News Release

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head office: 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideya Moridaira) successfully improved the performance of the dual port pump laser for Raman amplifiers that is used as the pump laser for Raman amplifiers with high output and low power consumption.

Following the recent appearance of generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning, data traffic at data centers and other locations has exploded globally, and it is expected to grow further in the future. In response to this situation, communications speed needs to be increased, but there is the issue of decreased transmission distance due to degradation of the OSNR^{(note 1)} on the signal receiving side. In particular, when existing communications systems are used at faster speeds, the role of the Raman amplifier, which can amplify optical output power without attenuation of the signal light quality, is becoming more important. Also, because the bandwidth of the signal expands as a result of high speed transmission, it is necessary to expand the bandwidth in order to enable high volume transmission. Thus, Raman amplifiers need to have the flexibility to amplify the light source at a discretionary range based on the selection of the pump laser wavelength. On the other hand, with consideration for the expansion into the S-, C- and L-band in the future, the number of pump lasers will increase, so it will be more important for them to have small size, high output power and low power consumption.

The newly developed dual port pump laser for Raman amplifiers was confirmed the operation at two different wavelengths (Fig. 2) and consistent optical output power of 500mW (Fig. 3) from each port. With these advances, it is possible to freely select the wavelength and optical output power of the two ports, thereby increasing the flexibility when designing Raman amplifiers. Also, the smaller size of the high output pump laser contributes to reducing the size of the Raman amplifier and overall system.
The successful advances to the dual port pump laser for Raman amplifiers (patented) uses our high accuracy fiber coupling technology and optical semiconductor processing technology using InP^{(note 2)} semiconductor materials developed over the past 25 years, as well as the application of our unique low loss, high efficiency semiconductor laser chip structure.
We will exhibit this new product at OFC 2024 scheduled to be held on March 26-28, 2024 in San Diego (OFS Fitel, LLC booth; Booth number 2041). In addition, we plan to begin shipping samples from July 2024 and start mass production during the first half of FY2025.
OFC 2024
The current development partially applies the achievement realized as part of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) commissioned research “Beyond 5G – Development of extended range optical node technology for realizing ultra-high speed, large volume networks” (Key issues 045).
Going forward, we will continue to develop high output, low power consumption laser chip technology and contribute to accelerated reductions in module power consumption and the establishment of environmentally-friendly networks.

Achieved 800mW output with a pump laser for C-band Raman amplifiers

Development of a new pump laser for high output power, low power consumption Raman amplifiers by expanding the range of the FRL1441U Series to support the S-band and L-band

Development of a high output, low power consumption, small S-,C-,L-band dual port pump laser for Raman amplifiers