Firm Wins Contract to Develop Chiral Laser

Chiral Photonics Inc. of Clifton, N.J., plans to develop and prototype chiral fiber lasers under a three-year, $2 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program. At roughly one-fifth of the cost, the lasers are expected to be three times more efficient than the semiconductor types that power fiber optic telecommunications networks. The devices can be integrated into fiber optic networks, eliminating coupling losses that are characteristic of semiconductor lasers. In the first phase of the project, the company will demonstrate techniques for making a single-frequency, fixed-wavelength chiral laser. It also will develop a process to make lasers that can be tuned to produce light of different wavelengths.