Business.
Our Business Development
PSI-TEC Corporation (“PSI-TEC”) was founded in 1991 and incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on September 12, 1995. PSI-TEC was founded in Upland, Pennsylvania by Dr. Frederick J. Goetz where he established a laboratory with a small amount of private funding. PSI-TEC subsequently moved its operations to laboratory space provided by the U.S. Army on the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in cooperation with a division of the Department of Defense for the advancement of ultra wide-bandwidth satellite telecommunications. Thereafter, PSI-TEC commenced operations of its own organic synthesis and thin-films laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware.
In order to become a non-reporting publicly-traded corporation, in July 2004 PSI-TEC reorganized with our Company whereby (i) our Company changed its name from Eastern Idaho Internet Services, Inc. to PSI-TEC Holdings, Inc.; (ii) our Company acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of PSI-TEC stock; (iii) PSI-TEC became our Company’s wholly-owned operating subsidiary; and (iv) our Company's then sole officer and director resigned, PSI-TEC's nominees were elected to our Company's board of directors and new management was appointed. For accounting purposes, this acquisition transaction was accounted for as a reverse-acquisition, whereby PSI-TEC was deemed to have purchased our Company. As a result, the historical financial statements of PSI-TEC became the historical financial statements of our Company.
Immediately prior to the time of the reorganization transaction, our Company was a non-reporting development stage company whose stock was traded on the OTC: Pink Sheets. We had no substantive business operations and we were seeking other business opportunities. Our Company was originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on June 24, 1997 as Eastern Idaho Internet Services, Inc. to operate as an Internet services marketing firm. It was unsuccessful in this venture, and in June 1998 it ceased its operations and sold all of its operating assets.
On October 20, 2006, in order to consolidate the operations of PSI-TEC Holdings, Inc. and PSI-TEC Corp. (PSI-TEC Holdings, Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary), PSI-TEC Holdings, Inc. and PSI-TEC Corp. merged; and PSI-TEC Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation, became the surviving entity and subsequently changed its name to Third-Order Nanotechnologies, Inc. No change of control or domicile occurred as a result of the merger.
On March 10, 2008, Third-order Nanotechnologies, Inc. changed its name to Lightwave Logic, Inc. to better suit its strategic business plan and to facilitate stockholder recognition of the Company and its business.
Unless the context otherwise requires, all references to the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us” and other similar terms means Lightwave Logic, Inc., a Nevada corporation.
Our principal executive office is located at 111 Ruthar Drive, Newark, DE 19711, and our telephone number is (302)-356-2709. Our website address is www.lightwavelogic.com. No information found on our website is part of this report. Also, this report includes the names of various government agencies and the trade names of other companies. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the use or display by us of such other parties' names and trade names in this report is not intended to and does not imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any of these other parties.
Overview
We are a development stage research and development company. Our primary area of expertise is the chemical synthesis of chromophore dyes used in the development of organic Application Specific Electro-Optic Polymers (ASEOP) and Organic Non-Linear All-Optical Polymers (NLAOP) that have high electro-optic and optical activity. Both types of materials are thermally and photo-chemically stable, which we believe could have utility across a broad range of applications in devices that address markets like, telecommunication, data communications, computing and photovoltaic cells. Secondarily, the company is developing proprietary electro-optical and all-optical devices utilizing the advanced capabilities of our materials
Electro-optic devices convert data from electric signals into optical signals for use in communications systems and in optical interconnects for high-speed data transfer. We expect our patented and patent-pending technologies when completed and tested to be utilized by electro-optic device manufacturers, such as telecommunications component and systems manufacturers, networking and switching suppliers, semiconductor companies, aerospace companies and government agencies.
Our electro-optic polymers (polymers) are property-engineered at the molecular level (nanotechnology level) to meet the exacting thermal, environment and performance specifications demanded by electro-optic devices. We believe that our patented and patent pending technologies will enable us to design electro-optic polymers that are free from the numerous diverse inherent flaws that plague competitive polymer technologies employed by other companies and research groups. We engineer our polymers with the intent to have temporal, thermal, chemical and photochemical stability within our patent pending molecular architectures.
