System integrators can now benefit from a tunable semiconductor laser that provides high wavelength accuracy. At ±250MHz, the Gridlocker's wavelength accuracy is the highest available, claims Fiberspace. The Gridlocker is said to provide the performance needed for long-haul DWDM systems. "Stability and absolute accuracy are critical for the deployment of ultra-dense WDM and, until now, the stability limitations of prior solutions could have compromised performance when building systems with closer channel spacing," said Richard Cunningham, senior analyst Optical Networking, for Cahners In-Stat/MDR. www.fiberspace.net
Alcatel Optronics, JDS Uniphase, and Nortel Networks announced a multi-source agreement for 960-980nm pump lasers in uncooled Mini-DIL packaging. Designed for terrestrial erbium doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs) used in metro and long-haul optical systems, these pump lasers offer system designers reduced size, electrical consumption and cost.
The agreement establishes a uniform specification that addresses form, fit, function and performance criteria in addition to quality parameters. The three MSA founding members expect that compliant uncooled Mini-DIL pump lasers will enable a significant reduction in the size and power consumption of EDFAs.
GigaTera demonstrated an all-optical 40GHz pulse source. A planar waveguide multiplexer, developed in collaboration with IBM Zurich's Research Laboratory, was used to multiply the frequency of GigaTera's Ergo pulsed laser to 40GHz. CEO Andros Payne said, "Generating light pulses at 40GHz is one of the key remaining challenges to increase the bandwidth of current communications networks. We believe our approach has the advantages of simplicity and compactness". GigaTera used its 10GHz Ergo Pulse Generating Laser, which requires neither active modulation nor a high-frequency electronic driver to generate the optical pulses.
Teem Photonics has opened a US subsidiary located in New York City. Headed by Brian McCormack, US CEO and VP Global Sales, Teem Photonics Inc aims to give the European-based company a more established US presence and bring its innovative products closer to its predominant customer base. "Many of our products are now Telcordia qualified and ready for volume sale to North American customers," says McCormack. "We are positioning ourselves in anticipation of the roll-out of two major planar splitter product lines and an exciting new range of high-performance small-form-factor amplifiers".