The funding will also go towards R&D into compound semiconductor lasers for broadband communications, the report said. The deal includes £2.15m equity investment and the restructuring of a £1.85m loan, the report added.

In a separate development CST Global is involved in three road map studies, two with its epiwafer producer IQE on the feasibility of producing uncooled aluminium indium gallium arsenide (AlInGaAs) laser diodes at low cost and  looking at manufacturing diode lasers with narrower linewidths and better side-mode suppression ratios than the best existing distributed-feedback lasers.

In a third study teamed  with Glasgow University, CST Global is also to evaluate the possibility of producing optoelectronic integrated circuits that can monolithically combine a resonant tunnelling diode with a laser to produce a single-chip, optical-wireless interface for use with indoor base-stations, as in femto or picocells.

Launching ultrafast broadband studies
The feasibility studies are part of investment  by Technology Strategy Board (TSB), backed by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, providing £1m for research and feasibility studies into into a series of optoelectronic feasibility studies that it says will lead to “pan-European ultra fast broadband“ and should improving consumers’ broadband connection speeds through fibre optic broadband networks.

Funding of 13 grants of between £30,000 and £100,000 will mainly focus on discovering ways of building fibre optic networks more cost effectively to ensure they will reach the maximum number of consumers.

Of the thirteen studies in the "ultra fast broadband" project, which runs for up to six months, Oclaro the Bookham and Avenex merged entity, features in six, including examining how to increase the deployment of its indium-phosphide (inP) tunable lasers to enable 10Gbps connections at the lowest possible cost and how 10 Gbps access networks will be established across Europe.

Oclaro will also consider integrating arrayed-waveguide gratings with tunable lasers produced at its Caswell fabrication centre, which helps it qualify for UK funding. Partners will be  component producer, Gemfire and University of Essex.

Studies also include leading insititutions, such as network operator BT, system manufacturer Ericsson, and Cambridge University with their partners who will find the best way to maximise opportunities for UK institutions in the next stage of the Photonics 21  European technology initiative.

Scotsman
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