Newark, DE--Focused on the development of next-generation photonic devices and nonlinear optical polymer materials systems for applications in high-speed fiber-optic communications, Lightwave Logic (LWLG) announced that preliminary testing and initial data on its prototype silicon organic hybrid (SOH) device coated with one of Lightwave's proprietary materials demonstrated several promising characteristics: with a one-millimeter square footprint, a modulator device with a waveguide structure approximately 1/20th of the length of a typical inorganic-based silicon photonics modulator waveguide required less than 2.2 V to operate.
With the combination of proprietary Lightwave Logic electro-optic polymer material and the extremely high optical field concentration in the slot waveguide modulator, initial data rates exceeded 30-35 gigabit per second (Gbps) in the telecom 1550 nm frequency band. This 2.2 V operation is equivalent to four 10Gbps inorganic, lithium niobate modulators that would require approximately 12-16 V to move the same amount of information. Lightwave's material also operates in the 1310 nm frequency band, which is suitable for data communications applications.
There are tremendous economic advantages for datacenters to reduce power consumption and a smaller flexible form factor is also essential to keep pace with the rapidly expanding telecom and data communications markets.
Cloud computing is just one market Lightwave intends to target with a fully developed commercial offering. There are several layers within a large datacenter that could ultimately be penetrated with a commercially qualified device. The Company will initially target the rack-to-server layer. IEEE Spectrum has estimated the market potential to be in the millions of units per year. Also, Infonetics, an international market research firm estimates that an average selling price for short-reach optical modules (transmitters, transceivers, and transponders) at or below $500 would trigger enormous demand, as the reduced cost per gigabit of transmission would offer significant savings. A fully developed, market-ready product could capture the majority of this multi-billion dollar market segment.
Tom Zelibor, chairman and CEO of Lightwave Logic said, "This is a major step towards commercialization of organic polymers for our Company and I am thrilled with our development team and their progress. We are already making improvements and addressing parameters that are essential to move toward commercialization. As I have told the shareholders before, we needed to demonstrate that our materials would actually work in a device and now it is time to optimize the material performance for these revolutionary devices. It is important to consider that this is a starting point and unlike inorganic compounds, organic nonlinear optical polymers can be chemically altered to improve performance since their molecular structure allows manipulation and offers a pathway to better-and-better results."
SOURCE: Lightwave Logic; http://www.lightwavelogic.com