Milestone-Proposal:Silica-based arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) wavelength multi/demultiplexer
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Docket #:2023-22
This proposal has been submitted for review.
To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No
Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes
Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes
Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes
Was it of at least regional importance? Yes
Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes
Has the IEEE Section(s) in which the plaque(s) will be located agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes
Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes
Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes
Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:
1992-1996
Title of the proposed milestone:
Silica-Based Arrayed-Waveguide Gratings, 1992-1996
Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance; if personal name(s) are included, such name(s) must follow the achievement itself in the citation wording: Text absolutely limited by plaque dimensions to 70 words; 60 is preferable for aesthetic reasons.
The arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) optical (de)multiplexer was invented by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) in 1992 based on silica-based planar lightwave circuit technology. Commercialized by NTT Electronics Corp. and Photonic Integration Research Inc. in 1996, high-performance and highly-reliable silica-based AWGs soon became widely used in high-capacity wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical fiber networks, thereby accelerating the expansion of transmission capacity worldwide.
200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the data traffic of optical fiber communication systems increased rapidly due to the explosive spread of the Internet, the increasing of the transmission capacity by the introduction of new multiplexing technology was required strongly. The optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a technology for transmitting multiple light with different wavelengths into an optical fiber. One of the key devices for realizing WDM transmission is an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) wavelength multi/demultiplexer. NTT invented the AWG wavelength multi/demultiplexer using silica-based planar lightwave circuit technology in 1992. NEL and PIRI improved the AWG technology to mass production and commercialized in 1996. Since the silica-based AWG has many advantages, such as large wavelength channel scale, small size, mass productivity, long-term reliability and low cost, it has been adapted into the commercial optical fiber communication systems worldwide. As a result, silica-based AWG made a great contribution to the expansion of the transmission capacity of commercial optical fiber communication systems due to the introduction of WDM technology in the late 1990s. The transmission capacity per an optical fiber has increased dramatically from several tens to a hundred times. The silica-based AWGs have accelerated the expansion of transmission capacity and are now widely used in high-capacity WDM optical fiber networks worldwide.
IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.
Photonics Society, Communications Society
In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?
IEEE Tokyo Section, Japan
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):
Unit: IEEE Tokyo Section
Senior Officer Name: Kiyoharu Aizawa
IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:
Unit: IEEE Tokyo Section
Senior Officer Name: Kiyoharu Aizawa
IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):
IEEE Section: IEEE Tokyo Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Kiyoharu Aizawa
Milestone proposer(s):
Proposer name: Ryoichi Kasahara
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Proposer name: Shotaro Fujii
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Proposer name: Wataru Kobayashi
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public
Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.
Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):
3-1 Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-city, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan. Longitude: 139.316, Latitude: 35.440
Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.
Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. The intended site of the milestone plaque is the Atsugi Research and Development Center of NTT Corporation, where the arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) wavelength multi/demultiplexer was investigated for large-capacity optical transmission system.
Are the original buildings extant?
Yes.
Details of the plaque mounting:
The mounting is predicted in the ground floor entrance hall.
How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?
The plaque will be freely accessible to the public. During the opening hours, staff in charge is always present. A night watchman is provided as well.
Who is the present owner of the site(s)?
NTT Corporation.
What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include detailed support at the end of this section preceded by "Justification for Inclusion of Name(s)". (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the data traffic of optical fiber communication systems increased rapidly due to the explosive spread of the Internet. At that time, the transmission capacity of optical fiber communication systems was increased by time division multiplexing. To further increase the transmission capacity, the introduction of new multiplexing technology was required strongly. The optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a technology for transmitting multiple light with different wavelengths into an optical fiber.
One of the key devices for realizing WDM transmission is an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) wavelength multi/demultiplexer. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) invented an AWG wavelength multi/demultiplexer using a silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology in 1992, and transferred the silica-based AWG technology to NTT Electronics Corp. (NEL) and Photonics Integrated Research Inc. (PIRI). NEL and PIRI improved the manufacturing technology to the mass production level and commercialized silica-based AWG products in 1996.
Since the silica-based AWG has many advantages, such as large wavelength channel scale, small size, mass productivity, long-term reliability and low cost, it has been adapted into the commercial optical fiber communication systems worldwide. As a result, silica-based AWG made a great contribution to the expansion of the transmission capacity of commercial optical fiber communication systems due to the introduction of WDM technology in the late 1990s. The transmission capacity per an optical fiber has increased dramatically from several tens to a hundred times.
What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?
Before the early 1990s, only a bulk-optic-type and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) -type components were available as wavelength multi/demultiplexer for WDM. The bulk-optic-type component is composed of many optical devices, such as optical lens, diffraction gratings, wavelength selective filters and mirrors, arranged in the optical path. It was necessary to align each component with high accuracy of sub-microns. Therefore, when wavelength channel scale is increased, the component configuration becomes complicated with many optical devices and the characteristic stability is deteriorated.
The FBG type component is constituted by cascade-connecting many pairs of FBG filters and optical circulators as many as wavelength channels. This leads large device size and complicated precise wavelength adjustment when the channel scale is increased. For these reasons, the wavelength channel scale of the bulk-optic-type and FBG-type multi/demultiplexers was limited up to about 10 channels, which was insufficient to fully utilize the ultra-wide bandwidth of the optical fiber of 100 channels or more.
