P&P Optica: Our History

P&P Optica is a technology company located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The company has developed a transmission-based, high performance spectroscopy platform technology, which is able to quickly and accurately measure very small chemical concentrations. The company sells this platform technology in limited quantities to academic institutions.

P&P Optica was federally incorporated in 1995 in Quebec City as an optical design and manufacturing contractor. In 2000, the company moved to Kitchener, Ontario. By 2004, the company had expanded their business to include fibre-optic cable manufacturing. This business was spun out that year to form an independent Fibertech Optica, an independent, arms length company. Volume Phase Holoographic gratings (VPH) are the core component of P&P Optica’s transmission-based optical spectrometer, and enabled the company’s first spectrometer sale to the Ontario Cancer Institute. In 2011, the company moved their offices to Waterloo, Ontario. The company’s business model is to secure custom spectrometer development contracts with academic researchers, and then to build and deliver those spectrometers to their customers. As of September 2011 the company finished transferring grating production from Poland to their Waterloo facility, and has established a contract manufacturing relationship with Raytheon to have their spectrometer designs manufactured in Midland Ontario.