II‐VI Incorporated (Nasdaq: IIVI), a leader in optical components, modules, and subsystems, today announced that its pluggable optical line subsystem (POLS) platform and WaveShaper® instrument received high ratings during the 2021 Annual Lightwave Innovation Reviews.

II-VI’s groundbreaking POLS platform, the first of its kind in a compact OSFP (octal small form-factor pluggable) format, was hailed as the “perfect strategy for extending the advantages of pluggable optics beyond transceivers” by Lightwave’s judges. The POLS plugs directly into a datacenter interconnect (DCI) switch port and enables full-duplex multichannel 400ZR transport, including multiplexing, demultiplexing, and variable-gain amplification.

II-VI’s WaveShaper® was highlighted as being “the preeminent optical filtering tool in the market.” The instrument can be easily programmed to simulate realistic optical network configurations over the entire S-, C-, and extended L-bands, or from 1468 nm to 1640 nm. This unique capability can be leveraged to analyze a wide range of scenarios, including the cumulative impairment effects on 800 Gbps signals that result from transmitting through a series of reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) systems. In its review, Lightwave’s judges said, “The ability to emulate a concatenation of different optical filters and fiber-optic lengths in a single compact footprint is unique. This is an excellent product.”

“We are delighted to receive such outstanding scores in Lightwave’s much-anticipated 2021 Innovation Reviews,” said Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, Chief Marketing Officer, II-VI Incorporated. “The POLS platform is the first product of its kind on the market and leverages significant breakthroughs that derive from our value proposition around miniaturizing optical components for amplification and wavelength management. Our WaveShaper is available just in time to assist an increasing number of research activities that aim to broaden the optical transmission window from the C-band to the S- and extended L-bands.”