Dr Stephen Sweeney joins ZiNIR Ltd as Chief Technology Officer

We are delighted to announce that Dr Stephen Sweeney has joined ZiNIR Ltd, the photonics and spectroscopy specialist, as Chief Technology Officer.

In addition to advising the Board on emerging photonics technologies, Dr Sweeney will also develop and manage ZiNIR's research and development programme including the design of high performing optical devices and systems. Dr Ian Goodyer will now work alongside Dr Sweeney to take ZiNIR's R&D designs through product development to commercialisation. This includes AlphaBRIGHT, a super bright broadband QTH light source, due for launch early 2009.

Dr Sweeney has a PhD from the University of Surrey in experimental semiconductor laser physics and a career that spans both academia and industry. He was previously Lead Scientist and Group Manager for Laser and Amplifier Technology at Marconi Optical Components. Currently, in addition to his role with ZiNIR, he is a Senior Lecturer in Physics at the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey and has recently been a Guest Professor at Arizona State University in the USA and the University of Marburg in Germany.

Dr Stephen Sweeney said: "I am delighted to join the team at ZiNIR and look forward to leading the development of new photonics-based technologies which we expect to have a disruptive and pervasive influence in a wide range of application areas."

Director Ian Goodyer said: "We have enjoyed working with Stephen in an academic capacity for more than a year now and he continually adds significant functionality to our product design. His expertise in photonics, spectroscopy and semiconductor technology will ensure ZiNIR develops products for industry and academia out of advanced, emerging technologies.

About ZiNIR Ltd: ZiNIR Ltd is a product development company based in Eastbourne, UK that translates leading photonics research into useful, flexible products for scientists and industry.

The company has a background in the development of near infrared spectrophotometers and data analysis that provide non-specialist users with rich information about the identity of chemicals and the condition of materials quickly.

ZiNIR will shortly launch AlphaBRIGHT, a super bright scientific light source, for scientists working in spectroscopy and microscopy to increase light throughput in their systems and so gather improved data.