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Rapid Repetition Rate Fluctuation Measurement of Soliton Crystals in a Microresonator
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Dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs for FEC-free optical communications over 100 channels
Optics Express
|February 25, 2022
Summary
Microresonator frequency combs offer a cost-effective light source for future data center optical systems. Soliton microcombs enable ultra-dense wavelength division multiplexing for high-capacity intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) systems.
Area of Science:
- Optical Communications
- Photonics
- Data Center Technology
Background:
- Growing data traffic necessitates high-speed, efficient optical communication.
- Intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) are suitable for data centers due to cost and performance.
- Microresonator-based frequency combs are explored as alternatives to individual lasers.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate microresonator frequency combs as light sources for IM-DD optical systems.
- Compare modulation instability and soliton microcombs for telecom applications.
- Demonstrate the feasibility of soliton microcombs in ultra-dense WDM systems.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative analysis of comb line powers and spectral intervals.
- Experimental demonstration of a microresonator-based frequency comb system.
- Bit-error rate (BER) measurements for forward error correction (FEC) free operation.
Main Results:
- Achieved FEC-free operation with BER <10^-9 at 1.45 Tbps capacity.
- Utilized 145 comb lines across the C-band.
- Demonstrated the potential of soliton microcombs for ultra-dense WDM in IM-DD.
Conclusions:
- Soliton microcombs are a viable, cost-effective light source for future IM-DD optical systems.
- This technology supports ultra-dense WDM for high-capacity data center networks.
- Microresonator frequency combs pave the way for practical, high-performance data center optical solutions.
