PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Gemfire, an integrated photonics company, today announced that it has expanded its PhotonICT family of waveguide-based variable optical attenuator (VOA) arrays to include both 8-port and 16-port configurations as well as an 8-port VOA with blanking switch. Gemfire's VOA components are based on a siloxane-based polymer waveguide design and deliver enhanced functionality, integration and overall performance for gain equalization and dynamic saturation control of optical signals. The company's thermo-optic polymer waveguide design provides low insertion loss, a small footprint and electronically controllable attenuation with no thermo-electric cooler required. The 8 and 16-port configurations are capable of delivering more than 20 dB of dynamic attenuation while consuming less than 20 mW per port of drive power. The 8-port VOA with blanking switch is also capable of more than 20 dB of dynamic attenuation and more than 40 dB of blanking. "One of the advantages of the market slowdown was that it offered us the opportunity to talk to customers and more accurately understand their needs," said Rick Tompane, CEO of Gemfire. "The product variations that we elected to develop are in direct response to feedback we received from these customers and we will continue to expand on the range of options available." Gemfire Corp.