Low-cost high-speed rapidly reconfigurable integrated half-duplex optical transceiver front-end

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Integrated Photonics
• Optical Communications

Background:

• Traditional optical transceivers require separate components for transmitting and receiving, increasing cost and complexity.
• The demand for high-speed, reconfigurable optical communication systems is growing rapidly.
• Existing solutions often struggle to balance cost, speed, and reconfiguration capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an integrated, low-cost, high-speed half-duplex optical transceiver with rapid reconfigurability.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using a single device for both electro-optic (E/O) and opto-electric (O/E) conversion.
• To highlight the potential of this technology for future fiber-to-everything networks.

Main Methods:

• Employed a single Distributed-Feedback (DFB) diode as a unified E/O-O/E device, dynamically biased as a laser or photodetector.
• Utilized a custom-designed reconfigurable CMOS chip for DFB biasing and transmit/receive (T/R) signal path management.
• Integrated a high-speed T/R switch and a burst-mode transimpedance amplifier (BM-TIA) within the CMOS chip.

Main Results:

• Achieved transceiver front-end operation up to 5 Gb/s in both transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) modes experimentally.
• Demonstrated a rapid reconfiguration time of less than 131 nanoseconds.
• Successfully integrated optics, reducing component count and facilitating lower costs.

Conclusions:

• The presented integrated approach offers a low-cost, high-speed solution for optical transceivers.
• Rapid reconfiguration capabilities are crucial for the evolving fiber-to-everything paradigm.
• This technology paves the way for more efficient and versatile optical communication systems.