Our non-linear all optical polymers have demonstrated resonantly enhanced Third-order properties approximately 2,630 times larger than fused silica, which means that they are highly photo-optically active in the absence of an RF layer. In this way they differ from our electro-optical polymers and are considered more advanced next-generation materials.
Our patented and patent pending molecular architectures are based on a well-understood chemical and quantum mechanical occurrence known as aromaticity. Aromaticity provides a high degree of molecular stability. Aromaticity is what will enable our core molecular structures to maintain stability under a broad range of polymerization conditions that otherwise appear to affect other current polymer molecular designs. Polymers, polymer-based devices and the processes used to create them are often patentable, which can provide the developers of such technology with a significant competitive advantage. We consider our proprietary intellectual property to be unique.
Glossary of Select Technology Terms Used Herein
All-optical devices
All-optical devices convert data in the form of input light signals to a secondary light data stream. The future market of all-optic devices is expected to include all-optical transistors.
All-optical transistors
All-optical transistors are devices currently under development that use an input light signal to switch a secondary light signal. All-optical transistors are expected to enable the fabrication of an entirely new generation of high-speed computers that operate on light instead of electricity. We believe that this will significantly improve computation speeds.
Aromaticity causes an extremely high degree of molecular stability. It is a molecular arrangement wherein atoms combine into a ring or rings and share their electrons among each other. Aromatic compounds are extremely stable because the electronic charge distributes evenly over a great area preventing hostile moieties, such as oxygen and free radicals, from finding an opening to attack.
CLD-1
An electro-optic material based upon unstable polyene molecular architectures. Unlike our own molecular designs, CLD-1 is not a CSC model molecule and exhibits thermal degradation at low temperatures (~250 C) making it less suitable for commercial and military applications.
CSC (Cyclical Surface Conduction) theory
Most charge-transfer dyes (e.g. Disperse Red 1, CLD, FTC) are based upon a polyene architecture wherein the ground state and first excited state differ by the alteration of single and double bonds. CSC model molecules use nitrogenous heterocyclical structures.
Electro-optic materials
Electro-optic materials are materials that are engineered at the molecular level. Molecular level engineering is commonly referred to as “nanotechnology.”
Electro-optic modulators
Electro-optic modulators are electro-optic devices that perform electric-to-optic conversions within the infrastructure of the Internet.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology refers to the development of products and production processes at the molecular level, which is a scale smaller than 100 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter).
Nitrogenous heterocyclical structure
A multi-atom molecular ring or combination of rings that contain nitrogen.
Plastics/Polymers
Polymers, also known as plastics, are large carbon-based molecules that bond many small molecules together to form a long chain. Polymer materials can be engineered and optimized using nanotechnology to create a system in which unique surface, electrical, chemical and electro-optic characteristics can be controlled. Materials based on polymers are used in a multitude of industrial and consumer products, from automotive parts to home appliances and furniture, as well as scientific and medical equipment.
Polymerization
Polymerization is a molecular engineering process that provides the environmental and thermal stability necessary for functional electro-optical devices. Polymer materials can be engineered and optimized using nanotechnology to create a system in which unique surface, electrical, chemical and electro-optic characteristics can be controlled.
Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)
The basic principle in TGA is to measure the mass of a sample as a function of temperature. This, in principle, simple measurement is an important and powerful tool in solid-state chemistry and materials science. The method, for example, can be used to determine water of crystallization, follow degradation of materials, determine reaction kinetics, study oxidation and reduction, or to teach the principles of stoichiometry, formulae and analysis.
Zwitterionic-aromatic push-pull
Most charge-transfer dyes (e.g. Disperse Red 1, CLD, FTC) have an excited state (such as during photonic absorption) wherein a full charge is separated across the molecule. Such a molecule is said to be excited-state zwitterionic. Within such a molecular system the zwitterionic state is unstable and the molecule typically collapses rapidly into its lower dipole ground state. In our molecular designs, the excited state is further stabilized by the aromatization of the molecular core. In that aromaticity stabilizes
this excited state, it is said to "pull" the molecule into this higher energy state; on the other hand, the unstable zwitterionic state is said to "push" the molecule out of the excited state.
