Keep It Together

Julie A. Harrell, Mark Rodighiero and Steve Martin

Photonic components such as multiplexers, carrier and pump lasers, and attenuators are designed to fit within a network and survive up to 20 years. Companies incur heavy costs when they replace components that have failed in the field.

These photonic packages contain lenses, crystals, laser diodes and photodetectors that require exact alignment. Fiber optic cables that conduct the optical signal in and out of these devices are precisely attached and aligned to the internal optical components…