What Alio Labs does

Alio Labs, Inc. is a privately held, Delaware-incorporated photonics manufacturer headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, operating from a 30,000-square-foot ISO 7 clean room facility opened in 2025. The company designs and produces high-performance custom thin-film optical filters — Band Pass, Multi Band, Short Pass, Long Pass, Linear Variable, and OD6 Notch — all built on a proprietary Quadrode™ plasma processing technology for PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coating deposition. Performance specifications include up to ~95% average transmission, OD6+ out-of-band blocking, ultra-steep filter edges with slopes below 1%, bandwidths as narrow as 1% FWHM, and substrate capability up to half-meter in diameter across a 300–1800 nm wavelength range. Manufacturing is vertically integrated with robotic substrate handling, automated metrology, and a fully outfitted machine shop.

The business model is sales-led and make-to-order: customers submit technical specifications via email to obtain a quote, with no public pricing, and engineering consultation is available for custom designs. The company serves a horizontal set of optical system manufacturers and scientific research institutions across use cases including multi-spectral imaging, laser systems, spectroscopy, microscopy, astronomy, biomedical imaging, and industrial inspection. Distribution is direct from the Santa Rosa facility with a stated global footprint, supported by attendance at Photonics West and an active LinkedIn/newsletter presence. CEO Samuel Sadoulet, CTO and Chairman Mike Scobey, and a small executive bench lead the company, which is founder-controlled with no disclosed institutional ownership and approximately $13.1M raised across 2025.

Recent strategic activity signals a build-out phase: a new high-volume-capable facility, two strategic partnerships announced in late 2025 (with Germany's UltraFast Innovations GmbH on attosecond/high-laser-damage-threshold optics, and with KineoLabs on compact OCT and NIR spectrometer applications), and a product roadmap extending into dichroic mirrors, plate polarizers, and ultra-narrow bandpass filters in 150mm format. No revenue or profitability figures are disclosed, and customer concentration cannot be assessed from the available information.

Name

Alio Labs

Legal name

Alio Labs, Inc.

Website

https://aliolabs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Alio Labs designs and manufactures custom high-performance thin-film optical filters using its proprietary Quadrode™ plasma PVD technology, serving optical system manufacturers and research institutions across laser, imaging, spectroscopy, and biomedical applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Precision Optical Components

akta.pro primary industry

RF Filters & Duplexers (SAW/BAW/FBAR) (HDAHAMAG)

Keywords

• Thin film optics
• Optical filters
• PVD coatings
• Precision optics
• Photonics manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Rosa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Custom Optical Filters: Sale of custom high-performance thin film optical filters including Band Pass, Multi Band, Short Pass, Long Pass, Linear Variable, and OD6 Notch filters. Made-to-order products with custom specifications.
2. Professional Services: Engineering consultation and custom design services for optical solutions. Technical support for product specification, integration, and application requirements.
3. Mounting and Configuration Services: Custom mounting options including beveled, blackened edge, and mounted configurations for optical filters. Assembly and finishing services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Alio Labs designs and manufactures custom high-performance thin film optical filters, including band pass, multi-band, short pass, long pass, linear variable, and OD6 notch filters. The company produces these filters using its proprietary Quadrode™ plasma PVD coating technology at its Santa Rosa, California manufacturing facility, targeting optical system integrators and scientific instrument builders.

