DataRay

What DataRay does

DataRay Inc. is a privately held, family-owned manufacturer of laser beam measurement instruments, founded in 1988 by Steve and Joy Garvey and currently led by Kevin Garvey (COO), Rocco Dragone (CTO), and Natalia Garvey (CFO). The company designs and manufactures ISO 11146-compliant beam profiling cameras (WinCamD, BladeCam, TaperCamD series), scanning slit beam profilers (Beam'R and BeamMap series), specialized systems such as the Industrial Laser Monitoring System, and its newer CMOS Shack-Hartmann WaveCamD wavefront sensors. Underlying technology spans CMOS and Microbolometer detectors, Shack-Hartmann microlens arrays, and proprietary reconstruction algorithms supporting zonal and modal (Zernike) wavefront analysis.

The portfolio targets wavelengths from 190 nm in the UV to 16 µm in the FIR, addressing industrial laser monitoring (welding, cutting, additive manufacturing), research labs, defense, medical and life sciences, electronics and semiconductors, and telecom. A full-featured software package (including the WaveSight wavefront-sensing platform and LaserLink client/server) ships free with every product with lifetime updates, alongside SDK interfaces for Python, C++, MATLAB, and LabVIEW.

The business model is overwhelmingly hardware-based one-time sales through a direct e-commerce storefront (store.dataray.com), supported by field sales, distribution partners (e.g., Lightrun, exclusive in Korea), and presence at major photonics trade shows (SPIE BiOS, Photonics West, Laser World of Photonics, SPIE Defense + Security). Custom-engineered solutions extend the catalog offering for specialized applications. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company is ISO 9001:2015 certified, holds 11-50 employees, and is headquartered in the Monterey, California area after a recent relocation.

Name

DataRay

Legal name

DataRay Inc.

Website

https://dataray.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DataRay Inc. is a privately held, family-owned manufacturer founded in 1988 that designs and builds ISO 11146-compliant laser beam profilers, scanning slit profilers, and CMOS Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors for industrial, research, defense, medical, semiconductor, and telecom photonics customers worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Laser Beam Profiling and Wavefront Sensing Instruments

SIC

Optical Instruments & Lenses (3827), Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro primary industry

Optoelectronic Receivers & Transceivers (Photodetectors/Optical Modules) (HDAHALAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Photodiodes & Discrete Photodetectors (HDAHAHAL)

Keywords

• Laser beam profilers
• Wavefront sensors
• Beam profiling cameras
• Laser measurement instruments
• Photonics test equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Redding

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales - Beam Profiling Cameras: Sale of laser beam profiling cameras including WinCamD, BladeCam, and TaperCamD series with various detector options and wavelength configurations
2. Hardware Sales - Scanning Slit Profilers: Sale of scanning slit beam profilers including Beam'R and BeamMap series for high-precision beam measurements
3. Hardware Sales - Wavefront Sensors: Sale of WaveCamD Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors for optical phase characterization
4. Hardware Sales - Specialized Systems and Accessories: Sale of specialized beam profiler systems (Industrial Laser Monitoring System, Large Beam Profiling System, Line Laser Profiling System) and accessories (power measurement, beam attenuation, translation stages, optics, UV/IR converters)
5. Software: Full-featured beam profiling software provided free with product purchases, with free updates for the life of the product. WaveSight software available as free download for WaveCamD users
6. Custom Solutions: Custom-design solutions for customers with unique application requirements beyond standard catalog offerings

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DataRay designs and manufactures ISO 11146-compliant laser beam profilers and wavefront sensors for the photonics industry. The portfolio spans beam profiling cameras (WinCamD, BladeCam, TaperCamD), scanning slit profilers (Beam'R, BeamMap), and a CMOS Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (WaveCamD), complemented by integrated systems for industrial laser monitoring and a dedicated WaveSight software platform.

