The Ion exchange process and the Glass choice of the PLC Splitter Chip

Along with development of the optical communication, its good environmental stability and compatibility with fiber, began to widely used optical communication components manufacturing.( Such as self-focusing lens, optical divider, optical amplifier, etc), And extend to the sensing area, (such as: all kinds of biological and chemical sensors , current sensors which is based on fading light waves, etc.)
Glass ion-exchange technology has several one hundred years long history, Its earliest used to change the light absorption characteristics of glass, glass coloring,then, the technology is widely used in processing on the surface of the glass surface (such as touch screen add hard processing). Along with development of the optical communication, its good environmental stability and compatibility with fiber, began to widely used optical communication components manufacturing.( Such as self-focusing lens, optical divider, optical amplifier, etc), And extend to the sensing area, (such as: all kinds of biological and chemical sensors , current sensors which is based on fading light waves, etc.)
Current mainstream technology of PLC Splitter chip includes: PECVD technology, flame hydrolysis technology, glass ion exchange technology. Glass principle and technological process of ion exchange technology as shown in figure 1,figure 2. The main process flow flame hydrolysis technology shown in figure 3. The process characteristics of contrast see table 1. From years of use and reliability experiment, the two technologies are used in mass production and the performance is good.The features of PECVD/flame hydrolysis technique are that equipment and raw materials is the existing material, but its process is very complicated, the production cycle is long, the processing tolerance is small; Glass ion exchange technology is characterized by equipment and raw materials need special customized, but its technology is relatively simple, high production efficiency, process tolerance is larger, the chip cost is relatively low.

DK Photonics – www.dkphotonics.com specializes in designing and manufacturing of high quality optical passive components mainly for telecommunication, fiber sensor and fiber laser applications,such as PLC Splitter, WDM, FWDM, CWDM, DWDM, OADM,Optical Circulator, Isolator, PM Circulator, PM Isolator, Fused Coupler, Fused WDM, Collimator, Optical Switch and Polarization Maintaining Components, Pump Combiner, High power isolator, Patch Cord and all kinds of connectors.

Telecommunication applications dominate the worldwide PLC splitter marketplace

Telecommunication applications dominate the worldwide PLC splitter marketplace…
ElectroniCast Consultants, a leading market/technology consultancy, today announced the report release of their market forecast of the global consumption of Planar Lightwave Circuit (PLC) splitters used in Fiber Optic Communication Networks.
This ElectroniCast study report details of last year’s consumption and forecasts to the year 2017 of PLC splitters by product-level (level of fabrication), in selected optical communication applications. There are actually three (3) separate market forecasts:

• PLC Splitter Chips
• Compact Devices
• Modules

According to ElectroniCast, the PON, FTTx, and Telecommunication network applications dominate the worldwide PLC splitter compact device consumption value in 2012 with 77% in relative market share; followed by the cable TV segment, the PLC splitters used in Test/Measurement applications and then Harsh Environment (Military/Aerospace, Industrial) and finally Private Enterprise Networks.
In the report, ElectroniCast provides their market data covering the following optical communication applications:

• Passive Optical Network (PON) / FTTX / Telecommunication Networks
• Cable TV (CATV)
• Fiber Optic Test/Measurement
• Private Enterprise/Data Centers/Local Area Networks (LANs)
• Harsh Environment (Military, Industrial, Other)

In 2012, the Asia Pacific region (APAC) region leads in the consumption of PLC splitter compact devices with 68% of the worldwide value, followed by the American region and finally the EMEA region.
According to ElectroniCast, the Asia Pacific region dominates the worldwide value of PLC splitters with 68% in 2012…

PLC Splitter Component-Level Compact Devices

2012 - Global Consumption Value Market Share (%), by Region

(Source: ElectroniCast Consultants)

DK Photonics – www.dkphotonics.com specializes in designing and manufacturing of high quality optical passive components mainly for telecommunication, fiber sensor and fiber laser applications,such as PLC Splitter, WDM, FWDM, CWDM, DWDM, OADM,Optical Circulator, Isolator, PM Circulator, PM Isolator, Fused Coupler, Fused WDM, Collimator, Optical Switch and Polarization Maintaining Components, Pump Combiner, High power isolator, Patch Cord and all kinds of connectors.

