DARPA seeks leap in communications tech

BY David Hubler
Published on July 6, 2006

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
has awarded Lumera a $3.45 million contract
to build state-of-the-art electro-optic
polymer modulators. If the company meets
certain performance milestones, the award’s
total value could be $5.8 million.

The two-year project calls for Lumera, a
nanotechnology company based in Bothell,
Wash., to develop high-performance polymer
optical modulators, according to a company
announcement. The modulators are used in
defense applications such as land-based and
satellite radio frequency photonic links and
phased array radar.

The company will make the devices by adapting
recently developed electro-optic polymers
into new designs that reduce drive voltage
and optical loss.

“The recent advance that Lumera has made on
our polymers’ electro-optic properties and
device design was a key factor in our winning
this contract over competition from
multibillion-dollar international
corporations,” said Tom Mino, Lumera
president and chief executive officer, in the
statement.

“The effort required to meet the goals of the
DARPA award directly parallels the road map
for our commercial products,” said Raluca
Dinu, director of Lumera’s Electro-Optics
Business Division. “We anticipate that this
could generate significant revenues in
materials, modulator devices and systems.”
Applications for these products include
optical components and communication systems,
sensing and imaging, and interconnect
markets, Dinu added.

http://www.fcw.com/article95161-07-06-06...

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