Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced today that it will begin sample shipment of its 2.5 Gbps・100 km ML9xx43 series semiconductor laser diode for use in optical communication beginning September 1, 2005. The diode is capable of operating at a range of temperatures between –20C-+95C, the widest range in the industry.
With the dissemination of ADSL, Fiber To The Home (FTTH), and other high-speed, high-volume communication services for the home, there has been a rush to expand the communications network in metropolitan areas to keep up with sudden increases in communication traffic. Demand has been created for a compact, high-density mounted, low-energy consuming optical communication device for use in metropolitan areas as well as semiconductor laser diodes capable of high speed data transmission at high temperatures without the need for a temperature controller. In 2003, Mitsubishi Electric responded to this demand by producing the ML9xx40 series, a 2.5 Gbps/100km semiconductor laser diode capable of operating between 0C-+85C.
With the development of the ML9xx43 series, a temperature controller is no longer necessary for almost all mounting configurations because of its ability to function in temperature ranges of –20C-+95C, the widest range in the industry, while also contributing to the miniaturization and energy effiiency in optical communication devices.
Features of new products
1) Industry’s widest operating temperature range (-20C-+95C) contributes to miniaturiztion and high density mounting of optical communication devices
Previous 2.5 Gbps/100km semiconductor laser diodes were limited to operating temperature ranges of 0C-+85C3 because of a tradeoff between data transmission and optical output at high temperatures. With this semiconductor laser, we have increased the light conversion efficiency by optimizing the active layer in the area where light is emitted, and can now make reliable data transmission in temperatures from –20C-+95C without temperature control. This means the optical transmitter/receiver will no longer need a temperature controller, thus contributing to miniaturization, high-density mounting, and cost reduction.
2) Improvements in slope efficiency contribute to reduced power consumption by the optical transceiver.
To achieve the optical output necessary for data transmission at over 95C, it was necessary to improve the slope efficiency (a figure showing the efficiency of attained optical output). By optimizing the element construction it was possible to improve the slope efficiency by approximately 30% compared to previous models to 0.28W/A, thus reducing power consumption by the optical transceiver.