It was expected to realize an integrated wavelength multi/demultiplexer based on optical waveguides with large wavelength channel scale, excellent characteristics, high reliability, mass productivity and low cost for practical use in the commercial optical transmission systems. The optical waveguide fabrication technology was also insufficient to realize a high-performance integrated wavelength multi/demultiplexer that required highly accurate optical phase control and optical polarization control for waveguided lights. The improvement of the high-precision and defect-less optical waveguide processing technology was required.
What features set this work apart from similar achievements?
In 1992, NTT invented silica-based AWG wavelength multi/demultiplexer and reported the world's first demonstration to the technical letters [1]. An AWG wavelength multi/demultiplexer consists of arrayed waveguides with a constant path difference, two concave slab waveguides and input/output waveguides integrated on a substrate. The light input from the input waveguide is diffracted in the first slab waveguide and distributed to the arrayed waveguides.
In the arrayed waveguides, the lengths of any two adjacent waveguides are different by a constant. The distributed lights are given a constant optical phase difference in propagating through the arrayed waveguides. The second slab waveguide acts as optical focusing lens, the light is focused on the end of second slab waveguide. Since the optical phase difference differs depending on the wavelength, the focusing position differs depending on the wavelength.
The function as a wavelength multi/demultiplexer can be realized by locating the multiple output waveguides on the end of 2nd slab waveguide. Because all waveguide elements are integrated on the substrate without a complicated assembly process, AWGs are suitable for realizing large-wavelength channel-scale multiplexers/demultiplexers with high characteristic stability and reliability. However, in order to realize a practical AWG multi/demultiplexer that can be applied to optical communications systems, optical waveguide fabrication technology that can control the optical phase very precisely was required.
A silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) technology also developed by NTT is capable of fabricating optical waveguides with high precision by combining ultra-uniform glass deposition, fine photolithography and deep dry etching technologies. So, the silica-based PLC technology is suitable for realizing AWG multi/demultiplexers that require highly accurate optical phase and polarization control of arrayed waveguides. In addition, the use of silica glass as a waveguide material is also suitable to realize high reliability, stability, low insertion loss and low fiber-coupling loss of AWG wavelength multi/demultiplexers.
Why was the achievement successful and impactful?
In the late 1990s, the explosive spread of the Internet led to an increase of communication traffic, and the need for a large capacity optical communication system rapidly increased. To be applied to an optical communication system, a wavelength multiplexer/demultiplexer having a large number of wavelengths, a narrow wavelength interval, good characteristics, high reliability and low cost is required. At that time, a wavelength multiplexer/demultiplexer that could satisfy all these requirements could be realized only with a silica-based AWG.
Another key to the success was that the mass production was realized in a short time after first demonstration of silica-based AWG. NTT demonstrated practical AWG multi/demultiplexers based on the silica-based PLC technology in 1992, and transferred the technology to NEL and PIRI. NEL and PIRI improved the fabrication technologies to the mass production level in a short time, and commercialized silica-based AWG products in 1996. In the early stage of introduction of WDM transmission, silica-based AWG was adopted almost entirely as a wavelength multi/demultiplexer. Since then, NEL has maintained a global market share of more than 50% for a long time, and its total shipping amount reaches to about 240,000 units. Silica-based AWG multi/demultiplexer has contributed to the spread of the high-capacity WDM optical fiber networks worldwide.
Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.
Technical papers
[1] H. Takahashi, I. Nishi, and Y. Hibino: 10 GHz spacing optical frequency division multiplexer based on arrayed-waveguide grating. Electron. Lett., Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 380-381, 1992.
[2] H. Takahashi, Y. Hibino, and I. Nishi: Polarization-insensitive arrayed-waveguide grating wavelength multiplexer on silicon. Optics Lett., Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 499-501, 1992.
[3] H. Takahashi, and Y. Hibino: Arrayed-waveguide grating wavelength multiplexers fabricated with flame hydrolysis deposition. OEC'92, 17C1-3, 1992.
[4] Y. Inoue, Y. Ohmori, M. Kawachi, S. Ando, T. Sawada, and H. Takahashi: Polarization mode converter with polyimide half waveplate in silica-based planar lightwave circuits. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 626-628, 1994.
[5] Y. Inoue, Y. Ohmori, M. Kawachi, S. Ando, T. Sawada, and H. Takahashi: Polarization-insensitive arrayed-waveguide grating multiplexer with polyimide waveplate as TE/TM mode converter. IPR'94, ThE3, 1994.
Patents
[6] Japan Patent JPB 2599786, “waveguide-type diffraction grating”.
[7] Japan Patent JPB 2614365, “polarization-independent waveguide-type optical device”.
[8] Japan Patent JPB 3139571, “optical multi/demultiplexer”.
[9] Japan Patent JPB 3501235, “waveguide-type optical device”.
[10] Japan Patent JPB 3369029, “arrayed-waveguide multi/demultiplexer”.
Awards
[11] Achievement Award, IEICE, “Study of arrayed-waveguide grating wavelength filters for WDM transmission”, 2012.
[12] Maejima Hisoka Award, TsushinBunka Association, Japan, 2013.
[13] Development Category, Awards for Science and Technology, The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Japan, “Development of arrayed-waveguide grating wavelength multi/demultiplexers”, 2015.
[14] The Rank Prize for Optoelectronics, Rank Prize Funds, UK, “For the invention and practical implementation of the arrayed-waveguide grating”, 2016.
Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.
Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).
Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.
