What Photon Engineering does

Photon Engineering, founded in 1997 in Tucson, Arizona, is a privately held LLC that develops and supports FRED Optical Engineering Software, a comprehensive ray tracing and physical optics modeling platform used by engineers worldwide to simulate the propagation of light through optomechanical systems. The FRED suite is offered in three editions: FRED Classic (entry-level raytracing on up to 17 CPU threads), FRED Optimum (up to 127 CPU threads with multi-variable optimization and distributed computing), and FREDmpc (NVIDIA GPU-accelerated massively parallel computing, which the company claims performed the first trillion-ray trace in industry). FRED supports non-sequential and sequential raytracing, coherent and incoherent beam propagation, physical optics modeling including diffraction and interference, stray light analysis, and lens/cad interoperability with ZEMAX, CODE V, and OSLO.

The company monetizes through three revenue streams: annual FRED software license subscriptions sold via direct enterprise sales (quote-based pricing, 'Request a Demo' CTA), paid in-person training courses (3-4 day tutorials priced at $2,515 per student for the Physical Optics Modeling course), and optical engineering consulting services delivered by senior staff to clients across aerospace, astronomy, biomedical, and illumination markets. Disclosed customer and project references span government and research institutions (NASA ICON/MIGHTI, LSST/NOAO, Lowell Observatory Discovery Telescope, TMT MOBIE at UC Santa Barbara, IRIS at SAO-Harvard) as well as commercial users (James Carter Optical Consulting, GERG Lighthouse). In June 2025 the company opened its first office outside the US, in Cologne, Germany, and began offering European training classes there in August 2025, marking the company's first material geographic expansion in its 27-year history.

Photon Engineering operates as a focused, founder-led specialist in a narrow technical niche. The leadership team, including co-developer Richard Pfisterer (35+ years, recognized authority on scatter theory and stray light) and Dr. K. Scott Ellis (25+ years, lens design and optical systems), combines deep domain expertise with software product development. The company has no disclosed outside investors, no subsidiaries, no M&A activity, and no public revenue figures. Its go-to-market relies on direct enterprise sales, a global representative network (with UK phone support), industry trade shows, technical publications, an extensive support knowledge base, and a multi-day in-person training program that doubles as both revenue and customer-acquisition channel.

Name

Photon Engineering

Legal name

Photon Engineering LLC

Website

https://photonengr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Photon Engineering, founded 1997 in Tucson, Arizona, develops FRED Optical Engineering Software, a raytracing and physical optics simulation platform used by thousands of engineers worldwide for designing optomechanical systems. The firm sells software licenses, training courses, and engineering consulting across aerospace, astronomy, biomedical, and illumination markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tucson

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. FRED Software Licenses: Three editions of FRED software (Classic, Optimum, MPC) sold with different capability levels and pricing tiers. License technology supports Sentinel and SuperPro protection schemes with softkey options.
2. Training Courses: In-person training courses offered at company offices in Tucson, AZ and Europe (Cologne, Germany). Physical Optics Modeling course priced at $2,515 per student with cancellation policy.
3. Engineering Consulting Services: Optical design and engineering consulting services provided to clients across various markets including time and material contracts and firm fixed price contracts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Photon Engineering develops, sells, and supports FRED Optical Engineering Software, a ray tracing and virtual prototyping platform used by optical engineers worldwide to simulate light propagation through optomechanical systems. The company complements this software with paid in-person training courses (Introductory, Scripting, Stray Light Analysis, Physical Optics Modeling) and optical engineering consulting services delivered by its senior technical staff.

