Copenhagen, Denmark, August 4, 2004--Crystal Fibre, a subsidiary of NKT, plans to acquire the assets of Blaze Photonics (Bath, England) for US$3.3 million. Crystal Fibre and BlazePhotonics have been the leading players in the development and manufacture of microstructured optical fibers.
Blaze Photonics was established in 2001 to commercialize crystal fiber technology developed by Prof. Philip Russell and his research team at the University of Bath in the early 1990s. In addition to his academic role at the university, Russell served as CTO of Blaze Photonics. The company has focused on developing hollow core crystal fibers and has demonstrated transmission loss as low at 1.72 dB/km.
Crystal Fibre was established in 2000 as a joint venture between COM Centret and research staff at the Technical University of Denmark. In 2001, Crystal Fibre moved from the Technical University of Denmark to its current facility in Birkerod, north of Copenhagen, where NKT has concentrated its optical communication activities.
