Luna Technologies intros optical backscatter reflectometer

August 18, 2004 Blacksburg, VA -- Luna Technologies today unveiled what it claims is the industry's most sensitive frequency-domain reflectometer: the Optical Backscatter Reflectometer (OBR). According to Luna representatives, this failure analysis tool offers unprecedented diagnostic capabilities to the manufacturers of fiber-optic components and assemblies.

Using the OBR, designers and manufacturers can peer into the heart of optical components, modules, and assemblies to measure minute reflections with 125-dB sensitivity, 60-dB dynamic range and 40-micron spatial resolution for up to 30 meters of optical length with zero dead-zone.

The OBR represents a new class of measurement instrument that fills the gap between conventional optical time-domain reflectometers (OTDRs) that have long reach and backscatter-level sensitivity but poor resolution, and component-level reflectometers that have high resolution but lack backscatter-level sensitivity, explains the company. With data acquisition rates exceeding 5 million points per second, the OBR provides extremely fast and accurate plug-and-play inspection, qualification, verification, and failure analysis of a wide variety of fiber-optic components and modules.

"We've created an ideal combination of speed, accuracy, sensitivity, and resolution in an instrument that will be useful to anyone that assembles fiber-optic components," asserts John Goehrke, CEO of Luna Technologies. "Utilizing the OBR can dramatically improve component quality, significantly reduce testing costs, and ultimately improve production yield rate."

The OBR comes configured with an integrated internal tunable laser source, a computer, and a monitor. It is available immediately with a four to six week delivery lead-time.