Lightwave Logic, Inc. is developing a new generation of advanced organic nonlinear materials to be used to make electro-optic polymers and non-linear all-optical polymers. These polymer-based materials when used in modulators can convert high-speed electronic signals into optical (light) signals for use in communications systems for high-speed data transfer. In the case of non-linear all-optical polymers, certain of our Company’s materials can be used in devices that use light waves to switch other light waves.
Electro-optic material is the core active ingredient in high-speed fiber-optic telecommunication systems. Utilizing our proprietary technology, we are in the process of engineering advanced electro-optic polymers that we believe may lead to significant performance advancements, component size and cost reduction, ease of processing, and thermal and temporal stability. We believe that polymer materials engineered at the molecular level may have a significant role in the future development of commercially significant electro-optic related products.
Our organic materials work by affecting the optical properties of light in the presence of an electric field at extremely high frequencies (wide bandwidths), but possess inherent advantages to inorganic materials
Currently, the core electro-optic material contained in most modulators is a crystalline material, such as lithium niobate or gallium arsenide, which must be manufactured in strict dust-free conditions since even slight contamination can render them inoperable. As a result, these crystalline materials are expensive to produce. Current electro-optic crystals are limited to telecommunication speeds that are less than 40Gb/s (40 billion digital bits of data per second). Lithium niobate devices require large power levels (modulation voltages) to operate and are large in size -- typically measuring about four inches long. Considering that most integrated circuits are literally invisible to the naked eye, these devices are enormous. Additionally, it is important to note that these crystalline-based electro-optic modulators require expensive mechanical packaging (housings) generally comprised of materials, such as gold-plated Kovar, in order to assure operational integrity over required time and operating temperature ranges.
Unlike crystals, electro-optic polymers appear to be capable of being tailored at the molecular level for optimal performance characteristics. Additionally, electro-optic polymers are less expensive to manufacture and demand significantly lower power requirements (modulation voltages). The electro-optic polymers have demonstrated the ability to perform many times faster (>100Gb/s) than existing crystalline technology.
We consider electro-optic polymers to be the most feasible technology for future high-speed (wide bandwidth) electronic-optical conversion. Due to the ease of processing afforded by electro-optic polymers, as well as their capacity to foster component size reduction. We believe electro-optic polymers have the potential to replace existing high-speed fiber-optics components that are used today in many commercial and military applications.
We also believe that the extreme miniaturization provided by advanced electro-optic polymers may allow for the successful fabrication of chip-to-chip (backplane) optical interconnect devices for computers that create the high-speed data transmission necessary for extremely high-speed computations. Further, we believe that additional potential applications for electro-optic polymers may include phased array radar, cable television (CATV), electronic counter measure (ECM) systems, ultra-fast analog-to-digital conversion, land mine detection, radio frequency photonics, spatial light modulation and all-optical (light-switching-light) signal processing.
Our Electro-Optic Technology
For the past two decades, diverse corporate interests, including, to our knowledge, IBM, Lockheed Martin, DuPont, AT&T Bell Labs, Corning, Honeywell and 3M, as well as numerous universities and U.S. Government Agencies, have been attempting to produce high-performance, high-stability electro-optic polymers for high-speed (wide bandwidth) telecommunication applications. These efforts have largely been unsuccessful due, in our opinion, to the industry's singular adherence to an industry pervasive engineering model known as the Bond Length Alternation ("BLA") theory model. The BLA model, like all other current industry-standard molecular designs, consists of molecular designs containing long strings of atoms called polyene chains. Longer polyene chains provide higher electro-optic performance, but are also more susceptible to environmental threats, which result in unacceptably low-performing, thermally unstable electro-optic polymers.
