologies relating to imagery and light concentration applications. Utilizing its patent-pending Blade Optics™ technology, which contains flat lenses, the company aims to disrupt conventional lens and image capture-based systems.
Spectrum is currently in the final stage of completing its proof of concept digital telescope prototype that will utilize its patent pending Blade Optics™ technology, other optical elements and electronic components. The prototype is intended to demonstrate the marketable features of Spectrum’s Blade Optics™ technology and its potential to serve as a platform to be used in various optical applications.
Benefits of Blade Optics™ Technology
The Companies’ believe that Blade Optics™ has the potential to breakdown many of the limitations associated with conventional, curved lens stacks, including:
- Aperture size: Allowing the aperture-to-depth ratio to be increased in depth-limited optical devices to permit increased resolution compared to conventional curved optical devices with similar depth.
- Compactness: Decreasing the depth of the lens stack would create the possibility of more compact and practical imaging devices.
NexOptic trades on the OTCQB under the symbol “NXOPF,” on the TSX Venture as “NXO,” on Frankfurt as “E301” and Berlin as “E301.” More information is available at www.nexoptic.com.
On behalf of the Boards of Directors
NexOptic Technology Corp.
Paul McKenzie, President & CEO
Spectrum Optix Inc.
John Daugela, President & CEO
www.NexOptic.com
Look@NexOptic.com
+1 (604) 669 – 7330
OTCQB: NXOPF
TSX-V: NXO
Frankfurt: E301
Berlin: E301
