Lasers

At the ECOC 2002 exhibition in Copenhagen, Bookham Technology presented a high-power, monolithic InP-based Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) tunable laser for C-band DWDM which has four main sections.

A new tuning mechanism allows 80 ITU channels with 50GHz spacing with a side-mode suppression ratio (SMSR) of about 50dB, while maintaining power uniformity within 3dB over the full tuning range.

The multiple-phase shift rear grating provides a comb-like wavelength filter in reflection. It provides seven uniform, equally-spaced peaks with very low out-of-band responses.

A front multi-grating structure, when activated electrically, digitally selects one of the supermode reflection peaks created by the rear phase grating reflector.

After demonstrating samples of the 100km-reach MetroFlex G2 Series at OFC 2002, Bandwidth9 demonstrated at NFOEC 2002 a 400km-reach version, for production prototyping by end-2002, for regional wavelength services in point-to-point, ring and other topologies.

Bandwidth9 claims that MetroFlex is the only tunable transmitter that delivers wide tuning in the C or L bands, 0dBm output and 400km reach in an ultra-small, highly reliable, 50.8 x 73.4mm package. Incorporating a VCSEL-based tunable laser, wavelength locking technology, modulation and amplification in a single integrated package, the transmitter suits remote wavelength configuration and sparing applications.

The company says that the latest 400km-reach MetroFlex G2 Series tunable transmitter also provides a launch pad for extending the product line from 2.5Gbit/s to 10Gbit/s applications.

www.bw9.com

Like its digital 1310nm lasers, Applied Optoelectronics' three new analogue, multimode 1310nm lasers — designed around a Fabry-Perot version of its 1310nm laser — can be deployed in tough environments without cooling. Applications are in cable TV transmission at 50–860MHz as well as antenna remoting.

The DFB-1310-C5-2-A is a single-mode laser for CATV forward path; the DFB-1310-C5-2-A2 for CATV return path and antenna remoting. Both feature low RIN and a high side-mode suppression ratio. The FP-1310-C5-1.8-A is a cost-effective alternative for intermediate- and short-reach single-channel applications.

Hermetically sealed coax fibre pig-tailed TO-56 packages are pin-compatible with standard coax modules.

Denmark's Koheras A/S has introduced a version of its Adjustik C15 narrow-linewidth tunable DFB fibre laser which offers combined thermal and piezoelectric wavelength tuning or stabilisation.

The laser is available at 1.02-1.20mm and 1.52-1.61mm with a line-width down to 1kHz, >300pm slow-tuning capability and 100pm fast-tuning range with up to 10kHz bandwidth.and as an OEM or turnkey solution with integrated control electronics and needs only 110/220V power supply for operation.

Applications include frequency locking, test and measurement equipment such as OFDR, and other applications demanding high spectral purity, long coherence length and low phase noise.

www.koheras.com

Intune Technologies' latest fast-switching tunable laser module, the INT1200, improves the form factor and switching between wavelengths (including locking) from microseconds for its predecessor, the INT1100, to less than 200ns.

The INT1200 can be tailored to work with any commercially available electronically tunable laser. It can be used in high-performance transmission and switching applications and contains an on-board wavelength locker for stabilisation.

Product development teams will continue to reduce the switching time even further,

www.intune-technologies.com

Version 2.0 of Tsunami Photonics' CLose-Grid laser test product is now available as a hardware-agnostic software suite for production screening, characterisation and analysis of tunable diode lasers.

With true test platform independence, CLose-Grid 2.0 can now be deployed on available test instruments including next-generation, high-speed test platforms.

Also, the device now provides quantitative analysis of laser performance, improving the accuracy of test procedures and leading to improved yields.

CLose-Grid 2.0 is also poised to enter an evaluation program at Bookham Technology.

Alcatel Optronics' 1998 PLM coolerless 980nm terrestrial pump has no thermo-electric cooler, pumping power of 82–150mW over –5ºC to 70°C, power consumption of typically 500mW, and is dedicated to single-channel and WDM EDFAs for metro and metro-access applications.

The absence of a thermo-electric cooler reduces both electrical power consumption and dissipation and leads to simpler amplifier control electronics.

The standard low-profile 14-pin butterfly package (29x12.7x8mm) contains a high-power 980nm laser. An FBG in the fibre pig-tail stabilises and locks the wavelength.

www.alcatel.com/optronics

For metro area networks, Intel's TXN13500 8-Channel Tunable DWDM Optical Transceiver and IXF30009 Optical Transport Processor employ tunable lasers for a complete DWDM line-card solution that supports multiple data rates up to 11.1Gbit/s.

The lasers are intended for 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks as well as OC-192 SONET/SDH and Optical Transport Networks.

The TXN13500 provides the complete physical layer and optics for eight tunable channels. It is designed for transmission over 80km without signal regeneration and is 300-pin MSA compatible. The IXF30009 offers transparent aggregation of four OC-48 signals into 10Gbit/s client signals plus strong FEC capabilities for increased reach.

www.intel.com

For end-to-end security to campus, wide-area and metro-area networks, Cisco Systems has introduced a range of multi-Gigabit network security services integrated into its Catalyst 6500 Series of modular multilayer switches.

This is through four new high-performance modules — the Catalyst 6500 Firewall Services Module, IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) VPN Service Module, Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) Service Module and Network Analysis Module — which use the same technologies as the PIX Firewall and VPN products. These marry security services typically found at the network perimeter with the Catalyst 6500's existing portfolio of rich Layer 2–7 network services, enabling combination of security services with a range of IP services such as Voice over IP, wireless LAN integration, Quality of Service, and content switching.

The modules are also compatible with Cisco 7600 routers, which offer high-touch IP services at the network edge.

Tektronix's plug-in 80C10 optical and 80E06 electrical sampling modules for its CSA8000B Communications Signal Analyzer are designed to speed development of emerging 40Gbit/s components and network elements.

As the first 40Gbit/s optical reference receiver (ORR) with 65GHz optical bandwidth adding headroom), the 80C10 provides a predictable, normalised response environment for measurements, enabling effective production testing of OC-768/STM-256 elements. It is first to support both ITU-T G.709 FEC (43.018Gbit/s) and OC-768/STM-256 (39.018Gbit/s) standards.

The 80E06 has 70+GHz electrical bandwidth, enabling more accurate characterisation of 40Gbit/s components.

Tektronix has submitted a recommendation to the ITU proposing guidelines for these ORRs.

www.tektronix.com

Applied Micro Circuits' 10 Gigabit Columbia family of ATM and Packet-over-SONET framers/mappers deliver a platform approach to address line rates from OC-3 to OC-192 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet through a converged OIF/SPI-4.2. The family consists of three devices:

• 16x12 (S19219) for dense OC-3 and OC-12 port cards;
• 4x48 (S19207) for OC-48 port cards;
• 192 (S19218) for OC-192 SONET/SDH and 10 GbE.

Targeted at multi-service ATM/MPLS switches and edge routers, they maximise re-use of software and hardware design between line-cards. By integrating SONET/SDH transceivers at rates up to OC-48 (2.488Gbit/s), they eliminate multiple discrete components and simplify routing of high-speed signals on the board. Also, use of 0.13mm CMOS reduces power and increases integration.

www.amcc.com