Fibertek

Fibertek, Inc. is an American laser and electro-optic systems company founded in 1987 and headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, designing and manufacturing advanced laser systems, lidar instruments, and laser communication terminals for space science, Earth observation, and defense applications — including the uplink laser terminal for NASA's landmark Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.

Fibertek built the uplink laser assembly for DSOC, a NASA technology demonstration instrument aboard the Psyche spacecraft launched in October 2023. DSOC achieved the world's first laser communication link from beyond the Moon when, in November 2023, it successfully transmitted test data via laser from the ground station at Palomar Observatory to the Psyche spacecraft at approximately 16 million kilometers distance — demonstrating data rates multiple orders of magnitude higher than conventional radio frequency links of equivalent transmitter power could achieve at that distance. This milestone validated laser (optical) communication as a technology for future deep space missions requiring high-bandwidth science data return.

Beyond DSOC, Fibertek develops laser rangefinders and altimeters for planetary science instruments, high-energy pulsed lasers for atmospheric lidar remote sensing (ozone, CO2, aerosol profiling), laser systems for space situational awareness and satellite laser ranging, and electro-optic components for free-space optical communication terminals in LEO satellite crosslink and ground downlink systems.

Fibertek competes with Coherent (formerly II-VI), FLIR/Teledyne, and other specialized laser system integrators for NASA and DoD space laser system procurement contracts.