Optical engineering since 2001 — the company behind Optical-Calculation
Optical-Calculation is developed by CLAVIS, a French company founded by Gilles Passedat in 2001. The tools published here come from twenty years of optical instrumentation projects, not from a software catalogue.
From fiber optics to optical instrumentation
CLAVIS started as a start-up in optical communication, developing and exploiting a proprietary technology for the high-volume manufacturing of hermetic feedthroughs on fiber optics and micro optics, at a cost well below the established techniques of the time.
In 2004, after the telecom bubble burst, the company moved into R&D consultancy for optical instrumentation — the activity it has pursued ever since.
More than 50 projects across the photonics industry
CLAVIS has been involved in over 50 projects with start-ups, SMEs, large companies and research organizations, in fields as varied as microelectronics, medical devices, green industry, energy, telecommunications, security, defense, manufacturing, laser, space, nuclear, automotive, consumer applications and research. Among the organizations served are TotalEnergies, Teledyne e2v, CNRS, Pellenc ST and Canal+.
These missions range from short studies of a few hours to comprehensive projects spread over several months, covering feasibility studies, engineering, optical and mechanical design, integration and tests, reverse engineering and technical consulting. See the optical engineering services.
Ten years with the ITER organization
The longest collaboration ran from 2013 to 2022 within the "Port Plugs and Diagnostics Division" of the ITER organization, the international nuclear fusion research facility. CLAVIS contributed, among other things, to the conceptual designs of the IVVS (In Vessel Viewing System) and the IVLS (In Vessel Lighting System).
From consultancy to software
CLAVIS drew on that experience in optical instrumentation to develop Optical-Calculation, launched in 2022. It is an online calculation and simulation platform for anyone running a photonics project — beginners and experts in optical software alike, occasional users as much as regular ones. It now offers 287 calculation pages, 53 of them free of charge, alongside a complete optical design and optimization engine. See what the software does.
Gilles Passedat, founder
Gilles Passedat graduated from the Institut d’Optique Graduate School (Greater Paris) and obtained his PhD in 1993 at the Laboratoire de l’Horloge Atomique (Greater Paris), on the coherence improvement of high-power laser diodes. He then joined Coherent Inc as a sales engineer, before moving to Theta Scan SA as product manager in virtual reality. Prior to founding CLAVIS, he set up the optical department of La Precision SA, then a manufacturer of mechanical parts for the telecom industry.
Alongside his activity at CLAVIS, he has served since 2011 as an expert for the European Commission, evaluating and reviewing projects under FP7, then Horizon 2020 and the EIC Accelerator programme. From 2006 to 2012, he was also a part-time senior lecturer in the "Mesures physiques" department of the IUT (Institut Universitaire de Technologie) in Marseille.