Multiwavelength demultiplexing in high-bit-rate optical communication networks

Russian Project Co-Director: Acad. Prof. Vladislav Ya. Panchenko, Institute on Laser and Information Technologies of Russian Academy of Sciences,

Project Coordinator: Victor I. Sokolov , Institute on Laser and Information Technologies of Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow region, Russia (sokolov@laser.ru)

Objectives of the Project

Background and Business Idea. The telecom industry based on Optical Fiber Networks (OFNs) with Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) has expanded rapidly in the past years. The advent of dense high-bit-rate OFNs has resulted in the necessity of development of pertinent DWDM components: multiplexers, demultiplexers, Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers (OADMs). To provide high channel selectivity and low crosstalk in high-speed OFNs the DWDM components must possess advanced technical characteristics: narrowband reflection/transmission spectra of 0.4 – 1.6 nm width with flat-top rectangular shape and linear phase characteristic within the stop/passband.

IPLIT Institute intends to address the needs of the customers in the telecom market through developing new DWDM components, that are of higher quality and cheaper than competitive devices. This will be achieved using high technologies developed at IPLIT.

Objective of the Project. The objective of the project is to develop OADMs on the basis of single-mode quartz fibers with side polishing and submicron relief Bragg gratings. The OADMs are expected to be cheaper than competitive DWDM components on the basis of Thin-Film Filters, Arrayed Waveguide Gratings and Fiber Bragg Gratings. In cooperation with end-users we plan to start small-scale commercial production of OADMs in 2003. It is expected that the OADMs will occupy the niche in the market for long-haul and metro OFNs.

Accomplishments since the start of the Project until 31 Oct. 2002

• All-optical DWDM multiplexers/demultiplexers on the basis of single-mode optical fibers with side-polishing and submicron relief Bragg gratings were designed. The pertinent patent of the Russian Federation No. 2196485 was issued.

• The precision technique for fabrication of single-mode quartz fibers with side polishing was developed.
• Three-beam maskless holographic technology for fabrication of submicron relief master gratings in semiconductor materials was developed. The pertinent patent of the Russian Federation No. 2185648 was issued.
• The technology for fabrication of submicron relief Bragg gratings in optical polymers using replication from the master gratings was developed.
• The technology for fabrication of silica phase masks was developed. Silica phase masks with period d» 0.5 and 1mm were designed and fabricated.
• Pulsed Laser Deposition technology for fabrication of functional films of high refractive index on quartz Bragg gratings was developed.
• Pilot samples of narrowband DWDM filters on the basis of single-mode side-polished fiber and submicron relief Bragg grating were fabricated and demonstrated at ILLA’2001, Photonics West’2002 and IQEC/LAT’2002. The filters have nearly rectangular shape of the reflection band of 0.3 - 1.4 nm width.

Patents and Patent Applications

1. O.I. Baum, A.I. Khudobenko, G.V. Mishakov, V.Ya. Panchenko, V.I. Sokolov, A.N. Zherikhin, G.B. Cvijanovich, R.T. Williams, Patent of the Russian Federation No. 2196485 "Narrowband optical fiber filter for demultiplexing and multiplexing of optical signals in high-bit-rate multichannel optical fiber information networks". Date of priority: 13 March 2001.

2. A.I. Khudobenko, V.Ya. Panchenko, V.I. Sokolov, Patent of the Russian Federation No. 2185648 "Maskless method for laser-induced formation of periodic relief with phase shifts p on the surface of semiconductor materials". Date of priority: 13 March 2001.

3. O.I. Baum, A.N. Zherikhin, V.I. Sokolov, V.Ya. Panchenko, A.I. Khudobenko, Patent application No. 2001126881 "Multichannel device for demultiplexing/multiplexing of light signals in optical fiber networks". Date of priority: 4 Oct. 2001.

Publications

1. V.I. Sokolov, "Transmission of ultrashort light pulses through phase-shifted Bragg gratings", Proc. SPIE, 4271, pp. 380-389, 2001.

2. O.I. Baum, V.I. Sokolov, "Design of Bragg grating filters with improved spectral characteristics", Proc. SPIE, 4644, pp. 532-541, 2001.

3. G.V. Mishakov, V.I. Sokolov, "Precision technique for side-polished fibers fabrication", Proc. SPIE, 4644, pp. 519-524, 2001.

4. V.I. Sokolov, V.Ya. Panchenko, «Optical demultiplexers/ multiplexers with improved spectral characteristics based on nonuniform Bragg gratings», Technical Digest of the Fourth Italian-Russian Laser Symposium, St. Petersburg, Russia, July 8-12, 2001, p.126.

5. S. Tuzemen, Gang Xiong, John Wilkinson, Brian Mischuck, K. B. Ucer, and R. T. Williams, Production and properties of p-n junctions in reactively sputtered ZnO,” Physica B 308-310, 1197-1200 (2001).

6. V.I. Sokolov, "Interaction of light pulses with Bragg gratings in optical fiber networks", Proc. of the 8-th workshop "Wave phenomena in inhomogeneous media. Waves 2002" (Krasnovidovo, Moscow reg., 25-31 May 2002), 1, p. 55, 2002.

7. O.I. Baum, A.N. Zherikhin, G.V. Mishakov, V.Ya. Panchenko, V.I. Sokolov, A.I. Khudobenko, "Narrowband Bragg grating filters for 1.5 mm based on side-polished fibers", Proc. of the 8-th workshop "Wave phenomena in inhomogeneous media. Waves 2002" (Krasnovidovo, Moscow reg., 25-31 May 2002), 3, p. 6, 2002.

8. Gang Xiong, John Wilkinson, Brian Mischuck, S. Tuzemen, K. B. Ucer, and R. T. Williams, Control of p- and n-type conductivity in sputter deposition of undoped ZnO,” Applied Physics Letters, 80, pp. 1195-1197, 2002.

9. V.I. Sokolov, A.I. Khudobenko, V.Ya. Panchenko, «Advanced Bragg grating filters for DWDM applications», Proc. SPIE, 4904, 2002 (in press).

10. A.I. Khudobenko, V.I. Sokolov, "Narrowband Bragg grating filters for 1.5 mm based on side-polished fibers". Kvantovaya Eleckronika, 2003 (in press).

11. A.I. Khudobenko, A.N. Zherikhin, R.T. Williams, J. Wilkinson, K.B. Ucer, G. Xiong, and V.V. Voronov, “Pulsed laser deposition of ZnO thin films on silicon and sapphire“, Proc. of IQEC/LAT (in press).