Q-Peak began operations in 1985 as the Research Division of Schwartz Electro-Optics (SEO) and was established to provide SEO with the latest in solid state laser technology, leveraging outside funding as much as possible. In this function, the Research Division conducted government, commercial, and internally funded research and development.
In order to better commercialize the expanding laser technology base, SEO created a separate company, Q Peak, Inc. in July 1998 as a wholly owned subsidiary of SEO. All of the staff and assets of the Research Division were transferred to Q-Peak. The new company continued in the traditional business areas of the Research Division and also developed a commercial enterprise in diode-pumped lasers.
Q-Peak was acquired by Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI, Andover, MA) in October 2001. The company continues to perform contract Research and Development work, custom product sales, and limited production. Q-Peak spins out promising technologies into new companies or develops partners for large-scale production of laser and nonlinear optical systems. Q-Peak also works with their parent company, PSI, a developer of laser-based products and nonlinear materials, to establish applications of Q-Peak technology in a variety of photonics-related areas.