Journal article · Ahead of Print article
4:1 Silicon Photonic Serializer for Data Center Interconnects Demonstrating 104 Gbaud OOK and PAM4 Transmission
Ghent University1
Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark2
Ultra-fast Optical Communication, Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark3
Centre of Excellence for Silicon Photonics for Optical Communications, Centers, Technical University of Denmark4
Interuniversitair Micro-Elektronica Centrum5
With next-generation optical interconnects for data centers aiming for 0.8 Tb/s or 1.6 Tb/s, 100 Gbaud capable transmitters from a single-laser source will become indispensable. However, these lane rates would require bandwidths of 70 GHz or more, doubling the bandwidth requirements of the electrical and optical components with respect to the fastest current generation of optical interconnects running at 53 Gbaud PAM-4.
In this paper, we propose an integrated 4:1 optical serializer topology to achieve 104 Gbaud NRZ and PAM-4 transmission using only quarter rate components at the transmitter. We show 104 (208) Gbit/s OOK (PAM4) transmission using four GeSi EAMs over 1 km of SMF. For 104 Gbaud OOK, clearly open eyes are obtained, while for PAM-4 the performance is limited by the non-linear E/O-transfer function of the EAM.
However, adding pre-emphasis in the electrical driver or replacing the single EAM with our previously demonstrated optical DAC topology -consisting of two EAMs in parallel with a 90° phase difference between each- could substantially improve these results. Additionally, we discuss the possibility of a four channel transmitter (4 x 208 Gb/s) from a single mode locked laser, amounting to a 832 Gb/s rate based on the current demonstrator.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | IEEE |
Year: | 2019 |
Pages: | 1498-1503 |
ISSN: | 15582213 and 07338724 |
Types: | Journal article and Ahead of Print article |
DOI: | 10.1109/JLT.2019.2897401 |
ORCIDs: | Lillieholm, Mads , Galili, Michael , Oxenløwe, Leif Katsuo , 0000-0002-0274-9715 , 0000-0002-5472-6339 , 0000-0003-0778-2669 , 0000-0002-9672-6652 , 0000-0001-5254-2408 and 0000-0002-4667-5092 |