What YSL Photonics does

YSL Photonics (legal entity Wuhan Yangtze Soton Laser Co., Ltd.) is a privately held, vertically integrated Chinese photonics manufacturer founded in 2010 by Dr. Chen Kangkang, headquartered in Wuhan's East Lake High-tech Development Zone (China's "optical valley"). The company designs and builds two core product families: supercontinuum ("white light") sources spanning 350-2500 nm for spectroscopy, microscopy, OCT, and hyperspectral lidar, and ultrafast fiber lasers — both femtosecond (FemtoYL-6C through FemtoYL-100, 3W-100W IR plus SHG/UV options) and picosecond (PicoYL series including a 50W green variant). Underpinning these systems is proprietary photonic crystal fiber technology (e.g., PM40/200DC YDF), in-house fiber Chirped Pulse Amplification, and AOTF-based wavelength selection (up to 8 simultaneous channels). Wavelength-selection accessories (AOTF, VLF/VLF-M) and photonic crystal fiber amplification modules complete a vertically integrated stack modeled on IPG Photonics.

The company sells quote-based hardware solutions through direct sales with global reach: a wholly-owned US subsidiary, representatives across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and active exhibition at major industry events (LASER World of PHOTONICS, SPIE Photonics West, OPIE, Focus on Microscopy). Customer mix is split between scientific R&D buyers (universities, national labs, fiber-sensing and OCT programs) and industrial manufacturers deploying the lasers in solar cell dicing (PERC), OLED display patterning, glass drilling, lithium battery foil cutting, and 5G LCP circuit processing. OEM variants of the SC-OEM (with DB25, RS232, NIM, POD interfaces) target medical instrumentation, flow cytometry, and semiconductor inspection integrators.

Revenue economics are anchored to high-ASP hardware sales with customization and optional wavelength/power configurations. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Funding to date has been limited to angel investment from the founder's University of Southampton classmate Weijia Yang and his family, with no institutional venture rounds disclosed. As of 2022, YSL indicated plans to pursue an IPO within 1-2 years, signaling a transition from private scaling to public-capital growth. No revenue, headcount-trend, or valuation figures have been publicly disclosed.

Name

YSL Photonics

Legal name

Wuhan Yangtze Soton Laser Co., Ltd.

Website

https://yslphotonics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Wuhan-headquartered, vertically integrated Chinese manufacturer of supercontinuum sources and ultrafast fiber lasers (femtosecond and picosecond) serving scientific R&D institutions, industrial micromachining customers (PERC solar, OLED, glass, battery foil), and medical/semiconductor OEM integrators via global direct sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Photonics / Ultrafast Fiber Lasers

SIC

Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827)

akta.pro primary industry

Optoelectronic Emitters (LED/Laser/VCSEL) (HDAHALAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Optoelectronic / Photonics Foundries (Silicon Photonics/LED/Laser) (HDAHACAG), Optics & Laser/Light Engine Components (Lenses, Galvos, Laser Modules, UV Engines) (IMAAAIAC)

Keywords

• Ultrafast fiber lasers
• Supercontinuum sources
• Femtosecond fiber lasers
• Picosecond fiber lasers
• Photonic crystal fiber

Headquarters

HQ city

Wuhan

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Ultrafast Fiber Laser Sales: Sale of femtosecond and picosecond fiber laser systems including the FemtoYL and PicoYL series. Products range from compact 3W seed lasers to 100W industrial-grade systems. Includes optional green and UV modules, armored cable outputs, and integration accessories.
2. Supercontinuum Source Sales: Sale of supercontinuum sources (white light lasers) including SC-PRO8, SC-OEM, SC-5, and SC-COMPACT models. These broadband light sources serve scientific research and industrial inspection applications.
3. Accessories and Wavelength Selection: Sale of wavelength selection modules (AOTF, VLF/VLF-M), photonic crystal fiber amplification modules, and component accessories. These complement the core laser systems and enable application-specific configurations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

YSL Photonics designs, develops, and manufactures ultrafast fiber lasers (femtosecond FemtoYL series and picosecond PicoYL series) and broadband supercontinuum sources (SC-PRO8, SC-OEM, SC-5, SC-COMPACT), along with wavelength selection modules and photonic crystal fiber amplification components. Products are built on proprietary ytterbium-doped photonic crystal fiber and fiber chirped pulse amplification technology, serving industrial material processing (solar, OLED, semiconductor) and scientific research (microscopy, OCT, spectroscopy, sensing) customers globally.

