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For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
Amy Foschetti
Interprose PR
Phone: + 1 (703) 917-0972
[email protected]

NanoOpto Announces Sampling of Its Polarization Management Family of Subwavelength Optical Elements

Nano-Structure Based Optical Subcomponents Deliver Ease of Application and Assembly in a Broad Range of Optical Component Applications

Somerset, New Jersey. March 4, 2002. NanoOpto Corp., which is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking, announced today availability of samples of its polarization management family of optical subcomponents. The first three products in this family are the NanoWave™ Polarizer, the NanoWave™ Polarization Beam Splitter (PBS), and the NanoWave™ Polarization Beam Combiner (PBC). Preliminary engineering samples have been shared with select customers for the past several months.

These polarization management devices are NanoOpto’s first commercial realization of subwavelength optical elements, or SOEs. Interacting with light through a pattern of nano-scale structures, SOEs exhibit novel physical properties that allow optical processing to be done on a much smaller scale and perform new functions that bulk optics cannot. SOEs are manufactured using NanoOpto’s proprietary nano-fabrication capability in volume with wafer-based processes. (See the separate announcement for this manufacturing capability, also issued today.)

The SOE polarization management devices demonstrate excellent optical performance parameters along with a high damage threshold and wide-acceptance angles making them an excellent fit for a broad range of applications where compact design and ease of assembly are important.

• The NanoWave Polarizer has a transmissivity of greater than 97% and an extinction ratio of more than 40dB.
• The NanoWave PBS provides 180° of effective polarization separation in the space of 0.2 mm or less with greater than 97% transmissivity on both outgoing beams.
• The NanoWave PBC has 0.1 dB of loss on both of the combined polarizations

All exhibit a wide acceptance angle of up to +/- 20° and high damage thresholds providing ease of integration and robust performance. They are available with a thickness of 0.2, 0.5, or 1.0 mm and dimensions from 1.0mm² to 100mm². These devices are designed for applications in fiber amplifiers, isolators, circulators, optical switches, and general optical processing applications that require access to the polarization of light.

“NanoOpto’s polarization management SOEs are the initial realization of a breakthrough technology and product platform for the creation of optical components,” states Barry Weinbaum, CEO and President of NanoOpto. “Designed for integration, both with other optical component technologies and between SOEs themselves, these devices lead to reductions in both overall system costs and manufacturing costs. This is true disruptive technology delivered non-disruptively in a way to assure ease of application. We are excited to be already engaged with customers in defining the detailed requirements for our next wave of devices.”

About NanoOpto
NanoOpto Corp. is applying proprietary nano-optics and nano-manufacturing technology to design and make components for optical networking. Based on years of research, the company’s technology allows orders of magnitude more rapid prototyping, higher performance and lower overall system cost. Both on its own and with corporate partners, NanoOpto will use subwavelength techniques to produce better conventional optical components and also to create new classes of integrated components. The company’s development of patented nano-imprint lithography techniques forms the basis for high volume manufacture at its facility in Somerset, New Jersey. The company has received financial backing from leading venture capitalists.

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