Sensing and Devices Business
Business Overview and the Society We Aim to Create
In the Sensing & Devices Business, we develop and manufacture optical amplifiers, high-speed electronic devices for the high-speed, large-capacity telecommunications market, and laser light sources that support non-contact and remote optical sensing, based on our compound semiconductor device technology. We contribute to the realization of a safe and secure society by supplying core devices that support a variety of fields ranging from telecommunications to healthcare, environment, and infrastructure.
Social Issues and Customer Issues
The increase in the number of patients with eye diseases due to aging populations and the rise in the number of young people with myopia due to prolonged smartphone use have become global issues. As a result, demand for ophthalmic examination equipment is increasing, with high-precision optical devices - which impose minimal burden on patients - rapidly gaining widespread adoption. As a result, opportunities to adopt laser light sources as core devices are increasing.
To realize a safer and more secure society, demand is also growing for infrastructure monitoring technologies such as ensuring road traffic safety, maintaining large structures like bridges and tunnels, and detecting anomalies in energy facilities. The social implementation of fiber optic sensing, which enables remote monitoring over wide areas, and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), which uses laser light to measure distances to objects, is advancing, driving increased demand for laser light sources as core devices.
Strengths and Strategy of the Anritsu Group
The Sensing & Devices Business leverages its strengths in device design technology for compound semiconductors cultivated in the communications field and its integrated manufacturing lines capable of handling everything from wafer processes to module assembly. It develops and manufactures devices that create new value in the sensing field as well. For ophthalmology, we contribute to the widespread adoption of diagnostic equipment by achieving higher output and broader bandwidth tailored to each specific device. For optical fiber sensing and LiDAR applications, we supply the optimal optical devices tailored to the distance to the measurement target and the required measurement accuracy.
Case 1
Using light to contribute to the detection of eye disease and the suppression of myopia progression through examinations that place minimal burden on patients
The increasing number of patients with eye diseases due to aging and the rising prevalence of myopia among younger generations have heightened the importance of ophthalmic diagnosis in recent years. The Sensing & Devices Business provides SLDs (Super Luminescent Diodes) and wavelength-sweeping light sources as optical devices for ophthalmic OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography), axial length measurement devices, and axial myopia testing devices. Non-contact, non-invasive optical examinations enable highly accurate testing without placing a burden on the patient, contributing to early detection of glaucoma and retinal diseases, treatment of cataracts, and control of the progression of axial myopia in young people.
Ophthalmology OCT (cross-section retinal scanner)
Case 2
Optical devices contribute to cutting-edge technologies supporting safe and secure social infrastructure
Demand for monitoring technologies that enable anomaly detection in facilities and efficient equipment operation is growing as we strive to realize a safer and more secure society. The Sensing & Devices Business develops and manufactures gain chips for narrow linewidth lasers used in fiber optic sensing for social infrastructure monitoring and in FMCW* LiDAR systems. By providing optimal optical devices tailored to measurement methods, distance ranges, and accuracy, we contribute to realizing a society where people can live with peace of mind.
* FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave): Optical interferometry method that uses optical frequency-modulated laser light to detect long distances with higher sensitivity than the time-of-flight (TOF) method, which uses pulsed light.
Gain Chip for external cavity lasers
VOICE
Sensing & Devices Company Development
Div. 1st Development Dept.
Akiko Tada
The technology we create reaches society. That is the motivation that drives us.
My work involves developing and raising awareness of the best laser light sources for axial length measurement devices that are used before performing surgery for myopia, as well as for fiber optic sensing to ensure the safety of social infrastructure. I find great satisfaction in this work, which involves adopting new technologies and solving problems through a technological approach. I am motivated by the realization that the light sources we have developed are incorporated into products and contribute to solving social issues. We will continue to hone our technological capabilities and strive to create innovative devices and solutions.