NOTE 2 – MANAGEMENT’S PLANS

Our future expenditures and capital requirements will depend on numerous factors, including: the progress of our research and development efforts; the rate at which we can, directly or through arrangements with original equipment manufacturers, introduce and sell products incorporating our polymer materials technology; the costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights; market acceptance of our products and competing technological developments; our ability to establish cooperative development, joint venture and licensing arrangements; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect that we will incur approximately $1,160,000 of expenditures per month over the next 12 months. Our current cash position enables us to finance our operations through January 2024. On July 2, 2021, the Company filed a $100,000,000 universal shelf registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which became effective on July 9, 2021. On October 4, 2021, the Company entered into a purchase agreement with the institutional investor to sell up to $33,000,000 of common stock over a 36-month period (described in Note 9). Pursuant to the purchase agreement, the Company received $1,466,175 in April and May and a remaining available amount of $11,469,582 is available to the Company per the agreement. Our cash requirements are expected to increase at a rate consistent with the Company’s path to revenue as we expand our activities and operations with the objective of commercializing our electro-optic polymer technology. We currently have no debt to service.

NOTE 4 – PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT (CONTINUED)

Depreciation expense for the three months ending March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $222,089 and $174,005. During the three months ending March 31, 2022, the Company retired property and equipment in the amount of $70,963. During the three months ending March 31, 2021, the Company did not retire or sell any property and equipment.

NOTE 5 – INTANGIBLE ASSETS

This represents legal fees and patent fees associated with the prosecution of patent applications. The Company has recorded amortization expense on patents granted, which are amortized over the remaining legal life. Maintenance patent fees are paid to a government patent authority to maintain a granted patent in force. Some countries require the payment of maintenance fees for pending patent applications. Maintenance fees paid after a patent is granted are expensed, as these are considered ongoing costs to “maintain a patent”. Maintenance fees paid prior to a patent grant date are capitalized to patent costs, as these are considered “patent application costs”. No amortization expense has been recorded on the remaining patent applications since patents have yet to be granted.

Patents consists of the following:

Amortization expense for the three months ending March 31, 2022 and 2021 was $22,079 and $20,878. There were no patent costs written off for the three months ending March 31, 2022 and 2021.

NOTE 6 – COMMITMENTS

On October 30, 2017, the Company entered into a lease agreement to lease approximately 13,420 square feet of office, laboratory and research and development space located in Colorado for the Company’s principal executive offices and research and development facility. The term of the lease is sixty- one (61) months, beginning on November 1, 2017 and ending on November 30, 2022. During January 2022, the term was extended for an additional twenty-four (24) months. Base rent for the first year of the lease term is approximately $168,824, with an increase in annual base rent of approximately 3% in each subsequent year of the lease term. As specified in the lease, the Company paid the landlord (i) all base rent for the period November 1, 2017 and ending on October 31, 2019, in the sum of $347,045; and (ii) the estimated amount of tenant’s proportionate share of operating expenses for the same period in the sum of $186,293. Commencing on November 1, 2019, monthly installments of base rent and one-twelfth of landlord’s estimate of tenant’s proportionate share of annual operating expenses shall be due on the first day of each calendar month. The lease also provides that (i) on November 1, 2019 landlord shall pay the Company for the cost of the cosmetic improvements in the amount of $3.00 per rentable square foot of the premises, and (ii) on or prior to November 1, 2019, the Company shall deposit with Landlord the sum of $36,524 as a security deposit which shall be held by landlord to secure the Company’s obligations under the lease. On October 30, 2017, the Company entered into an agreement with the tenant leasing the premise from the landlord (“Original Lessee”) whereby the Original Lessee agreed to pay the Company the sum of $260,000 in consideration of the Company entering into the lease and landlord agreeing to the early termination of the Original Lessee’s lease agreement with landlord. The consideration of $260,000 was received on November 1, 2017.

NOTE 6 – COMMITMENTS (CONTINUED)

Due to the adoption of the new lease standard, the Company has capitalized the present value of the minimum lease payments commencing November 1, 2019, including the additional option period using an estimated incremental borrowing rate of 6.5%. The minimum lease payments do not include common area annual expenses which are considered to be nonlease components.

As of January 1, 2019 the operating lease right-of-use asset and operating lease liability amounted to $885,094 with no cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings/accumulated deficit. The Company has elected not to recognize right-of-use assets and lease liabilities arising from short-term leases.

There are no other material operating leases.

The Company is obligated under the operating lease for office and laboratory space. The aggregate minimum future lease payments under the operating leases, including the extended term are as follows:

Rent expense totaling $34,599 and $11,533 is included in research and development and general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2022. Rent expense totaling $33,466 and $11,155 is included in research and development and general and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2021.

NOTE 7 – PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM ADVANCE

On April 24, 2020, the Company received $410,700 in loan funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, established pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act enacted on March 27, 2020 and administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The unsecured loan is evidenced by a promissory note of the Company dated April 23, 2020 in the principal amount of $410,700, to Community Banks of Colorado, a division of NBH Bank, the lender. The loan proceeds have been used to cover payroll costs, rent and utility costs. The loan was eligible for forgiveness as part of the CARES Act if certain requirements were met. The loan was forgiven by the Small Business Administration in its entirety on January 22, 2021.

NOTE 8 – INCOME TAXES

There is no income tax benefit for the losses for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021 since management has determined that the realization of the net deferred tax asset is not assured and has created a valuation allowance for the entire amount of such benefits.

The Company’s policy is to record interest and penalties associated with unrecognized tax benefits as additional income taxes in the statement of operations. As of January 1, 2022, the Company had no unrecognized tax benefits, or any tax related interest or penalties. There were no changes in the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits during the period ended March 31, 2022. The Company did not recognize any interest or penalties during 2021 related to unrecognized tax benefits. With few exceptions, the U.S. and state income tax returns filed for the tax years ending on December 31, 2018 and thereafter are subject to examination by the relevant taxing authorities.

NOTE 9 – STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Preferred Stock

Pursuant to the Company’s articles of incorporation, the Company’s Board of Directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue series of preferred stock with any designations, rights and preferences as they may from time to time determine. The rights and preferences of this preferred stock may be superior to the rights and preferences of the Company’s common stock; consequently, preferred stock, if issued could have dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights that could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the common stock. Additionally, preferred stock, if issued, could be utilized, under special circumstances, as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company’s business or a takeover from a third party.

Common Stock, Options and Warrants

In January 2019, the Company signed a purchase agreement with the institutional investor to sell up to $25,000,000 of common stock. The Company registered 9,500,000 shares pursuant to a registration statement filed on January 30, 2019 which became effective February 13, 2019. The Company issued 350,000 shares of common stock to the institutional investor as an initial commitment fee valued at $258,125, fair value, and 812,500 shares of common stock are reserved for additional commitment fees to the institutional investor in accordance with the terms of the purchase agreement. The Company registered an additional 6,000,000 shares pursuant to a registration statement filed on January 24, 2020 which became effective February 4, 2020. The Company registered an additional 8,000,000 shares pursuant to a registration statement filed on November 20, 2020 which became effective November 20, 2020. During the period January 2019 through March 31, 2022, the institutional investor purchased 22,337,500 shares of common stock for proceeds of $23,773,924 and the Company issued 772,666 shares of common stock as additional commitment fee, valued at $1,575,509, fair value, leaving 39,834 in reserve for additional commitment fees. During the three month period ending March 31, 2022, the institutional investor did not purchase any shares of common stock. All of the registered shares under the purchase agreement have been issued as of March 31, 2022.

