April 22, 2004 – The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Lucent Technologies nearly $26 million to develop next-generation laser and optical communications technologies, according to a news release.

The Coherent Communications Imaging and Targeting program contract, a second-phase award worth $13.4 million, calls on Lucent’s Bell Labs and the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium to lead a team integrating photonics and high-speed electronics for a new high-speed, long-range communication system. MEMS-based Spatial Light Modulators will allow for the system to digitally manipulate optical beams like radio beams are manipulated today, the release said.

The goal of the Integrated Router Interconnected Spectrally program, worth $12.5 million, is to integrate more than 100 active components in an optical communications system on a chip that can handle the increasing amounts of traffic anticipated in future optical networks. The program includes developing an optical packet router that can send and receive up to 100 terabits of data — equivalent to the content of the Library of Congress — every second.