December 18, 2020
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

Sumitomo Electric Succeeds in World’s First Mass Production of
0.14 dB/km Ultra-low-loss Optical Fiber
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. realizes the world’s first mass production ofan optical fiber having an ultra-low transmission loss of 0.14 dB/km. The
company will start its commercial supply in January 2021.
Optical fiber serves as a backbone infrastructure supporting global information andcommunication society. In order to meet exponentially increase of telecommunication
traffics due to explosive expansion of service demands including cloud storages and 5G
mobile communication network, it is essential to increase the transmission capacity of
optical communication systems. Therefore, improvement on the optical fiber
performance including transmission loss reduction is highly anticipated.
In 1988, Sumitomo Electric, as a pioneer in ultra-low loss fiber manufacture, succeededin mass production of optical fiber with a transmission loss of 0.17 dB/km as a global firstand commercialized this as the pure-silica-core optical fiber “Z fiber™”.*1 Since then,Sumitomo Electric has continuously developed and launched ultra-low loss fibertechnologies and new products.
In 2017, Sumitomo Electric set a world record of transmission loss as low as 0.1419
dB/km as R&D achievement*2. Applying this to mass-production technologies that havebeen refined through many years of operations, Sumitomo Electric realizes the global
first mass production of ultra-low-loss optical fiber with 0.14 dB/km. The company will
launch a new Z-PLUS fiber™ 150 having typical transmission loss of 0.144 dB/km at
1,550 nm in January 2021, achieving a significant reduction in transmission loss from thecurrent 0.150 dB/km product. The applications of the product include the following.
<Examples of applications of Z-PLUS Fiber™ 150 with a transmission loss of 0.144
dB/km>・ Transoceanic submarine optical cable systems *3・ Terrestrial trunk line, such as transcontinental networks

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・ Transmission lines for quantum cryptography communication
・ Sensor applications, such as earthquake detection and fire detection
・ Various

opticalcommunication

technologies

thatrequireultra-low-loss

characteristics
Sumitomo Electric remains committed to contributing to the information andcommunication society, by promoting research and development of optical fiber.

Transmission loss [dB/km]

0.18
0.17
0.16

Conventional product(0.150 dB/km)

Mass-produced product0.15
Research and development
0.14

New product(0.144 dB/km)

*2

0.13
1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Year

History of world records in optical fiber transmission loss
(The symbols of “●” and “◆” represent the records set by
Sumitomo Electric.)*1 Low-loss pure-silica core optical fiber
Optical fiber that achieves a low transmission loss by applying pure silica (SiO2) glass
to the core area
*2 World-record transmission loss: 0.1419 dB/km
Reported on March 22nd 2017 and still regarded as the world best value as ofDecember 18, 2020, at a wavelength of 1,560 nm, see
https://global-sei.com/company/press/2017/03/prs029.html*3 Advantages of ultra-low loss optical fiber for submarine optical cable systems
For example, transoceanic ultra-long-haul submarine cable systems are equipped withhuge number of optical repeaters along the transmission line to amplify the attenuated

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optical signals. By applying the ultra-low-loss optical fiber newly released by Sumitomo
Electric, its signal attenuation can be suppressed. This makes it possible tosignificantly reduce the number of optical repeaters and remarkably contributes toreducing the overall system cost.
■ Reference
Sumitomo Electric's Website
https://sumitomoelectric.com/

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