Optical Isolators Global Market Trends

Optical Isolators Global Market Trends

According to ElectroniCast, the worldwide use of optical isolators in Telecommunication applications reached $517.2 million in 2015…. 

Aptos, California (USA) – 2016  -- ElectroniCast Consultants, a leading market research & technology forecast consultancy addressing the fiber optics communications industry, today announced the release of a new market forecast of the global consumption of optical isolators in optical communication and specialty applications.

According to the extensive market study, the worldwide optical isolator consumption value was led by Telecommunication applications in 2015 with 74.1 percent share or $517.2 million, increasing at an annual pace of 5 percent to $660 million in 2020 (peaking in value in 2019). Optical isolators are not widely used in Private Enterprise applications; however, annual use of fiber optic isolators in Cable TV controlled device deployments are forecast to increase slightly in value, mainly driven by FTTH multi-media applications.

Optical isolator units are used in a variety of Military/Aerospace applications requiring rigorous testing and harsh environment fiber optic (HEFO) certification to ensure reliability and performance.  Laser-based fiber optic technology, incorporating optical isolators, is used in a wide variety of air, sea, ground, and space applications, especially in high vibration and rough handling situations.

A major user-group within the Specialty application category is Laboratory/R&D and industrial.  Device-type optical isolators are used with laser diodes, fiber lasers, solid-state lasers, and Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs), which are semiconductor lasers that emit in the mid- to far-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical isolators used in Specialty applications are often high-powered (>300 mW) device-type, instead of component-type; therefore, these isolators have an enormous price premium versus lower-power isolators. 

Often these high-powered isolators are used for noise reduction, medical imaging, pulse selection for mode locked lasers, sensing, regeneration switches, disc master, optical trapping, phase shifters, frequency modulation spectroscopy and general shuttering. The optical isolators are also used in these and other specialty applications, such as sensing for industrial, structures and other many other communication product-oriented manufacturing/test/R&D uses.