No abstract

Near-future upgrades of intra data center networks and high-performance computing systems would require optical interconnects capable of operating at beyond 100 Gbps/lane. In order for this evolution to be achieved in a sustainable way, high-speed yet energy-efficient transceivers are in need. Towards this direction we have previously demonstrated directly-modulated lasers (DMLs) capable of operating at 50 Gbps/lane with sub-pJ/bit efficiencies based on our novel membrane-III-V-on-Si technology. However, there exists an inherent tradeoff between modulation speed and power consumption due to the carrier-photon dynamics in DMLs. In this work, we alleviate this tradeoff by introducing photon–photon resonance dynamics in our energy-efficient membrane DMLs-on-Si design and demonstrate a device with a maximum 3-dB bandwidth of 47.5 GHz. This denotes a bandwidth increase of more than 2x times compared to our previous membrane DMLs-on-Si. Moreover, the DML is capable of delivering 60-GBaud PAM-4 signals under Ethernet’s KP4-FEC threshold (net data rate of 113.42 Gbps) over 2-km of standard single-mode fiber transmission. DC energy-efficiencies of 0.17 pJ/bit at 25 °C and 0.34 pJ/bit at 50 °C have been achieved for the > 100-Gbps signals. Deploying such DMLs in an integrated multichannel transceiver should ensure a smooth evolution towards Terabit-class Ethernet links and on-board optics subsystems.

Increasing demand for higher data rates in data centers and high-performance computing systems require optical interconnects that support more than 100 Gbps-per-lane. Meanwhile, as optics are packed ever closer to Ethernet switches and electronic processors, both operating temperatures and power consumptions increase, resulting in increasing operational and environmental costs. In this work we present our recent results on a two-channel energy-efficient directly-modulated membrane laser array on SiO2/Si with ~60-GHz 3-dB bandwidth, that can support both 100 Gbps-per-lane modulations as well as very small form-factors and power consumptions. The extension to 60 GHz bandwidths denotes a ~26.3 % increase compared to previous works, and it was achieved based on an optimized distributedreflector laser design for maximizing the photon-photon resonance effect. Based on the fabricated two-channel DML array, 200 Gbps (2×112-Gbps NRZ) with laser operating energy-per-bit cost of less than 0.3 pJ/bit over 2-km transmissions, and the feasibility of 400 Gbps (2×200-Gbps PAM-4) transmissions are demonstrated. Finally, the temperature dependence of the PPR effect and its impact on the E-O response have been studied both experimentally and with numerical simulations for temperatures up to 75 o C for the first time.

No abstract

No abstract