Princeton Lightwave Licenses IBM's SPD Technology

CRANBURY, N.J., Oct. 12 -- Princeton Lightwave Inc. (PLI), a New Jersey manufacturer of optical semiconductor components, announced it has licensed IBM’s single-photon detection (SPD) technology. An SPD is an essential component of quantum cryptography systems, which enable extremely secure communications even in the presence of eavesdropping, PLI said.

Quantum cryptography systems are being developed for government and financial institutions and are expected to be widely used. Single-photon detectors are also useful in a variety of optical and semiconductor test and measurement applications and in some areas of scientific research.

The IBM SPD technology was developed at its Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., with partial funding by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST) program. SPD units produced by IBM have been deployed by QuIST participants in a prototype metro-area network.

Princeton Lightwave will continue development of the SPD technology by combining it with a recently announced InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD optimized for single-photon counting performance.

Bruce Nyman, vice president of System Solutions at PLI, said, "Our ability to design and manufacture a commercial single-photon counting APD together with IBM’s technology will further the development of practical quantum cryptography systems."

The IBM SPD technology, which includes its transient-canceling circuit technology, has been tested in several laboratories and found to provide exceptionally high-speed, low-noise single-photon detection in a number of demanding applications, including quantum cryptography, PLI said. The company said it expects to further improve this performance by incorporating its new APD.

For more information, visit: www.princetonlightwave.com