Optical Isolators Global Market Forecast

According to ElectroniCast, the Asia Pacific Region leads in the use of optical isolators…

ElectroniCast Consultants, a leading market research & technology forecast consultancy addressing the fiber optics communications industry, today announced the release of a new market forecast of the global consumption of optical isolators in optical communication and specialty applications.
According to ElectroniCast, the Asia Pacific region (APAC), region held the lead in terms of relative market share consumption volume (quantity/number of units) of optical isolators in 2012, with 47 percent; however the Asia Pacific region (APAC), pushed along by the telecommunication category in the People’s Republic of China. The consumption of optical isolators in the APAC region is forecast to nearly triple (3x) during the 2012-2017 time frame.
Optical isolators are passive devices that allow light to be transmitted in only one direction. They are most often used to prevent any light from reflecting back down the optical fiber, as this light would enter the source and cause backscattering and feedback problems. This is especially important for high data rate transceivers and transponders, or those devices requiring long span lengths between transceiver pairs.

Optical isolators are used in many applications in commercial, industrial, and laboratory settings. They are reliable devices when used in conjunction with fiber optic amplifiers, fiber optic ring lasers, fiber optic links in cable TV/multimedia applications, and high-speed/ DWDM and coherent fiber optic telecommunication communication systems, laboratory R&D, sensors, gyro-systems, test/instrumentation measurement quality assurance applications in automation of manufacturing processes and several others.

ElectroniCast estimates that the Telecommunication applications held 85% of the relative market share of the worldwide consumption volume of optical isolators in 2012.

According to ElectroniCast, 13.4 million optical isolators were used in 2012…

2012 – Optical Isolator Global Volume (Quantity) Market Share (%),

By Region, 13.4 Million Units

DK Photonics – www.dkphotonics.com specializes in designing and manufacturing of high quality optical passive components mainly for telecommunication, fiber sensor and fiber laser applications,such as PLC Splitter, WDM, FWDM, CWDM, DWDM, OADM,Optical Circulator, Isolator, PM Circulator, PM Isolator, Fused Coupler, Fused WDM, Collimator, Optical Switch and Polarization Maintaining Components, Pump Combiner, High power isolator, Patch Cord and all kinds of connectors.

The worldwide use of fiber optic circulators is expected to reach $228.5 million in 2013

ElectroniCast Consultants, a leading market research & technology forecast consultancy addressing the fiber optics communications industry, today announced the release of a new market forecast of the global consumption of fiber optic circulators in optical communications.

During 2012-2017, the value is forecast to increase at an average annual growth rate of 8.4 percent.  The consumption value is forecast to increase with rising quantity growth partially offset by declining average prices.

The fiber optic circulator market is presented by the following port-count configurations: 3 – Ports; 4 – Ports; and more than 4 - Ports (> 4 - Ports).  According to ElectroniCast, the total consumption value of fiber optic circulators is expected to reach $228.5 million in 2013.  3-Port fiber optic circulators are expected to hold an estimated 80% market share in 2013.  Well-over 70% of the 3-Port fiber optic circulator market value in 2013 is used in Telecommunication applications.

Telecommunications is set to maintain its dominant market share lead throughout the forecast period.  Specialty applications (R&D laboratory, sensors, test equipment, oil/gas, other) are set to maintain the position of second-place, according to the ElectroniCast market forecast and analysis study.

The deployment of optical fiber in the metro/access, the continuing demand for upgrading networks to accommodate rapidly increasing bandwidth requirements, plus the need for additional monitoring and testing of the optical fiber networks will drive the steady consumption of fiber optic circulators.

As terrestrial national backbone and undersea systems approaching Tb/s capacities, advanced fiber-optic components, such as fiber optic circulators, are key in enabling DWDM systems with narrow channel spacing to achieve the large numbers of channels required. Fiber optic circulators are used with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), fiber optic sensor applications, dense WDM (DWDM), optical add/drop multiplexing (OADM), optical time domain reflectometers (OTDR fiber optic test equipment), bi-directional transmission systems, dispersion compensators, and other devices.  

According to ElectroniCast Consultants, 3-Port fiber optic circulators are expected to hold an 80% (value) market share in 2013…

Fiber Optic Circulator Global Market Share (%), By Port Count

(2013 – ElectroniCast Estimate: $228.5 Million)