Product overview

YSL Photonics develops and manufactures two main product lines: supercontinuum sources (also called white light lasers or white light sources) and ultrafast fiber lasers (picosecond and femtosecond fiber lasers). The supercontinuum source product line includes SC-PRO8, SC-OEM, SC-5, and SC-COMPACT models offering power ranges from 800mW to >8W across spectral ranges of 410nm-2400nm or 450nm-2400nm, typically used in fluorescence spectroscopy, OCT, fiber sensing, and semiconductor inspection. The ultrafast fiber laser portfolio comprises the FemtoYL series (FemtoYL-100, FemtoYL-50, FemtoYL-40 Pro, FemtoYL-20-C, FemtoYL-6C, FemtoYL-1030nm-Seed) offering femtosecond pulses and the PicoYL series (PicoYL-Green-50, PicoYL-1064nm-Seed) providing picosecond pulses, primarily used in material micro-processing, laser machining, and thin-film applications. Wavelength selection accessories (AOTF and VLF/VLF-M) extend the supercontinuum sources for specialized microscopy applications. Supporting components include photonic crystal fiber amplification modules and associated PC software/drivers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• FemtoYL-100 Series High-power femtosecond fiber laser delivering ~100W average power at IR (50W SHG, 30W UV), ~300fs variable pulse duration (200fs optional), peak power ~1GW, 1Hz-5MHz adjustable, with water cooling, PSO/POD function, and support for 50W green and 30W UV module integration. Designed for industrial micro-machining including OLED dicing, sapphire drilling, and semiconductor processing.
• FemtoYL-50 Series Industry femtosecond fiber laser built on fiber CPA technology providing ~50W average power at IR (20W SHG, 15W UV), ~300fs variable pulse duration (200fs optional), peak power ~500MW, 1Hz-5MHz adjustable, with water cooling, PSO/POD function, and support for 20W green and 15W UV modules. Used for display screen and semiconductor manufacturing.
• FemtoYL-40 Pro Series 40W high-power femtosecond fiber laser with ~350fs pulse width (1Hz-5MHz adjustable), peak power >100MW, >40μJ pulse energy, >300μJ burst energy, PSO/POD function, and water cooling. Used for micro-machining applications such as glass welding, thin film cutting, and biochip manufacturing.
• FemtoYL-20-C 20W femtosecond fiber laser with armored fiber cable output (1-10m customizable, typically 3m), ~200fs-10ps variable pulse width, 25kHz-5MHz / external PSO repetition rate, >40μJ single pulse energy, and 100μJ burst energy. Used for micro-machining including biological tissue cutting and two-photon polymerization.
• FemtoYL-6C Cost-effective femtosecond fiber laser system at 1035nm central wavelength with <300fs pulse duration, up to 3W average power, ~1μJ pulse energy, and M²<1.3 beam quality. Designed for two-photon fluorescence microscopy and two-photon polymerization applications.
• FemtoYL-1030nm-Seed Femtosecond fiber seed source at 1030nm center wavelength with spectral width options of 2/5/10nm, 25kHz-40MHz repetition rate, 5mW average power, and PM980 fiber output. Used as a seed source for solid-state and fiber laser systems.
• PicoYL-Green-50 Picosecond green fiber laser at 515nm central wavelength with 50W average power, 800ps pulse duration, 50kW peak power, and 40μJ pulse energy. Used for industrial micro-machining including PERC solar cell dicing, glass drilling, and lithium battery foil cutting.
• PicoYL-1064nm-Seed Picosecond fiber seed source at 1064nm center wavelength with <0.4nm spectral width, 10kHz-40MHz repetition rate, >1nJ pulse energy, and <10ps pulse width. Used as a seed source for solid picosecond laser systems.
• SC-PRO8 High-power broadband supercontinuum source with 430nm-2400nm wavelength range, 10kHz-200MHz internal repetition rate, >8W total power, >1μJ pulse energy, and single-mode output. Used for fluorescence microscopy, super-resolution imaging, and low-noise optical coherence tomography (OCT).
• SC-OEM Compact supercontinuum source for OEM medical and industrial system integration with 410nm-2400nm spectral range, up to 10W total power, 10kHz-200MHz repetition rate, M²<1.1 beam quality, and multiple control interfaces (DB25, RS232, NIM trigger, POD). Designed for embedding into flow cytometry, OCT, and other instrumentation.
• SC-5 Cost-effective supercontinuum source with 450nm-2400nm wavelength range, >1W total power, and Bluetooth connectivity. Used for fiber component characterization, OCT, and broadband spectroscopy.
• SC-COMPACT Compact cost-effective supercontinuum source with >800mW total power covering 470nm-1800nm spectral range and Bluetooth connectivity. Used for fiber sensing, OCT, and industry inspection.
• AOTF Wavelength Selection Module Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) wavelength selection module providing up to 8 simultaneous tunable wavelength channels covering 400nm-2000nm spectrum with linear polarized output, available in free-space or single-mode fiber output formats. Used for microscopy and material characterization applications.
• VLF/VLF-M Wavelength Selection System Linear Variable Filter (VLF/VLF-M) wavelength selection system offering 400-840nm tunable wavelength with 10-300nm linewidth range. Used for fluorescence microscopy and nanophotonics applications.
• Photonic Crystal Fiber Amplification Module YD1025 Fiber Block photonic crystal fiber amplification module using PM40/200DC YDF fiber with integrated water-cooling system. Used for power amplification of high-power ultrafast fiber laser systems.

