Technical Insight
Tunable Lasers Finding Their Way into Networks (Fiber Optics News)
Two companiesFujitsu and Atoga Systemshave introduced network products based on tunable lasers. Fujitsu Network Communications new optical add drop multiplexing platform is the first to employ Fujitsu s tunable lasers as standard equipment. The system is capable of 1.76 Tb/s over an incredible 4,000 km without regeneration, which is achieved with optical amplifiers and spectrum analyzers. The system transmits at 10 Gb/s along channels with a spacing of 50 GHz. Fujitsu s tunable lasers are currently offered in a 4-channel module, and the company plans to increase the number of tunable channels to 40 in future. The module responds to software commands that change the temperature and adjust the wavelength of the individual lasers. The laser sweeps across a range of pre-set frequencies, and when it reaches the desired one it is actively locked in place. Atoga Systems (Fremont, CA) also claims to be first to market with a tunable laser product. Atoga s Optical Applications Router 5 enables flexible bandwidth provisioning and dynamic optical scaling. The system will offer 5 Gb/s of switching capacity, and allows dynamic scaling without hardware changes to simplify metro ring systems, which require manual tuning when extra wavelengths are needed to add capacity. The system is being beta tested with service providers and is expected to be on the market shortly.