Product overview

Photon Engineering provides the FRED Optical Engineering Software suite, a comprehensive platform for raytracing and virtual prototyping of optical systems. The portfolio includes three editions: FRED Classic as the core product with essential raytracing capabilities supporting up to 17 CPU threads; FRED Optimum as the mid-tier edition with enhanced capabilities supporting up to 127 CPU threads and distributed computing; and FREDmpc (Massively Parallel Computing) as the flagship edition leveraging NVIDIA GPUs for orders-of-magnitude performance improvements. All editions support non-sequential and sequential raytracing, coherent beam propagation, and physical optics modeling. The company also offers professional training courses and optical engineering consulting services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FRED Optical Engineering Software FRED is a comprehensive ray tracing and virtual prototyping software suite used by thousands of engineers worldwide to simulate the propagation of light through optomechanical systems. It supports both non-sequential and sequential ray tracing, coherent beam propagation, multi-threaded CPU computation, GPU acceleration (FREDmpc), physical optics modeling, and stray light analysis, with lens import compatibility for ZEMAX, CODE V, and OSLO plus CAD import/export.
• FRED Introductory + Scripting Tutorial A comprehensive 4-day hands-on training course designed to help learners get the best out of FRED, combining introductory usage with scripting instruction. Held in-person at the Tucson, AZ office.
• FRED Introductory Tutorial A 3-day hands-on training course covering the fundamentals of FRED software, delivered in-person at the Tucson, AZ office.
• Scripting Course A 1-day stand-alone course teaching users how to customize FRED with their own scripts; scheduled as the optional 4th day of the FRED Introductory Tutorial but also offered independently.
• Mastering Stray Light Analysis An intensive 3-day course focused on the language, science, theory, and techniques of scattering and their application to stray light analysis, taught by industry expert Rich Pfisterer.
• Physical Optics Modeling with FRED An intensive 3-day advanced tutorial covering the fundamentals of FRED's physical optics propagator, modeling diffraction phenomena, modeling interference phenomena, application of coherent sources, and configuring models for polarization applications. Priced at $2,515 per student.
• Optical Engineering Services Optical design and engineering consulting services provided by Photon Engineering's senior technical staff across markets including observatory spectrometers, IR re-imaging optics, telescope relay optics, head mounted displays, stray light analysis, and illumination systems, delivered through time-and-materials and firm-fixed-price contracts.

Quantifiable outcome

• Perform stray light calculations in hours that used to take days
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• OpticaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOptica (formerly OSA) partnership shown in 'Our Partners' section on website, indicating membership and collaborative relationship in the optics community.
• SPIEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPIE corporate membership shown in 'Our Partners' section. Company staff including Dr. Jim Harvey publish with SPIE.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• OptiWave (OptiFDTD, OptiBPM): OptiWave offers photonics simulation tools focused on waveguide, fiber, and integrated photonics design. It is a smaller, more specialized competitor that intersects with FRED in physical optics and laser beam propagation use cases but concentrates on telecom/datacom rather than imaging systems.
• Radiant Vision Systems: Radiant provides imaging-based light and color measurement systems used to validate the displays and illumination systems that FRED helps design. It is a complementary test-and-measurement peer in the same optical engineering ecosystem rather than a software competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Synopsys Optical Solutions Group: As the parent of CODE V and LightTools, Synopsys represents the broader incumbent threat: a large EDA platform that can bundle optical design into chip-to-system workflows. Photon Engineering's challenge is differentiating FRED as a best-of-breed alternative to bundled platform offerings.
• COMSOL: COMSOL Multiphysics is a broader simulation platform with an Optics Module that addresses raytracing and wave optics. It overlaps with FRED functionally but as part of a general-purpose multiphysics suite rather than a specialized optical engineering tool.

Regional players

• LTI Optics (Lambda Technologies): Lambda Technologies provides optical metrology and consulting, with capabilities in scatter measurement and stray light characterization that complement FRED's modeling tools. It serves as both a potential partner and an adjacent service peer to Photon Engineering's consulting arm.

Direct peers

• Breault Research Organization (APEX): Breault Research provides APEX optical software and engineering consulting services — a near-mirror business model to Photon Engineering's combination of FRED software and optical design consulting. Strong overlap in stray light analysis and aerospace/astronomy customers.
• Lambda Research Corporation (TracePro): TracePro is a non-sequential raytracing and stray light analysis tool widely used in optical system design. It competes most directly with FRED in stray light, illumination, and optomechanical simulation for aerospace, defense, and lighting customers.
• Ansys (Zemax): Zemax OpticStudio is the leading optical design/raytracing software, now part of Ansys. It competes head-to-head with FRED for the same optical engineer customers across imaging, illumination, and stray light workflows, and benefits from Ansys's broader multiphysics platform reach.
• Synopsys (CODE V and LightTools): Synopsys's CODE V (imaging optics design) and LightTools (illumination design) directly overlap FRED Classic, Optimum, and stray light capabilities. Same target persona of optical engineers, same subscription licensing model, with the backing of a much larger EDA platform vendor.

Others

• Optical Research Associates (historical): Optical Research Associates developed CODE V before being acquired by Synopsys; it is included as a contextual reference for the heritage of one of FRED's principal direct competitors rather than as an active peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/photonengr
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5WK1RU6IL5ZobT4jtIsh3w
• Facebookfacebook.com/Photon-Engineering-177460678967526
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/photon-engineering-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

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 Photon Engineering