As a result, high frequency modulators engineered with electro-optic polymers designed on the BLA model or any other polyene chain design models are unstable over typical operating temperature ranges, and often exhibit performance degradation within days, hours or even minutes. Similarly, lower frequency modulators exhibit comparable failings, but to a lesser extent. These flaws have prevented commercial quality polymer-based modulators operating at 10-40Gb/s from entering the commercial marketplace. The thermal stability of these devices does not generally meet the minimum Telcordia GR-468 operating temperature range (-40 degrees Celsius to +85 degrees Celsius) much less the more harsh MILSPEC 883D (military specification) range of -55 degrees Celsius to 150 degrees Celsius.
None of our molecular designs rely on the BLA polyene chain design model. Our proposed solution lies in a far less mainstream, yet firmly established, scientific phenomenon called aromaticity. Aromaticity causes a high degree of molecular stability. It is a molecular arrangement wherein atoms combine into multi-membered rings and share their electrons among each other. Aromatic compounds are stable because the electronic charge distributes evenly over a great area preventing hostile moieties, such as oxygen and free radicals, from finding an opening to attack.
Our research and findings in this area resulted in our Company being the sole recipient of the 2006 Electro-Optic Materials Technology Innovation of the Year Award by Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan's Technology Innovation of the Year Award is bestowed upon candidates whose original research has resulted in innovations that have, or are expected to bring, significant contributions to multiple industries in terms of adoption, change, and competitive posture. This award recognizes the quality and depth of our Company's research and development program as well as the vision and risk-taking that enabled us to undertake such an endeavor. Our Company did not actively elicit consideration or apply to receive this award. Frost & Sullivan independently contacted our Company and conducted several interviews, which included chemical and technical experts in the field of electro-optics who were supplied with detailed public information regarding our Company's technological innovations.
Our Intellectual Property
Issued U.S. Patents:
We have twenty seven pending patent applications (including six patent families with applications in Australia, Canada, China, European Patent Office, Japan and the U.S. based on the PCT and U.S. applications below) in the field of nonlinear optic chromophore design as follows:
Heterocyclical Anti-Aromatic Systems
Two of our provisional patents cover heterocyclical anti-aromatic electronic conductive pathways, which are the heart of our high-performance, high-stability molecular designs. The completely heterocyclical nature of our molecular designs "lock" conductive atomic orbitals into a planar (flat) configuration, which provides improved electronic conduction and a significantly lower reaction to environmental threats (e.g. thermal, chemical, photochemical, etc.) than the BLA design paradigm employed by other competitive electro-optic polymers.
The anti-aromatic nature of these structures dramatically improves the "zwitterionic-aromatic push-pull" of the systems, providing for low energy charge transfer. Low energy charge transfer is important for the production of extremely high electro-optic character.
Heterocyclical Steric Hindering System This patent describes a nitrogenous heterocyclical structure for the integration of steric hindering groups that are necessary for the nanoscale material integration. Due to the [pi]-orbital configuration of the nitrogen bridge, this structure has been demonstrated not to interfere with the conductive nature of the electronic conductive pathway and thus is non-disruptive to the electro-optic character of the core molecular construction. The quantum mechanical design of the system is designed to establish complete molecular planarity (flatness) for optimal performance.
Totally Integrated Material Engineering System This patent covers material integration structures under a design strategy known as Totally Integrated Material Engineering. These integration structures provide for the "wrapping" of the core molecule in sterically hindering groups that maximally protect the molecule from environmental threats and maximally protect it from microscopic aggregation (which is a major cause of performance degradation and optical loss) within a minimal molecular volume. These structures also provide for the integration of polymerizable groups for integration of materials into a highly stable cross-linked material matrix.
Our Latest Tests and Results
Prior to our recent experimental results, in 2004, quantum mechanical calculations were independently performed on our novel electro-optic polymer designs at government laboratories located at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, California. The results of these calculations suggest that our initial aromatic molecules perform two and a half (2.5) to three and three-tenths (3.3) times more efficiently than currently available telecom grade electro-optic polymers. Logical extensions of this novel molecular design paradigm further suggest even greater performance improvements. Subsequently, top scientists and engineers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base reviewed these calculations and concluded that our molecular designs show promise of a five to ten times improvement over existing commercial polymeric architectures. Our conclusion is that performance improvements of this magnitude indicate a significant breakthrough in the field of fiber-optic telecommunication.
