The factory floor at Thorlabs on the edge of Ely was a hive of activity and a cauldron of noise last week. Workers were in the final stages of assembling a sturdy optical table used by researchers to conduct experiments involving vibrations.
Thorlabs is one of the businesses in the so-called Silicon Fen — a cluster of high-tech, high-growth firms in Cambridgeshire. Its general manager, Keith Dhese, was upbeat about the prospects for the American-owned company, which exports more than 85 per cent of its products. But he admitted…
