Global Optical Modulators Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Global Optical Modulators Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Optical Modulators Market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period. An electro-optic modulator plays a very crucial role in fiber-optic networks. Just like a transistor acts as a switch for electronic signals, an electro-optic modulator acts as a switch for optical signals.

• Today's extended and medium-range communication networks primarily rely on optical fiber links, where encoding the electrical signals into a near-infrared modulated light is an essential function traditionally realized by the discrete electro-optical modulators. The rapidly rising trend of carrying information over much shorter distances combined with the foreseen microelectronics copper interconnect bottleneck pushed researchers toward silicon as an alternative photonic material.
• This is owing to its capacity to meet the rapidly increasing demand for higher bandwidth technologies via energy-efficient, ultra-fast, small footprint optical networks-on-chip and cost-effectiveness. This resulted in the combination of complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible materials such as germanium. Recently, the inclusion of graphene with silicon enabled high bandwidth electro-absorption modulators.
• Moreover, various studies have been done to increase the performance of these devices. For example, the researchers at the Oregon State University designed and fabricated the world's smallest electro-optic modulator, enabling significant reductions in energy used by the data centers and supercomputers. The new modulator is approximately ten times smaller and can potentially be up to 100 times more energy efficient than the best device available. The product is roughly the size of a bacterium, measuring 0.6 by 8 microns.
• Optical networking and communication are evolving rapidly, evidenced by the robust growth witnessed across leading vendors' revenues. Companies are investing heavily in developing advanced models of optical modulators and networks, which can facilitate higher data transfer in a generation where speed is of utmost importance.
• Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the world's largest investors are focusing on the digital infrastructure market, citing the high demand for capital to boost the data economy. The growth of hyperscale computing has increased investment interest in data centers globally. Communications, servers, and many other electronic systems depend on high-speed serial transceivers and optical modulators forming the backbone of networks and the Internet.

• Today's soaring demand for increasing the data transmission rate motivates a great challenge to improve the spectral efficiency of fiber-optical channels. Explaining an advanced coded modulation scheme is inevitable to achieve higher spectral efficiency. This, coupled with advances in the telecommunication industry, has increased the adoption of optical modulators in Optical Communication. Optical fibers, conceived for fast communication on long distances, are also developing in other industrial and commercial sectors, widening the applicative potentialities of photonic technologies.
• Further, with the advent of optical fiber networks globally, the size, performance, and power consumption of the lithium niobate modulators are becoming a crucial factor to be considered for telecoms operators, especially when the data centers and base stations are being forecast to be among the most significant electricity users across the telecoms industry.
• The widespread use of optical fibers in communications is boosted by the growing demand for higher performance and speed, forecasting a bright future for optical technology. Optical fibers are the base for applications in several other applicative contexts.
• Optical modulators can play a substantial role in supporting the requirement for faster data rates, superior switching techniques, and more intelligent network architectures that can automatically adjust dynamically in response to traffic patterns and, at the same time, be cost-effective. The trend is anticipated to continue as breakthroughs already attained in the laboratory will be extended to practical deployment, leading to a new generation in fiber optics communications.

• The increasing investment in 5G/LTE infrastructure by telecommunication companies is one of the significant factors driving the demand for optical modulators in the industry in the region. These companies are taking initiatives to accelerate the 5G/LTE infrastructure.
• Unlocking the full potential of 5G in the United States majorly depends on the extension of fiber deep into the network. However, despite the demand and potential economic benefits of fiber deployment, the United States currently lacks the fiber density in access networks to make the bandwidth advancements necessary to improve the pace of innovation and economic growth.
• Cloud-based enterprise applications are thriving in the North American region. The cloud-based solutions depend on internet connectivity to function in the hosted environment. With 5G enabling much faster internet speed, it will further enhance the connectivity experience.
• Moreover, the FTTX council stated that to realize the maximum benefit from 5G infrastructure, eight times more extensive optical fiber networks will be needed than currently laid down. Advent to that, they also mentioned that over 89% of the traffic would be on the fiber network, whereas only 11% of it will rely on the mobile network.
• Further, the rapid growth of mobile broadband with an increase in big data analytics coupled with cloud computing is driving the demand for new data center infrastructures in the North American region. The region also comprises a considerable amount of data centers. Multiple enterprises are switching from hardware to software-based services and are anticipated to be an addressable market for data center installations. Moreover, according to the cloud scene, there are more than 2500 data centers in the United States and more than 250 data centers in Canada.​

The Global Optical Modulators Market is very competitive in nature. The market is concentrated due to the presence of various small and large players. The players are focusing on expanding their consumer base across the world. Some of the key players in the market are Thorlabs Inc., Lumentum Holdings Inc., AA Opto-Electronic, Fujitsu Optical Components Limited, Gooch & Housego PLC, Lightwave Logic, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., and many more. The companies are increasing the market share by forming multiple partnerships and investing in introducing new services to earn a competitive edge during the forecast period.

• September 2022 - Lightwave Logic, Inc., announced the achievement of world record performance for low-power consumption ultra-high-speed green slot modulators in collaboration with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and its spin-off SilOriX on Optical Communications (ECOC) in Basel, Switzerland.
• September 2022 - Joint efforts in creating a new Spatial Light Modulator for dynamic beam shaping in industrial high-power USP processes. Hamamatsu collaborated with Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen and has set up an application lab for advanced laser material processing with ultrashort pulsed (USP) laser radiation. In Aachen, the partners jointly developed an industrial processing SLM-head that can use customized, dynamic beam shaping combined with enormous laser average output powers for various applications. The applied new Spatial Light Modulator from Hamamatsu can be operated up to 150 watts of average output power.

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