Sumitomo Electric Industries is ready to begin mass production of an optical fiber having an ultra-low transmission loss of 0.14 dB/km, representing a significant reduction in transmission loss from the current 0.150 dB/km product. The applications of the product include the following.
Applications of the new Z-PLUS Fiber 150 could include:
- Transoceanic submarine optical cable systems
- Terrestrial trunk line, such as transcontinental networks
- Transmission lines for quantum cryptography communication
- Sensor applications, such as earthquake detection and fire detection
- Various optical communication technologies that require ultra-low-loss characteristics
- In 1988, Sumitomo Electric, as a pioneer in ultra-low loss fiber manufacture, succeeded in mass production of optical fiber with a transmission loss of 0.17 dB/km as a global first and commercialized this as the pure-silica-core optical fiber “Z fiber”. Since then, Sumitomo Electric has continuously developed and launched ultra-low loss fiber technologies and new products.
- In 2017, Sumitomo Electric set a world record of transmission loss as low as 0.1419 dB/km.