NOTE 9 – STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (CONTINUED)

Common Stock, Options and Warrants (Continued)

On July 2, 2021, the Company filed a $100,000,000 universal shelf registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which became effective on July 9, 2021. On October 4, 2021, the Company entered into a purchase agreement with the institutional investor to sell up to $33,000,000 of common stock over a 36-month period. Concurrently with entering into the purchase agreement, the Company also entered into a registration rights agreement which provides the institutional investor with certain registration rights related to the shares issued under the purchase agreement. Pursuant to the purchase agreement, the Company issued 30,312 shares of common stock to the institutional investor as an initial commitment fee valued at $279,174, fair value, and 60,623 shares of common stock are reserved for additional commitment fees to the institutional investor in accordance with the terms of the purchase agreement. During the period October 4, 2021 through March 31, 2022, the institutional investor purchased 1,702,511 shares of common stock for proceeds of $20,064,242 and the Company issued 36,859 shares of common stock as additional commitment fee, valued at $506,876, fair value, leaving 39,834 in reserve for additional commitment fees. During the three month period ending March 31, 2022, pursuant to the purchase agreement, the institutional investor purchased 475,000 shares of common stock for proceeds of $3,686,817 and the Company issued 6,773 shares of common stock as additional commitment fee, valued at $60,213, fair value, leaving 23,764 in reserve for additional commitment fees. During April and May 2022, pursuant to the purchase agreement, the institutional investor purchased 150,000 shares of common stock for proceeds of $1,466,175 and the Company issued 2,693 shares of common stock as additional commitment fee, valued at $28,062, fair value, leaving 21,071 in reserve for additional commitment fees.

Restricted Stock Awards

On January 18, 2022, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved grants totaling 28,500 Restricted Stock Awards to the Company’s five outside directors. Each RSA had a grant date fair value of $9.65 which shall be amortized on a straight-line basis over the vesting period into director’s compensation expenses within the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Loss. Such RSAs were granted under the 2016 Equity Incentive Plan (“2016 Plan”) and vest in total 9,504 shares on December 31, 2022, 9,498 shares on December 31, 2023 and 9,498 shares on December 31, 2024. Upon the occurrence of a Change in Control, 100% of the unvested Restricted Stock shall vest as of the date of the Change in Control. Upon vesting, the restrictions on the shares lapse.

NOTE 10 – STOCK BASED COMPENSATION

During 2007, the Board of Directors of the Company adopted the 2007 Employee Stock Plan (“2007 Plan”) that was approved by the shareholders. Under the 2007 Plan, the Company is authorized to grant options to purchase up to 10,000,000 shares of common stock to directors, officers, employees and consultants who provide services to the Company. The 2007 Plan is intended to permit stock options granted to employees under the 2007 Plan to qualify as incentive stock options under Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Incentive Stock Options”). All options granted under the 2007 Plan, which are not intended to qualify as Incentive Stock Options are deemed to be non-qualified options (“Non-Statutory Stock Options”). Effective June 24, 2016, the 2007 Plan was terminated. As of March 31, 2022, options to purchase 3,045,000 shares of common stock have been issued and are outstanding.

During 2016, the Board of Directors of the Company adopted the 2016 Plan that was approved by the shareholders at the 2016 annual meeting of shareholders on May 20, 2016. Under the 2016 Plan, the Company is authorized to grant awards of incentive and non-qualified stock options and restricted stock to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of common stock to employees, directors and consultants. Effective May 16, 2019, the number of shares of the Company’s common stock available for issuance under the 2016 Plan was increased from 3,000,000 to 8,000,000 shares. As of March 31, 2022, options to purchase 4,315,873 shares of common stock have been issued and are outstanding and 28,500 restricted shares of common stock have been granted. As of March 31, 2022, 2,509,750 shares of common stock remain available for grants under the 2016 Plan.

NOTE 10 – STOCK BASED COMPENSATION (CONTINUED)

Both plans are administered by the Company’s Board of Directors or its compensation committee which determines the persons to whom awards will be granted, the number of awards to be granted, and the specific terms of each grant. Subject to the provisions regarding Ten Percent Shareholders, (as defined in the 2016 Plan), the exercise price per share of each option cannot be less than 100% of the fair market value of a share of common stock on the date of grant. Options granted under the 2016 Plan are generally exercisable for a period of 10 years from the date of grant and may vest on the grant date, another specified date or over a period of time.

The Company uses the Black-Scholes option pricing model to calculate the grant-date fair value of an award, with the following assumptions for 2022: no dividend yield in all years, expected volatility, based on the Company’s historical volatility, 74.8% to 75.3%, risk-free interest rate between 1.87% to 2.32% and expected option life of 10 years. The expected life is based on the estimated average of the life of options using the “simplified” method, as prescribed in FASB ASC 718, due to insufficient historical exercise activity during recent years.

As of March 31, 2022, there was $4,849,320 of unrecognized compensation expense related to non-vested market-based share awards that is expected to be recognized through January 31, 2024.

Share-based compensation was recognized as follows:

The following tables summarize all stock option and warrant activity of the Company during the three months ended March 31, 2022:

NOTE 10 – STOCK BASED COMPENSATION (CONTINUED)

The aggregate intrinsic value of options and warrants outstanding and exercisable as of March 31, 2022 was $64,872,688. The aggregate intrinsic value is calculated as the difference between the exercise price of the underlying options and warrants and the closing stock price of $9.61 for the Company’s common stock on March 31, 2022. During the three month period ending March 31, 2022, 30,000 options were exercised for proceeds of $26,850 and 4,375 options were exercised via cashless method. No warrants were exercised during the three month period ending March 31, 2022.

The fair value of restricted stock awards is estimated by the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of grant. Restricted stock activity during the three month period ending March 31, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:

Restricted stock awards are being amortized to expense over the vesting period. As of March 31, 2022 and 2021, the unamortized value of the RSAs was $252,094 and $0, respectively.

NOTE 11 – RELATED PARTY

At March 31, 2022 the Company had travel and office expense accruals of officers and directors in the amount of $50,937, director fees in the amount of $43,750, a legal accrual to related party of $43,430, accounting service fee accrual to a related party of $13,464 and fees and travel expense accrual of a related party advisory board member of $8,153. At December 31, 2021 the Company had office expense accruals of officers in the amount of $24,000, a legal accrual to related party of $6,130 and accounting service fee accrual and expense reimbursements to related parties of $2,059.

NOTE 12 – RETIREMENT PLAN

The Company established a 401(k) retirement plan covering all eligible employees beginning November 15, 2013. For the three months ending March 31, 2022 and 2021, a contribution of $13,088 and $14,009 was charged to expense for all eligible non-executive participants.

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our financial statements, included herewith. This discussion should not be construed to imply that the results discussed herein will necessarily continue into the future, or that any conclusion reached herein will necessarily be indicative of actual operating results in the future. Such discussion represents only the best present assessment of our management. This information should also be read in conjunction with our audited historical financial statements which are included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2022.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have a significant impact on local, state, national and global economies. The actions taken by governments, as well as businesses and individuals, to limit the spread of the disease has significantly disrupted the Company’s normal activities. Numerous businesses, including some of our contractors, collaborative partners and suppliers, have either shut down or are operating on a limited basis with employees working from home, some employees have been furloughed or laid off and social distancing has been mandated through stay-at-home orders, and continues with the Governor of Colorado’s Executive Order, Safer-at Home, as amended. The Company expects these actions to have a significant impact on the Company’s results of operations, particularly with respect to research and development, and financial position. The full extent of the impact to the Company due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be currently determined. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the Company will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be reasonably predicted, including the duration of the outbreak, the increase or reduction in governmental restrictions to businesses and individuals, the potential for a resurgence of the virus and other factors. The longer the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the greater the potential negative financial effect on the Company.

