{"id":4973,"date":"2025-12-30T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/?p=4973"},"modified":"2025-12-26T13:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T21:17:20","slug":"reflections-on-2025-accomplishments-and-cheers-to-a-bright-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/2025\/12\/30\/reflections-on-2025-accomplishments-and-cheers-to-a-bright-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections\u00a0on\u00a02025\u00a0Accomplishments\u00a0and Cheers to\u00a0a\u00a0Bright\u00a02026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PICs, funding,&nbsp;expansion, and&nbsp;space!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">2025 was a bustling year for NLM. We want to share some of the technical and commercial milestones achieved by our growing team. With market trends showing strong growth in optics due to the bandwidth demand in AI, NLM is showcasing key technology at the inflection point of industry boom. This is an exciting time for the photonics business!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New investors&nbsp;kicked&nbsp;off&nbsp;2025!&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In January,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/01\/28\/investment-from-emerald-and-oregon-venture-fund\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">we received investment&nbsp;from&nbsp;Emerald Technology Ventures and Oregon Venture Fund<\/a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;assist&nbsp;in our scaling and&nbsp;commercialization&nbsp;efforts.&nbsp;The two firms joined&nbsp;Idemitsu,&nbsp;Tokyo Ohka Kogyo&nbsp;Co., Ltd., Pack Ventures,&nbsp;StoryHouse&nbsp;Ventures, and&nbsp;existing NLM investors to&nbsp;support NLM\u2019s vision and focus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Frank Balas from Emerald and&nbsp;Andrew Grenville (independent director)&nbsp;joined&nbsp;our&nbsp;Board&nbsp;of Directors, alongside&nbsp;our&nbsp;CEO Brad Booth and CTO&nbsp;Lewis&nbsp;Johnson.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs)&nbsp;are here!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/03\/31\/ofc-50-demo-industry-first-commercial-silicon-organic-hybrid-modulator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">At OFC&nbsp;50&nbsp;in April, we launched our 1.6T&nbsp;silicon organic hybrid (SOH)&nbsp;PIC!<\/a>&nbsp;We developed this&nbsp;PIC&nbsp;alongside our partners Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF),&nbsp;Centera&nbsp;Photonics, and&nbsp;Enosemi.&nbsp;The&nbsp;demonstration&nbsp;at OFC&nbsp;represented&nbsp;a&nbsp;major&nbsp;commercialization milestone for&nbsp;SOH&nbsp;electro-optic&nbsp;technology&nbsp;featuring&nbsp;our patented material,&nbsp;Selerion&#x2122;-HTX.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In September, we&nbsp;announced&nbsp;r<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/09\/29\/silicon-organic-hybrid-performance-at-200g-and-beyond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ecord-setting results in our 1.6T and 3.2T PICs that showcase&nbsp;real-world improvements in&nbsp;200G and&nbsp;path to 400G&nbsp;in&nbsp;multi-channel silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) PICs.<\/a>&nbsp;Our PICs achieved&nbsp;unrivaled&nbsp;0.31 V-mm&nbsp;modulation efficiency and industry-leading 110 GHz bandwidth performance. Tests were conducted by VLC Photonics in their labs and with our partner Keysight at our&nbsp;facility.&nbsp;These&nbsp;results have allowed us&nbsp;to begin&nbsp;sampling our&nbsp;PICs&nbsp;to&nbsp;select partners.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NLM Photonics Validates Silicon-Organic Hybrid Performance at 200G and Beyond\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VAoVLcAGmr0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">For&nbsp;more about&nbsp;why photonics&nbsp;is&nbsp;becoming so important, check out our feature in PIC Magazine:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/picmagazine.net\/article\/123075\/Beyond_silicon_building_a_photonic_foundation_for_next-gen_computing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Beyond silicon: building a photonic foundation for next-gen computing.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NLM\u2019s chips now orbit Earth on the International Space Station (ISS)!&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/11\/05\/organic-electro-optic-materials-successfully-launched-into-space-with-nasa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NLM&#8217;s SOH and Polariton Technologies&#8217;&nbsp;plasmonic&nbsp;chips currently reside on the ISS!<\/a>&nbsp;Sent on a flight&nbsp;in&nbsp;October,&nbsp;these chips&nbsp;will be subjected to the harshest&nbsp;environment&nbsp;around, including intense radiation, atomic oxygen erosion, extreme temperature fluctuations, and vacuum conditions, during their stay.&nbsp;These extremes are&nbsp;impossible to replicate here on Earth.&nbsp;Our SOH chips were developed through an&nbsp;STTR contract&nbsp;from NASA with AIM Photonics; the&nbsp;POH chips, using NLM\u2019s&nbsp;Selerion-HTX,&nbsp;were created in partnership with Polariton Technologies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">While these chips will\u00a0travel\u00a0more miles per day than even Brad gets in one year, NASA\u00a0unfortunately\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0offer an air miles equivalent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Once the chips have completed their time&nbsp;in space,&nbsp;they\u2019ll&nbsp;be sent back to our labs where&nbsp;we\u2019ll&nbsp;assess how they withstood&nbsp;space&nbsp;and use these findings on durability for both space-bound technology and Earth-based applications.