News

21 February 2007

 

Bookham 980nm pump technology chosen by Tyco for undersea applications

Optical component, module and subsystem maker Bookham Inc of San Jose, CA, USA says that its 980nm OceanBright pump laser technology has been selected by Tyco Telecommunications (US) Inc for deployment in its undersea fiber-optic cable systems. Bookham will be the lead supplier of 980nm pump laser modules to Tyco. The products will be used in erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs), which are, in turn, incorporated into repeaters that boost the signal at critical distances along an undersea fiber-optic cable.

“The quality and reliability of the Bookham terrestrial module has been established over many years,” says Harold Conlon, director supply chain at Tyco Telecommunications. “This experience has established the building blocks to adapt the Bookham pump technology for the extremely demanding requirements of the undersea market.”

Bookham claims that the reliability of its 980nm pump laser technology has been proven with over 350,000 units shipped and 14 billion device hours with less than 25 FITs (failures in time). The company adds that its design team has many years of experience with undersea requirements, and that Tyco Telecommunications has been using its chip technology since 1999. 

The latest pump module in the OceanBright laser portfolio incorporates Bookham’s generation-eight laser chip (G08) - a continuation of a previous generation of laser chips qualified for submarine use. It is capable of exceeding 400mW at operating temperatures of 0°C to 45°C, and complies with multi source agreement requirements for use in uncooled applications.  It is part of Bookham’s range of pump products, which includes ultrahigh-power cooled butterfly and uncooled high-power single-mode and multimode pumps.

“Demand for submarine systems can be cyclical, resulting in potentially high requalification and start-up costs for dedicated undersea production lines,” says Mark Ives, Bookham’s PLM director. “The ability to apply the Bookham 980nm pump technology to both terrestrial and submarine systems enables continuous production, resulting in production cost savings,” he claims.

Visit Bookham: http://www.bookham.com

Visit Tyco: http://www.tycotelecom.com