New York Photonics Manufacturing Initiative
Goal: Assist in developing national and regional technology roadmaps for the U.S. photonics industry and laying the groundwork for a national institute dedicated to advancing and diffusing photonics-based manufacturing technologies.
Lead: University of Rochester, Center for Emerging and Innovative Sciences
260 Hutchison Rd.
Rochester, NY14627
Award Number: 70NANB14H054
Federal Funding: $498,430
Project Duration: 18 months
The University of Rochester and its partners, including leading U.S. optics and photonics manufacturers, will work closely with the National Photonics Initiative to develop a National Technology Roadmap for Photonics. This roadmap will forecast the introduction of key new technologies and identify manufacturing challenges that, if solved, can strengthen the competitiveness of domestic photonics companies and bring photonics manufacturing back to the United States. Guided by the roadmap, the New York Photonics Manufacturing Initiative also will lay the foundation for a national consortium devoted to advanced manufacturing technologies for photonics. In concert, the initiative will develop a regional implementation roadmap that leverages New York’s human, infrastructural, and technical resources.
The United States has been the world leader in developing photonics technologies. Fiber optics, photovoltaics, lasers, digital imaging, and flat panel displays are U.S. inventions. However, the U.S. share of photonics manufacturing has dropped significantly, falling to only 10 percent of all photonics components sold world-wide. To meet this challenge, the United States needs to take the lead in developing advanced manufacturing technologies that both enable and leverage photonics technologies. For example, optoelectronic devices that are now assembled by hand in Asia can be manufactured competitively in the U.S. by developing the ability to integrate photonic devices with electronic circuitry. And displays that are now made on large flat glass substrates in Asia could be made in the U.S. using flexible substrates and high-speed roll-to-roll coating processes.
Funded Participants:
- New York Photonics (Rochester, NY)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
