Santec Releases O-band version of their OFDR-based swept photonics analyzer (SPA-100)

12 Sep 2023

SANTEC HOLDINGS CORPORATION (“Santec”), a leading manufacturer of advanced optical components, tunable lasers, optical test equipment, and OCT systems, announces the product launch of the O-band version of the SPA-100.

The Santec SPA-100, previously exclusive to the CL band, is now accessible in an O-band configuration (1260 nm to 1350 nm). Leveraging the sweeping range of the industry-leading Santec tunable lasers, the system maintains its position as the market’s highest resolution reflectometer (< 6 µm). Like its CL band counterpart, the O-band version remains exceptionally well suited for analyzing compact components such as photonic integrated circuits (PICs), fiber optic elements, and short cable assemblies due to its superior sub-6 µm resolution.

The provided software presents a trace illustrating reflectance and loss events, offering the ability to pinpoint faults and assess parameters like waveguide length and refractive index.

Beyond yielding a reflectance trace, the SPA-100 system uses coherent detection technology to perform transmissive wavelength dependent loss measurement with a wide dynamic range of better than 70 dB in a single scan, saving measurement time with no need to change optical power meter ranges.

A patented proximity sensing function allows for the fiber probe itself to sense the distance between the probe and the silicon wafer to facilitate the alignment process during the wafer level characterization process in a silicon photonic chip production line.  

More details available at:  https://inst.santec.com/products/componenttesting/spa-100

Features:

• High spatial resolution:  < 6 um spatial resolution in silicon
• Ultra-wide WDL measurement:  Up to 90 nm scanning range
• PMF ready:  System comes standard with polarization maintaining fiber reducing time needed for active polarization alignment when analyzing polarization sensitive PICs.
• Wide dynamic range for WDL:  Better than 70 dB dynamic range for WDL measurements
• Configurable:  Choose a system based on the selected tunable laser
• Proximity sensing:  Use OFDR technology to sense distance between fiber probe and wafer
• Easy analysis:  Intuitive software to analyze areas of interest, apply different refractive indexes to portions of the scan, measure IL and RL, and store/load previous data for further analysis.