POINTek unveils Super Gaussian athermal AWGs for coherent 200-Gbps applications
POINTek, Inc. has announced a family of ultrawide broadband athermal AWGs (AAWGs), including Super Gaussian AAWGs that will support 200-Gbps coherent applications. The AAWGs exhibit low insertion loss and wider passband characteristics than conventional AAWGs for a variety of uses, including the anticipated application of coherent transmission to cable MSO networks.
POINTek notes that CableLabs has made significant strides in the development of coherent transmission approaches for advanced HFC networks through such specifications as Point-to-Point Coherent Optics P2P Coherent Optics Architecture Specification P2PCO-SP-ARCH-I02-190311 and Point-to-Point Coherent Optics Physical Layer 2.0 Specification P2PCO-SP-PHYv2.0-I02-200501 (see "CableLabs unveils Point to Point Coherent Optics specifications for access networks"). The company says its Super Gaussian AAWGs feature an insertion loss level that can save 6 dB on the link budget anticipated in these specifications, which would translate into as much as 24 km longer reach, particularly in real-world network conditions that likely will be less than ideal.
"No commercial AAWG with both 0.55-nm FWHM and 2.5-dB low insertion loss is available from any AWG vendor on the markets today. Our AAWG is effectively a new class of AAWG called Super Gaussian AAWG," asserted Dr. T.H. Rhee, CEO of POINTek. "We meet customer's unique operational environment optimally. For example, we can provide our Super Gaussian AAWG with a small form factor package for those customers who require the limited installation space."
"Our Super Gaussian AAWG represents the ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP) points of product differentiation for AWG-based optical devices,” added Dr. Donald Yu, CMO of POINTek, who operates in the company’s Los Angeles offices. “Our product strategy differs from competitors where they focus on ‘low price’ with some measured risk in reliability and operational instability. Unlike our competitors, we design and make our devices to satisfy a long operational lifetime with our optical packaging technology backed by athermalization IPs, providing our customer with a highly reliable, truly commercial-grade product."
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
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