23 December 2010

GigOptix demos highly linear modulator supporting next-gen telecoms

GigOptix Inc of Palo Alto, CA, USA, which designs modulator and laser drivers and transimpedance amplifier (TIA) ICs based on III-V materials as well as polymer electro-optic modulators for fiber-optic communications systems, says that its LX8401 40Gb/s Thin Film Polymer on Silicon (TFPS) Mach–Zehnder (MZ) modulator has shown exceptional spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) and third-order inter-modulation (IM3) performance of up to 108dB SFDR, as measured by Linear Photonics LLC (which develops and manufactures microwave and millimeter-wave fiber-optic communications equipment for commercial and government customers).

A new white paper on GigOptix’s web-site details linearity performance results that are superior to those of commercially available lithium niobate modulators, it is claimed.

“Coupled with the TFPS technology’s low drive voltages and broad bandwidths, we believe that GigOptix’s TFPS modulators now offer the industry a clear path to next-generation optical communication systems, such as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) based modulation schemes,” says Dr Raluca Dinu, VP & general manager of GigOptix-Bothell.

Linearity is a key enabler of next-generation high-performance optical transmission systems such as 400Gb/s and 1Tb/s optical telecom systems. These systems will likely be based on QAM schemes as optical communication systems mimic the evolutionary path of RF communications in increasing data rates through the use of multi-bit symbol encoding schemes. GigOptix says that these advanced modulation techniques require excellent linear performance from the modulator to enable high-fidelity replication of multi-level electrical signals into the optical domain with minimum distortion and desensitizing effects.

“The GigOptix LX8401 optical modulator performed exceedingly well in our linearity measurements,” comments Linear Photonics’ VP & general manager John MacDonald. “Linear Photonics has a long history in developing and manufacturing high-frequency analog fiber-optic equipment, and we have stringent requirements on device linearity performance,” he adds.

Tags: GigOptix

Visit: www.gigoptix.com