BCE Inc’s Ottawa, Ontario-based Bell-Northern Research Ltd, sister company to Northern Telecom Ltd, claims a breakthrough in semiconductor lasers with a device that it says can make fibre optic telecommunications to the home an affordable reality by enabling the electronic-to-light interface transmitter modules to be manufactured for a fraction of current costs. The company is calling its new device a circular-grating surface emitting laser, its key characteristic being that the light it emits is in the form of a circular column from its top surface, making it more efficient for coupling laser light to optical fibres and greatly increasing the acceptable tolerances, which means that tolerances can be relaxed, eliminating the need for precision packaging and enabling testing in batches.
