Bookham highlights InP technology at ECOC 2004

Oxfordshire, England, September 6, 2004--Bookham Technology is highlighting its indium phosphide Mach-Zehnder modulated laser (InP MZ) LMC10 at the 2004 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Stockholm, Sweden (September 5-9). This is the first time the LCM10 product line has been on display in Europe.

TheLCM10 product range has been designed to meet present and future market requirements for regional metro applications, particularly where 10Gb/s is being overlayed on 2.5Gb/s legacy spans for increased capacity. Designed for 10Gb/s applications, the product employs a high-power continuous wave (CW) laser co-packaged with an InP MZ modulator.

According to the company, one of the key benefits of the product is its optical signal-to-noise ratio performance versus competitive electro-absorption technology. Exceeding 80km for DWDM applications at 10Gb/s is difficult for commercial electro-absorption lasers. In contrast, Bookham's InP MZ provides performance similar to lithium niobate modulators, with reaches beyond 100km without any dispersion compensation, making it highly attractive for overlaying legacy 2.5Gb/s links. Unlike lithium niobate however, the small footprint of the Bookham InP MZ allows it to be used in system shelves commonly employing directly modulated laser technology. This means metro bay density is not compromised.

"A key advantage to the LMC10 is its size, we have worked hard to meet our customers demands for more compact products," said Adam Price, Bookham's product line manager for the InP MZ portfolio. "Through a novel co-packaging technique we have created a package no bigger than a typical directly modulated laser. We believe that InP MZ development could help pave the way to smaller high performance optics."

According to Bookham, the fully Telcordia qualified product range is now in production, and the company anticipates significant production rampup as the market moves through the second half of 2004.