Reliability of connectorized 10Gbps/channel optical fiber transceivers

Reflex Photonics Inc. has developed compact 4+4 10Gbps/channel optical fiber transceivers for harsh environment applications such as Aerospace and Defense (see Fig. 1a). The Light ABLE™ product series offers chip size transceivers that can operate from -40 to 85°C with a reach of more than 100m on OM3 fibers with Bit Error Rates (BER) as low as 10 ^-15 . These products passed extensive qualification tests to demonstrate their robustness; including 1000 temperature cycles, damp heat, vibration, mechanical shock and thermal shock [1, 2]. What remained to be tested was their live reliability, through a 12-fiber ribbon cable pigtail mated to the LightABLE™ product through the proprietary MicroClip™ MT ferrule design (see Fig. 1b).