Latest News
Jan 2010 - AFE's Winter Newsletter
May 2009 - ISO 9001:2008
January 2009 - OFC 2009
December 2008 - 2008 Holiday Season
November 2008 - REACH Compliance
October 2008 - ISO 9001:2000
September 2008 - ECOC 2008
July 2008 - Test and Measurement Update
June 2008 - AFE Offers 'New' Bidirectional Components
May 2008 - Fibreoptic Components for Harsh Environments
Jan 2010 - AFE's Winter Newsletter
We, here at AFE, hope you all had a successful 2009 and we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year
To kick the new year off, we have released our winter newsletter which is available here and includes :
- Update on AFE's business
- Come and see us at OFC (San Diego), March 2010 !
- A guide to Semiconductor light sources, including CWDM products
- New product ranges
ISO 9001:2008
Advanced Fibreoptic Engineering Ltd and our sister company AFE Techonlogy Coatings Ltd are pleased to announce that both companies have acheived certification to the latest version of the ISO Quality Management Standard ISO 9001:2008. See our Quality page for further details.
OFC 2009
AFE will be showing at this years OFC on 24th to the 26th of March 2009.
2008 Holiday Season
AFE will be closed from the 24th of December 2008 to 5th January 2009 for our annual Christmas Shut-down.
Our Last shipping day will be 23rd of December 2008.
All the staff at AFE would like to take this opportunity to extend Seasons Greetings to all our customers and suppliers. And wish you all a successful 2009.
REACH Compliance
AFE have taken a proactive approach to the emerging REACH legislation.
The proposed legislation has been researched and actions and data gathering are now well under way to ensure that all AFE systems and products are compliant. For those who are not familiar with the REACH legislation we have added a new page to our website with some useful information and links.
ISO 9001:2000
Advanced Fibreoptic Engineering is please to report another successful ISO 9001:2000 compliance audit has been completed this month. AFE have held the Standard using Certification International as there assessor since start up in May 2005. AFE have continually improved their Quality Management System and for this audit improvements included the use of a new internal web based document management system.
ECOC 2008
AFE will be visiting the ECOC show on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday the 24th of September. If you would like to talk to one of our engineers while we are in Belgium drop us a line.
sales@afe-uk.com or call +44 (0)1993 709030
Test and Measurement Update - July 2008
AFE have a significant involvement supplying components for fibreoptic test and measurement equipment. We have seen very strong growth in this sector due to the FTTH installations occurring in the USA. Our products are supplied to several leading equipment makers.
Examples of products that we supply for test and measurement are :
- Pulsed laser combiners - we supply a single unit with an 850nm and 1310nm laser and also 1310nm/1550 nm unit both for OTDR.
- Eye safe lasers for visible fault finders. This device contains a small fibre stub to ensure accurate coupling to fibre and also ensure total emitted power complies with eye safety.
- Mode compliant combiners for multimode applications. We currently manufacture an 850nm/1300nm combiner which complies with the MPD specification for multimode. The specification for these parts is changing to encircled flux and we are currently developing an encircled flux solution.
- Avalanche photodiodes for OTDR, we have both multimode and singlemode devices available
We have also developed a universal connector system for use in test and measurement equipment. The connector system consists of a base unit containing a detector, different front panel adaptors can then be screwed onto the front enabling any of the common fibre types FC, SC, ST, LC to be connected to the equipment. The Universal connector system, ensures that accurate and reproducible results can be obtained.
We have recently developed new products for the FTTH market including a tri-laser combiner for 1310nm/1490nm/1550 nm together with a range of filtered photodetectors for these wavelengths. An example of the filtered photodetector responsivity is shown above
For further information on our test and measurement components please contact us.
AFE Offers 'New' Bidirectional Components - June 2008
Low speed bidirectional components were first introduced over a decade ago and have been extensively deployed for applications such as video surveillance, security applications and data communications. The devices are used as a complementary pair. One device would be an 850nm LED transmitter with an 1300nm receiver, whilst the second device would be a 1300nm LED transmitter with an 850nm receiver. Over the last few years several companies have withdrawn their bidirectional devices, causing problems for customers who have legacy equipment they need to maintain and continue installing. AFE is currently working with several customers to provide them with replacements for Honeywell and Zarlink bidirectional devices. For some applications we are able to provide devices with identical footprints and where possible we will provide the same active components used within the original. Often we are able to use higher quality parts which, combined with our excellent build quality, gives a device which surpasses the performance of the original.
We are also able to provide new versions of bidirectional devices. For example we can replace the photodetector with an integrated PIN/TIA offering greater functionality or replace the LED with a higher power laser. Single wavelength bidirectional devices are also available.
Fibreoptic Components for Harsh Environments - May 2008
We have recently seen an increase in demand for fibreptic components capable of operating in extreme environmental conditions. Example applications include oil well sensing and avionics. To support customers in these markets we have been developing a range of products. For example, we have developed a multiway optical cable terminated with FC/PC connectors for operation at temperature up to 180°C. A prototype assembly was produced and showed no degradation after more than 4 weeks at 180°C in an environmental chamber. A full multiway cable assembly has also just completed 3 months customer testing at 180°C, again with very positive feedback from the customer.
We have also tested several lasers and VCSELs at temperatures up to 180°C and have seen no degradation in the performance of our assemblies after extended periods. All exhibited very good stability over the entire temperature range.
Our work in this area has helped us to develop a good understanding of the problems which can be encountered when working at elevated temperatures.
If you have an application which requires high temperature operation, please contact us and we will be happy to work with you to develop suitable solutions.