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In Laser Focus World,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.laserfocusworld.com\/optics\/article\/55332646\/silicon-organic-hybrid-photonics-testing-is-underway-aboard-the-international-space-station\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lewis&nbsp;shares more about what makes this&nbsp;chip&nbsp;testing so special and critical.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NLM team&nbsp;expansion and&nbsp;industry&nbsp;engagement&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As NLM&nbsp;transitions&nbsp;from&nbsp;proof-of-concept&nbsp;to commercial&nbsp;realization,&nbsp;we\u2019ve&nbsp;grown the company by 60%!&nbsp;Our newest&nbsp;technical&nbsp;hires&nbsp;bring critical knowledge,&nbsp;expertise, and experience in semiconductor process development, nanofabrication, metrology, formulation development, and mechanical engineering.&nbsp;We also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/12\/10\/photonics-and-data-center-business-leader-joins-as-vice-president-of-sales\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brought on photonics and data center business development leader Varughese Mathew<\/a>&nbsp;to lead&nbsp;sales and enhance our partnerships and customer base.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The NLM team&nbsp;participated&nbsp;in multiple&nbsp;industry conferences and events&nbsp;in 2025. We kicked off the year&nbsp;with a presentation&nbsp;at&nbsp;SPIE\u2019s&nbsp;Photonics West&nbsp;2025;&nbsp;followed by&nbsp;a demonstration at OFC&nbsp;50;&nbsp;and wrapped up with&nbsp;a presentation and booth at&nbsp;Optica&nbsp;+ APC\u2019s&nbsp;Photonic-Enabled Cloud Computing (PECC) Industry Summit.&nbsp;We&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/09\/08\/nlm-joins-exclusive-semi-silicon-photonics-industry-alliance-siphia-and-attends-semicon-taiwan-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">joined&nbsp;SEMI\u2019s Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance (SiPhIA) to introduce NLM to the vibrant Taiwanese semiconductor industry<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;attended the SEMICON&nbsp;Taiwan&nbsp;event.&nbsp;We&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/2025\/05\/12\/nlm-graduation-from-the-creative-destruction-lab-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proudly&nbsp;graduated from the exclusive Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Program\u2019s 2024\/2025 cycle<\/a>&nbsp;in May&nbsp;and&nbsp;qualified to attend&nbsp;CDL\u2019s Super&nbsp;Session in&nbsp;June in Toronto, Ontario.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Our team&nbsp;with researchers from Polariton Technologies, University of Washington, ETH-Z\u00fcrich, and KU Leuven&nbsp;published&nbsp;the scientific paper,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acs.chemmater.5c00027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cUltrahigh Performance Cross-linkable Organic Electro-Optic Material for Hybrid Modulators,\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>Chemistry of Materials<\/em>.&nbsp;We talked to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hpcwire.com\/2025\/10\/01\/photonic-switches-promise-to-keep-gpus-fed-cool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HPC Wire about photonic&nbsp;switches and&nbsp;keeping GPUs cool<\/a>&nbsp;and to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.electronicspecifier.com\/news\/breaking-the-bottleneck-powering-ai-data-centres-with-next-gen-photonics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Electronic Specifier on powering AI data centers with next-gen photonics<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NLM\u2019s&nbsp;journey into 2026&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">On the tails of 2025\u2019s momentum,&nbsp;our team is excited to&nbsp;continue innovating&nbsp;and&nbsp;progressing&nbsp;into&nbsp;2026.&nbsp;January&#8217;s&nbsp;Photonics West will kick off&nbsp;our tradeshow season, and&nbsp;following closely behind&nbsp;will&nbsp;be&nbsp;OFC in March with a demo&nbsp;showcase.&nbsp;(Are you going?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/contact-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reach out to us to&nbsp;connect!<\/a>)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">We&nbsp;look forward to sharing with you the advancements and&nbsp;other notable steps&nbsp;NLM&nbsp;will&nbsp;take&nbsp;throughout the next year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">We wish you all the best for a prosperous,&nbsp;happy, and&nbsp;bright&nbsp;New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PICs, funding,&nbsp;expansion, and&nbsp;space! 2025 was a bustling year for NLM. We want to share some of the technical and commercial milestones achieved by our growing team. With market trends showing strong growth in optics due to the bandwidth demand in AI, NLM is showcasing key technology at the inflection point of industry boom. This is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4973"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4984,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973\/revisions\/4984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nlmphotonics.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}