Overview

Lightwave Logic, Inc. is a development stage company moving toward commercialization of next generation electro-optic photonic devices made on its P²IC™ technology platform which we have detailed as: 1) Polymer Stack™, 2) Polymer Plus™, and Polymer Slot™. Our polymer technology platform uses in-house proprietary high-activity and high-stability organic polymers. Electro-optical devices convert data from electric signals into optical signals for multiple applications.

Our differentiation at the device level is in higher speed, lower power consumption, simplicity of manufacturing and reliability. We have demonstrated higher speed and lower power consumption in packaged devices, and during 2021, we continue to make advances in techniques to translate material properties to efficient, reliable devices. We are currently focused on testing and demonstrating the simplicity of manufacturability and reliability of our devices, including in conjunction with the silicon photonics manufacturing ecosystem. In 2021 we discussed the addition of silicon-based foundry partners to help scale in volume our polymer modulator devices. Silicon-based foundries are large semiconductor fabrication plants developed for the electronics IC business, that are now engaging with silicon photonics to increase their wafer throughput. Partnering with silicon-based foundries not only demonstrates that our polymer technology can be transferred into standard production lines using standard equipment, and also allows us to efficiently utilize our capital.

Our extremely strong patent portfolio allows us to optimize our business model in three areas: 1) Traditional focus on product development, 2) Patent licensing, 3) Technology transfer to foundries.

We are initially targeting applications in data communications and telecommunications markets and are exploring other applications that include automotive/LIDAR, sensing, displays etc., for our polymer technology platform

 Materials Development

Our Company designs and synthesizes organic chromophores for use in its own proprietary electro-optic polymer systems and photonic device designs. A polymer system is not solely a material, but also encompasses various technical enhancements necessary for its implementation. These include host polymers, poling methodologies, and molecular spacer systems that are customized to achieve specific optical properties. Our organic electro-optic polymer systems compounds are mixed into solution form that allows for thin film application. Our proprietary electro-optic polymers are designed at the molecular level for potentially superior performance, stability and cost-efficiency. We believe they have the potential to replace more expensive, higher power consuming, slower-performance materials and devices used in fiber-optic communication networks.

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 that enables our core molecular structures to maintain stability under a broad range of operating conditions.

We expect our patented and patent-pending optical materials along with trade secrets and licensed materials, to be the core of and the enabling technology for future generations of optical devices, modules, sub-systems and systems that we will develop or potentially out-license to electro-optic device manufacturers. Our Company contemplates future applications that may address the needs of semiconductor companies, optical network companies, Web 2.0 media companies, high performance computing companies, telecommunications companies, aerospace companies, and government agencies.

Device Design and Development

Electro-optic Modulators

Our Company designs its own proprietary electro-optical modulation devices. Electro-optical modulators convert data from electric signals into optical signals that can then be transmitted over high-speed fiber-optic cables. Our modulators are electro-optic, meaning they work because the optical properties of the polymers are affected by electric fields applied by means of electrodes. Modulators are key components that are used in fiber optic telecommunications, data communications, and data centers networks etc., to convey the high data flows that have been driven by applications such as pictures, video streaming, movies etc., that are being transmitted through the Internet. Electro-optical modulators are expected to continue to be an essential element as the appetite and hunger for data increases every year.

Polymer Photonic Integrated Circuits

Our Company also designs its own proprietary polymer photonic integrated circuits (otherwise termed a polymer PIC). A polymer PIC is a photonic device that integrates several photonic functions on a single chip. We believe that our technology can enable the ultra-miniaturization needed to increase the number of photonic functions residing on a semiconductor chip to create a progression like what was seen in the computer integrated circuits, commonly referred to as Moore’s Law. One type of integration is to combine several instances of the same photonic functions such as a plurality of modulators to create a 4 channel polymer PIC. In this case, the number of photonic components would increase by a factor of 4. Another type is to combine different types of devices including from different technology bases such as the combination of a semiconductor laser with a polymer modulator. Our P²IC™ platform encompasses both these types of architecture.

Current photonic technology today is struggling to reach faster device speeds. Our modulator devices, enabled by our electro-optic polymer material systems, work at extremely high frequencies (wide bandwidths) and possess inherent advantages over current crystalline electro-optic material contained in most modulator devices such as lithium niobate (LiNbO3), indium phosphide (InP), silicon (Si), and gallium arsenide GaAs). Our advanced electro-optic polymer platform is creating a new class of modulators such as the Polymer Stack ™ and associated PIC platforms that can address higher data rates in a lower cost, lower power consuming manner, with much simpler modulation techniques.

Our electro-optic polymers can be integrated with other materials platforms because they can be applied as a thin film coating in a fabrication clean room such as may be found in semiconductor foundries. This approach we call Polymer Plus™. Our polymers are unique in that they are stable enough to seamlessly integrate into existing CMOS, Indium Phosphide (InP), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), and other semiconductor manufacturing lines. Of particular relevance are the integrated silicon photonics platforms that combine optical and electronic functions. These include a miniaturized modulator for ultra-small footprint applications in which we term the Polymer Slot™. This design is based on a slot modulator fabricated into semiconductor wafers that include both silicon and indium phosphide.

Our Company has a fabrication facility in Colorado to apply standard fabrication processes to our electro-optic polymers which create modulator devices. While our internal fabrication facility is capable of manufacturing modulator devices, we have partnered with commercial silicon-based fabrication companies that are called foundries who can scale our technology with volume quickly and efficiently. The process recipe for fabrication plants or foundries is called a ‘process development kit’ or PDK. We are currently working with commercial foundries to implement our electro-optic polymers into accepted PDKs by the foundries. Our work with the foundries is being focused with the Polymer Plus™ and the Polymer Slot™ polymer modulators.

Business Strategy

Our business strategy anticipates that our revenue stream will be derived from one or some combination of the following: (i) technology licensing for specific product application; (ii) joint venture relationships with significant industry leaders; and (iii) the production and direct sale of our own electro-optic device components. Our objective is to be a leading provider of proprietary technology and know-how in the electro-optic device market. In order to meet this objective, we intend to:

Create Organic Polymer-Enabled Electro-Optic Modulators

We intend to utilize our proprietary optical polymer technology to create an initial portfolio of commercial electro-optic polymer product devices with applications for various markets, including telecommunications, data communications and data centers. These product devices will be part of our proprietary photonics integrated circuit (PIC) technology platform.

We expect our initial modulator products will operate at data rates at least 50 Gbaud (capable of 50 Gbps with standard data encoding of NRZ and 100 Gbps with more complex PAM-4 encoding). Our devices are highly linear, enabling the performance required to take advantage of the more advance complex encoding schemes. We are currently developing our polymer technology to operate at the next industry node of 100Gbaud.

Our Proprietary Products in Development

As part of a two-pronged marketing strategy, our Company is developing several optical devices, which are in various stages of development and that utilize our polymer optical materials. They include:

Ridge Waveguide Modulator, Polymer Stack ™

Our ridge electro-optic waveguide modulator was designed and fabricated in our in-house laboratory. The fabrication of our first in-house device is significant to our entire device program and is an important starting point for modulators that are being developed for target markets. We have multiple generations of new materials that we will soon be optimizing for this specific design. In September 2017 we announced that our initial alpha prototype ridge waveguide modulator, enabled by our P²IC™ polymer system, demonstrated bandwidth performance levels that will enable 50 Gbaud modulation in fiber-optic communications. This device demonstrated true amplitude (intensity) modulation in a Mach-Zehnder modulator structure incorporating our polymer waveguides. This important achievement will allow users to utilize arrays of 4 x 50 Gbaud (4x 100 Gbps) polymer modulators using PAM-4 encoding to access 400 Gbps data rate systems. These ridge waveguide modulators are currently being packaged with our partner into prototype packages.

