Integrated Photonics Announces MGL Faraday Rotators are Lead-Free

Hillsborough, New Jersey, February 23, 2007 – Integrated Photonics, Inc., the first company to offer for sale thick film Faraday rotators that are compliant with the European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, is now the first to offer a lead-free Faraday rotator to OEM customers. While all Integrated Photonics’ Faraday rotator materials (FLL, FLM, FLT and MGL) are RoHS compliant (< 1000 ppm lead), the MGL material is designed to be lead-free

Thick film Faraday rotators are the principal components in non-reciprocal passive photonic devices such as optical isolators and circulators and can also be used in magnetooptic switches, variable optical attenuators and sensors. They are critical to the performance of fiber-optic systems because they have high Faraday rotations in the infrared telecommunications wavelengths. Therefore they do not require long path lengths and/or bulky magnets that strongly affect device cost, size and performance. The MGL Faraday rotator does not require a bias magnet at all. It has been tested in a variety of harsh environments and still maintains the single-domain configuration required for device performance. This allows it to be placed in locations that would previously have been considered out-of-bounds because of constraints of magnetic field, packaging, weight, size and thermal mass. The composition of the MGL material is optimized to sustain latching performance over a wide temperature range and is based on patents licensed and held by Integrated Photonics.

Thick film Faraday rotators are grown by Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) from a flux that typically contains lead oxide. IPI has developed proprietary technology with a high degree of process control to reduce the lead that enters the crystal to a value below the RoHS limit in all materials and to zero in the MGL material. IPI’s materials have been thoroughly tested using ICP-MS (the only method shown to give accurate results in these complex materials) by two independent third party testing laboratories and are certified to be in full compliance with the RoHS Maximum Concentration Values (MCVs). This development has caused the European Union to open a consultation on eliminating the exemption for lead in Faraday rotators (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_6_consult.htm, Item 21), which closed January 10, 2007 without opposition and is currently under review.

Integrated Photonics’ Faraday rotators also comply with the Maximum Concentration Value limits set out in “Management Methods for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products” (Chinese Ministry of Information Industry Order #39), also known as China RoHS. While the key catalog listing items required to be in full compliance with this directive will not be issued until later this year, marking requirements begin March 1 and all of IPI’s products sold into China comply and have their certificates of compliance properly marked with Logo 1, the green “e” to signify that all MCV levels are met. IPI will continue to stay aware of and comply with all environmental regulations in all countries into which we sell.

Integrated Photonics is a leading provider of oxide single crystal materials including thick film Faraday rotators for telecommunications wavelengths and terbium gallium garnet (TGG) bulk Faraday rotators for visible and near-infrared applications. IPI will be exhibiting at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition and the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) in Anaheim, California, March 27-29, 2007. We invite you to visit us at booth number 3360. For additional information, please contact Sales@IntegratedPhotonics.com or visit us on the web at http://www.integratedphotonics.com.

About Integrated Photonics

Integrated Photonics, Inc. (IPI), now in its seventh year, is a leading provider of Faraday rotators and single crystal oxide materials for optical isolators and other passive optical components, serving customers both within and outside the telecommunications industry. With expertise in Liquid Phase Epitaxy and Czochralski growth of single-crystal oxides, IPI develops and manufactures both bismuth-doped iron garnet (BIG) thick film and bulk terbium gallium garnet (TGG) Faraday rotators and other oxide materials. Innovative new materials are currently under development, supported by three Phase II SBIR awards.