News

2 April 2009

 

QD Laser commercializes 10Gb/s 1310nm quantum dot laser for telecoms

QD Laser Inc of Tokyo, Japan, which was founded in April 2006 with funding from Fujitsu Ltd and Mitsui Ventures, has announced plans for the launch of what it claims will be the world first commercial quantum dot Fabry-Perot (QD-FP type) laser operable at 10Gb/s, to be available from early June.

Currently, in view of environmental concerns, the telecoms industry requires products that feature low power consumption and small form factor, in keeping with the trend towards increasingly faster transmission speeds (resulting in higher power consumption).

Given these circumstances, optical module and system vendors are experiencing difficulties in controlling temperature in products that feature continually smaller form factors and faster data transmission rates.

Figure 1: Structure of QD FP laser.

By employing proprietary quantum dot laser technologies developed in collaboration between Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd and the University of Tokyo, QD Laser claims to be first to develop and commercialize temperature-insensitive 1310nm QD lasers operating at 2.5Gb/s (Figure 1) in a TO-CAN package (Figure 2) as well as the QLF-13 series 10Gb/s high-speed version, for applications such as fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), optical local-area networks (LANs), and Fiber Channel for fiber-optic communications.

QD Laser also announced that engineering samples of its temperature-insensitive QD-DFB (distributed feedback) laser - operable at 2.5Gb/s for long-reach transmissions - will be available from early June.

Figure 2: QLF13 series QD-FP laser in TO-CAN package.

Compared to conventional lasers, QD Laser has reduced power consumption by about 30% for lasers used in optical modules at 85°C. Furthermore, the firm's realization of high-temperature operation at 100°C enables high-density packaging, resulting in a reduction of the overall power consumption of optical telecoms systems.

By leveraging the temperature-insensitivity characteristics, QD lasers have the potential to eliminate the need for automatic power control (APC) features, while also being able to function at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 100°C without complex bias current adjustments. This hence enables cost reductions through fewer components and fewer adjustment processes (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Eye diagram of a QD-FP laser in 10Gb/s operation.

In terms of temperature insensitivity, Figure 4 shows characteristic temperatures (To) of the 10Gb/s QD-FP, which achieved a characteristic temperature of 500K at 20-100°C, a world record for a commercialized 1310nm semiconductor laser and approximately ten times higher insensitivity to temperature compared to conventional lasers.

Figure 4: Characteristic temperatures of threshold currents (conventional lasers achieve only about 50K; the new laser has 10 times higher temperature insensitivity).

Some of the research for the above work was conducted as part of the following projects: the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology (includes partial funding) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan; the 'Photonic Network Technology Project' contracted to the Optoelectronic Industry and Technology Development Association (OITDA) by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan, and the 'NEDO Grant for Technological Development by R&D Venture Businesses'.

*At last week's Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC 2009) in San Diego, CA (22-26 March), QD Laser presented two related papers: 'Temperature-stable 10.3Gb/s operation of 1.3 micron quantum dot FP lasers with GaInP/GaAs gratings' (on 10Gb/s QD-FP lasers) and 'High-speed and temperature-insensitive operation in 1.3 micron InAs/GaAs high-density quantum dot lasers (on 2.5Gb/s QD-DFB lasers).

Commercial 10Gb/s QD-FP laser products will be available from early June. Engineering samples of 2.5Gb/s QD-DFB lasers will be available from early June, and commercial products from early 2010.

See related item:

QD Laser raises ¥700m to ramp production

Search: Quantum dot Fabry-Perot laser GaInP/GaAs InAs/GaAs

Visit: www.qdlaser.com