Exail Signs NASA JPL Contract; Semilux Launches Collaboration Program: Week in Brief: 3/22/24

Semilux International Ltd., a provider of lidar and ADB components, has started a research and development program for the development of a domestic solid-state lidar module for automotive applications. The program is sponsored by the National Science and Technology Council in Taiwan and includes collaboration with experts from the National Chung Hsing University, Turing Drive, and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, among other academic institutions.

An artist’s representation of the GRACE-C satellites orbiting a topographically imaged earth. Courtesy of Exail.

SAINT-GERMAIN EN LAYE, France — Aerospace and photonics company Exail has signed a €1.1 million ($1.2 million) contract with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide space-grade LiNbO3 phase modulators for the laser ranging interferometer of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Continuity (GRACE-C) mission. GRACE-C, led by NASA in partnership with the German Space Agency at German Aerospace Center, will use Exail’s technology to help estimate Earth's gravity field and to provide insights into water shifts influenced by changing seasons, weather, and climate processes.

Representatives from imec, the Spanish government, and the regional government of Andalusia agree to the memorandum of understanding. Courtesy of imec.

LEUVEN, Belgium — imec, a nanoelectronics research and innovation hub, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Spanish government and the regional government of Andalusia outlining the intent to establish a specialized chip technology pilot line in Málaga, Spain. The facility will join imec’s existing production line in Leuven, Belgium in the development of 300mm CMOS manufacturing processes.

CAMBRIDGE, U.K. — MicroLED company Porotech has partnered with integrated touch solution company General Interface Solution Holding Ltd. for the production of high pixel density AR products for consumer applications. Porotech has also partnered with Hon Hai Technology Group and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. to help mass produce these products.

WATERLOO, Ontario — The Canadian government’s Canadian Foundation for Innovation has given the University of Waterloo Canadian Free Electron Laser project CAN $10 million ($7.4 million) toward the creation of a free electron laser facility on the University’s campus. The CAN $50+ million ($37 million) project will have an infrared free electron laser and will enable fundamental science concerned with monitoring energy flow through molecules and materials. Applications include light harvesting, the photo-control of molecular properties, and the chemical, spatial, and temporal mapping of living biological materials.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Infinera, a supplier of optical networking solutions, has established a partnership with Orange, a telecommunications operator, to collaborate on Orange’s international backbone network. Orange and Infinera recently completed a network in the U.S. and will now connect Paris, Marseille, and Bordeaux in France. The network will span 3,000 km and include multiple hub cities for international connectivity via submarine landing stations on France’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts and connection points for European data centers and additional Orange affiliates. This collaboration comes after Infinera received a notice of delinquency from the Nasdaq after missing the deadline to file its annual report.

SYDNEY — The University of Sidney has opened a photonics teaching lab backed by KeySight Technologies. Located in the University’s Engineering and Technology Precinct, the lab includes photonic technologies such as circuits, communications, sensing, and signal processing to meet both learning and industry demands and skillsets.

Professor Tianyu Wang. Courtesy of Boston University.

BOSTON — Tianyu Wang, an assistant professor in Boston University’s department of electrical and computer engineering, has received a Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative Deep Tissue Imaging Phase two grant worth $2.5 million for a collaborative project on multi-photon microscopy. The project, “Correlation Engineering for Deep Multiphoton Microscopy,” is a collaboration with researchers from Yale and Cornell and focuses on developing a light source that will enhance the probability of nonlinear fluorescence excitation during the imaging process of multi-photon microscopy. Phase two aims to gain a deeper mechanistic understanding of biological systems by visualizing and measuring them across biological scales and in context.

SOMERSET WEST, South Africa — Simera Sense, a provider of end-to-end optical payload solutions, has raised a €13.5 million ($14.7 million) investment round from NewSpace Capital and Knife Capital. Simera Sense will use the investment to expand its current production capacity in response to rising client demand. The company intends to add production sites in Europe. The funding will also enable Simera Sense to expand its product development teams and hasten the development of its SWIR camera products.

The QKD system that utilized Toshiba's proprietary technology during the experiment. Courtesy of SoftBank Corp.

TOKYO — SoftBank Corp. and Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation have entered into a collaboration to create a quantum secure network and have completed an experiment in which they successfully built an inter-site QKD-VPN. The collaborators implemented a QKD system using Toshiba's proprietary technology for accelerated key generation, along with a QKD-compatible VPN router developed by Fortinet on SoftBank's network. SoftBank and Toshiba aim to further improve and develop quantum cryptographic technologies based on the insights gained from the experiment.