Optical Prototyping Services

Prototyping and pre-series activities

The Applied Photonics Department is working on the development of solutions based on optical fibres and on the prototyping of innovative optical products.

1. Fibre lasers

Prototyping of fibre laser sources :

Development of high-power dual wavelength lasers for medical applications ;
Development of amplified single-mode longitudinal fibre lasers (that have a very narrow spectral width and are suitable for Doppler LIDAR applications: vortex-detection) ;
Development of ultrashort pulse lasers for imaging, surgery and precise machining of materials.

2. Passive components, sensors and optical biosensors

Passive components based on the modulation of the index of refraction, such as optical fibre Bragg gratings, are key elements for lasers and optical amplifiers, and for the design of a variety of photonic devices.
The know-how developed in this field concerns the numerical modelling, the design, and prototyping of modulated refractive index devices that are produced by exposure of glassy materials to coherent UV sources.
At the same time, our researchers are working on the design and prototyping of optical sensors and biosensors including the optical interrogation systems.

Examples of applications are :

Optical fibre sensors for health structural monitoring ;
Optical biosensors for the detection of chemical species or biological molecules (proteomics) ;
Integration of optical sensors in fabrics (for future medical applications).

3. Optical amplifiers based on rare earth-doped optical fibres

The department benefits from a comprehensive expertise in the field of modelling, design and testing of optical amplifiers: Erbium-doped fibre amplifiers (EDFAs) and, more recently, Ytterbium-doped amplifiers.
Multitel's engineers work on the upgrading of the performances of such amplifiers, mainly in terms of size reduction, energy consumption, higher output power and advanced dynamic functionalities (noise reduction, dynamic gain, and flat spectral response).

Recently made prototypes :

Noise factor record (< 5.2 dB) for an EDFA on C-band [1531-1560 nm] with dynamic gain control (from 20 to 28 dB) and 1dB gain flatness on the whole Telcordia temperature range [-5 to +65 °C] ;
Power record (20 dBm) for a WDM EDFA on L-band [1569-1602 nm], OEM compact packaging (MSA) ;
ASE sources: Pout = 13 dBm with 80 nm spectral width.

4. Monitoring of passive optical networks

The department works on the development of advanced technologies and solutions for preventive monitoring of Passive Optical Networks (PON). The monitoring is transparent for the user.

Examples of application :

Patented method for monitoring of point-to-multipoint PON topologies by using 1x16, 1x32 or 1x64 splitters. This technology, based on optical reflectometry, enables a continuous, real-time monitoring of the PON and can be used to detect and localize any possible failure in each branch of the network from a single central access point.

Interested in our services?
Feel free to contact our sales team: +32 65 34 27 19 ou +32 65 34 27 84 or by e-mail: commercial@multitel.be