News

11 December 2006

 

Apogee to introduce uncooled 20Gb/s and 25Gb/s 1310nm CWDM lasers for emerging 100GbE optical standards

In support of standards under development by the IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Study Group (HSSG), Apogee Photonics of Allentown, PA, USA, which supplies InP-based 10Gb/s and 40Gb/s communication lasers, is developing a family of uncooled externally modulated lasers (EMLs) for coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) that will support aggregate data rates of more than 100Gb/s. Such very high-speed optical data links enable the cost-effective transmission of emerging ‘triple-play’ applications - Internet, voice-over-IP (VOIP) and interactive video services.

Two product variants, both under consideration by the IEEE study group, will be available: a 20Gb/s 1310nm EML in a five-channel CWDM configuration and a 25Gb/s EML in a four-channel configuration. These CWDM-based approaches to 100Gb/s data links build on the highly successful LX4 implementation of 10GbE transponders, as well as the recently announced X40 1310nm CWDM solution for 40Gb/s links, says Apogee.

The lasers are based on Apogee’s uncooled 10Gb/s 1310nm EML sources, which, it claims, are deployed at tier-one OEM and module customers worldwide and have best-in-class mask margin and the ability to operate uncooled over temperature ranges of -20 to 90 degrees Celsius.

“The key advantage of Apogee Photonics’ 10Gb/s uncooled 1310nm EML is that the bandwidth can be significantly increased beyond 10Gb/s, unlike directly modulated DFB's that are challenged at data rates above 10Gb/s,” says chief technology officer Milind Gokhale. “In addition, the 20Gb/s and 25Gb/s EML sources support the 10km link distance targeted by the 802.3 Study Group,” he adds.

“Apogee Photonics’ goal is to develop enabling photonics technologies that anticipate future customer needs,” says CEO Mike Decelle. “While the development of a 100GbE standard is only recently underway, our world-class indium phosphide technology portfolio is fully capable of supporting one of the candidate technologies for implementing the next advance in Ethernet transmission speeds,” he claims. “Our 10Gb/s uncooled 1310nm EML is well established as the most reliable and highest performance laser source in its class, and it is upon this foundation that the next generation of Ethernet technology can be enabled.”

Apogee says that its EML lasers will be available for sample evaluation in early 2007 and, subject to ratification of the 100GbE IEEE standard, generally available as soon as second-half 2007.


Visit: http://www.apogeephotonics.com