Mitsubishi Electric develops optical receiver for space laser

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed an optical receiver for use in laser communication terminals (LCTs). The prototype combines laser beams with a function to detect the direction of received beams in the 1.5-μm band, a general-purpose band used for terrestrial optical fiber communications and other applications. 

Mitsubishi Electric said its optical receiver integrates functions to detect both four phase changes of laser light and beam direction. The result is a downsized optical receiver that enables space optical communication with 10 times the speed, capacity and distance of radio-wave communication. Since the wavelength is much shorter, smaller antennas can be used in compact communication units.

A newly developed optical circuit for coherent space optical communication detects four phase changes (0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees) in contrast to conventional two-phase (0 and 180 degrees) detection. As a result, communication capacity and speed are double those of two-phase optical communication schemes in the same bandwidth and some 10 times those of radio-wave communication systems.

https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/news/2022/0531-a.html

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Vector Photonics secures funding for PCSEL-based semiconductor laser

Vector Photonics, a spin-out from the University of Glasgow, announced a £1.6m equity investment to commercialise its PCSEL-based, semiconductor laser technology. 

The company’s PCSELs (Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers) is based on semiconductor research led by Professor Richard Hogg. The company said its technology has applications in data communications, additive manufacturing, including metal and plastic printing, LiDAR, and optical sensing.

Neil Martin, CEO of Vector Photonics, said, “We are pleased to announce the £1.6m equity investment for Vector Photonics, which comes from a consortium of three specialist funding companies – Foresight, the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) and Equity Gap. This is in addition to three government grants worth £2.4m and takes our seed funding round to more than £4m – a fantastic achievement for a one-year-old, Covid era, University of Glasgow start-up.

“Each investment company adds its own unique value to our business and will have board representation. Foresight invests in high growth-potential companies with innovative and transformational technologies via the Foresight Scottish Growth Fund and Foresight Williams, a joint venture with Williams Advanced Engineering. UKI2S is a specialist deep-tech seed fund focused on spin outs from the UK’s research base. Equity Gap is an angel investment syndicate, investing early in new technology businesses throughout Scotland.”

https://www.vectorphotonics.co.uk/

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II-VI opens industrial laser lab in Suzhou, China

II-VI opened a new applications laboratory in Suzhou, China, to support the growing industrial laser market in the region. 

II-VI said its new applications laboratory provides close customer support on state-of-the-art laser materials processing with practical hands-on training, in-depth applications consulting, and detailed feasibility studies based on the expertise of II-VI’s applications engineers and the advanced capabilities of II-VI’s laser processing heads.

The company highlighted new opportunities for industrial lasers in the automotive sector as as manufacturers retool their production lines for the unique welding requirements of electric vehicles and their batteries. 

“In our new applications laboratory in Suzhou, customers can directly experience our high-performing and intelligent laser processing heads,” said Dr. Karlheinz Gulden, Senior Vice President, Laser Devices and Systems Business Unit. “This product application facility, together with our labs in Berlin, Germany, and Detroit, U.S., enhances our global ability to demonstrate manufacturing feasibility and develop optimized processes for our customers.”

 

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NTT develops world’s fastest directly modulated laser

 Researchers at NTT have developed the world's fastest directly modulated laser with a 3-dB bandwidth exceeding 100 GHz and capable of transmitting at 256 Gbps over a distance of 2 km.

The research was carried out in collaboration with Professor Fumio Koyama at the Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology.

NTT researchers developed a membrane laser on a silicon (Si) substrate with a thermal oxide film (SiO2). The company says membrane lasers have a large optical confinement factor in the active region and are compact, making it possible to realize directly modulated lasers with low power consumption. On the other hand, since the device is fabricated on a low-thermal-conductivity SiO2 layer, the temperature increase in the active layer due to current injection is large, and even if the current is increased, the relaxation oscillation frequency saturates at about 20 GHz due to saturation of the differential gain.

To suppress the increase in the active region temperature, we fabricated an indium-phosphorus (InP) based membrane laser on a silicon carbide (SiC) substrate (Fig. 3), which has a thermal conductivity approximately 500 times higher than that of SiO2. Since SiC has a lower refractive index than InP, the optical confinement factor is almost the same as that of the device on SiO2. The device was fabricated by direct bonding with ultrathin (40 nanometers) SiO2 between the InP and SiC substrate. 

