Sep 25 2008
CIP Technologies (CIP) has officially launched the HyBoard(TM) hybrid Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) platform, which is available from AMS Technologies throughout Europe.
The hybrid integration platform enables systems integrators to offer high performance, highly functional, custom PICs at telecoms production volumes and competitive cost points. The platform provides assembly and form factor advantages over traditional multiple gold box solutions, and delivers a degree of flexibility, performance and functionality that is not possible with full monolithic integration.
CIP demonstrated at ECOC 2008 a proof-of-concept multichannel DWDM laser module producing 16 independent wavelengths on a 50GHz grid. This prototype multi-wavelength laser source incorporates multiple indium phosphide (InP) optoelectronic device arrays aligned to silica planar waveguides and other passive optical elements, including an AWG located on the optical motherboard. The 16 lasers within the multi-wavelength source can each provide >0dBm output power and are individually addressable to enable channel power control and switching. This particular module, aimed at WDM-PON headends and metro WDM, is one variant of the range of compact, cost-effective hybrid integrated designs now available to systems integrators that can be realised with HyBoard.
HyBoard can be extended to accommodate optical isolators, thin film filters and polarization elements, as well as customisable channel spacings and a wide range of different active/passive component arrays, including tunables.