CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 29 -- Polaroid Corp. has licensed a key patent used in arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer products to NTT Electronics Corp. -- NEL -- and Kymata Ltd. Polaroid described its technology for an integrated planar optical star coupler as a critical element of the AWG multiplexer, a cost-effective component that enables dense wavelength division multiplexing in fiber optic networks.
In addition to NEL and Kymata, Polaroid has licensed the star coupler technology to such telecommunications firms as AT&T Corp., Hitachi Cable, and Photonic Integration Research Inc.; licensing negotiations with several additional telecommunications entities are ongoing. According to Paul Lambert, Polaroid's senior vice president of corporate research and development, the company expects the market for AWG multiplexer products incorporating the star coupler technology to grow at an annual rate of 20 percent.