Optical
Gavriel D Meron, president and CEO of Given Imaging, said: "We regret the death of the patient and send our condolences to the family. Given Imaging welcomes the committee's comprehensive examination which underscores previous studies showing that the video capsule is safe and can not harm or perforate the intestine."
The endoscopic capsule has been subject to hundreds of medical community studies. The device is aimed at being a useful tool for diagnosing small bowel diseases such as Crohn's, tumors, bleeding, unexplained stomach pain and diarrhoea. More than 122,000 patients have swallowed the capsule as part of diagnosis and treatment since approval by the US FDA in 2001.
Lumera has developed an electro-optic polymer that is claimed to have an efficiency about five times that of the inorganic material currently used to fabricate active optical devices.
The electro-optic polymer resulted from a partnership between Lumera and the University of Washington. Professors Larry Dalton and Alex Jen used "nano-tailoring" to increase electro-optic activity that produces substantially more efficiency than that of existing materials.
For their part of the partnership, Lumera's team of scientists adapted internally developed materials to achieve electro-optic coefficients of 160pm/V at telecom operating wavelengths, a number that is approximately 20% higher than existing materials. Lumera is using the technology and materials to develop a number of new products that will allow the company to expand in, or enter, new markets.
For example, the company is developing modulators that have highly linear responses for cable TV (CATV) optical links and hybrid wireless/fibre optic networks. Potential customers are currently evaluating external modulators that can operate at 10-40GHz in metro applications, transponders, and long-haul fibre optic network build-out. Lumera has recently received orders for the advanced materials and engineering samples of devices from telecom and semiconductor companies.