September 25, 2024 – Advanced Fiber Resources Milan showcased its latest innovations at ECOC 2024, held from September 23-25 in Frankfurt, Germany.

ECOC, one of the largest and most prestigious conferences in Europe for optical communications, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with over 300 exhibitors and more than 1,600 attendees.

130 GBaud CDM: Power consumption < 3.5 W, optical extinction ratio ≥ 23 dB, for DP-QPSK, DP-16QAM and DP-64QAM coherent transmission

40 GHz TFLN IQ Modulator: Electro-Optic bandwidth > 25 GHz, high linearity, for OFDM, QPSK, QAM coding and FMCW LiDAR applications

40 GHz IQ Modulator: Electro-Optic bandwidth > 30 GHz, 5 dB (typ.) optical insertion loss and optical extinction ratio ≥ 24 dB, for satellite communication and FMCW LiDAR applications

March 26-28, 2024 - The world's largest optical networking and communications event, OFC, was held at the San Diego Convention Center. With 12,500 registrants from 74 countries, and 630 exhibiting companies were brought together this year, exploring the future direction of the industry.

Advanced Fiber Resources (AFR) participated in this year's exhibition with its subsidiaries, AFR Milan, Vlink, B&A, and Arcadia Optronix, showcasing a variety of products this year, including Lithium Niobate Modulators, Fiber Array Units (FAUs), LiDAR Light Sources, and Hi-Rel Components, which gained attention for their excellent performance, reliability, and stability.

C+L Band 130 GBaud TFLN CDM

C+L Band 70 GHz Intensity Modulator

Micro-Connectivity Products

Vlink presented its signature fiber array units (FAUs) during the event including CPO/OXC fiber array, PIC coupling fiber array, widely used in 400G/800G/1.6T high speed/ultra-high-speed optical modules, CPO application, Coherent, DCI application and WSS modules. The core competitiveness of Vlink lies in the advanced manufacturing and packaging technology of optical components, the design ability of high-speed optical connection components, and the ability to quickly transform customized products to mass production.

1550 nm LiDAR Light Source

Swept Tunable Laser Module

Arcadia Optronix's swept tunable laser module offers a wavelength range of 1528 to 1568 nm and a sweep speed of up to 2 kHz. The output power reaches 20 mW while maintaining wavelength stability < 1 pm.

In addition, AFR and HyperLight co-hosted 2 Thin Film Lithium Niobate Industry Forums during OFC'2024. AFR brought together leading experts from academia and industry, facilitating the exchange of the latest advances and challenges in the field of Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN). "As we have observed, the TFLN supply chain is steadily maturing, becoming more comprehensive and reliable over time," said Dr. Wang, CEO of AFR. "AFR believes that cooperation among peers in the industrial chain will greatly promote the commercialization of TFLN technology."

March 25, 2024 - Dr. Marko Lončar participated in the forum, "Technologies and Applications of Thin Film Lithium Niobate Photonics," held by AFR and HyperLight, and delivered a speech titled "High Performance Integrated Photonics based on Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN)."

About Marko Lončar and HyperLight

Marko Lončar is Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering at Harvard's John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and chair of Electrical Engineering area. Lončar received his Diploma from University of Belgrade (R. Serbia) in 1997, and PhD from Caltech in 2003, both in Electrical Engineering. After completing his postdoctoral studies at Harvard, he joined Harvard faculty in 2006. Lončar is expert in nanophotonics and nanofabrication, and his group has done pioneering work in the field of quantum and nonlinear nanophotonics. In particular, Lončar is recognized for his work on the development of diamond and thin film lithium niobate nanophotonic platforms. Lončar has co-authored more than 250 manuscripts in top scientific journals and has given more than 300 invited talks and seminars. He has received NSF CAREER Award in 2009, Sloan Fellowship in 2010, Marko Jarić Foundation Award in 2020, and Microoptics Conference Award in 2023. In recognition of his teaching activities, Lončar has been awarded Harvard University Levenson Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2012), and has been named Harvard College Professor in 2017. Lončar is Fellow of Optica and IEEE. He is co-founder of HyperLight Corporation (Cambridge, MA), VC backed startup commercializing lithium-niobate technology.

HyperLight was a spin-off of Harvard University with the mission to push the performance boundaries of TFLN integrated circuits for next-generation applications. As a leader in the commercialization of TFLN photonic integrated circuits, HyperLight delivers groundbreaking electro-optic and nonlinear optic solutions with innovative designs and scalable manufacturing processes.

Emergence of a Mature, Comprehensive, and Reliable TFLN Supply Chain

The optimistic outlook within the TFLN industry is attracting numerous technology companies, leading to the swift evolution of a comprehensive ecosystem. It is encouraging to note that an increasing number of technology enterprises and startups worldwide are converging onto this track, shaping the future of the industry collectively, covering materials, wafers, chips, modulators, and optical modules.

In the panel discussion, representatives from key players of the supply chain, including NanoLN in wafer manufacturing, AFR, HyperLight, Liobate, Ori-Chip, and FOC in chip production, Hisense and Linktel in transceivers, exchanged opinions about the prospect of TFLN, technology breakthroughs, and how to make it more ready for near future large volume applications.

As we observe together, the TFLN supply chain is steadily maturing, becoming more comprehensive and reliable over time. The growth and integration of each component signify a promising future for TFLN technology, establishing it as a pivotal player in the global technological landscape.