Zurich Technology at 2002 Optical Fiber Conference

Zurich, Switzerland, March 2002—IBM Research - Zurich will present dynamic gain equalizers and chromatic dispersion compensators based on its novel planar optical waveguide technology at the 2002 Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) held in Anaheim, California/USA, on March 19 - 21.

The dynamic gain equalizers feature a very high dynamic range, fast tuning, low loss, and compact size. The tunable chromatic dispersion compensators (CDC) feature a tuning range of 200 ps/nm, small ripple, and good accuracy.

Dynamic gain equalizer

Dynamic gain equalizers are indispensable components for controlling the optical power distribution within the spectral bands of optical communication networks. These devices enable an adaptive modification of an optical amplifier's gain spectrum to compensate for gain shape changes caused by varying input power levels or channel counts.

Novel planar optical waveguide technology

These novel devices are based on Zurich's planar optical waveguide technology. Using standard chip manufacturing equipment, Zurich scientists have developed waveguides made of silicon-oxynitride (SiON) between two layers of silicon dioxide (SiO2). The two materials show a high contrast of the refractive index, i.e. a lightwave is confined strongly to the SiON waveguide. This high contrast facilitates low-loss bending radii as small as 0.55 mm, which is more than one order of magnitude smaller than competing technology based on waveguides having the same diameter as the fiber. The narrow curvatures allow the compact design of components consisting of many bent structures required for functions such as wavelength (de)multiplexers (phased array waveguide gratings) and filters based on so-called resonant couplers.

This new technology of IBM Research - Zurich will be presented at the OFC booth of "The Zurich Network" (booth 943), an organization for the promotion of Switzerland as the location of choice for a large variety of businesses.