Dow Corning Photonic Solutions to unveil new products at ECOC 2003

19 September 2003 Midland, MI Lightwave -- Dow Corning Corp. has announced four new product additions to its Photonic Solutions optoelectronic (OE) product line, which will be featured at ECOC 2003, held in Rimini, Italy, September 22-24, 2003.

The new products include Dow Corning Optical Coupling Gel, Dow Corning Optical Elastomer, Dow Corning Photonic Grade Encapsulant, and Dow Corning Primary Optical Fiber Coating.

Dow Corning Optical Coupling Gel is a two-part, high purity, compliant, transparent silicone gel. It is used for refractive index matching for silica-to-fiber and other optical junctions in optical and fiber-optic components. It is also used for waveguide protection and cladding, splicing, connecting, gap filling, and component assembly.

Dow Corning Optical Elastomer is a one-part, high purity, compliant, transparent silicone elastomer that provides a high degree of refractive index shifting potential for planar silica-on-silicon optical components. Its refractive index and high optical transmission make it suitable for a variety of waveguide core and cladding applications.

Dow Corning Photonic Grade Encapsulant is a two-part, high purity, transparent soft silicone elastomer designed for the protection of semiconductor lasers, photonic and electronic components on hybrid assemblies.

Dow Corning Primary Optical Fiber Coating is a high purity UV-curable liquid coating. A fast-curing hydrophobic formulation, it is specifically designed as a protective elastomeric inner primary coating for optical fibers and can be tailored to customer specifications.

"These products offer highly competitive cost and performance values for our customers," asserts Stu Bush, optical components market manager at Dow Corning Photonic Solutions. "We see a real demand for products that are specifically designed for demanding optical use in a number of applications."

In addition to these products, Dow Corning's Photonic Solutions offering includes other advanced silicon-based materials, device technologies and services. The company provides its customers with flexibility and choice. Many of the required optical and mechanical properties can be customized through controlled synthesis to provide cost-effective material and processing options. Additionally, a multitude of cure chemistries is available to provide customers with flexibility of design options.