Founded in 2018 on a dream of making photonics ubiquitous, at NLM, we\u2019re proud to say we\u2019re achieving this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From growing our team and funding (including revenue) to expanding our offerings and exciting new R&D, we\u2019re extremely optimistic about the success of our products and industry. August 10th marked our official 3rd anniversary as a company! 🎉 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
NLM started with three co-founders and two academic contributors\/advisors, and now our team\u2019s grown to 10 people, expanding our R&D and other scientific pursuits and leveling up our accounting and marketing efforts. We also maintain an advisory board of nine members, four scientific and five industry leaders, to keep us abreast of industry-specific needs (e.g., wireless and equipment) and funding opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our team also continues to grow in their skillset and experiences. Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Lewis E. Johnson recently gave a Keynote speech at SPIE Optics + Photonics, and our Director of Process Development Dr. Scott R. Hammond qualified as an electron beam lithography operator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also officially opened NLM Europe, located in Paris, to facilitate the innovation and excitement of European partners and hire local employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opportunities: the global chip shortage and photonics <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what we know: there\u2019s a huge global shortage of semiconductors<\/a> due to supply chain disruptions and overwhelming demand. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic amplified this situation, limiting supply due to shutdowns and causing demand for information technology to skyrocket; these effects were compounded by US-specific export control restrictions involving technology trade with China. Everything from our smartphones and computers to our toothbrushes and doorbells requires chips these days. Couple this with high-performance computing desires \u2014 quantum, cryptocurrency, AI, and machine learning \u2014 and the fact that semiconductors take several months to produce using a very delicate process with hundreds of steps<\/a>, and you have a big problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As companies like Intel, Google, and Apple rush to make their own chips and countries pump billions of dollars into the problem \u2014 the US Senate earmarking $52 billion for chips \u2014 our industry is heating up dramatically. Not to mention, device innovations and demand further complicate the chip crunch. We need new solutions for providing this connectivity in devices and between them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where photonics comes in.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n With higher speed, lower power consumption, smaller size, and potential for dense integration with electronics, photonics overcomes limitations in the current chip market. While creating more chips is essential, faster chips mean fewer chips are necessary for demanding applications like machine learning and telecommunications infrastructure. Plus, climate change demands we be more conscious about our energy and our materials consumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Innovation and change are all part of solving the chip problem. However, a key need in photonics is the ability to hybridize with other technology, including traditional CMOS, such that companies don\u2019t have to start from scratch in development. NLM\u2019s materials can integrate into and supercharge existing platforms, meeting this critical requirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As photonics picks up steam, the European market is particularly interested in innovation beyond conventional semiconductors for their computing and communications needs. Many of the companies we are currently partnering with are based in Europe. They\u2019re extremely enthusiastic about photonics and incorporating our materials into their devices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In June 2021, we officially opened NLM Europe, located in Paris. We\u2019re currently hiring two scientists based in Europe to work directly with customers. We also started localizing our website content in both French and German to facilitate this connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our first commercial materials \u2014 JRD1 and HLD \u2014 came out of the 20+ years of research conducted at the University of Washington under Profs. Larry R. Dalton and Bruce H. Robinson and their research groups. Peer-reviewed and demonstrated in academic devices, these materials showed that high performance and high stability can be obtained without unacceptable tradeoffs and that organic electro-optic materials (OEO) are commercially viable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, our R&D has expanded with a focus on stability and electro-optic response. For stability, our materials must integrate seamlessly with other technologies and withstand the intense temperatures \u2014 sometimes exceeding 120 \u00b0C \u2014 very demanding environments require. Dr. Scott R. Hammond tested HLD thoroughly to ensure our customers know precise stability limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For electro-optic response, we\u2019ve recently exceeded the long-time goal of 1,000 pm\/V record! This exceeds <\/strong>the performance of the best inorganic material, barium titanate. Advanced Materials<\/em> will publish these achievements, and our R&D team is taking what we learned from this new material for future advancements. Breaking this record is also a long-standing goal for proving the superiority of OEO materials in the marketplace compared to current and other innovative competing technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As we continue to work directly with customers, their asks and feedback on our materials relate directly to the applications they are using them for. As Dr. Lewis E. Johnson leads our R&D team to NLM\u2019s next generation of materials, we\u2019re both improving our core performance and exploring application-specific materials for industries with particularly demanding needs, such as quantum computing or aerospace\/vehicle applications. Every industry\u2019s unique set of challenges only pushes us to improve with each iteration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.nonlinearmaterials.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/kevin-lewis.jpg\")
Growth: Expanding toward the European market <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Customer care: Application-specific R&D <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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