company industry top level markets include research and academia industry energy environment security health founded 1959 headquarters abingdon oxfordshire key people nigel keen chairman ian barkshire ceo products analysers atomic force microscopes coating thickness measurement analysers cryogenic systems ct & mri systems maintenance & parts electron spectroscopes microanalysis systems nanomanipulation & nanofabrication plasma ald & ion beam scanning probe microscopes spectrometers superconducting magnets and wire thin film & tailored uhv systems x ray tubes and integrated sources revenue 350.8 million 2013 1 operating income 49.7 million 2013 1 net income 22.0 million 2013 1 website www.oxford instruments.com the original osney mead building of oxford instruments in west oxford now used as a church . oxford instruments plc is a united kingdom manufacturing and research company that designs and manufactures tools and systems for industry and research . the company is headquartered in abingdon oxfordshire england with sites in the united kingdom united states europe and asia . it is listed on the london stock exchange . contents 1 history 2 activities 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit the company was founded by sir martin wood in 1959 with help from his wife audrey to manufacture superconducting magnets for use in scientific research starting in his garden shed in northmoor road oxford england . 2 it was the first substantial commercial spin out company from the university of oxford 3 and was first listed on the london stock exchange in 1983 . 2 it had a pioneering role in the development of magnetic resonance imaging providing the first superconducting magnets for this application . the first commercial mri whole body scanner was manufactured at its osney mead factory in oxford in 1980 for installation at hammersmith hospital london . 4 further innovations included the development of active shielding whereby fringe fields hazardous to pacemaker wearers causing difficulty and expense in siting were virtually eliminated . 5 oxford instruments was not able to capitalise on these inventions itself granting royalty free licence to philips and general electric whilst developing a joint venture with siemens in 1989 this was dissolved in 2004 . 6 activities edit nanoanalysis x ray microanalysis systems manipulators and gas injection systems for electron and ion beam microscopes for the preparation and characterisation of materials and matter to the smallest scale . techniques include energy dispersive and wave length dispersive x ray technology electron backscatter diffraction and in situ lift out . it supplies a high performance large area silicon drift detector x max . as of june 2011 it also supplies omniprobe products . industrial analysis elemental analysis using x ray fluorescence xrf and optical emission spectroscopy oes xrf coating thickness measurement . its hand held xrf analyser x met is used for metals identification rohs compliance testing pmi lead in paint and drywall testing . its oes range of products are used in the metal and steel industries for sorting and identification . benchtop nmr for industrial quality control and bioscience applications . industrial applications include rock core analysis fluorine in toothpaste oil in sunflower seeds fat in chocolate x ray technology x ray tube manufacture and space technology . plasma technology tools and leading edge processes for the engineering of micro and nano structures . technologies include plasma etch and deposition fabrication and hvpe . its products are used in the research and manufacture of semi conductors high brightness leds and photovoltaic cells . nanoscience creating sample environments for measurement at low temperature and high magnetic field for physical science applications down to the atomic scale . its key application is in fundamental physics research for research into quantum computing for example . superconducting technology production of low temperature superconducting wires . austin scientific instruments supplies repairs and refurbishes cryopumps and helium compressors for the semiconductor industry for cryo compressors consumables and refurbishment healthcare service and support network with offices and representatives world wide . includes a specialist mri service division . asylum research atomic force microscopy afm for both materials and bioscience applications . andor technology developer and manufacturer of high performance light measuring solutions scientific digital cameras . references edit a b c preliminary results 2013 pdf . oxford instruments . retrieved 22 march 2014 . a b sir martin wood and oxford instruments pdf . oxford university . retrieved 2011 09 17 . high tech uk industry ; oxford instruments . case . 2011 07 04 . retrieved 2011 09 17 . mri scanner 1980 . oxfordshire blue plaques scheme . oxfordshire blue plaques board . 2011 06 02 . retrieved 2012 01 06 . superconducting magnets the heart of nmr . ingenia . february 2004 . retrieved 2011 09 17 . siemens acquires oxford instruments stake in oxford magnet technology . pr newswire . 2004 . retrieved 2011 09 17 . further reading edit audrey wood magnetic venture the story of oxford instruments oxford university press 2001 . isbn 0 19 924108 2 . external links edit oxford instruments plc official website english retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title oxford instruments & oldid 742136084 categories electronics companies of the united kingdomengineering companies of the united kingdomnanotechnology companiescompanies based in oxfordabingdon on thameselectronics companies established in 1959manufacturing companies established in 19591959 establishments in englandcompanies listed on the london stock exchangebritish companies established in 1959 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 1 october 2016 at 22 32 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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