Quantifiable outcome

• Supercontinuum sources achieve >20W average power with 350-2500nm spectrum coverage
• +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

Feature6 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• IPG Photonics: Global leader in fiber lasers and vertical integration. YSL explicitly follows IPG's vertically integrated manufacturing playbook and competes in industrial ultrafast fiber lasers used for solar, display, and semiconductor processing.
• Trumpf: Major German industrial laser manufacturer with disk and fiber ultrafast laser lines. Competes with YSL for OLED, solar, and semiconductor micromachining design-ins with strong European OEM relationships.
• MKS Instruments (Spectra-Physics): Spectra-Physics division produces high-power industrial ultrafast and scientific Ti:Sapphire/fiber lasers. Directly competes with YSL FemtoYL and PicoYL lines for semiconductor, display, and biomedical OEM wins.
• Coherent Corp: Diversified laser giant offering industrial ultrafast systems (Monaco, HyperRapid) and scientific supercontinuum/photonic crystal fiber subsystems. Overlaps with YSL in industrial micromachining and research instrumentation.

Direct peers

• Leukos: French pure-play supercontinuum source manufacturer serving OCT, spectroscopy, and fiber-sensing markets. Most direct niche competitor to YSL's SC-PRO8/SC-OEM/SC-5 supercontinuum lines.
• Toptica Photonics: Specialist in scientific ultrafast fiber and supercontinuum lasers (FemtoFiberPro, SuperK). Comparable to YSL in broadband supercontinuum and femtosecond seed-laser products sold to research labs and OEMs.
• NKT Photonics: Direct competitor in supercontinuum sources and ultrafast fiber lasers, including the SuperK and OneFive product families used in fluorescence microscopy, OCT, and industrial inspection — identical core use cases to YSL's SC and FemtoYL lines.
• Amplitude Laser: France-based pure-play ultrafast (femtosecond and picosecond) industrial laser specialist. Closely comparable product positioning to YSL's FemtoYL and PicoYL for micro-machining and OLED/solar applications.

Regional players

• Wuhan Huaray (Huaray Precision Laser): Domestic Chinese ultrafast fiber laser competitor also based in Wuhan, serving similar solar/OLED/display micromachining customers. Direct head-to-head rival within China for YSL.

Emerging players

• Clark-MXR: US-based manufacturer of industrial femtosecond micromachining lasers. Competes for similar OLED, solar, and biomedical micromachining design-ins where YSL's FemtoYL platforms are sold.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

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 YSL Photonics