News: Optoelectronics
22 September 2022
Lumentum’s 200G PAM4 EMLs win ECOC Data Center Innovation/Best Product Award
Lumentum Holdings Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (which designs and makes optical and photonic products for optical networks and lasers for industrial and consumer markets) says that its 200G PAM4 externally modulated lasers (EMLs) has received the Industry Awards for the Data Center Innovation/Best Product category at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC 2022) in Basel, Switzerland (18–22 September).
Hyperscale cloud operators need reliable, low-power and low-cost solutions that enable higher-speed data links within their next-generation data centers. Lumentum says that its first-to-market 200G PAM4 EMLs leverage 30 years of technology expertise to deliver industry-leading performance and quality to data-center operators seeking to scale their data centers for future needs.
“Lumentum has led the industry through multiple generations of increased intra-data-center transmission rates leveraging market-leading innovation and exceptional quality,” claims Wupen Yuen, senior VP & general manager, Datacom. “We are excited to work with customers and data-center operators to accelerate their transition to the next generation of switching and architectures with our 200G PAM4 EMLs.”
Lumentum manufactures EMLs in its internal high-volume indium phosphide (InP) wafer fab in Japan. Its EMLs are photonic integrated circuits that consist of a distributed feedback laser (DFB) monolithically integrated with an electro-absorption modulator (EAM), providing a single high-performance laser transmitter chip. Providing high modulation bandwidth and excellent extinction ratio, Lumentum’s 200G PAM4 EMLs minimize input voltage swings to reduce the power consumption of related ICs. They provide what is claimed to be superior waveform quality for PAM4 and the potential for PAM6 or PAM8 operation, resulting in an even higher transmission capacity than 200G per wavelength. Lumentum is planning CWDM and LAN-WDM 4-channel support for various system architecture needs.
The 100G PAM4 EMLs are in volume production and already leading the transition to bit rates of 400G and 800G, says Lumentum. The latest 200G EMLs will enable the transition to 800G and 1.6T for next-generation data centers.
