Japan“s Asahi Glass Co. has developed a high-performance bismuth-based optical fibre for light amplifiers that boosts amplification efficiency to more than 100 times the level of conventional quartz …
Japan“s Asahi Glass Co. has developed a high-performance bismuth-based optical fibre for light amplifiers that boosts amplification efficiency to more than 100 times the level of conventional quartz glass fibres. The company combined bismuth glass with ions of erbium, a rare earth with light-amplifying qualities, in concentrations100 times greater than earlier products. In addition to offering greater efficiency, the resulting fibre can also amplify a broader range of wavelengths. Asashi Glass has already begun shipping samples to communications equipment makers for use in WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) optical amplifiers, and the company is aiming to commercialize the fibre within a year.