Mixed domain coherent link with electrically reconfigurable IMDD and coherent modes for O-band data center applications.

We report the first O-band link with electrically reconfigurable intensity-modulation direct-detection (IMDD) and coherent operation using custom silicon photonic chips packaged with commercial electronic chips. Transmission below the KP4-FEC threshold is shown using commercial 53 Gbaud PAM4 digital signal processing (DSP) for 16QAM (200 Gbps/λ) and PAM4 (100 Gbps/λ). Efficient operation of the packaged full link at 12 and 11.

Integrated SOAs enable energy-efficient intra-data center coherent links.

Coherent optical links are becoming increasingly attractive for intra-data center applications as data rates scale. Realizing the era of high-volume short-reach coherent links will require substantial improvements in transceiver cost and power efficiency, necessitating a reassessment of conventional architectures best-suited for longer-reach links and a review of assumptions for shorter-reach implementations. In this work, we analyze the impact of integrated semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) on link performance and power consumption, and describe the optimal design spaces for low-cost and energy-efficient coherent links.

Multi-wavelength selective crossbar switch.

Here we demonstrate an 8x4 multi-wavelength selective ring resonator based crossbar switch matrix implemented in a 220-nm silicon photonics foundry for interconnecting electronic packet switches in scalable data centers. This switch design can dynamically assign up to two wavelength channels for any port-port connection, providing almost full connectivity with significant reduction in latency, cost and complexity. The switch unit cell insertion loss was measured at 0.

On-chip wavelength locking for photonic switches.

We present an on-chip wavelength reference with a partial drop ring resonator and germanium photodetector. This approach can be used in ring-resonator-based wavelength-selective switches where absolute wavelength alignment is required. We use the temperature dependence of heater resistance as a temperature sensor.