NEC advances to cut cost of tunable lasers

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Nov 5, 2004

NEC Corp. has made advances in the technology of tunable lasers that will cut the cost of fiber-optic equipment and help communications carriers deliver more efficient communications services, and which will be commercially available by October 2005, the company said in a recent interview.

While other companies have previously developed tunable lasers, the one developed by NEC is cost-effective enough to be widely used to replace the functions of many lasers currently used in fiber-optic networks, according to Hiroyuki Yamazaki, principal researcher at NEC's system platforms research laboratories.

"We think we could make the laser for about half the cost of any other competitor, and we want to put it on sale internationally," said Yamazaki. He declined to say how much the laser might cost.

Other companies that have developed tunable lasers include Agility Communications Inc., Intel Corp., Iolon Inc., and Santur Corp.

Modern fiber-optic networks operate on multiple wavelengths, and the older varieties tend to use separate lasers for each wavelength. On top of maintaining these lasers, communications companies have to keep spares.

Using tunable lasers means carriers can install just one type of laser instead of many, saving money, parts, and inventory costs, said Yamazaki.

The NEC laser is built on a LSI (large-scale integrated circuit) process that NEC uses to make semiconductor chips, so it is relatively easy to make at a low cost, while it is powerful enough and flexible enough to cater to the varied needs of fiber-optics communications, he said.

For further information, go to www.nec.com