Assuming a 100-mW heat source, the temperature increase in the active region of a membrane laser with an active layer length of 50 micrometers was significantly reduced from 130.9 to 16.8℃ when the SiO2 thickness was reduced from 2 micrometers to 40 nanometers.

https://www.ntt.co.jp/news2020/2010e/201020a.html

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Singapore's Transcelestial raises US$9.6M for free space optics

Transcelestial, a start-up based in Singapore, has raised US$9.6 million in Series A funding for its work in free space laser communications.

The funding round was co-led by EDBI, a Singapore Government investment arm, and Wavemaker Partners. The round included participation by new investors Airbus Ventures, Cap Vista, the strategic investment arm of the Defence Science and Technology Agency of Singapore, Partech and Tekton Ventures, with participation from existing investors Entrepreneur First and SEEDS Capital, an investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, and 2 previous angels.

Transcelestial has built a proprietary Wireless Laser Communication (a.k.a Wireless Fibre Optics) technology which combines the speed of fibre optics with the flexibility of radio waves in order to overcome some of these bottlenecks.  The company's CENTAURI network device creates a wireless distribution network between buildings, traditional cell towers, street-level poles and other physical infrastructure. At launch, there are two versions of devices available - 1 Gbps Full Duplex (4G & Enterprise ready) and 10 Gbps Full Duplex (5G-ready). Higher bandwidth capabilities will be unlocked and available for order shortly.

“With the Series A capital raise, we are now working actively to get CENTAURI in the hands of customers globally within the next 12 months. In order to deliver on this global promise, we have set up a manufacturing capability which will scale into the world’s largest for production of CENTAURI class Wireless Fibre Optics devices. This will bring our groundbreaking proprietary technology of real time optical alignment and weather compensation to within a commercial price point,” said Dr. Mohammad Danesh, CTO and Co-Founder of Transcelestial.

Transcelestial is also developing a constellation of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit with the aim of delivering an ultra high speed backbone network connectivity.

“At Airbus Ventures we’ve been particularly impressed to see how Rohit, Danesh, and the Transcelestial team have built crucial connectivity elements that have immediate application in these challenging times, and now have a solid basis to develop these capabilities toward a game-changing leap in connectivity delivered from Low Earth Orbit,” comments Thomas d’Halluin, Airbus Ventures Managing Partner based in Menlo Park California.  Adds Dr. Lewis Pinault, Partner for Asia Pacific based in Tokyo, “as our first investment in Singapore we’re pleased to have such a marquee company as Transcelestial to help us widen our presence in the region, and we look forward to opening our new offices in Singapore in close partnership with the outstanding co-investors Transcelestial has attracted.

“Space-based laser communications is the future of Internet connectivity happening right at our doorstep. With the backdrop of burgeoning growth in Southeast Asia, we believe that Transcelestial’s Wireless Laser Communication Technology will disrupt and enable unprecedented connectivity within the region and beyond. More than that, we see Transcelestial playing a key role in putting Singapore Spacetech on the map, and seeding the growth of the regional Spacetech ecosystem as well,” said Chng Zhen Hao, CEO of Cap Vista.

http://www.transcelestial.com

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MACOM debuts 25G lasers for 5G fronthaul

MACOM Technology Solutions introduced a portfolio of 25G distributed feedback (DFB) lasers designed for use in next-generation 5G LTE wireless fronthaul infrastructure.

Specs for the new 25G DFB lasers include a -40 to 85C temperature range and transmission distances from 2 to 10 kilometers. The device are offered in bare die chip format (1xxD-25I-LCT11-50x) and TO-packaging (1xxD-25I-LT5xC-50x).

MACOM said its new industrial temperature-grade 25G laser portfolio leverages its proprietary EFT, which at commercial scale manufacturing levels, could enable breakthrough cost efficiencies and product uniformity. MACOM believes that this high-volume production capability distinguishes us as a leading provider of 25G lasers across a host of Cloud Data Center and wireless infrastructure applications.

“MACOM’s new 5G LTE-optimized 25G laser family builds on our comprehensive portfolio of 5G enabling technologies, and again demonstrates the value of EFT for achieving production efficiency that scales to meet industry supply and cost structure needs,” said Dr. Fang Wang, Vice President and Business Line Manager, Lightwave, MACOM. “For customers transitioning from 10G to 25G wireless fronthaul infrastructure, MACOM can provide the 25G lasers, complementary components and application expertise to help accelerate deployment time and reduce costs.”

Sampling is underway with production availability planned for 2019.

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