February 28, 2005 Monrovia, CA -- Xponent Photonics, a developer of optical components, has introduced a suite of bi-directional triplexers and diplexers for FTTX applications, based on the company's patented Surface Mount Photonics (SMP) technology. The product offering, available for sampling and geared toward ONU / CPE applications, includes: Gigabit EPON diplexers (IEEE 802.3ah compliant), BPON triplexers (ITU G.983 compliant), 1310/1310/1550 triplexers, and GPON triplexers and diplexers (ITU G.984 compliant).
The company says diplexers for EPON, BPON, and GPON OLT (head-end) applications are currently under development and planned for release later this year.
According to the company, leading crosstalk specifications enable them to address the market's most significant performance challenges. For example, the company says its GEPON diplexer typically exhibits a receiver sensitivity of -28 dBm with only 0.1 dB of receiver sensitivity impairment with the laser turned on, whereas legacy TO-can based devices typically show 0.5 dB or more crosstalk impairment under the same test conditions.
"Xponent takes a comprehensive view of our customers' needs. We don't stop at delivering optical components with superior performance for lower cost," asserts Jeff Rittichier, Xponent's president and CEO. "We also minimize downstream assembly expenses for our customers through packaging and manufacturing innovations, and help to minimize our customers' engineering costs by providing reference designs and design-in support."
According to the company, by eliminating hermetic packages, active alignments, and extensive test procedures, its SMP technology neutralizes cost, complexity, and quality problems surrounding TO-can assemblies. The company also says its printed circuit board (PCB) assembly costs are lower than those of TO-can-based components, largely because of the company's flex circuit leads, as well as its highly automated flex-circuit-to-PCB attachment process, which, according to the company, improves consistency while reducing touch time.
The company says its SMP-based products also eliminate costs associated with the secondary shielding and tuning required for TO-can products.