SORS
SORS provides a method for identifying the chemical composition underneath the surface of materials, including beneath the skin and liquids in bottles.
SORS does this by shining a laser in one part of the sample and collecting the scattered light from a point close by. The distance from the collection point to the laser determines roughly the depth into the sample that is monitored. The Raman spectrum obtained shows a series of peaks, a unique ‘fingerprint’ of the chemicals present. (image credit: Agilent)
Cobalt’s Insight100 scanners are in over 70 airports across Europe.
RapID and Resolve
More products originating from Cobalt were the RapID system, a handheld “point-and-shoot” device for regulation testing of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, and Resolve, a handheld system for through-barrier identification of hazardous materials, explosives and narcotics.
These machines provide accurate quality control, removing the need to open packaging saves time.
As a leading company, Cobalt won the prestigious 2014 MacRobert Award for engineering innovation for its unique liquids scanner. Cobalt was up against engineering giants such as Rolls Royce. It won the prize for their pioneering technique that identified liquids in non-metallic containers in seconds.
Also in 2014, Cobalt Light Systems entered at number 10 in the Tech Track 100 league table, which ranks Britain’s fastest-growing private technology, media and telecoms companies. Cobalt was also awarded:
- a top ten spot in the list of top technology firms in the UK by the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100
- the Tech Track 100 high-tech manufacturing award
In 2015, Cobalt received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s highest accolade for business success, in the international trade category.
These awards reflected Cobalt’s rapid growth, with innovative technology enabling the development of successful products in key markets.
Agilent Technologies, a U.S. tech giant, bought Cobalt in July 2017 for the sum of £40 million. This was an exciting success for the CLF and its researchers. After the purchase, Cobalt-Agilent moved its base to Harwell Campus, making it Agilent’s global centre for Raman spectroscopy.
Paul Loeffen, CEO of Cobalt, said of the deal that “Cobalt and Agilent have similar cultures focused on customer-centric innovation. The combination of Cobalt’s patented technologies with Agilent’s product-development expertise, manufacturing capabilities, channels and customer base will allow us to scale our operations to take advantage of this rapidly growing market.”