Low-Cost Sources Are Optimized For Plastic Optical Fiber

Two new products, a resonant-cavity light emitting diode (RC-LED) operating at 650 nm and a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) operating at 690 nm, are expected to enable customers to deploy high-transmission speed, eye-safe optical sources inexpensively throughout the metro and access levels of the network. The products, licensed from Finland's premier Optoelectronic Research Centre (ORC), currently can be manufactured for customers in low volume using ORC's advanced fabrication facilities. The RC-LEDs offer several advantages for short-haul polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plastic optical fiber (POF) transmission. These benefits include operation at the fiber's attenuation minimum, flexibility in alignment, a 30% coupling efficiency without any supplementary optics, eye safety and robustness. These RC-LEDs have a high efficiency at 9.5% and, the company says, hold the world record in speed for red wavelength range spontaneous emitters, achieving error-free transmission rates beyond 622 Mbps. The red wavelength range VCSELs can be extended to 670 nm and 650 nm and offer good compatibility with PMMA POF. Products for perfluorinated (PF) POF at 1,000 nm and for silica glass fiber at 1,300 nm are in development. These source components are available on a custom manufacturing basis. For more information, contact Tom Breunig at MEMSCAP INC., Oakland, CA. (206) 463 1830.