Analogue fibre optical devices

High-performance laser and receiver components for analogue signal transmission

Our broad portfolio of components offers flexibility in wavelength, output power, and linearity specifications, supporting high-performance applications like sensing, RFoG, cable television, mobile networks, and satellite transmission and monitoring.

Key features include:

  • Laser Diodes: Available in coaxial or butterfly packages, these diodes maintain linearity and optical performance across wide temperature ranges, making them suitable for challenging environments.
  • Photodiodes: Designed to match performance requirements on the receiver side, ensuring stable and robust links.

These components cater to traditional telecom applications and complex solutions such as DWDM, CW, and interferometry, where low RIN and narrow linewidths are critical. For higher performance analogue solutions, consult our experts to define your exact requirements.

We offer tailored solutions with single or dual-stage isolators, standard single mode or polarisation-maintaining fibres, special packaging, or connectors to meet any challenge.

Product ranges in analogue fibre optical devices

Photodiodes for Analogue Applications
AGx Technologies
Photodiodes for Analogue Applications

AGx photodiodes can be used in a variety of analogue applications where high linearity performance is key.

Analogue Laser Diodes – Coaxial Package
AGx Technologies
Analogue Laser Diodes – Coaxial Package

High performance laser diodes for analogue applications in an industry standard coaxial TO-can package.

Butterfly Lasers for Analogue, CW and Sensing
AGx Technologies
Butterfly Lasers for Analogue, CW and Sensing

AGx butterfly lasers are high performance devices for use in applications where stability over temperature change is critical.

Analogue Laser Diodes
AGx Technologies
Analogue Laser Diodes

AGx laser diodes are industry leading in linear performance at high temperatures and high optical output powers.

RedLink® Fibre Optic Analogue Receiver
Firecomms
RedLink® Fibre Optic Analogue Receiver

The Firecomms Analogue Receiver uses a highly reliable photodiode that produces a current proportional to the incident light coupled through the fibre.

The distinct advantages of using analogue communication over fibre are to provide lower signal loss, superior EMI immunity, and much longer transmission distances when compared to traditional coaxial cable. Acal BFi supplies a complete range of high-linearity transmitter and receiver components for reliable Radio Frequency over Fibre (RFoF) in telecom, satcom, radar, broadcast and industrial systems.

Acal BFi works with specialist partners, including AGx Technologies, to deliver complete RFoF transmitter/receiver solutions, highly-linear lasers, and high-responsivity photodiodes. Our engineering team and Technology Center assists customers during their design, selection and optimisation phases of the design-cycle to ensure the most suitable components for demanding analogue applications are chosen.

High-linearity lasers are critical in analog optical transmission like RFoF because they produce light whose intensity changes proportionately to the input electrical signal, maintaining an excellent Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) and very low signal distortion (harmonics and intermodulation), ensuring accurate transmission of complex analogue signals for voice, video, radar etc. Acal BFi offers solutions incorporating low-noise linearised DFB lasers for precision RF, broadband and instrumentation systems.

By providing carefully selected, matched transmitters and receivers from suppliers such as AGx Technologies, Acal BFi ensures optimised noise performance, minimal distortion and stable operation over temperature. This holistic approach helps our customers achieve the lowest possible noise floor across the communications link, end to end.

Acal BFi supports analogue solutions used in defence, aerospace, GNSS repeater systems, radar front-haul, broadcast head-ends, industrial control and test environments. These applications demand long-distance, low-loss, high-dynamic-range signal transport. Acal BFi has experience in supporting challenging applications with first class product offerings from AGx Technologies and more.

Acal BFi provides flexible specification based on bandwidth requirements up to and exceeding 20 GHz, including various wavelength options, output power, specialised housings (connector options), extended temperature operation and other selectable characteristics. We work closely with our partners such as AGx Technologies to tailor each component to our customer’s RF, mechanical and environmental requirements.

POF offers simple installation, excellent mechanical flexibility and low-cost connectivity. POF is ideal for short-reach analogue links in industrial, medical and consumer applications. Acal BFi supplies Firecomms’ analogue POF receivers, which deliver stable performance where glass fibre is unnecessary or too costly.

Firecomms’ POF components supported by Acal BFi are well-suited to industrial motor control, industrial drives and inverters, medical sensing devices, gaming and short-range analogue control systems in industrial control. Their robust easily installed Versatile Link style connectors and best-in-class EMI performance provide a reliable alternative to copper cabling in electrically noisy environments.

Acal BFi’s experienced engineers support customers with optical power budget and RF gain calculations, RF and fibre connector selection, environmental considerations and installation guidance on the host-board. This ensures seamless integration whether the system requirements necessitate high-performance AGx glass fibre components or Firecomms POF receivers.

Acal BFi supply components from proven partners with decades of industrial experience such as AGx Technologies and Firecomms, both offering robust reliable designs. Combined with Acal BFi’s technical expertise and hands-on application support through our Technology Centers, customers receive analogue fibre solutions that maintain performance over years of continuous operation even in harsh environments.