Princeton Licenses IBM Tech

CRANBURY, N.J. -- Princeton Lightwave, a manufacturer of high performance optical semiconductor components, announced that it has licensed IBM’s single-photon detection (SPD) technology. An SPD is an essential component of quantum cryptography systems, which enable extremely secure communications even in the presence of eavesdropping.

Quantum cryptography systems are being developed for government and financial institutions and are expected to find widespread use. Single-photon detectors are also useful in a variety of optical and semiconductor test and measurement applications and in some areas of scientific research.

The IBM SPD technology was developed at its Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. with partial funding by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST) program. SPD units produced by IBM have been deployed successfully by QuIST participants in a prototype metro-area network.

Princeton Lightwave will continue development of the SPD technology by combining it with a recently announced InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD) that has been specifically optimized for single-photon counting performance. Integrating this photodetector with the IBM technology will provide customers with a high-performance solution for their single-photon counting applications.

“We are excited about the potential that IBM's technology has for the commercialization of SPD technology,” said Bruce Nyman, VP System Solutions at Princeton Lightwave. “Our ability to design and manufacture a commercial single-photon counting APD together with IBM’s technology will further the development of practical quantum cryptography systems.”

“Princeton Lightwave is the logical choice to continue development of our SPD technology,” said Mark Dean, IBM Fellow and Vice President, Almaden Research Center. “Integrating the innovations of our two companies will help accelerate the move of quantum key distribution from the laboratory into real-world use, which will help us achieve our goal of enhancing data security.”

Princeton Lightwave Inc. (PLI)

IBM Corp.