Product overview

DataRay manufactures laser beam measurement instruments for the global photonics industry. The product portfolio consists of three main categories: (1) Beam Profiling Cameras (WinCamD Series CMOS cameras for UV to SWIR, BladeCam Series compact cameras, and TaperCamD Series large-area cameras up to 25 x 25 mm); (2) Scanning Slit Beam Profilers (Beam'R Series for single-plane profiling down to 2 µm spots, and BeamMap Series for multi-plane profiling with real-time M², divergence, pointing, and focal measurements); and (3) Specialized Systems (Industrial Laser Monitoring System for high-power focused lasers, Line Laser Profiling System for line lasers up to 200 mm, and Large Beam Profiling System for 200 x 200 mm imaging). DataRay also offers the WaveCamD Series, its first wavefront sensor line using CMOS Shack-Hartmann technology. Supporting accessories include power meters, beam attenuation filters, UV/IR converters, optics, and translation stages. All products ship with free, full-featured software (beam profiling software and WaveSight for wavefront sensing), and the LaserLink server enables external software integration. The company holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and designs products to ISO 11146 compliance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WinCamD Series DatCam-compatible laser beam profiling cameras covering silicon and InGaAs spectral ranges from UV (190 nm) to NIR (1.7 µm), with motorized and non-motorized zoom options. Used by researchers and engineers to capture and analyze beam profiles in the 190-1100 nm and 900-1700 nm bands.
• BladeCam Series Compact blade-format beam profiling cameras covering 190-1100 nm (silicon) and 900-1700 nm (InGaAs) wavelengths, designed for OEM integration into laser systems via a small form factor. Supports both CW and pulsed lasers.
• TaperCamD Series Compact, large-area tapered CMOS beam profiling cameras that capture beams up to 31.5 mm in diagonal without the requirement for additional beam-attenuation optics. Used in laser fusion, excimer, medical, and telecom applications.
• Beam'R Series Scanning slit beam profiler for high-power CW beams up to 1 kW in 1 µm and 1.5 µm wavelength ranges. Used in applications involving kilowatt-class laser sources where camera-based profilers would be damaged.
• BeamMap Series Scanning slit beam profiler optimized for pulsed lasers from 190 nm to 1700 nm, including excimer, Ti:Sapphire, ultrafast (10 ps to 10 µs), and Quasi-CW lasers. Offers lower minimum-power-density requirements than competing beam-map products.
• WaveCamD Series DataRay's first wavefront sensor, employing a CMOS-based Shack-Hartmann architecture with microlens array and zonal/modal reconstruction. Provides real-time wavefront error measurement for laser system designers and researchers working alongside beam profiling.
• Industrial Laser Monitoring System (ILMS) Integrated beam profiling system tailored for industrial laser production environments, comprising beam-magnification optics and electronic focus positioning to monitor laser beams on factory lines. Designed for OEMs and integrators needing continuous beam-quality monitoring during production.
• Line Laser Profiling System Slitless profiling system that scans a line-shaped laser source without placing a slit in the optical path, enabling direct beam characterization of line laser beams.
• Large Beam Profiling System Integrated large-format beam profiling system to characterize laser beams too large to fit on a standard profiling camera, addressing high-power and broad-beam industrial and laboratory applications.
• Power Measurement Accessories Standalone power measurement instruments compatible with DataRay beam profiling cameras, including thermopile and photodiode-based sensors used to capture simultaneous beam profile and total power readings.
• Beam Attenuation Accessories Attenuation optics including absorbing neutral-density filters and other attenuator accessories used to reduce incident power to levels suitable for beam profiling cameras, enabling high-power laser characterization without detector damage.
• UV & IR Converters Wavelength conversion accessories that allow silicon-based beam profiling cameras to characterize UV and IR beams by converting them to wavelengths that the detector can register.
• Optics Accessories Standalone optical accessories including replacement lenses, C-mount adapters, and similar optics used to integrate DataRay cameras with various laser configurations.
• Translation Stages Mechanical translation stages used to position DataRay beam profiling cameras and accessories with precise linear travel relative to the laser beam, supporting repeatable measurements.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30-day no-risk evaluation available for new customers
• +1 more outcomes

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• LightrunregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorLightrun appointed as exclusive distributor of DataRay products in Korea, providing sales, support, and service for Korean customers.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Zygo (AMETEK): Zygo is a leading supplier of optical metrology instruments, including interferometers and wavefront sensors for precision optics. Its wavefront measurement capabilities are highly comparable to DataRay's newly launched WaveCamD Shack-Hartmann sensor.
• Gentec Electro-Optics (Gentec-EO): Gentec-EO manufactures laser power and energy meters as well as beam profiling cameras, overlapping directly with DataRay's power measurement accessories and WinCamD/BladeCam CMOS beam profiling cameras.
• CINOGY Technologies: CINOGY Technologies specializes in Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors and laser beam characterization systems, directly competing with DataRay's WaveCamD wavefront sensor and WaveSight software platform.
• Ophir (MKS Instruments): Ophir is the dominant supplier of laser beam profilers, power meters, and energy meters, and was acquired by MKS Instruments. It directly competes with DataRay's WinCamD, BeamMap, and Beam'R product lines in laser beam profiling and power measurement.
• Duma Optronics: Duma Optronics manufactures laser beam profilers and beam analysis software for industrial and research applications. Its products directly compete with DataRay's Beam'R and BeamMap scanning slit profilers.

Broad incumbents

• Edmund Optics: Edmund Optics supplies optical components, lenses, filters, and increasingly laser measurement products. Its optics and beam shaping portfolio overlaps with DataRay's accessory products (lenses, ND filters, beam reducers).
• Thorlabs: Thorlabs is a broad photonics distributor and manufacturer offering optical components, detectors, cameras, and beam profilers. While it does not specialize exclusively in laser beam profiling, its CCD/CMOS beam profilers overlap with DataRay's product family.
• Hamamatsu Photonics: Hamamatsu is a global photonics incumbent supplying detectors, cameras, and optical sensors used in laser beam analysis. Its scientific cameras and photodetectors serve overlapping customer workflows in research and industrial laser characterization.
• Coherent: Coherent (formerly II-VI) is a broad laser and photonics incumbent offering laser sources, optics, and instrumentation. While its primary focus is laser systems, its metrology offerings and OEM integration overlap with DataRay's industrial laser monitoring use cases.

Emerging players

• Sentech Instruments: Sentech develops optical measurement and beam profiling instruments for laser characterization, with comparable but more regionally focused offerings in Europe. It competes with DataRay in industrial and research beam profiling segments.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@dataray-inc
• Facebookfacebook.com/datarayinc
• Xx.com/datarayinc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 DataRay