In May and June of 2006, we initiated performance evaluations of one of our first extremely high-performance electro-optic materials. The initial tests were performed by electro-optic expert, Dr. C.C. Teng, co-inventor of the renowned Teng-Man test, the industry-wide standard method of evaluating the material performance of electro-optic polymers, and subsequently confirmed by the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences, one of the most respected and fastest growing optical sciences departments in the world. Under identical laboratory conditions at low molecular loadings, one of our recent molecular designs outperformed one of the industry's highest performance electro-optic systems by a factor as high as 650%.
We believe results of the Teng-Man test have established the validity of our novel, patent pending molecular design paradigm known as CSC (Cyclical Surface Conduction) theory. We believe the success of CSC theory has the potential to establish the fundamental blueprint of electro-optic material design for decades to come, and to have broad application in commercial and military telecommunication and advanced computational systems.
On September 25, 2006 we obtained independent laboratory results that confirmed the thermal stability of our PerkinamineTM electro-optic materials. Thermal stability as high as 350 degrees Celsius was confirmed, significantly exceeding many other commercially available high performance electro-optic materials, such as CLD-1 that exhibits thermal degradation in the range of 250 degrees Celsius to 275 degrees Celsius. This high temperature stability of our materials eliminates a major obstacle to vertical integration of electro-optic polymers into standard microelectronic manufacturing processes (e.g. wave/vapor-phase soldering) where thermal stability of at least 300 degrees Celsius is required. In independent laboratory tests, ten-percent material degradation, a common evaluation of overall thermal stability, did not occur until our PerkinamineTM materials base was exposed to temperatures as high as 350 degrees Celsius, as determined by Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA).
The test results supported our Company's progress to introduce our materials into commercial applications such as optical interconnections, high-speed telecom and datacom modulators, and military/aerospace components.
In July 2007, our Company developed an innovative process to integrate our unique architecture into our anticipated commercial devices, whereby dendritic spacer systems are attached to its core chromophore. In the event we are successful in developing a commercially viable product, we believe these dendrimers will reduce the cost of manufacturing materials and reduce the cost and complexity of tailoring the material to specific customer requirements.
In March 2008, we commenced production of our first prototype photonic chip, which we delivered to Photon-X, LLC to fabricate a prototype polymer optical modulator and measure its technical properties. As a result of delays caused by engineering setbacks related to our material production, the production of our first prototype photonic chip was temporarily halted, along with the completion of our proof of concept tests that were being administered by Dr. Robert Norwood at the University of Arizona Photonics Department. In order to address this issue, Dr. David Eaton’s role and responsibilities with the Company were significantly expanded, and we added two veteran synthetic chemists to our science and technology team. We have since overcome a majority of these engineering setbacks and we are currently in the continual process of extensive testing for material performance, including, among other tests, the (r33) Teng-Man testing protocol. In June 2009 we released test results conducted by Dr. C.C. Teng that re-confirmed our previous test results, and we intend to deliver completed independent validated material performance test results, including the (r33) Teng-Man testing protocol, as they become ripe for release.
In August 2009, Photon-X, LLC commenced a compatible study, process sequences, and fabricated wafers/chips containing arrays of phase modulators. The first one hundred plus modulators were completed at the end of October 2009, and were successfully characterized for insertion loss, Vpi, modulation dynamic range and initial frequency response in March 2010. The multi-step manufacturing process we utilized to fabricate our modulators involved exposing our proprietary PerkinamineTM materials to extreme conditions that are typically found in standard commercial manufacturing settings. Our step-by-step analysis throughout the fabrication process demonstrated to us that our PerkinamineTM materials could successfully withstand each step of the fabrication process without damage. We anticipate completing the development and building of functional prototype 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s modulators during the second quarter of 2010. However, we may incur delays in this process due to slower than expected material production within our laboratories and/or delays caused by the production of the modulator and testing procedures.
In August 2009, we retained Perdix, Inc in Boulder, Colorado to help us identify and build prototype products for high growth potential target markets in fiber optic telecommunications systems.