About Us

Aquila Instruments Ltd is a Lancashire based manufacturer of precision optical instrumentation, specialising in Spectrophotometry systems for the non-contact measurement of thin film coatings.

Our core activities are in the fields of ultra-high stability, ultra-high precision optical measurements and the development of advanced numerical techniques for application-specific data analysis. These, together with our specialisation in thin film metrology, are reflected in our range of optical thin film measurement equipment.We are also able to design bespoke solutions for more specialised thin film analysis applications. Our company includes physicists, instrumentation engineers, precision mechanical engineers, thin film specialists, a chemist and a numerical analysis specialist.

We were created in 2000 and acquired the IPR to our initial instrument the nkd-6000 ­ from Canadian company, Nanoptix. In September 2002 we launched the third generation of the nkd, the 8000 series, representing a huge step forward in the development of our thin film measurement technology. Aquila has established a solid customer base of blue-chip companies all over the world including Europe, the USA and China.

In May 2003 Aquila Instruments was acquired by Millbrook Scientific Instruments PLC, who saw it as an opportunity to share common expertise in surface analysis and generate exciting new products. Additionally there is considerable overlap between the potential customer bases and this benefit is further reinforced by our ability to share common distributors for overseas markets.

Aquila is a customer orientated company, dedicated to providing our users with the best solution the their application and continued support - keeping our products at the leading edge of thin film measurement.