Startup · United States
Beacon Photonics
HQ ArlingtonFounded 202311-50 employees
Founded by experts in the field of heterogeneous photonics, Beacon Photonics delivers innovative optical microsystems for commercial and national security impact.
Federal Prime Contracts$7.2M obligated · FY2025–FY2026
- Obligated
- $7.2M
- FY2025–FY2026
- Contract actions
- 19
- 9 awards
- Peak year
- FY2025
- $869K
- Top buyer
- U.S. Army
- 37% of obligations
Show as table
| Fiscal year | Obligated | Actions | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 (to date) | $6.3M | 13 | 5 |
| FY2025 | $869K | 6 | 4 |
Top buyers
- U.S. Army$2.7M 37%
- U.S. Navy$2.3M 32%
- U.S. Air Force$2.2M 31%
What they sell (PSC)
- National Defense R&D Services; Department of Defense - Military; Applied Research$4.5M 62%
- National Defense R&D Services; Department of Defense - Military; Basic Research$2.7M 38%
Industry (NAICS)
- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (Except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)$6.9M 97%
- Research and Development in Biotechnology (Except Nanobiotechnology)$240K 3.3%
Where the work is done
- Virginia$7.2M 100%
Contract pricing
- Firm Fixed Price$4.2M 58%
- Cost Plus Fixed Fee$3.0M 42%
Competition
- Full and Open Competition After Exclusion of Sources$7.2M 100%
Largest awards9
- Develop A Mode Locked Laser on Chip That Will Combine the Robustness of the Fiber Laser Approach and the Miniaturization and Fabrication Advantages of Photonics Integrated Circuits (Pics). · U.S. Army · USAspending ↗$2.1M
- Basilica: Barium Atomic Spectroscopy with Integrated Lasers for Ion Computing Applications: to Fabricate A Narrow Bandwidth, On-chip 1762 Nm Laser with An Amplifier to Address the 6S1/2 to 5D5/2 Quadrupole Transition for Ba+ · U.S. Air Force · USAspending ↗$2.1M
- 873AUTHORITY · U.S. Navy · USAspending ↗$900K
- 873AUTHORITY · U.S. Navy · USAspending ↗$900K
- Small Business Innovation Research Phase I, Topic O254-007: Photonic Integrated Nv Center in Diamond Vector Magnetometers. Proposal O254-007-0529: Compass: Compact Optical Magnetometer for Positioning, Attitude, and Sensing Systems. · U.S. Army · USAspending ↗$314K
- Small Business Innovation Research, Topic A244-047, Multilayer Waveguide Optical Gyroscope. · U.S. Army · USAspending ↗$250K
- 873AUTHORITY · U.S. Navy · USAspending ↗$240K
- 873AUTHORITY · U.S. Navy · USAspending ↗$240K
- Wideband Heterogenous Optical Modulator Platform (Whomp) Sbir Phase I · U.S. Air Force · USAspending ↗$140K
Signed obligations on federal prime contracts (award types A–D) from USAspending, FY2008 through Oct 9, 2026. Obligations are money the government committed, not company revenue, and include de-obligations. Subcontracts and grants are excluded. Matching is by registered UEI.
Federal Obligations by Year (All USAspending, as Reported at the Time)
| Fiscal year | Direct: assistance | Direct: contracts |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $0 | $6.3M |
| FY2025 | $400K | $869K |
Direct is the company's own reviewed UEIs. Reported by USAspending is subsidiaries as reported by USAspending: recipients that name this company as their parent, not yet reviewed ownership.
Recipients (UEIs) tied to this company
- BEACON PHOTONICS INC · RWY5ZMTPENK5 · $7.6M
Each action counts for the company USAspending reported on that row, so a subsidiary's dollars count for Beacon Photonics only for the period it reported Beacon Photonics as its parent. Net of de-obligations; these are obligations, not ceilings. They come from the whole USAspending baseline (every recipient size, contracts and assistance) and are a separate view from the curated contract totals on this page. Fiscal year 2027 is partial.
Capabilities1
| Technology | Role | Maturity | TRL | Notes | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semiconductors and microelectronics | Developer | — | — | classify_sectors run 37, haiku, taxonomy 2026-10-18b: Optical microsystems for "commercial and national security impact", which states a national security use. | Reported |
- Developerclassify_sectors run 37, haiku, taxonomy 2026-10-18b: Optical microsystems for "commercial and national security impact", which states a national security use.—Reported
Maturity and TRL describe this organization's work; the field-wide maturity is on each technology's page.
People3
| Person | Role |
|---|---|
| Chris Poulton · LinkedIn ↗ | Co-Founder and CTO |
| Gordon Keeler · LinkedIn ↗ | Co-Founder and CEO |
| John Burke · LinkedIn ↗ | Chief Product Officer |
Sources6
Profile5
- 1
PitchBook · Supports Organization · employee range, Organization · founded year, Organization · linkedin url
“employee_range: 11-50 (profile: 14)”
- 2
Sixth-Domain · Supports Organization · country, Organization · kind
“{"country": "USA", "hq_iso2": "US", "id": "304aace9-3e40-4497-964a-232f0f929ce4"}”
- 3CompanyBeacon Photonics - Home
Beacon Photonics · Supports Organization · description, Organization · name, Organization · website
“Founded by experts in the field of heterogeneous photonics, Beacon Photonics delivers innovative optical microsystems for commercial and national security impact.”
- 4
Crunchbase · Supports Organization · employee range, Organization · hq city, Organization · linkedin url
“employee_range: 11-50 (profile: 11-50)”
- 5
LinkedIn · Supports Organization · employee range, Organization · hq city, Organization · linkedin url, Organization · ownership
“employee_range: 11-50 (profile: 11-50 employees)”
People1
- 6CompanyBeacon Photonics - team page
Beacon Photonics · Supports Role
“Gordon Keeler Co-Founder and CEO”
Government identifiers1
- UEI
- RWY5ZMTPENK5
- BEACON PHOTONICS INC
- Checked Oct 18, 2026
Identifiers are matched to this legal entity; related companies may hold different registrations.
Each fact on this page is attached to the sources that support it. Archived copies are linked when we keep one.