The Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) at the University of Southampton is taking part in a €3.9m EU-funded R&D project to develop new types of optical amplifiers and regenerators to improve the transmission capacity and energy efficiency of optical fibre comms networks.

Professor David Richardson of the ORC, the project leaders, said: “This project brings together the best of Europe’s components and systems innovators to develop the critical components and subsystems required for future ultrahigh capacity optical communications networks.”

The components to be developed include high power narrow line-width sources and nonlinear fibre gain media. 

“Success in the project should ultimately allow more effective use of the phase and amplitude of optical data signals, providing major capacity and cost benefits to network providers and operators alike,” said Richardson.

Called PHASORS, the project brings together specialists in non-linear optics and signal processing from the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, Chalmers University of Technology, The Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork, and the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, along with leading industrial partners Onefive GmbH and Eblana Photonics specializing in high performance lasers and OFS, Denmark specializing in custom optical fibres.