In brief: Prima Luci, Fujitsu, Bookham
Prima Luci, an optical component designer and fabless manufacturer based in White Plains, NY, has raised $2 million in funding from a private investment group.
The company holds a patent for redirecting light pulses using all-photonic components. Earlier this year it increased its portfolio of products by adding an "all-photonic" dispersion compensator operating at rates of up to 160 Gb/s.
The funding will allow Prima Luci to complete orders for engineering samples, claimed to cost up to 90% less than equivalent alternatives, that have been placed by "several" optical systems manufacturers.
Japanese team develops an energy-efficient laserA collaboration between Fujitsu and the University of Tokyo has developed a quantum dot (QD) laser for use in next-generation broadband telecommunications, according to the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The Japanese partnership hopes to put the new device to practical use by 2007, citing low manufacturing costs and high efficiencies as the main benefits of the technology.
The device, containing ten layers of 10 nm-sized QDs, emits at 1.3 µm and can operate at speeds of up to 10 Gb/s. The operating temperature currently ranges from 20-70 °C, but the team hopes to extend this figure to 0-85 °C.
Syscan joins LED backlight bandwagonUS-based display manufacturer Syscan Imaging will be demonstrating LED backlighting technology for LCD flat-screen televisions in New York City next week.
Commenting on the opportunity for LED backlights to replace cathode tubes, Syscan s CEO Darwin Hu said: "Of the 180 million TV sets to be sold worldwide this year only 5% will be of the flat-screen variety, leaving much room for growth."
"With flat-panel-industry revenues expected to surpass $80 million world wide during 2005, the opportunity for new advanced technologies is substantial," added Syscan s senior VP of business development, David Clark.
Intense appoints two non-executive directorsUK-based optoelectronic chip manufacturer Intense Photonics has appointed Iain Robertson and Christopher Snowdon as non-executive directors.
Robertson is currently chairman of the power semiconductor company Cambridge Semiconductor, and non-executive director of telecommunications component manufacturer Ibsen Photonic. Snowden, a part-time academic at Leeds University, is also joint CEO of the communication components and systems firm Filtronic.
Bookham crosses the pondOptical components manufacturer Bookham Technology has completed its change of corporate domicile from the UK to the US. It is currently trading on the Nasdaq exchange under ticker symbol "BKHMV", but this will revert to "BKHM" at the end of the month.