News: Optoelectronics
8 December 2023
Coherent unveils first 800G ZR/ZR+ transceiver in QSFP-DD pluggable form factor
Materials, networking and laser technology firm Coherent Corp of Saxonburg, PA, USA has launched its 800G ZR/ZR+ transceiver in ultra-compact QSFP-DD and OSFP form factors for optical communications networks, claimed to be the first digital coherent optics (DCO) that can plug directly into QSFP-DD and OSFP transceiver slots on IP routers.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications are accelerating the exponential growth of data-center traffic in cloud networks, driving the demand for efficient bandwidth upgrades in data-center interconnects and optical transport networks. Leveraging their high output power of 0dBm, the transceivers can connect routers directly to access, metro and regional DWDM transport networks without additional intermediary interfaces, eliminating an entire layer of optical equipment and significantly reducing both capital and operational expenditures.
“This 800G ZR/ZR+ pluggable transceiver is built on the 140GBaud IC-TROSA [transmitter-receiver optical subassembly] that we introduced at ECOC [the European Conference on Optical Communications] in September 2023, which was also an industry first,” says Matthias Berger, vice president, Coherent Technology. “We continue to advance the state of the art of optical transmission in core networks by leveraging the inherent capabilities of our indium phosphide technology platform. Indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits are differentiated by their high output power in combination with high performance, which enables disruptive use cases such as IP-over-DWDM in metro networks,” he adds.
“We demonstrated the new transceiver with 800G 16QAM for metro/regional transmission and with 400G 8QAM for long-haul transmission,” says Dr Beck Mason, executive VP, Telecommunications. “The module is designed to support multiple modulation formats including QPSK, 8QAM and 16QAM, and multiple data rates between 200Gbps and 800Gbps. This 800G transceiver features a high-efficiency indium phosphide modulator and receiver combined with a built-in tunable laser that delivers best-in-class transmission performance and high optical output power.”
Alpha samples of the 800G QSFP-DD DCO ZR/ZR+ transceivers will be available in first-quarter 2024.
