Lumera Develops Unprecedented Electro-Optic Polymer

Lumera Develops Unprecedented Electro-Optic Polymer; New Materials That Have Five Times the Efficiencies of Inorganic Materials Used to Fabricate Optical Devices

- Nanotechnology Allows Lumera to Manufacture Improved Materials at the Molecular Level -



BOTHELL, Wash., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lumera Corporation, (Nasdaq: LMRA - News), announced today it has developed a revolutionary electro-optic polymer -- a molecularly engineered material -- that has unprecedented efficiency for advanced, high performance materials.



The efficiency of the new polymers is about five times that of the inorganic material currently used to fabricate active optical devices and is expected to dramatically improve optical equipment serving industries ranging from telecommunications to high speed computers.



"We believe this nanotechnological breakthrough, particularly as it relates to the materials developed by Lumera, could have a significant impact on the development of the optical equipment and optical interconnect markets," said Thomas D. Mino, chief executive officer. "Lumera has attracted and partnered with the best researchers in the industry and we continue to expect great science to result in commercial products that will transform industries."



"As we transition to these nano-engineered materials, their outstanding performance will allow a greater number of options in device design," continued Mino. "For example, we can drive down the operating voltage, increase the bandwidth, decrease the size and reduce the cost of optical modulators and optical interconnects. Additionally, polymers can be processed into device architectures such as Mach-Zehnder interferometers, directional couplers, and micro-ring resonators. The relative ease and precision with which these different devices can be fabricated is the significant advantage of polymer materials."



Lumera is using the technology and materials to develop a number of new products that will allow the company to expand in, or enter new markets. For example, the company is developing modulators that have highly linear responses for cable TV (CATV) optical links and hybrid wireless/fiber optic networks. Additionally, external modulators that can operate at 10-40 GHz in metro applications, transponders, and long-haul fiber optic network build-outs are being evaluated by potential customers.



Lumera has recently received orders for the advanced materials and engineering samples of devices from select large telecommunication and semi-conductor companies.

This looks like great news from Lumera -- but I definitely get that 'unfrozen caveman' feeling trying to figure out what they're talking about when they get into "Mach-Zehnder interferometers, directional couplers, and micro-ring resonators". Sounds cool! But I have no idea what the heck they are.



I have a feeling it's going to be hard to keep up with both Lumera and Microvision on this website. The developments and advances are likely to be coming at us hard and fast from both companies. There is a whole heck of a lot of Lumera stuff on this blog -- and there may be someone who's willing to pick up the torch and write an LMRA Blog for all the Lumera info anyone could ever want going forward. But in the interest of keeping the quality and frequency of the Microvision information as high as I possibly can, and not directly owning LMRA shares myself, for now I'm going to leave the LMRA Blogging to whichever diehard Lumera fan decides to take it on.



What I will say is that I'm glad Microvision owns 5.5M shares of Lumera -- it's worth over $33M right now -- and I'll bet that it's going to be worth a whole lot more in the years to come. I give all the credit in the world to Mr. Rutkowski for founding the company and bringing them public and getting this asset into Microvision's coffers. I'll be very interested to see how Lumera and Microvision's technologies and products intersect in the years to come. But for now, I think it would be best to keep MVIS Blog all about MVIS.