These prototype packages will enable potential customers to evaluate the performance at 50 Gbaud. Once a potential customer generates technical feedback on our prototype, we expect to be asked to optimize the performance to their specifications. Assuming this is successful, we expect to enter a qualification phase where our prototypes will be evaluated more fully.

In parallel, we are developing modulators for scalability to higher data rates above 50 Gbaud. In September 2018, we showed in conference presentations the potential of our polymer modulator platform to operate at over 100 GHz bandwidth. This preliminary result corresponds to 100 Gbaud data rates using a simple NRZ data encoding scheme or 200 Gbps with PAM-4 encoding. With 4 channel arrays in our P²IC™ platform, the Company thus has the potential to address both 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps markets. While customers may start the engagement at 50 Gbaud, we believe potential customers recognize that scalability to higher speeds is an important differentiator of the polymer technology.

We believe the ridge waveguide modulator Polymer Stack™ represents our first commercially viable device and targets the fiber optics communications market. We have completed internal market analysis and are initially targeting interconnect reach distances of greater than 10km. In these markets, the system network companies are looking to implement modulator-based transceivers that can handle aggregated data rates 100 Gbps and above. The market opportunity for greater than 10km is worth over $1B over the next decade

Ridge Waveguide Modulator, Polymer Plus™

Using the ridge waveguide design, we are developing a more compact modulator to be implemented directly with existing integrated photonics platforms such as silicon photonics and Indium Phosphide. As our electro-optic polymers are applied in liquid form, they can be deposited as a thin film coating in a fabrication clean room such as may be found in semiconductor foundries. This approach we call Polymer Plus™. The advantage of this approach is that it allows existing semiconductor integrated photonics platforms such as silicon photonics and indium phosphide to be upgraded with higher speed modulation functionality with the use of polymers in a straight-forward and simple approach. Further, our polymers are unique in that they are stable enough to seamlessly integrate into existing CMOS, Indium Phosphide (InP), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), and other semiconductor manufacturing lines.

A large majority of commercial silicon photonics platforms utilize large silicon photonics foundries such as those that manufacture IC products for a number of applications such as communications, computing, consumer, etc. In order to seamlessly integrate our polymer materials to upgrade for example, silicon photonics designs, partnering with a silicon foundry is necessary.

Advanced Modulator Structures

As part of supporting further improvement and scalability of our platform, we continue to explore more advanced device structures. Our functional polymer photonics slot waveguide modulator utilizes an existing modulator structure with one of our proprietary electro-optic polymer material systems as the enabling material layer and is functional as an operating prototype device.

Preliminary testing and initial data on our polymer photonics slot waveguide modulators demonstrated several promising characteristics. The tested polymer photonic chip had a 1-millimeter square footprint, enabling the possibility of sophisticated integrated optical circuits on a single silicon substrate. In addition, the waveguide structure was approximately 1/20 the length of a typical inorganic-based silicon photonics modulator waveguide.

With the combination of our proprietary electro-optic polymer material and the extremely high optical field concentration in the slot waveguide modulator which is called Polymer Slot™, the test modulators demonstrated less than 2.2 volts to operate. Initial speeds exceeded 30-35 GHz in the telecom, 1550 nanometer frequency band. This is equivalent to 4 x 10Gbps, inorganic, lithium niobate modulators that would require approximately 12-16 volts to move the same amount of information.

We are continuing our collaborative development of our polymer photonic slot waveguide modulators (Polymer Slot™) with a partner that has advanced device design capabilities. We are now designing Polymer Slot™ modulators to operate at data rates greater than 50 Gbaud

Our Long-Term Device Development Goal - Multichannel Polymer Photonic Integrated Circuit (P²IC™)

Our P²IC™ platform is positioned to address markets with aggregated data rates of 100 Gbaud, 400 Gbaud, 800 Gbaud and beyond. Our P²IC™ platform will contain a number of photonic devices that may include, over and above polymer-based modulators, photonic devices such as lasers, multiplexers, demultiplexers, detectors, fiber couplers.

While our polymer-based ridge waveguide and slot modulators are currently under development to be commercially viable products, our long-term device development goal is to produce a platform for the 400 Gbps and beyond transceiver market. This has been stated in our photonics product roadmap that is publicly available on our website. The roadmap shows a progression in speed from 50 Gbaud based ridge waveguide modulators to 100 Gbaud based ridge waveguide modulators. The roadmap shows a progression in integration in which the modulators are arrayed to create a flexible, multichannel P²IC™ platform that spans 100 Gbps, 400 Gbps, 800 Gbps, and a scaling philosophy that will grow to 1.6 Tbps aggregated data-rate markets.

We showed bandwidths of polymer-based modulator devices at a major international conference (ECOC – European Conference on Optical Communications 2018) with bandwidths that exceeded 100GHz. We noted that to achieve 100Gbaud, the polymer-based modulator only needs to achieve 80GHz bandwidth. During ECOC 2019, we showed environmental stability. We continue to develop our polymer materials and device designs to optimize additional metrics. We are now optimizing the device parameters for very low voltage operation.

Our Target Markets

Cloud computing and data centers

Big data is a general term used to describe the voluminous amount of unstructured and semi-structured data a Company creates – data that would take too much time and cost too much money to load into a relational database for analysis. Companies are looking to cloud computing in their data centers to access all the data. Inherent speed and bandwidth limits of traditional solutions and the potential of organic polymer devices offer an opportunity to increase the bandwidth, reduce costs and improve speed of access.

Datacenters have grown to enormous sizes with hundreds of thousands and even millions of servers in a single datacenter. The number of so-called “hyperscale” datacenters are expected to continue to increase in number. Due to their size, a single “datacenter” may consist of multiple large warehouse-size buildings on a campus or even several locations distributed around a metropolitan area. Data centers are confronted with the problem of moving vast amounts of data not only around a single data center building, but also between buildings in distributed data center architecture. Links within a single datacenter building may be shorter than 500 meters, though some will require optics capable of 2 km. Between datacenter buildings, there is an increasing need for high performance interconnects over 10km in reach.

Our modulators are suitable for single-mode fiber optic links. We believe that our single mode modulator solutions will be competitive at 500m to 10km link distances, but it will be ideally suited at greater than 10km link distances.

Telecommunications/Data Communications

The telecommunications industry has evolved from transporting traditional analogue voice data over copper wire into the movement of digital voice and data. Telecommunication companies are faced with the enormous increasing challenges to keep up with the resulting tremendous explosion in demand for bandwidth. The metropolitan network is especially under stress now and into the near future. Telecommunications companies provide services to some data center customers for the inter-data center connections discussed above. 5G mobile upgrade, autonomous driving and IoT are expected to increase the need for data stored and processed close to the end user in edge data centers. This application similarly requires optics capable of very high speeds and greater than 10 km reach.

Industry issues of scaling

The key issues facing the fiber-optic communications industry are the economic progress and scalability of any PIC based technological platform. The polymer platform is unique in that it is truly scalable. Scalable means being able to scale up for high speed data rates, while simultaneously being able to scale down in cost. This allows a competitive cost per data rate or cost per Gbps metric to be achieved.

