HORIBA Scientific

Manufacturing and Assembly in the United Kingdom
Glasgow | Scotland
Our Glasgow factory is a leading manufacturer of advanced photon counting instrumentation used in research laboratories worldwide. Originally a Strathclyde University spin-off company, IBH is now part of the HORIBA Group.

Overview
The principle role of our Glasgow site is to design and manufacture fluorescence lifetime spectrometers and related components for photon counting applications. Product development is a continual process, taking into account the latest advances in technology to introduce high-end, but easy to use products to the market place.

A team of experts at our Glasgow site handle everything from conception and design (electrical, mechanical & software) through the development process to finished product manufacture.

The production of time-resolved fluorescence systems and components, along with both TCSPC applications and sales support, is all carried out from our Glasgow site.

History
The Glasgow operation originally started as a spin-off company from Strathclyde University, and was known as IBH Consultants. Incorporated in 1977 the company was one of the first physics spin-out companies from a Scottish University and initially licensed instrument designs and software for time-domain fluorescence technology, making use of the time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) technique.

In 1989 IBH commenced independent manufacture and marketing, before joining the HORIBA group in 2003.

The products made in Glasgow are sourced, manufactured and supported in the UK and supplied worldwide via the HORIBA global network.

Key developments in the company’s lifetime include:
Designed the original all-metal coaxial nanosecond flashlamp in the 1970’s which freed time-resolved fluorescenceresearch from rf interference problems.
Sole-supplier since 1989 of the proprietary and robust hybrid grid-search reconvolution algorithm, renowned for finding accurate decay parameters with meaningful precision.
In 1989 produced the first compact lifetime system with full spectroscopic capability.
Incorporated the first CMOS application specific integrated circuit designed for fluorescence in multiplexed TCSPC systems. This helped point the way to integrated array detectors and data routing in lifetime imaging.
Development of semiconductor based (laser & LED) light sources allowing faster data acquisition.
Only manufacturer and supplier of pulsed LED phosphorescence excitation sources.
Start of global upgrade of steady-state spectrofluorimeters to hybrid lifetime capabilities in 2003. Hundreds of users have benefitted from this worldwide.
First to develop deep UV based LED sources in 2003 enabling protein researchers to access time-resolved information with ease.
In 2010 DeltaDiodes were launched, which are the only picosecond diode light sources with true-plug-and–play interchangeable heads with a wide wavelength range, capable of 100MHz operation and USB based user-friendly platform.
Development of the very low dead-time DeltaHub timing electronics in 2013, which when coupled with DeltaDiodes produce the most efficient fluorescence lifetime system on the market to date.
In 2015 the development of the best resolution timing electronics on the market, at 400fs/channel.

40 years of expertise in developing TCSPC Systems
The culmination of over 40 years of expertise at the Glasgow site has taken the TCSPC technique from the preserve of specialists to being affordable and easy to use to the extent that customers can now concentrate more than ever on their science.