Alphion’s Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs) make highly effective high speed optical switching elements. A SOA is an efficient light-absorber in the off-state and an amplifier in the on-state. Switching times of 1-2 nanoseconds have been demonstrated with extinction ratios in excess of 50dB. This makes the SOA an ideal optical gate for very high speed switching applications such as pulsed sources and packet switching. The QLight® switch family offers loss-less nanosecond switching elements for high performance photonic switching and fiber optic sensing applications. Alphion offers a complete family of discrete (1x1) products and has developed integrated switch technology (1x4, 1x8, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4...) that meet the needs of these markets.
Switch elements (1 x 1) with optical gains of 5 to 30 dB are available in a full spectrum of wavelength options: 1060nm, 1300nm, 1490nm, 1550nm or 1600nm. The use of a laser-welded, hermetic, organics-free 14-pin butterfly package ensures highly reliable operation. The package incorporates both a thermistor and a thermo-electric cooler to provide stable operation of the SOA over the full operating temperature range.
For more information about our SOAs please visit our website at www.alphion.com or email us at SOA@alphion.com.
