Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced the industry's smallest hermetically sealed surface mount optical driver amplifier specifically designed for use in OC-192/STM-64 10 Gbit/sec SONET/SDH fiber-optic communication systems.
The Agilent MDA-1220-08S is also the industry's first surface mount modulator driver amplifier to provide radio frequency (RF) shielding in a hermetically sealed small form factor package, and offers network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) ease of integration and reduced costs.
Optical modulator driver amplifiers convert low-level electrical data into sufficient power levels to drive optical modulators without adding signal distortion. Traditionally, hermetic modulator drivers have been supplied in a metal housing with SMA connectors on both ends and a connector for mounting the driver to the board. The Agilent MDA-1220-08S is supplied in a 17.247 mm by 11.354 mm by 4.318 mm hermetic surface mount package, which is up to 80% smaller than the traditional hermetic metal housing.
The Agilent MDA-1220-08S can be used in OC-192/STM-64 communication system applications with or without forward-error correction (FEC) protocols. The amplifier offers wide bandwidth operation of 30 kHz to 15 GHz. Using advanced GaAs technology, it will drive both electro-absorption (EA) and lithium niobate (LiNbO3) Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulators. This amplifier is designed for use between multiplexer (MUX) chips and the modulator to amplify non-return to zero (NRZ) or return-to-zero (RZ) signals from 9.953 Gbit/sec to 12.5 Gbit/sec.
Its standard performance characteristics include 20 dB typical gain, an output voltage of up to 7.5V peak-to-peak into a 50-ohm optical modulator load, 15 ps rise time, and +/- 1.5 dB gain ripple. The amplifier provides both crossover point and output power control for maximum design flexibility.
The Agilent MDA-1220-08S driver amplifier is currently sampling to select NEMs. General availability is planned for second quarter 2003. To meet specific customer requirements, higher gain and output power level versions are available on request.
More information about Agilent Technologies Inc. (Böblingen, Germany) is available at www.agilent.com.