The consumption of Planar Waveguide Circuits (PWCs) will grow from its $173-million mark in 2001 to over $4.2 billion by 2011, claims a new report from market researcher ElectroniCast Corp. (San Mateo, CA).

"The goal for planar waveguide technology is smaller or dense packaging," explains president Stephen Montgomery. "Planar Lightwave Circuits (PLCs) are systems that include waveguides, emitters (light sources), and detectors (photo-diodes) that are placed in a plane of the circuit." Coupler technology, waveguide grating routers, and other planar products are examined in ElectroniCast's study.

ElectroniCast's "Planar Waveguide Component Global Market Forecast" provides a comprehensive listing of planar waveguide circuit types for the ten-year forecast. Circuit types include total planar waveguide circuit production, total planar waveguide circuit consumption, discrete planar waveguide circuits, Array Waveguide Gratings (AWGs), Switches, Variable Optical Attenuators (VOAs), coupler/splitters, lithium niobate modulators, "other" discrete planar waveguide circuits, and integrated multifunctional planar waveguide circuits.

For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.electronicast.com.