NeoPhotonics to double Santur narrow-linewidth tunable laser production

It isn’t taking long for NeoPhotonics Corp. (NYSE: NPTN) to leverage the assets it recently acquired when it bought Santur Corp. (see “NeoPhotonics agrees to acquire Santur”). NeoPhotonics says it is in the process of doubling production capacity for the narrow-linewidth tunable lasers it received in the deal.

The lasers come in an OIF MSA standard ITLA form factor and are targeted at 40- and 100-Gbps coherent applications. They offer up to 35 mW launch power in the C-Band and 20 mW in the L-Band.

NeoPhotonics will use production facilities in Shenzhen to manufacture the lasers. The company does not use Fabrinet as a contract manufacturer and therefore has not been affected directly by the flooding in Thailand that has damaged the production capabilities of some of its competitors. (That doesn’t mean it will be completely unaffected, however – see “NeoPhotonics third quarter revenue disappoints.”)

“Our narrow-linewidth tunable lasers are key components for coherent transport in telecommunications systems, which we believe is rapidly emerging as a dominate architecture for 40- and 100-Gbps networks,” said Tim Jenks, CEO of NeoPhotonics. “We believe there is currently a shortage of these critical products while demand continues to grow. We are in the process of more than doubling our production capacity of narrow-linewidth tunable lasers with minimal expected additional capital expenditures. We anticipate our added capacity to be on-line in the first quarter of 2012.”

For more information on tunable lasers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyers Guide.