Alps Electric to Exhibit at China Int’l Optoelectronic Exposition

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Leading Japanese electronic component manufacturer, Alps Electric Co., Ltd., (Alps Electric), says it will showcase its products at the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) slated for Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, from Wednesday, September 6, 2017.

The firm revealed in a statement that it would use the event to introduce its time-proven lens products for optical communications.

At CIOE, one of the world’s largest exhibitions in the optoelectronic industry, Alps Electric will be exhibiting the latest technologies in lenses for optical communications and the products, which have more than a 25-year history in the market in the form of optic fibre components, optical drives and pickups in CDs, and lenses for submarine cables, the statement said.

Under the circumstances where the volume of information is increasing because of the use of IoT and AI and thus downsizing of data centre devices is wanted, the narrow aspherical glass lens, which we are introducing as a solution for data centres, boasts a width of only 0.6 mm even with a chucking area.

The lens achieves high efficiency in a light coupling through the optical design and microfabrication technologies that Alps has been developing for a number of years and therefore contributes to the speeding up of data communications.

The statement further said the Alps booth will also propose, from its lineups for the on-board product market, the latest technologies designed to meet future demand, including aspherical glass lenses integral with lens tubes for heads-up displays (HUDs) and hybrid lenses for LIDAR systems that are used in self-driving cars.

Founded in Tokyo in 1948, Alps Electric developed the first aspherical glass lens as a core component for the self-developed CD pickup unit in 1985. Since then, it has been improving its optical design and manufacturing technologies and developed one of the world’s smallest aspherical glass lens for optical communications in 1990.

Some types were employed for use in submarine cables that require high reliability, and thus the company acquired a large share of the market at that time. The company satisfies wide-ranging market needs with its mass production system of stable quality using molding techniques that have been cultivated since its foundation and a variety of products.