Lumera scores major deal and a CEO

17 Jun 2002

Optical start-up is to forge ahead under new leadership with applications of its electro-optic polymer.

The US government has awarded US optical-components developer Lumera a USD 1.6 million contract to design new electro-optic polymer materials for the fabrication of a wideband, optical-modulator demonstration system. The contract calls for Lumera, a subsidiary of Microvision in the US, to complete the first stage of the project within 14 months. If Lumera is successful, the US government may exercise options that would result in at least an additional USD 2.3 million contract and allow device fabrication to extend into 2003.

Waveguiding material

Lumera claims that its electro-optic polymer-materials technology will lead to a new generation of active and passive optical-network components - such as switches and waveguide amplifiers - that will deliver increased bandwidth at competitive costs and require less power than existing devices.

The materials, developed with research partners at the University of Washington, US, comprise organic molecules, called chromophores, embedded in plastic. Waveguide channels for directing optical signals can be etched into wafers made from the materials. Applying an external electric field makes the chromophores align themselves so that they conduct and control light in the desired manner. Prototype devices based on these materials have demonstrated record-setting bandwidth (in excess of 100 GHz) and operating voltages (less than 1 V) and can be easily integrated with circuits on silicon chips.

Lumera expects to make prototype devices available to customers for testing during 2001, with commercial production scheduled to begin in 2002. It will be a new CEO - the company's first - who steers the business forward. Thomas Mino has just taken over at the helm, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing, marketing, sales and management of semiconductor and optoelectronic companies, including Agere Systems, US and Synergy Semiconductor, US.