Business briefs
17 Jun 2002
Including news from Terahertz Photonics, Alcatel, Biophan, GigaTera and Cambridge Display Technology.
Terahertz Photonics, a UK-based start-up specialising in planar lightwave circuits (PLCs), will make 13 of its 36 staff redundant after problems finding second-round venture capital funding. The company plans to close its semiconductor devices division and sell its optical coatings business to raise money. It will continue to develop polymer and sol-gel silica materials for its PLCs.
Alcatel, France, claims that it has set a new world record in long-haul submarine optical transmission by sending 3.65 Tbit/s over 6 850 km, a distance comparable to most transatlantic cable links. This would allow simultaneous transmission of 45 million voice calls within a single fiber.
Switzerland-based
GigaTera, a developer of high-speed components for optical telecommunications networks, has received USD 2 million of venture capital funding from
Cypress Semiconductor and its subsidiary
Silicon Light Machines, both based in the US. Andros Payne, chief executive officer of GigaTera said: "This investment and relationship will help us to accelerate the development of our first network-deployable product."
US-based
Biophan, developers of the first MRI-compatible pacemaker (see related story), has announced encouraging results from an independent test of its product. The fiber-optic pacemaker withstood twenty minutes of testing in a high magnetic field.
Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), UK, has licensed its light-emitting polymer technology to
Sumitomo, Japan. David Fyfe, chief executive officer of CDT said: "The Asian technology sector is known for readily adopting and applying new technologies. We recognise the importance of partnering Asian companies and we are seeking appropriate partnerships."
