25 Years of Optocraft

Our story – one new chapter every month

Optocraft is celebrating 25 years in industrial metrology for optics and lasers, highlighting its role in helping manufacturers ensure and improve product quality worldwide. Now is the time to share with you also behind-the-scenes stories, early experiments, engineering milestones, and testimonials from our journey and much more.

Optocraft´s CEO Johannes Pfund developed his first Shack-Hartmann sensor prototype in the mid-1990s during his diploma work at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, aimed at measuring spherical surfaces of optical elements such as contact lenses.

His PhD advisor Prof. Dr. Schwider challenged him every day during his PhD to push the limits of the Shack-Hartmann sensor to reach the degree of accuracy of typical phase shifting interferometers. Finally, Hannes managed to further improve his system by achieving a higher dynamic range, impressing precision, and a very fast (for that time) 3-second measurement time despite limited computing power. Validated through industrial collaboration, this work became the technological core and the “DNA” of modern Optocraft metrology solutions.

With the founding of Optocraft in 2001, a scientific idea became the foundation of a company. A technological breakthrough in wavefront metrology and success in the Northern Bavarian business plan competition provided the decisive impulse to transfer the Shack-Hartmann technology into industrial applications. Just one year later, Optocraft made its first appearance at the Optatec trade show in Germany, presenting its innovative metrology solutions to a broader professional audience.

This was followed by several key milestones, including the move to the Erlangen Innovation and Start-up Center IGZ and the award of the IHK Founders, which confirmed the companies positive development. With its first appearance at Photonics West in San Francisco in 2006, Optocraft started its international presence.

Joining the Micro-Epsilon Group in 2018 brought new momentum and expanded technological capabilities. The partnership with V-Optics in 2025 has further expanded the range of comprehensive metrology solutions for ophthalmic applications and enabled new product developments, which are now underway.

 

To be continued…