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OFS Labs Unveil New Research in
Optical Networks
OFS, designer, manufacturer and supplier of leading edge fiber optic
products,
announced the latest research developments from OFS Laboratories. With an
unprecedented 33 papers presented at OFC 2003, OFS maintains its position as
an industry leader in scientific advances that lead to next generation fiber
products.
"The history of fiber optics is intertwined with the contributions of OFS
scientists," said Dave Kalish, Chief Technical Officer, OFS. "Their latest
innovations are a testament to that tradition, one that leads to new and
exciting photonic products that are emulated throughout the industry." OFS is
also proud to announce that Kenneth Walker, President of Specialty Photonic
Devices for OFS, was selected as an Optical Society of America (OSA) Fellow. A
citation will be presented to Walker at OFC 2003.
Walker was selected for membership based on his contributions to research
and
development, business leadership, and pioneering advances in optical fiber
technology. The number of Fellows is limited by OSA bylaws to 10% of the total
membership.
Grating Based Optical Devices
OFS is pioneering advances in grating based optical devices that help
reduce
system cost while enabling higher capacity and longer reach. These
commercially available prototypes include tunable dispersion compensators
based on fiber Bragg gratings. The devices extend to multichannel operations,
offering upgrades to multiple WDM channels, and a low cost grating-based
optical channel monitor that is an alternative to high-end, expensive WDM
channel monitors.
Other advancements in grating based optical devices include the ability to
control and reduce group-delay ripple, a major impairment in grating-based
dispersion compensators, and advancements in devices using higher-order
optical modes in fibers, including adjustable dispersion compensators. This
latter achievement allows fiber-based dispersion compensation modules to be
set to desired levels of compensation, providing significant savings in
inventory costs.
New Optical Sources
Researchers have also created novel optical sources based on supercontinuum
generation that offer significantly higher power in continuous operation over
wide wavelength range and extremely wide, coherent pulsed operation.
Applications of these new sources include test and measurement devices,
spectroscopy, medical tomography and frequency metrology (clocks). These
developments could pave the way for application of telecommunications
technology into other applications and industries.
Microstructured Optical Fibers
Papers presented also shed new understanding of microstructured optical
fibers, including bandgap fibers -- an exciting new class of fibers for
photonic devices and transmission fiber applications. Several papers discuss
the modal properties of light and the dispersion characteristics, aimed at
developing novel devices for controlling signals.
Post Deadline Submissions
Researchers will present an additional 5 papers which were accepted for the
post deadline session. These include a paper highlighting the discovery of a
new phenomenon in optical fiber that alters the refractive index profile of
the fiber. This discovery allows improved fiber characterization and can be
used to create new optical devices.
Two papers demonstrating record transmission results over OFS' TrueWave
REACH
fiber were submitted to the OFC post deadline session. The first paper reports
transmission of forty 10-Gb/s channels over 2400 km using 200-km spans, at
least twice the conventional span length used in terrestrial systems. The
experiment demonstrates that with optimal bi-directional Raman pumping, the
number of optical repeaters can be halved, helping to reduce operating
expenses for medium- to long-haul systems. The 2400-km transmission result is
twice as far as previously demonstrated with 200-km spans and represents a
system operating with real margins, over distances suitable for at least 50%
of the connection distances in an optical network covering the U.S.
The second paper reports transmission of 6.4-Tb/s capacity (160 40-Gb/s
channels) over 3200 km of TrueWave REACH fiber with 100-km all-Raman amplified
spans. Carrier-suppressed, return-to-zero, differential-phase-shift-keyed
modulation format with strong signal filtering and balanced detection was a
key to achieving the 6.4-Tb/s capacity with 0.8-bit/s/Hz spectral efficiency.
The experiment, using new iRainbow co-pumps from Furukawa, and also involving
collaborators from Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs, demonstrates a new record
capacity-distance product of 20 Pb-km/s for 40-Gb/s terrestrial
transmission.
These ground-breaking experiments were also enabled by continued advances
in
the fabrication of TrueWave REACH fiber. OFS is improving specifications on
TrueWave REACH fiber to better support the engineering of Raman-amplified
systems. With a new upper limit on attenuation at the "water peak" of 0.5
dB/km, TrueWave REACH has the tightest specification in the industry for an
NZDF long haul fiber. Low water peak loss, along with moderate effective area
and tight tolerance on mode field, is important for efficient and consistent
Raman gain. Variability in TrueWave REACH mode field diameter at 1550nm has
been reduced from +/- 0.5 to +/- 0.4 microns, giving it the most tightly
specified mode field of any Raman-enabled fiber.
About OFS
OFS is a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of leading edge optical
fiber,
optical fiber cable, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products for
high-speed optical networks. OFS, formerly the optical fiber solutions
division of Lucent Technologies Inc., has a proven track record of being first
in the industry with application specific fibers, optical connectors, ribbon
cables, erbium doped fibers, Raman fiber lasers and more. OFS is committed to
providing customers increased value by offering products that deliver lowest
cost per bit network solutions, protecting investments through future flexible
solutions.
OFS distributes its optical fiber, optical fiber cable, optical
connectivity
and specialty photonics products directly to end users, as well as through
valued distributors, external cable customers and equipment vendors.
OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global leader in
optical communications and majority shareholder, and CommScope, Inc., a world
leader in broadband coaxial cables and minority shareholder. Headquartered in
Norcross, GA, OFS operates facilities in Avon, Connecticut; Carrollton,
Georgia; Somerset, NJ; and Sturbridge, Massachusetts, as well as facilities in
Denmark, Germany, Russia and Brazil.
Web site: www.ofsoptics.com
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