Ewing, NJ - October 25, 2007

Discovery Semiconductors, Inc. has provided a multimode coupled 40 Gb/s photodiode to the University of Kiel in Germany for their research on high-speed optical communications over plastic optical fiber (POF) and multimode fiber (MMF). Researcher Stefan Schoellman demonstrated error free 40 Gb/s transmission over 50 m of plastic optical fiber [1]. This work was presented as a postdeadline paper at last month’s European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Berlin, Germany.

Prof. Werner Rosenkranz’s group at the University of Kiel is conducting cutting edge work to extend the data capacity of POF and MMF. Prof. Rosenkranz said, “This work demonstrates that 40 Gb/s transmission is possible over POF and MMF. These fiber types usually support only low bit rates. The multimode coupled photodiode from Discovery is a key enabling technology which allows 40 Gb/s transmission over POF.”

Mr. Abhay Joshi, President/CEO of Discovery Semiconductors, added, “MMF and POF are promising candidates for the increasing market of high speed local area networks (LANs) and short optical interconnects in the high performance computing (HPC) environment. Since 2000, we have been manufacturing high speed multimode coupled photodiodes and photoreceivers. The latest addition in this product line is the 40 Gb/s multimode coupled photodiode. This is the fastest commercially available multimode photodiode.”  Mr. Joshi continued, “With the improved POF and MMF, we see a strong interest in our high speed MMF detectors up to 40 Gb/s.”

[1] S. Schöllmann, C. Wree, A. Joshi, W. Rosenkranz, “First Experimental Transmission over 50 m GI-POF at 40 Gb/s for Variable Launching Offsets,” Postdeadline Paper 3.7, Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference on Optical Communications, September 16-20, 2007, Berlin, Germany.

Discovery Semiconductors is an industry leader in manufacturing ultrafast, high optical power handling InGaAs photodetectors, radio frequency over fiber optical receivers, balanced optical receivers and several other custom products for applications ranging from analog RF links to ultrafast digital communications. They have experience with Space and High Reliability Military Projects, and their customers include Fortune 500 telecom and aerospace companies, defense organizations, universities and emerging communication companies.

For additional information, including complete product specifications, operational capabilities and pricing, or to discuss your application in detail, please call Discovery at: (609) 434-1311 or fax: (609) 434-1317.