Civcom adds Free-X Shutter to its free-space optics product line

July 30, 2002 --Civcom, a provider of free-space technology solutions for next-generation optical networks, today announced the Free-X 1x1 Shutter as part of its family of all-optical switching devices.

Based on Civcom's solid free-space technology, the Free-X Shutter is a 250 nanoseconds fast, flexible, low loss shutter that incorporates no moving parts. It allows partial shutting which enables in essence variable optical attenuation. Moreover, these shutters can be collimated into either fibers (singlemode/multimode) or free-space elements while maintaining exceptional extinction ratio. These features make the Free-X Shutter an ideal choice for a variety of applications such as receiver protection in telecommunications, and test and measurement devices.

"Civcom's new Free-X Shutter will enable our customers to design improved, more competitive solutions by eliminating unwanted optical signals," says Jacob Vertman, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Civcom. "Since the Free-X Shutter provides a fundamental building block, it will allow the systems to block tunable devices until their right wavelength stabilizes in order to prevent interference. Moreover, it enables the extension of the receiver's effective operation by eliminating recovery time that follows saturation."

Civcom's solid free-space technology, based on free space propagation and polarization encoding of optical signals, enables ultra-fast, polarization independent switching in a compact package. Civcom is a U.S. company based in Reston, VA with a research and development center in Petach-Tikva, Israel. For more information, please visit www.civcom.com.