WDM and DWDM

Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) have revolutionized fiber optic transmissions by increasing the number of data channels that can be used in each fiber. This allows carriers to increase capacity without investing capital to lay or ignite expensive new fibers.

Williams Products Used

Williams has been involved with the manufacturing of WDM and DWDM filters since their inception. Materials supplied include high purity Tantalum, Silicon, Silicon Dioxide, Hafnium and Niobium targets that are used in the quarter-wave stacks are offered.

As a recognized industry leader in the WDM market, Williams has also become the preferred source for Veeco/Ion Tech ion-beam sputtering systems. Successful management of raw tantalum material sources ensures that Williams can offer industry leading lead times and product availability.

Williams also offers a full array of backing plate designs and internal services, including the ability to replace, refurbish, repair and design backing plates using CAD/CAM. With target bonding facilities throughout the world, Williams assures industry leading bonding services and minimized shipping logistics.

What is WDM and DWDM?

WDM and DWDM involve combining multiple wavelengths of light into a single fiber. For each "channel", a separate source laser is required that emits a slightly different wavelength. Each signal or "channel" carries a separate voice or data transmission. Once the signals are generated, they must be combined into a single fiber. There are several different devices that have been developed such as arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs), graded index lenses, planar waveguide integrated circuits, diffraction gratings, Bragg filters and multiplayer bandpass filters.

Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing the use of WDM