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120-GBaud 16-QAM silicon photonics IQ modulator for data center interconnection
Optics Express
|September 15, 2023
Summary
All-silicon integrated modulators achieve 120-GBaud 16-QAM, enabling high-speed data center interconnects. These modulators show potential for 800-Gbps transceivers with excellent performance over 100-km fiber.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Optical Communications
- Semiconductor Devices
Background:
- High-speed optical modulators are crucial for data center interconnects.
- Silicon photonics offers a scalable platform for integrated optical devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate all-silicon integrated IQ modulators (IQMs) capable of 120-GBaud 16-QAM operation.
- To assess the potential of these IQMs for 800-Gbps small-form-factor pluggable transceivers.
Main Methods:
- Testing an IQM chip with discrete drivers over 100-km standard single-mode fiber (SMF).
- Evaluating a 3D packaged transmitter by emulating its frequency response.
- Measuring per-polarization output power and optical signal-to-noise ratio (rOSNR).
Main Results:
- Achieved 120-GBaud 16-QAM operation with suitable bandwidth and output power.
- Obtained a per-polarization TX output power of -18.74 dBm and rOSNR of 23.51 dB over 100-km SMF.
- Demonstrated a low bit error rate (BER) of 1.4e-3 without advanced compensation techniques.
Conclusions:
- All-silicon IQMs show significant promise for next-generation data center transceivers.
- The demonstrated performance is suitable for 800-Gbps applications, simplifying transceiver design.
- Further investigation into 3D packaging confirmed the viability of integrated solutions.
