WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Using patented technology developed at Purdue University, a Midwestern, high-tech venture is manufacturing a new kind of high-performance fiber optic detector that will allow for increased speed and capacity on the Internet.
OptoLynx Inc., a privately held semiconductor company based in the Purdue Research Park, announced that its line of detectors will be available for purchase by mid-May.
Today's fiber optic market is experiencing tremendous growth with the advent of e-commerce transactions, data warehousing, on-line stock trading, and World Wide Web browsers' demand for video-to-the-desktop and real-time computing. With that growth comes an uncapped demand for broader bandwidths to move data more quickly and economically over the Internet.
To meet this demand, OptoLynx uses proprietary technology to produce fast, high-performance detectors with four to 10 times the capacity of conventional detectors. The company's fiber optical light detectors are designed for data stream speed. The company's initial product is an 850 nanometer glass optical fiber detector that picks up and relays incoming fiber optic information at 1.25 gigabits and 2.5 gigabits (billion bits per second). That is 50,000 times faster than an average home computer modem at 56.6 kilobits (thousand bits per second) and 10 to 25 times faster than a Fast Ethernet connection at 100 megabits (million bits per second).
The size of a fiber optic detector is important to the speed at which it can detect light. The only way to make existing detectors faster is to reduce their size, but that isn't an option because of the thick diameter of the optical fiber system they must connect with. To remove this barrier, researchers at Purdue developed a detector that is designed to be fast, responsive to light, and available in larger, usable components.
"If you have to hit the side of a door, it easier to hit when it's a barn door. This technology makes it easier for the fiber optic module manufacturer to put the various components together since it reduces the need for precise alignment of the fiber into its connector," said OptoLynx Chief Executive Officer R. David Monahan. "Our larger detector also eliminates the manufacturer's need for light-focusing lenses and dramatically reduces alignment costs."
OptoLynx plans to market its product as a link for optical fibers in telecommunications, wave-length division multiplexing, and Internet Local Area Network (LAN) markets. OptoLynx also plans to provide high-speed, lower-cost solutions to the needs of the automotive, aerospace and process control industries.
OptoLynx's detector material is produced using advanced molecular beam epitaxy and by using an innovative way to convert light into electricity. "While incredibly fast, our detectors also will detect more light and thereby more accurately transmit information," said the technology's inventor, Michael Melloch, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering and OptoLynx's chief technology officer. "We believe we've overcome the market perception that the existing technology suffers from a trade-off between speed and responsivity."
More products are in the pipeline, according to Monahan. OptoLynx plans to provide integrated receiver solutions containing an amplifier designed to work with the detector. "In line with our commitment to deliver a broader line of faster components, we will introduce 1,300 nanometer, 5 gigabit detectors by early summer, and 10 gigabit detectors by the fall. Prototypes of these products will be available in June," Monahan said.
OptoLynx also plans to introduce its own line of transceiver modules for use with plastic fiber optics. "While our detectors represent a significant advancement in glass fiber optic technology, they will provide a substantial advantage in the plastic fiber optics market," said Korean venture capitalist and OptoLynx Chairman June Min. "Large-area detectors are nearly essential in order to accommodate a plastic optical fiber system's larger diameter."
Min said he believes that plastic will take over as the fiber optical system of the future because it's more durable, more affordable and more suitable to a wider array of applications than traditional glass optical fiber systems.
Founded in 1999, OptoLynx has partnered with venture capital firms in the United States and Korea. A subcontracted manufacturing facility is in prototype production, and work has begun on construction of a Gallium Arsenide Research, Development and Manufacturing Facility at the Purdue Research Park. OptoLynx plans to hire 37 engineers, scientists and technicians within three years.
Purdue has licensed the detector technology to OptoLynx under an exclusive commercial arrangement.
OptoLynx is one of more than 30 high-tech businesses in the Purdue Research Park's incubator system. That system seeks to increase the odds of success for new ventures by providing a helping hand early in their development.
Sources: R. David Monahan, (765) 775-4556; monahan@optolynx.com
Michael Melloch, (765) 775-4556; melloch@optolynx.com
June Min, 011-822-325-1140; pjmin@optolynx.com
Writer: Jeanine Smith, (765) 496-3133; jsmith@uns.purdue.edu
Related Web site: Purdue Research Park: http://www.adpc.purdue.edu/PRF/NEWPRP/incfaqsx.html