Fiber optic datacenter and high-performance computing customers want to achieve the metric of $1/Gbps @ 400Gbps (this essentially means a single mode fiber optic link that has a total cost of $400 and operates with a data rate of 400Gbps ➔ which also means that each transceiver at each end of the fiber optic link must be able to be priced at $200), but as industry tries to match this target, it is already falling behind as can be seen in the Figure below which plots generic typical PIC based technology:

In the above figures that forecast $/Gbps to 2025 (where the left-hand graph is a linear vertical scale, and the right-hand graph is a log scale), it can be seen that the orange curve plots the customer expectation, while the other color curves show $/Gbps improvement over time for various high-speed data rate transceivers using PIC based technologies. A gap is appearing between what customer expect and what the technologists can produce.

Polymers play an important role in PICs over the next decade as they can reduce or close the gap between customer expectations and technical performance through effective scaling increase of high performance with low cost. This is shown below how polymers have the potential to scale to the needs of the customers over the next 5years.

Some of the things needed to achieve the scaling performance of polymers in integrated photonics platforms is within sight today:

Scalability in terms of cost reduction and high volume manufacturing can be enhanced by:

Recent Significant Events and Milestones Achieved

During February and March 2018, we moved our Newark, Delaware synthetic laboratory and our Longmont, Colorado optical testing laboratory and corporate headquarters to office, laboratory and research and development space located at 369 Inverness Parkway, Suite 350, Englewood, Colorado. The 13,420 square feet Englewood facility includes fully functional 1,000 square feet of class 1,000 cleanroom, 500 square feet of class 10,000 cleanroom, chemistry laboratories, and analytic laboratories. The Englewood facility streamlines all of our Company’s research and development workflow for greater operational efficiencies.

During March 2018, our Company, together with our packaging partner, successfully demonstrated packaged polymer modulators designed for 50Gbps, which we believe will allow us to scale our P²IC™ platform with our Mach-Zehnder ridge waveguide modulator design as well as other photonics devices competitively in the 100Gbps and 400Gbps datacom and telecommunications applications market. We are currently fine-tuning the performance parameters of these prototypes in preparation for customer evaluations.

During June 2018, our Company Acquired the Polymer Technology Intellectual Property Assets of BrPhotonics Productos Optoelectrónicos S.A., a Brazilian corporation, which significantly advanced our patent portfolio of electro-optic polymer technology with 15 polymer chemistry materials, devices, packaging and subsystems patent and further strengthened our design capabilities to solidify our market position as we prepare to enter the 400Gbps integrated photonics marketplace with a highly competitive, scalable alternative to installed legacy systems.

Also, during June 2018, our Company promoted polymer PICs and Solidified Polymer PICs as Part of the Photonics Roadmap at the World Technology Mapping Forum in Enschede, Netherlands, which includes our Company’s technology of polymers and polymer PICs that have the potential to drive not only 400Gbps aggregate data rate solutions, but also 800Gbps and beyond.

In August 2018 we announced the completion (ahead of schedule) of our fully equipped on-site fabrication facility, where we are expanding our high-speed test and design capabilities. We also announced the continuation of the building of our internal expertise with the hiring of world-class technical personnel with 100Gbps experience.

In February 2019 we announced a major breakthrough in our development of clean technology polymer materials that target the insatiable demand for fast and efficient data communications in the multi-billion-dollar telecom and data markets supporting Internet, 5G and IoT (Internet of Things) webscale services. The improved thermally stable polymer has more than double the electro-optic response of our previous materials, enabling optical device performance of well over 100 GHz with extremely low power requirements. This addition to the family of Perkinamine^TM polymers will hold back run-away consumption of resources and energy needed to support ever-growing data consumption demands. We continue to conduct testing of the material and assessment of associated manufacturing processes and device structures prior to release to full development.

In March 2019 we created an Advisory Board comprised of three world-class leaders in the photonics industry: Dr. Craig Ciesla, Dr. Christoph S. Harder, and Mr. Andreas Umbach. The Advisory Board is working closely with our Company leadership to enhance our Company’s product positioning and promote our polymer modulator made on our proprietary Faster by Design™ polymer P²IC™ platform. The mission of the Advisory Board is initially to increase our Company’s outreach into the datacenter interconnect market and later to support expansion into other billion-dollar markets. The Advisory Board members have each been chosen for their combination of deep technical expertise, breadth of experience and industry relationships in the fields of fiber optics communications, polymer and semiconductor materials. Each of the Advisory Board members has experience at both innovators like Lightwave Logic and large industry leaders of the type most likely to adopt game-changing polymer-based products. In addition, they possess operational experience with semiconductor and polymer businesses.

Also, in March 2019, our Company received the “Best Achievement in PIC Platform” award for our 100 GHz polymer platform from the PIC International Conference. The award recognizes innovative advances in the development and application of key materials systems driving today’s photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and providing a steppingstone to future devices.

During the second quarter of 2019, our Company promoted its polymers at CoInnovate in May and the World Technology Mapping Forum in June. CoInnovate is a meeting of semiconductor industry experts. The World Technology Mapping Forum is a group authoring a photonics roadmap out to 2030.

In September 2019 at the prestigious European Conference on Communications (ECOC) in Dublin, Ireland, we showed measured material response over frequency and the resulting optical data bits stream on our clean technology polymer materials, the newest addition to our family of Perkinamine™ polymers, that meet and exceed of our near-term target speed of 80 GHz. We also released data demonstrating stability under elevated temperatures in the activated (poled to create data carrying capability) state.

In October 2019, we reported that energy-saving polymer technology is highlighted in the recently published Integrated Photonics Systems Roadmap - International (IPSR-I). The roadmap validates the need for low-voltage, high-speed technologies such as ours.

In May 2020, we announced that our latest electro-optic polymer material has exceeded target performance metrics at 1310 nanometers (nm), a wavelength commonly used in high-volume datacenter fiber optics. This material demonstrates an attractive combination at 1310 nm of high electro-optic coefficient, low optical loss and good thermal stability at 85⁰ Celsius. The material is expected to enable modulators with 80 GHz bandwidth and low drive power, and has an electro-optic coefficient of 200 pm/V, an industry measure of how responsive a material is to an applied electrical signal. This metric, otherwise known as r33, is very important in lowering power consumption when the material is used in modulator devices. This technology is applicable to shorter reach datacenter operators, for whom decreasing power consumption is imperative to the bottom line of a facility. We considered this a truly historic moment—not only in our Company’s history, but in our industry–as we have demonstrated a polymer material that provides the basis for a world-class solution at the 1310 nm wavelength, something which other companies have spent decades attempting to achieve.

In July 2020, we announced the official launch of our new corporate website www.lightwavelogic.com, reflecting ongoing efforts to provide up-to-date information for investors and potential strategic partners. The revamped website offers a clean, modern design integrated with helpful tools and investor relations resources, including a new corporate explainer video, to illustrate the target markets and advantages of Lightwave Logic’s proprietary electro-optic polymers.

In August 2020, we announced the addition of Dr. Franky So, a leading authority in the OLED industry, to our Advisory Board. Dr. So is the Walter and Ida Freeman Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University. Previously, he was the Head of Materials and Device research for OLEDs at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, as well as Motorola’s corporate research lab in the 1990s. Dr. So was an early researcher in electro-optic (EO) polymer modulators at Hoechst Celanese. As a member of the Company’s advisory board, Dr. So will work closely with management to enhance Lightwave’s product positioning for, as well as the promotion of, its polymer modulators made on its proprietary platform. In addition, he will provide technical support and advisory services to the Lightwave materials and device teams.

On October 7, 2020 we announced the receipt of U.S. Patent number 10,754,093 that improves both the performance and reliability of our high-speed, low-power electro-optic polymer modulators intended for datacenter and telecommunications applications. The patent allows multi-layered electro-optic polymer modulators to perform more efficiently through the design of custom interfaces. These interfaces are designed into the cladding layers that allow optical transmission, electrical conductivity, material integrity, as well as a prevention of solvents affecting adjacent polymer materials. The net impact of all of this allows for our Company’s modulators to improve performance across the board, enabling higher reliability in the fiber optic communications environment.

