Pharad Debuts its Ultra-Compact Dither Free Modulator Bias Controller at OFC/NFOEC 2012

March 21, 2012 - PRLog -- The new ultra-compact bias controller provides precision and highly stable control of optical modulators and is the first commercially available circuit for OEM applications that allows the user to configure the modulator bias setting via an onboard Ethernet communications port. The MBC-DF-UC modulator bias controller provides a very small form factor board with an ultra-compact footprint of 2.5″ × 2.0″.

The Pharad MBC-DF-UC board is continuously tunable via either Ethernet or RS-232 computer control; users can select any desired modulator bias voltage in addition to the more conventional quadrature operating point of the modulator’s transfer characteristic. The controller operates in conjunction with on-board inline optical power monitors that eliminate the need for user supplied external optical couplers or photodetectors; greatly simplifying experimental set-ups. The non-dither based control ensures unwanted dither tones do not impact the performance of the photonic link.

Pharad’s range of bias controllers can operate with modulators having both periodic and non-periodic transfer functions. Customers are using the OEM boards for stable control of lithium niobate as well as gallium arsenide modulators, and operation with other modulator material technologies is currently being evaluated.

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Located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Pharad, LLC is a customer focused company and technology leader in the development and manufacture of highly efficient, electrically small antennas and RF over fiber systems for communications and defense applications. Pharad creates innovative solutions for realizing difficult-to-engineer antennas for confined operational environments and very broadband applications. Pharad also manufactures a range of high performance RF photonic transceiver products that can support the fiber optic remoting of RF signals up to 40 GHz via a single transceiver module. For additional information, visit www.pharad.com