Summary:

NZ Applied Technologies (Woburn, MA) has developed a class of OptoCeramicTM materials with high electro-optic coefficients that can be used to reduce the size of optical devices. In 1999, the company began successfully marketing a line of variable optical attenuators using an OptoCeramic material. In 1999, Corning Incorporated assumed 20 percent equity ownership in NZ Applied Technologies, and in the following year, acquired the company outright. The new name of the company is Corning Applied Technologies. Corning is now ramping up efforts to market an OptoCeramic material-based polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensator.

Technology Description:

NZ Applied Technologies (NZ; Woburn, MA) has developed a class of OptoCeramicTM materials with high electro-optic coefficients that can be used to reduce the size of optical devices. The materials' responsive electro-optic effects allow the crystalline structure to alter its index of refraction via an electric signal, thereby making it able to perform many of the functions previously executed by mechanical means. This technology also enables electrically controlled high-speed polarization conversions. In 2000, Corning Incorporated acquired NZ Applied Technologies, which was renamed Corning Applied technologies.

OptoCeramic materials can be created with advanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques, which allow well-controlled growth of a wide variety of materials at very low temperatures. Although the materials now used in OptoCeramics are a trade-secret, early BMDO work concentrated on developing erbium-doped fluoride-glass films. Fluoride glasses doped with the ionized rare-earth metal erbium have superior luminescent properties to those of conventional silicate glasses, thereby providing greater amplification. Corning Applied Technoloiges’ plasma CVD technique, involving a proprietary “single liquid source approach,” was able to produce rare-earth-doped multicomponent fluoride glasses in a large-area, low-temperature, high-growth-rate environment. The resulting films proved to be readily adaptable for the fabrication of lossless beam splitters.

Subsequent work was undertaken to use this process to develop similar films for commercial use.

MDA Origins:

The BMDO SBIR research focused on developing rare-earth doped fluoride films for fiber-optic beam splitters and planar-integrated optical waveguides for optical signal processing. Such components would lower optical system costs and simplify the optical signal processing systems.

Spinoff Applications:

Materials with high electro-optic coefficients, when incorporated into a variety of light-control applications, can reduce space requirements and improve performance by allowing a solid-state design that could eliminate mechanical parts.
Space is a premium consideration for the fiber-optics industry, which, as demand for bandwidth continues to grow, is looking to shrink component sizes. OptoCeramic materials will enable new “device geometries.” Present-day attenuators, devices that dampen the signal intensity of components such as amplifiers and multiplexers, are housed in boxy casings, standing about four inches in height. An equivalent OptoCeramic material-based attenuator would only require millimeters of space and would run parallel to the fiber-optic strand itself. Smaller space requirements also allow the assembly of multiple components joined together in “arrays,” an increasing industry demand.

The solid-state design improves performance as well. An OptoCeramic-material-based attenuator offers a thousand-fold increase in transmission speed, as the design would require only two lenses and a chip, rather than the mechanical stepper unit other models employ.

Other existing components that could benefit from this technology include beam-splitters, couplers, add/drop multiplexers, channel equalizers, test instrumentation, and signal processors.

In addition to enhancing performance of present-day components, the opto-electronic flexibility allows for polarization control, enabling a whole new range of products and a “value-add” to existing hardware. A polarization controller could be used in a polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) compensator. At low bandwidths, the dispersion that results when different polarization states of a signal travel at different speeds is too small to measure. However, as the telecommunications industry pushes for 10-gigabit and 40-gigabit throughput on fiber-optic lines, PMD will greatly distort the transmitted signal. According to the trade magazine Photonics Spectra, the maximum allowable dispersion for 10-Gbit/s fiber would be 1 ps/km½ for a 100-km system, and no more than 0.25 ps/km½ for a 20 Gbit/s system. A PMD compensator can correct these effects.

Polarization control can also be added to other components, such as attenuators.

Commercialization:

In 1999, Corning Applied Technologies was still NZ Applied Technologies when the company began successfully marketing a line of variable optical attenuators utilizing an OptoCeramic. Corning is now ramping up efforts to market its OptoCeramic material-based Polarization Controller as well.

Corning's EclipseTM Series of Variable Optical Attenuators has achieved widespread industry acceptance, particularly in Europe and Japan. These products offer high-speed performance in a very compact package. The package measures 1.03'' (length)x 0.4'' (width). In comparison, other compact attenuators may measure in the range of 5'' x 1.06''. Optical signal strength can be adjusted over the complete 20dB range, in under 500 microseconds. The controlling electronic circuitry may be set to maintain an electronically adjustable value of either attenuation or output power. These devices have been purchased by manufacturers of fiber amplifiers, add/drop multiplexers, broadband sources, CATV systems, and test instrumentation.

More recently, Corning Applied Technoloiges has introduced the Acrobat™ Series of Polarization Controllers. These polarization controllers convert any input state of polarization to any arbitrary output state by the application of voltage to three independently controlled retardation plates. These devices could be used in PMD compensators, as well as in polarization generators, polarization scramblers, and polarization multiplexers.

Corning Applied Technologies’ solid-state design ensures future market competitiveness through high performance and compact size.

Company Profile:

Corning Applied Technologies (Woburn, MA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Corning, Incorporated (Corning, NY). The company was started in 1993 as NZ Applied Technologies, a privately held company that developed and manufactured photonic components for optical telecommunications. In 1999, Corning, Incorporated assumed 20 percent equity ownership, and in the following year, acquired the company outright for up to $150 million in Corning common stock (the purchase price is contingent upon Corning Applied Technologies achieving certain product development milestones). As a part of Corning, Incorporated's Photonics sector, Corning Applied Technologies will continue to develop product lines from its OptoCeramics research. The company has over 50 employees-including 17 Ph. D.-level scientists-and currently occupies a 25,000 square foot facility, including a Class 100 clean room.

Contact Information:

Peter Norris, President and CEO
Corning Applied Technologies
14A Gill Street
Woburn MA 01801
email: norrispe@corning.com
web: www.nzat.com
web: www.corningphotonics.com