Battelle Acquires Optimer

Battelle announced it recently acquired the intellectual property and other assets of Optimer Photonics Inc., including 14 US patents, several international patents and 12 pending applications for undisclosed terms.

Battelle is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company. Optimer Photonics Inc. was formed in 2001 to commercialize the electrooptic waveguide components developed at Battelle for the telecommunications industry. Both are based in Columbus.

Optimer Photonics uses electrooptic materials and components to generate, modulate and detect millimeter-waves (30 to 300 GHz).

Optimer has also developed and patented over 100 new materials that can be used in both conventional optical and nonlinear optical applications. Several polymer systems were developed that have refractive index values between 1.3 and 1.6 and can be used as optical adhesives or host nonlinear optical chromophores such as liquid crystals or Pockel-type chromophores. Both the polymers and the nonlinear optical chromophores were used to create variable optical attenuators (VOAs) and high-speed modulators that operate in the infrared and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Its intellectual property portfolio, now owned by Battelle, includes optical and electrooptic polymer materials; electrooptic waveguide components; architectures for fiber-to-the-home implementations; and photonic approaches for millimeter-wave generation, modulation and detection.

“We intend to pursue research and development opportunities in millimeter-wave photonics technology including potential applications in wireless data transmission, highly linear analog links, millimeter-wave spectroscopy and stand-off detection,” said Richard W. Ridgway, PhD, who was chief technology officer at Optimer Photonics and is currently a senior researcher for Battelle’s electronics and avionics systems product lines.

Ridgway is leading Battelle’s efforts to pursue commercial and government-funded opportunities for these millimeter-wave applications. Vince McGinniss, formerly senior vice president at Optimer, is now a senior researcher with Battelle’s chemical, environmental and materials operation group.

For more information, visit: battelle.org