NP Photonics Gets Compliant MEMS

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NP Photonics has acquired Parvenu Inc., a Delaware Corporation, which had previously acquired Solus Micro Technologies' (Westlake Village, CA) Compliant MEMs (CMEMs) technology, intellectual property, and tunable filter products. Parvenu will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NP Photonics, and produce the tunable filters at its Westlake Village, California, facility. The filters will be offered under the NP Photonics name and NP Photonics will support all existing tunable filter customers. "This acquisition is expected to strengthen the NP Photonics tunable fiber laser product line, broaden our technology base, and expand our product offerings," said Chuck Chandler, NP Photonics' CEO. "It opens new product opportunities that integrate the capabilities for loss-less tunable optical components and subsystems." The tunable filters, named TFM-2000, TFM-1200 and TFM-700, have a range of finesse from 700 to 2000 or greater, and are suited for applications such as optical performance monitoring and tunable lasers. The tunable filters are based on a new technology called CMEMs that extends the performance and capabilities of traditional silicon-based MEMs devices. This lays the foundation for tunable components and modules that provide significantly better performance and lower costs than other products available on the market today. The CMEMs technology acquisition follows closely on the heels of NP Photonics' introduction of the world's first miniaturized optical-fiber-based amplifier products for long haul, metro and access markets. The amplifiers are based on proprietary Erbium Micro Fiber (EMF) technology in which erbium-doped glass produces high optical gain over just a few centimeters of fiber, rather than over many meters, as with traditional erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). The result is a family of components similar in performance to conventional EDFAs, but smaller, easier to integrate and far more cost effective. NP Photonics will be exhibiting at ECOC September 8-12, 2002, in Copenhagen, Denmark, and at NFOEC September 15-19, 2002, in Dallas, Texas, where they will be showing their current family of fiber amplifiers, tunable filters and fiber lasers. NP Photonics Inc.