News: Optoelectronics
22 March 2021
NeoPhotonics’ 400ZR+ QSFP-DD transceiver demos 400Gbps transmission over 800km in 75GHz-spaced DWDM
NeoPhotonics Corp of San Jose, CA, USA – a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of silicon photonics and hybrid photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based lasers, modules and subsystems for high-speed communications – says that it has demonstrated that its 400ZR+ QSFP-DD coherent pluggable transceiver can effectively transmit at a 400Gbps data rate over a distance of 800km in a 75GHz-spaced DWDM system with more than 3.5dB of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) margin in the optical signal.
The 400ZR+ coherent pluggable transceiver module is based on NeoPhotonics’ high-performance coherent optics and its ultra-pure color tunable laser, and achieves a reach of 800km while staying within the power consumption envelop of the QSFP-DD module’s power specification. The firm believes that these 400ZR+ QSFP-DD modules will find wide application in Cloud-based metro 5G networks, and will extend use cases for IP-over-DWDM into metro-core and regional networks.
The 800km transmission demonstration was carried out on NeoPhotonics’ Transmission System Testbed and utilized 75GHz-spaced channels. The QSFP-DD uses NeoPhotonics’ silicon photonics-based coherent optical sub-assembly (COSA) and its ultra-narrow-linewidth Nano-ITLA tunable laser. The firm says that the longer reach was enabled by the superior performance of these optical components along with a commercial digital signal processor (DSP) using proprietary forward error correction (FEC). The COSA exhibits low insertion loss and low impairments, making efficient use of the optical signal. The Nano-ITLA tunable laser exhibits ultra-low phase noise and low power consumption. Additionally, these components allow NeoPhotonics’ 400ZR+ QSFP-DD transceiver module to operate at a case temperature of up to 80°C (ten degrees higher than conventional telecom modules), reducing air flow requirements and resulting in lower fan speeds and reduced power for cooling in data centers.
NeoPhotonics’ QSFP-DD modules are in the final stages of qualification and have passed 2000 hours of high-temperature operating life (HTOL) and other critical tests per Telcordia requirements. The firm expects these modules to be at general availability (GA) in second-quarter 2021.
NeoPhotonics’ 400ZR+ QSFP-DD transceivers are designed to operate in 75GHz-spaced DWDM systems using 64-channel arrayed waveguide grating MUX and DMUX filters, such as those made by the firm. In this case, a fully loaded fiber operating in the C-band would provide total capacity of 25.6 Terabits per second (Tbps). To further maximize the data capacity of optical fibers, NeoPhotonics has developed an enhanced version of its ultra-low-noise laser in a C++ LASER module, which has a tuning range of 6THz, enabling a total fiber capacity of 32Tbps using 400Gbps transceivers and 75GHz channel spacing.
“We are excited to extend the operation of our QSFP-DD coherent transceiver into metro and regional applications in this 400ZR+ configuration,” says chairman & CEO Tim Jenks. “Advances in our ultra-pure-light tunable laser, our silicon photonics integrated COSA and electronic DSPs have inexorably decreased the size, power and cost of coherent transmission such that a coherent transceiver capable of up to long-haul distances can fit in the same form factor as a current-generation high-density client-side pluggable module, such as a QSFP-DD,” he adds. “This has been a sea change for data-center interconnect (DCI) networks, and we believe it will also bring fundamental changes to metro and regional networks.”