On October 15, 2020, we announced that our proprietary polymer technologies are compatible with currently available integrated photonics platforms. Our proprietary electro-optic materials are currently in the prototyping phase and are fabricated onto standard silicon wafers, and this Polymer Plus™ advancement, driven by the feedback our Company received from potential customers to-date, has allowed our materials to be suitable for additive integration to integrated photonics platforms such as silicon photonics, as well as indium phosphide and other standard platforms – therefore enabling simpler integration by customers. We believe this breakthrough allows a polymer modulator to enhance the performance of existing integrated photonics solutions in the marketplace, enabling higher speed and lower power consumption on foundry-fabricated photonics designs. Since our technology is additive to existing platforms such as silicon photonics, our electro-optic polymers are not actually competing with integrated photonic platforms, but rather enabling them to be more competitive in the marketplace, and it further validates our EO polymer platform as ideally suited to enable optical networking more efficiently than ever.

On October 21, 2020, we announced that we have optimized a robust, photo-stable organic polymer material for use in our next-generation modulators intended to be trialed with potential customers under NDA. Our materials show high tolerance to high-intensity infrared light, common in a fiber optic communications environment and increasingly important as higher density of devices access the network, directly resulting in higher intensity infrared light levels. Our preliminary results suggest that our recently developed electro-optic polymer material, designed based on potential customer input, displays unrivaled light tolerance (also known as photostability) compared to any organic commercial solution in use today. Our results meet both our current internal criteria and address potential customer feedback.

On November 2, 2020, we disclosed results on our polymer material stability testing including further results for electro-optic efficiency for our Company’s materials that operate both at 1550nm as well as 1310nm. We demonstrated test materials results for electro-optic efficiency to 4000hrs, improvement in sensitivity to oxygen as part of a broadband exposure test, and stability for polymers exposed to 1310nm light at 100mW.

On November 20, 2020 we announced the receipt of U.S. Patent number 10,591,755 that details an important invention that allows users of electro-optic polymer modulators to not only operate the devices with high speed and low power directly from CMOS IC chips, but gives them the opportunity to avoid the expense, physical footprint and power consumption of high-speed modulator driver ICs. Furthermore, this patent strengthens our freedom of manufacturing, and directly enables our modulators to become more competitive in the marketplace.

On December 16, 2020 we announced the development of a new sealant for our future Chip-on-Board (COB) packaged polymer platform. The sealant, which blocks oxygen and other atmospheric gases, is a key step in our Company’s development towards a polymer modulator without a package, an important enabling technology for the industry. We plan to develop the sealant for commercial implementation in our future modulators. Recent results suggest that our electro-optic polymer sealant material displays encouraging barrier properties and is expected to translate to significant improvement in bare chip robustness against atmospheric gases, as compared to existing EO polymer commercial solutions in use today. While the initial measurements are highly promising, our Company plans to continue development work to further optimize the sealant material and barrier performance towards the chip-on-board goal.

On January 13, 2021, we announced the receipt of U.S. Patent number 10,886,694 that details an invention that allows electro-optic polymer modulators to be packaged in a hermetic environment using well-known, high-volume and low-cost fabrication processes that are available in a typical semiconductor fabrication foundry – improving suitability for mass production. Further, the design of this capsule package can improve both the reliability and the coupling interface between fiber optic cables and their laser sources for arrayed photonic integrated circuit solutions. The package can also interpose signals from an underlying circuit board to the polymer modulators, lasers, and other components for data transfer. The hermetic capsule is built from a semiconductor base that contains electrical and optical circuits and components. A hermetic capsule chamber is created by the design of a semiconductor lid that is sealed to the semiconductor base platform by a metallization process. Using standardized fabrication techniques we can now create a package that achieves the performance, reliability, cost, and volume requirements that has been a challenge for the photonics industry for years.

On May 11, 2021, we announced the receipt of U.S. Patent number 10,989,871 that details an invention that allows for improved protective polymer layers in modulators when designed into advanced integrated photonic platforms, better positioning them for high-volume manufacturing processes. The protective layers will enhance electro-optic polymer devices' performance through higher reliability, better optical performance and enable the use of standardized manufacturing processes best suited for mass-production.

On June 7, 2021, we announced that our company’s common stock was added to the Solactive EPIC Core Photonics EUR Index NTR as part of the index's semi-annual additions. The index includes global public companies with a common theme of optoelectronics, photonics, and optical technologies in general that range from components, modules, manufacturers, and optical network system companies. This inclusion broadens our exposure to the capital markets community, as well as credibility with potential partners and customers.

On June 16, 2021, we announced test results from new modulators fabricated in 2021, which exceeded bandwidth design targets and achieved triple the data rate as compared to competing devices in use today. The breakthrough new devices demonstrated 3dB electro-optical with electrical bandwidths that exceed 100GHz – with measurements coming close to our Company’s state-of-the-art 110GHz test equipment capability. We expect this advancement to have a profound impact on the traffic flow on the internet.

On June 24, 2021, we announced the receipt of U.S. patent number 11,042,051 that details a breakthrough new device design that enables mass-volume manufacturing when designed into advanced integrated photonic platforms. The device design enhances reliability, improves optical mode control and most important, lowers by consumption through the use of direct-drive, low-voltage operation. The patent is entitled, "Direct drive region-less polymer modulator methods of fabricating and materials therefor" and is expected to open the opportunity for low power consumption electro-optic polymers to be developed into large foundry PDKs (process development kits) and be ready for mass volume commercialization. The patent emphasizes our technology platform using fabrication techniques that would naturally fit into foundry PDKs.

On August 4, 2021, we announced that we developed improved thermal design properties for electro-optic polymers used in our Polymer Plus™ and Polymer Slot™ modulators, enabling the speed, flexibility and stability needed for high-volume silicon foundry processes. We successfully created a 2x improvement in r33, while allowing higher stability during poling and post-poling. This provides better thermal performance and enables greater design flexibility in high-volume silicon foundry PDK (process development kit) processes.

On August 9, 2021, we announced the receipt of U.S. patent number 11,067,748 entitled "Guide Transition Device and Method" that covers a new invention that enables enhanced optical routing architectures for polymer-based integrated photonics that can be scaled with partner foundries. This new invention will enable innovative, highly scalable optical routing architectures for integrated photonic platforms. The patent provides novel optical waveguide transition designs using two planes of optical waveguides that are expected to be critical for optical signal routing and optical switching, opening the opportunity for high speed, energy efficient electro-optic polymers to be implemented into foundry PDKs (process development kits) to improve the performance of integrated photonic circuits. This breakthrough technology opens the door for advanced integrated photonics architectural design. We believe the simplicity of the design is ideal for production in foundries and will best position our Company to enable increased data traffic on the internet while using less power.

On September 1, 2021, our  Company's common shares began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market ("Nasdaq"). The Company’s Nasdaq listing will help to expand our potential shareholder base, improve liquidity, elevate our public profile within the industry and should ultimately enhance shareholder value.

On September 15, 2021, we announced the receipt of the 2021 Industry Award for Optical Integration from the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC), a premier industry exhibition that was held in Bordeaux from September 13-15, 2021. ECOC created the fiber communication industry awards in six categories to put the spotlight on innovation happening within the industry. The awards recognize and highlight key industry achievements in advancing optical components, photonic integration, optical transport and data center innovation. The awards are selected from top industry players, representing significant innovation in photonics integration at our prestigious exhibition.

