From the IEE news forum on 23 Jan 2002: Optical nanotechnologies lab

Pirelli Labs, the new high-tech center of the Pirelli group, and the Microphotonics Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced a five-year-long framework agreement for advanced research in the field of photonics. In the first year Pirelli Labs will make an investment of $2 million.

MIT has pioneered the use of nanotechnology in realizing optical integrated circuits (ICs) capable of high-level functionality. In addition to groundbreaking research creating the building blocks of optical ICs, MIT researchers have for the first time demonstrated that such building blocks -- waveguides, bends and splitters -- can be integrated with active structures such as lasers, amplifiers and modulators.

Pirelli and MIT scientists will study a new generation of integrated optical systems based on nanotechnologies. Pirelli's goal is to utilize all of the wavelengths available in a fiber-optic cable to maximize the amount of data transmitted on each fiber and create a breakthrough in the field of broadband telecommunications.