Product overview

Alio Labs offers a unified portfolio of six high-performance optical filter product lines all built on the proprietary Quadrode™ plasma PVD technology platform. The product family includes: Band Pass Filters (narrow bandpass with up to 1% FWHM), Multi Band Filters (quadband performance for multi-spectral systems), Short Pass Filters (ultra-steep edges up to OD6+ blocking), Long Pass Filters (custom edge filters with ultra-steep slopes), Linear Variable Filters (spatially variable wavelength selection with 5-10 nm/mm dispersion), and OD6 Notch Filters (industry-leading laser line blocking with greater than 95% transmission). All products share common capabilities including hard dielectric thin film coatings, Quadrode plasma PVD technology, custom design/made-to-order manufacturing, up to 95% average transmission, and up to OD6+ blocking. Available substrates include Borofloat, Fused Silica, BK7, and custom materials. Filters are offered mounted or unmounted in various shapes (square, circular, custom) and thicknesses (0.5 mm to 10 mm). Coming soon: ultra narrow band filters up to 150mm format, dichroic/multi-chroics with ultra-low reflective wavefront distortion, plate polarizers with greater than 6 OD extinction, and low-stress ultra-flat coatings.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Band Pass Filters High-performance band pass filters delivering high in-band transmission and deep out-of-band blocking using ultra-stable multilayer dielectric coatings for precise spectral performance across 300-1800 nm, with passband widths as narrow as 1% FWHM and up to OD6+ blocking. Designed for optical system manufacturers and scientific instrument builders.
• Multi Band Filters Multi-band dielectric thin film quadband filters engineered for multi-spectral systems, delivering strong out-of-band blocking with ultra-stable hard dielectric coatings across 300-1800 nm, up to OD6+ blocking, and up to 95% average transmission. Targeted at multi-spectral imaging and laser system integrators.
• Short Pass Filters Ultra-steep edge thin film filters with high transmission and OD6+ blocking across 310-1800 nm, featuring ultra-steep slopes typically less than 1% transition region and up to 95% average transmission. Built for laser and spectroscopy system integrators.
• Long Pass Filters Hard dielectric edge filters with ultra-steep slopes, high transmission in the passband, and up to OD6 blocking, each filter custom-designed to meet exact performance requirements with spectral edge from 310-1800 nm. Suited for instrumentation and spectroscopy applications.
• Linear Variable Filters Custom-designed linear variable filters (LVFs) with spatially variable wavelength selection using proprietary Quadrode technology, offering OD6+ blocking, greater than 95% peak transmission, and 5-10 nm/mm wavelength dispersion rates across 355-1600 nm. Used in spectral imaging instruments.
• OD6 Notch Filters Hard dielectric thin film notch filters with industry-leading OD6+ blocking at laser wavelengths, up to 95% average transmission, bandwidths as narrow as 2.5% of CWL, and center wavelength 355-1064 nm standard. Targeted at laser system integrators requiring precise laser line rejection.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 95% average transmission across filter product lines
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• KineoLabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2025Hosted as special guest at Photonics West 2026 booth. Showcasing ultra-compact OCT imaging systems 10x smaller and more cost-efficient than traditional systems, and field-deployable NIR laser spectrometers.
• UltraFast Innovations GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 December 2025Partnership focused on accelerating attosecond thin-film optics, high laser damage threshold optics, and new instrumentation enabled by thin-film innovation. Collaboration showcased at Photonics West 2026.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Alluxa: Alluxa manufactures high-performance thin-film optical filters and coatings using plasma deposition, with a strong catalog and custom filter business across UV, VIS, and NIR wavelengths. It is the closest direct competitor to Alio Labs in custom precision thin-film filters.
• Chroma Technology: Chroma Technology designs and manufactures high-performance optical filters for microscopy, life sciences, and machine vision. Overlap with Alio Labs in custom bandpass, notch, and multi-band filters for biomedical imaging and spectroscopy customers.
• Semrock (IDEX Health & Science): Semrock, part of IDEX, makes high-performance optical filters for laser and life-sciences applications using hard ion-beam-sputtered thin films. Directly comparable in OD6+ notch, bandpass, and edge filter offerings to Alio Labs' portfolio.
• Omega Optical: Omega Optical manufactures custom and standard thin-film optical filters for spectroscopy, imaging, and instrumentation. Comparable in custom filter design capabilities and OEM customer base to Alio Labs.
• Midwest Optical Systems (MidOpt): MidOpt manufactures machine vision filters and custom optical filters for industrial imaging and inspection. Direct overlap with Alio Labs in bandpass and specialty filters for machine vision and multi-spectral imaging customers.

Broad incumbents

• Edmund Optics: Edmund Optics is a global broad-line optics manufacturer and distributor with a massive catalog of stock and custom optical filters. Competes with Alio Labs in OEM custom filter RFQs but offers far wider product breadth and self-service catalog purchasing.
• MKS Instruments (Newport): Through Newport and Ophir brands, MKS Instruments supplies photonics components including optical filters, laser optics, and instrumentation. A broad incumbent competing across multiple Alio Labs product categories at much greater scale.
• Thorlabs: Thorlabs manufactures and distributes a broad catalog of photonics components, including optical filters, optomechanics, and lasers. Overlaps with Alio Labs in custom filter and OEM optics supply but serves a much wider portfolio.

Regional players

• Laser Components: Laser Components (Germany) manufactures and distributes laser optics, optical filters, and photonics components across Europe. Comparable product portfolio to Alio Labs, particularly in laser-line and bandpass filters, with primary European customer base.
• Knight Optical: Knight Optical (UK) supplies custom and stock optical components, including precision optical filters for scientific and industrial applications. Comparable custom filter capability to Alio Labs, primarily serving European customers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alio-labs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alio Labs