On September 16, 2021, we announced the achievement of world-record performance for a polymer modulator, as demonstrated in an optical transmission experiment by ETH Zurich, using our Company's proprietary, advanced Perkinamine™ chromophores and Polariton Technologies Ltd.'s newest plasmonic EO modulator, a silicon-photonics-based plasmonic racetrack modulator offering energy-efficient, low-loss, and high-speed modulation in a compact footprint. The groundbreaking results were presented as a post-deadline paper at the prestigious European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) industry exhibition and conference in Bordeaux on September 16, 2021. Polariton's plasmonic modulator transmitted 220 Gbit/s OOK and 408 Gbit/s 8PAM. Transmission of an optical signal was conducted over 100 m using a low-voltage electrical drive of 0.6Vp, an on-chip loss of 1 dB, and an optical 3 dB bandwidth of beyond 110 GHz.

On January 3, 2022, we announced the publication of our patent application 20210405504A1 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – entitled 'Nonlinear Optical Chromophores Having a Diamondoid Group Attached Thereto, Methods of Preparing the Same, and Uses Thereof' – which significantly improves the overall stability and performance of our electro-optic polymers. The Company's electro-optic chromophores are designed to have one or more diamondiod molecular groups attached to the chromophore. When such chromophores are dispersed in a host polymer matrix, the electro-optic materials result in improved macroscopic electro-optic properties, increased poling efficiency, increased loading as well as increased stability of these materials after poling. The impact of this technology is that it will accelerate the path for very high-speed, low-power electro-optic polymers to be implemented into large foundry process development kits (“PDKs”) to boost performance of integrated photonic circuits.

On January 3, 2022, we announced that we enhanced our Company’s Foundry Process Development Kit Offering with the addition of Optical Grating Couplers. This expanded design tool kit will enable silicon foundries to implement PDKs and fabricate modulators and optical gratings in a single fab run, further enhancing modulator efficacy. We are continuing to work on additional design tool kit components to enable an expedited commercialization process through a more simplified manufacturing process for our foundry partners.

On January 3, 2022, we announced that we appointed respected industry leader Dr. Craig Ciesla to our Board of Directors and that retired director Dr. Joseph A. Miller transitioned to our Company's Advisory Board. Dr. Ciesla is currently the Vice President, Head of the Advanced Platforms and Devices Group at Illumina, a leading provider of DNA sequencing and array technologies. There he leads a team driving innovation in sequencing platforms, microfluidics, electronics, and nanofabrication. Prior to Illumina, he was Vice President of Engineering at Kaiam, where he was responsible for the development and production of 100G transceivers for the data-center market. He was also the founding CEO of Tactus Technology, an innovator in the user interface industry, where he was the co-inventor of Tactus' polymer morphing screen technology. Before Tactus he had a variety of roles at Intel, JDSU (now Lumentum), Bookham (now Oclaro) and Ignis Optics developing a wide range of products in the fiber-optics market. He started his career at Toshiba Research Europe, where he performed early terahertz images of skin cancer. Dr. Ciesla holds a BSc (Hons.) in Applied Physics and Ph.D. in Physics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

On February 10, 2022, we announced breakthrough photostability results on our electro-optic polymer modulators that are compatible with high-volume silicon foundry processes. The improved photostability of our polymers are expected to minimize any optical losses and provide a more robust platform for silicon foundries. This breakthrough photostability performance is incredibly important as we optimize our polymers for high-volume silicon foundry processes.

On March 7, 2022, we announced the receipt of U.S. patent number 11,262,605 entitled, "Active region-less polymer modulator integrated on a common PIC platform and method." This invention will simplify modulator integration for high-volume foundry manufacturing operations while enhancing polymer reliability to enable a more effective photonic engine. The essence of the invention is a complete optical engine that fits into fiber optic transceivers (either pluggable or co-packaged) that are used in routers, servers and elsewhere in optical networks. The engine is designed for high-volume manufacturing operations using silicon foundry infrastructure. The patent illustrates the use of our polymer modulators as a high speed, low power engine not only for data communication and telecommunication applications, but other new market opportunities as well.

On March 22, 2022 we announced the achievement of world-class results for a polymer modulator, as demonstrated in an enhanced stability and high-speed measurement by Polariton Technologies and ETH Zurich. The results were generated using the Company's proprietary, advanced Perkinamine™ chromophores in Polariton's silicon-photonics-based plasmonic racetrack modulator that offers energy-efficient, low-loss, and high-speed modulation in a compact footprint that is ideal for pluggable and/or co-packaging transceiver modules. The plasmonic modulator performance was compared to that of silicon photonic microring modulators. The plasmonic device, using Lightwave Logic's electro-optic polymer material, was shown to be 250-3000x more stable than the silicon devices relative to operating condition changes. In addition, the plasmonic modulator was tested for 70+ minutes at 100 Gbps NRZ at 80C with no decrease in performance. The world-class results were presented as a contributed peer-reviewed paper at the prestigious 2022 Optical Fiber Conference (OFC2022), the optical communication industry's leading international technical conference and trade show, in San Diego on March 10, 2022.

On April 19, 2022, we announced the publication of our patent application 2022/0113566 A1 entitled "TFP (thin film polymer) optical transition device and method" that illustrates the design of a simpler to fabricate, lower cost hybrid integrated photonics chip using electro-optic polymers which are more advantageous for high-volume production. The invention will simplify polymer modulator fabrication when integrated with silicon photonics for high-volume foundry manufacturing applications. The simplified fabrication approach enables us to simplify the production of very high speed, low power proprietary polymer modulators that will enable significantly faster data rates in the internet environment. The essence of the invention is a hybrid polymer-silicon photonics engine that fits into fiber optic transceivers (either pluggable or co-packaged) that are used in the routers, servers and network equipment that are proliferating with the growth of data centers, cloud computing and optical communications capacity. The hybrid polymer-silicon photonics engine is designed to use high-volume silicon foundry infrastructure.

As we move forward to diligently meet our goals, we continue to work closely with our packaging and foundry partners for the 50Gbaud and 100 Gbaud prototypes, and we are advancing our reliability and characterization efforts to support our prototyping. We partnered with silicon-based foundries in 2021 so that we can scale commercial volumes of electro-optic polymer modulator devices using large silicon wafers, and we are currently working to have our fabrication processes accepted into foundry PDKs (process development kits). These are the recipes that foundries use to manufacture devices in their fabrication plants.

We are actively engaged with test equipment manufacturers of the most advanced test equipment to test our state-of-the-art polymer devices. We continue to engage with multiple industry bodies to promote our roadmap. We continue to fine tune our business model with target markets, customers, and technical specifications. Our business model includes the licensing of our strong IP and Patent portfolio, as well as technology transfer to entities such as foundries. Discussions with prospective customers are validating that our modulators are ideally suited for the datacenter and telecommunications markets that are over 10km in length. Details and feedback of what these prospective customers are seeking from a prototype are delivered to our technical team.

Capital Requirements

As a development stage company, we do not generate revenues. We have incurred substantial net losses since inception. We have satisfied our capital requirements since inception primarily through the issuance and sale of our common stock.

Results of Operations

Comparison of three months ended March 31, 2022 to three months ended March 31, 2021

Revenues

As a development stage company, we had no revenues during the three months ended March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2021. The Company is in various stages of photonic device and materials development and evaluation with potential customers and strategic partners. The Company expects to obtain a revenue stream from technology licensing agreements, technology transfer agreements and the production and direct sale of its own electro-optic device components.

