NRL develops photonic component library using first-of-its-kind Department of Navy trade secret license
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has licensed a silicon-nitride based photonic component library to The Research Foundation for the State University of New York (RF SUNY), the administrator of AIM Photonics, a Department of Defense (DoD) Manufacturing Innovation Institute, using a novel form of Intellectual Property protection: trade secret. By working closely with AIM Photonics, NRL’s Optical Sciences Division is developing photonic components with functionalities targeting priorities such as analog signal processing, quantum information and computing, data remoting, and navigation and timing. Silicon-nitride is a glass-like material commonly used in semiconductor fabrication. In NRL’s work, optical waveguides are formed in this material, which allow light to be transported across a semiconductor chip. The component library is based on years of NRL research at NRL and the license is an important step in lowering the costs of using PIC technology in DoD applications. This marks the first time a trade secret has been commercially licensed by the Navy.