IMRA’s ultrafast laser engine enables AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES
to develop test instrumentation for 40 Gb/s and beyond…
Anaheim/CA-March 18, 2002—
IMRA America, Inc. of Ann Arbor/MI, today announced that it has developed the most compact, reliable, and hands-off, ultrafast fiber laser for telecom diagnostics in the world market.

Ultrafast lasers (with sub-picosecond pulse durations) have outstanding high-speed capabilities, enabling ultrahigh bandwidth, in-situ diagnostic instrumentation for current and future generations of telecom technology. IMRA America, Inc. has developed unique ultrafast laser technology which is based primarily on one of the most fundamentally important telecom technologies: optical fibers.

IMRA is offering ultrafast FEMTOLITE TM lasers for telecom applications today, which are

• ultra-compact (with 193 mm x 110 mm footprint)
• turnkey (standard wall-plug, no water cooling needed)
• maintenance- free (no “tweaking” is needed).

In a joint development with AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, IMRA America, Inc. has engineered a special FEMTOLITE C-20 laser for a revolutionary new, 1 THz bandwidth C& L band optical sampling oscilloscope, which will be shown as a demo for the first time in the AGILENT booth #2001 at OFC 2002. This is a fast optical sampling oscilloscope that can operate over a wide range of wavelengths and modulation bit rates, which is needed for characterizing high-speed communications signals. In this system, a 1THz bandwidth optical sampling unit—using sum frequency generation with a sub-picosecond, 780 nm sampling pulse—covers the C and L bands with no wavelength holes near the sampling wavelength. A novel electrical/optical sampling scheme is used for the time base to precisely measure the arrival of each optical sample relative to a 9 – 45 GHz electrical clock reference, covering bit rates of 9 – 320 Gb/s with low jitter.

In addition, IMRA America is presenting at OFC new telecom solutions for:

WDM applications—

• Tunability over 1560-1800 nm
• Broadband continuum generation over 1300-1900 nm
Timing related options including—

• Adjustable repetition rate: 48 MHz ± 1%
• Stabilized repetition rate with drift < 100 Hz / day
• Synchronization to external pulse source
• Trigger out

About IMRA America
Founded in 1990, IMRA America, Inc. (Headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a global acting company, dedicated to a leading edge position in the development of ultrafast fiber laser technologies for commercial applications. IMRA’s turnkey fiber lasers (generating pulse durations from femtoseconds to nanoseconds) with ultracompact packaging, revolutionary stability, and maintenance- free operation are designed for turnkey operation, and are ideal as optical impulse sources for telecommunications instrumentation, testing of WDM and high bit-rate TDM systems, for component testing, as well as for optical waveguide writing. They are based on IMRA’s proprietary fiber oscillator, fiber amplifier, and advanced pulse compressor technologies, which are documented in over 40 patent applications.

For more information, please contact:
IMRA America, Inc.
1044 Woodridge Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: (734) 930-2590
Fax: (734) 930-9957
e-mail: lasers@imra.com