Wafer-production contract for high-speed comms signed between AFRL and Raytheon
NewsFebruary 17, 2026
ARLINGTON, Va. Raytheon closed on a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under which Raytheon will develop a domestic production capability for thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) wafers, a material the company says is essential to high‑speed, secure communications and advanced sensing systems.
Under the terms of the contract, the Raytheon Advanced Technology team will use its ion-slicing expertise to assist U.S.-based company G&H as it develops a process for manufacturing high-quality TFLN wafers. Once the process is developed, wafer production will transition to G&H in early 2026; G&H will begin to manufacture the TFLN wafers at low-rate initial production. Raytheon says that it and G&H will continue to collaborate closely to ensure successful technology transfer and production readiness.
TFLN is a high-performance platform for photonics that more easily enables next-generation telecommunications, quantum computing, and sensor detection/response. TFLN uses tight optical confinement to enable low-loss/high-speed modulators (>100 GHz) and robust electro-optic effects having low power consumption.