Research and development expenses increased for the three months ended March 31, 2022, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily due to increases in research and development non-cash stock option amortization, research and development salary expenses, laboratory and wafer fabrication materials and supplies, depreciation, prototype device development expenses, research and development travel expenses and research and development consulting expenses. Research and development non-cash stock option amortization expenses increased by $856,534 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Research and development salary expenses increased by $210,236 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021 primarily for additional salary expenses. Laboratory and wafer fabrication materials and supplies increased by $55,665 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Depreciation expenses increased by $47,304 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Prototype device development expenses increased by $31,958 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Research and development travel expenses increased by $31,456 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Research and development consulting expenses increased by $21,800 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.

We expect to continue to incur substantial research and development expense developing and commercializing our photonic devices, and electro-optic materials platform. These expenses will increase as a result of accelerated development effort to support commercialization of our non-linear optical polymer materials technology; to build photonic device prototypes; working with semiconductor foundries; hiring additional technical and support personnel; engaging senior technical advisors; pursuing other potential business opportunities and collaborations; customer testing and evaluation; and incurring related operating expenses.

General and administrative expenses increased for the three months ended March 31, 2022, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily due to increases in general and administrative non-cash stock option amortization, director fees, general and administrative travel expenses, investor expenses and shareholder meeting expenses offset by a decrease in general and administrative salary expenses. General and administrative non-cash stock option amortization increased by $256,115 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Director fees increased by $37,750 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. General and administrative travel expenses increased by $21,381 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. Investor expenses increased by $11,572 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021 primarily for the expenses to uplist the Company to the Nasdaq Capital Market. Shareholder meeting expenses increased by $10,299 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. General and administrative salary expenses decreased by $21,287 in the three months ended March 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021.

Other income (expenses) decreased for the three months ended March 31, 2022, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily due to the Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness January 22, 2021 in the amount of $410,700 offset by a decrease in commitment fee in the amount of $190,068 associated with the purchase of shares by an institutional investor for sale under a stock purchase agreement.

Net loss was $3,555,761 and $1,735,044 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, for an increase of $1,820,717, due primarily to the Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness January 22, 2021 and increases in non-cash stock option amortization, research and development salary expenses, laboratory and wafer fabrication materials and supplies, travel expenses, depreciation, director fees, prototype device development expenses, research and development consulting fees, investor expenses and shareholder meeting expenses offset by decreases in commitment fee associated with the purchase of shares by an institutional investor for sale under a stock purchase agreement and general and administrative salary expenses. 

Significant Accounting Policies

We believe our significant accounting policies affect our more significant estimates and judgments used in the preparation of our financial statements. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 contains a discussion of these significant accounting policies.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Sources and Uses of Cash

Our primary source of operating cash inflows was proceeds from the sale of common stock to an institutional investor pursuant to purchase agreements with an institutional investor as described in Note 9 to the Financial Statements and proceeds received pursuant to the exercise of options.

All of the registered shares under the January 21, 2019 purchase agreement with the institutional investor have been issued as of June 30, 2021. On July 2, 2021, the Company filed a $100 million universal shelf registration statement which became effective on July 9, 2021, and on October 4, 2021, the Company entered into a new purchase agreement with the institutional investor to sell up to $33 million of common stock over a 36-month period, with $11,469,582 remaining on the purchase agreement as of the date of this filing.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company received $3,686,817 in proceeds pursuant to the purchase agreements with the institutional investor and $26,850 in proceeds pursuant to the exercise of options. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company received $30,350,674 in proceeds pursuant to the purchase agreements with the institutional investor and $2,379,225 in proceeds pursuant to the exercise of options and warrants.

During the three months ended March 31, 2022, our primary sources of cash outflows from operations included payroll, payroll taxes related to cashless option exercise, rent, utilities, payments to vendors and third-party service providers. During the year ended December 31, 2021, our primary sources of cash outflows from operations included payroll, payroll taxes related to cashless option exercise, rent, utilities, payments to vendors including prototypes development and foundries expenses and third-party service providers.

Our future expenditures and capital requirements will depend on numerous factors, including: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the progress of our research and development efforts; the rate at which we can, directly or through arrangements with original equipment manufacturers, introduce and sell products incorporating our polymer materials technology; the costs of filing, prosecuting, defending and enforcing any patent claims and other intellectual property rights; market acceptance of our products and competing technological developments; and our ability to establish cooperative development, joint venture and licensing arrangements. We expect that we will incur approximately $1,160,000 of expenditures per month over the next 12 months.

Subject to any additional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect our October 4, 2021 purchase agreement with the institutional investor to provide us with sufficient funds to maintain our operations for the next 12 months if required. However, any additional funds provided by the institutional investor may not be available on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. Market volatility resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors could adversely impact our ability to access capital as and when needed. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to delay or limit our operations, including research and development efforts relating to the commercializing our electro-optic polymer technology. Our current cash position enables us to finance our operations through January 2024 before we will be required to replenish our cash reserves pursuant to our October 4, 2021 purchase agreement or otherwise. Our cash requirements are expected to increase at a rate consistent with the Company’s path to revenue growth as we expand our activities and operations with the objective of commercializing our electro-optic polymer technology. We currently have no debt to service.

We expect that our cash used in operations will continue to increase through 2022 and beyond as a result of the following planned activities:

Analysis of Cash Flows

For the three months ended March 31, 2022

Net cash used in operating activities was $2,545,689 for the three months ended March 31, 2022, primarily attributable to the net loss of $3,555,761 adjusted by $1,338,932 in options issued for services, $22,930 amortization of deferred charges, $60,213 in common stock issued for services, $244,168 in depreciation expenses and patent amortization expenses, $18,090 in prepaid expenses, ($750,376) in accounts payable, accrued bonuses and accrued expenses and $76,115 in cashless option exercise expense. Net cash used in operating activities consisted of payments for research and development, legal, professional and consulting expenses, rent and other expenditures necessary to develop our business infrastructure.

Net cash used by investing activities was $221,991 for the three months ended March 31, 2022, consisting of $39,706 in cost for intangibles and $182,285 in asset additions for the Colorado headquarter facility and labs.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $3,672,570 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and consisted of $26,850 in proceeds from exercise of options, $3,686,817 in proceeds from resale of common stock to an institutional investor offset by $41,097 in cashless option exercise tax payments.

On March 31, 2022, our cash and cash equivalents totaled $24,337,502, our assets totaled $28,049,727, our liabilities totaled $1,230,456 and we had stockholders’ equity of $26,819,271.

For the three months ended March 31, 2021

Net cash used in operating activities was $1,253,391 for the three months ended March 31, 2021, primarily attributable to the net loss of $1,735,044 adjusted by $7,965 in warrants issued for services, $241,248 in options issued for services, $250,281 in common stock issued for services, $196,578 in depreciation expenses and patent amortization expenses, $340,900 in prepaid expenses, ($144,619) in accounts payable and accrued expenses and ($410,700) in Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness. Net cash used in operating activities consisted of payments for research and development, legal, professional and consulting expenses, rent and other expenditures necessary to develop our business infrastructure.

Net cash used by investing activities was $493,639 for the three months ended March 31, 2021, consisting of $7,232 in cost for intangibles and $486,407 in asset additions primarily for the new Colorado headquarter facility and labs.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $4,961,865 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and consisted of $21,000 in proceeds from exercise of options, $4,953,972 in proceeds from resale of common stock to an institutional investor offset by $13,107 repayment of equipment purchased.

Contractual Obligations

There have been no material changes outside the ordinary course of business in our contractual commitments during the three months ended March 31, 2022. See "Note 6–Commitments" to the notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements contained within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for a discussion of our contractual commitments.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of March 31, 2022, we do not have an interest in any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4) of Regulation S-K that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures, or capital resources that is material to investors.