29September 2015

Inphi demonstrates interoperability of first 400G PAM4 IC chipset with NeoPhotonics' Q-TOSA 100G EML-based modules

In booth #400 at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2015) in Valencia, Spain (28-30 September), Inphi Corp of Santa Clara, CA, USA (a provider of high-speed mixed-signal ICs for communications, computing and data-center markets) has demonstrated interoperability of what is claimed to be the industry's first 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) PHY IC chipset solution for service provider interconnects.

The demonstration showcases 100G dual-lambda optical link performance with 2-10km single-mode fiber (SMF) loopback featuring Inphi's PAM4 IC solutions and the Q-TOSA 100G electro-absorption modulated laser (EML)-based modules of NeoPhotonics Corp of San Jose, CA, USA, a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of hybrid photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based optoelectronic modules and subsystems for high-speed communications networks.

As the megatrends of cloud computing, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), Social and Web2.0 continue to accelerate and drive the demand for unlimited bandwidth, there is a need to increase the speed of interconnect pipes while maintaining cloud economics and lowering carbon footprints, says Inphi. PAM4 modulation has now been recognized as the modulation scheme that will take the industry over the next wave of Ethernet deployments for optical and copper interconnects by doubling the bits per symbol at the same baud rate. The demonstration shows that, by transferring the complexity from optics into CMOS electronics with PAM encoding, digital signal processing (DSP) and forward error correction (FEC) technologies, one can attain four times as much bandwidth improvement compared with existing solutions, at a lower cost, adds the firm. Coupled with the availability of its high-speed linear driver and amplifier solutions, the demonstration showcases a complete electronics platform for an eight-lambda IEEE P802.3bs 400G LR8 implementation, says Inphi.

"Our interoperability demo with ecosystem partners such as NeoPhotonics achieves excellent bit-error-rate and optical link budget, and proves that the PAM4 technology is ready and available today to help designers build IEEE P802.3bs 400G LR8 line-cards and modules for next-generation service provider platforms," says Siddharth Sheth, Inphi's vice president of Networking Interconnect.

As part of this demo, NeoPhotonics is showcasing its new 4x28G Q-TOSA module, which incorporates four channels of PIC integrated transmitters utilizing proven high-performance electro-absorptive modulated lasers (EMLs), which meets the stringent ITU-T standard required by Telecom service providers and also satisfies the datacom requirement.

"This joint demo with Inphi PAM4 chip demonstrates the ability of our very high-bandwidth EML to generate superior performance in high-order of modulation (HOM)-based platforms," says NeoPhotonics' CEO Tim Jenks. "It has been proven at both 28GBaud and 56GBaud, which will enable future systems with higher link capacity to serve the continuous market demand for increased bandwidth." 

See related items:

NeoPhotonics and Inphi announce production shipments of high-dynamic-range ICR for 100G colorless coherent transmission

Inphi and NeoPhotonics collaborate on 100G optical modules

Tags: NeoPhotonics PICs Inphi 100G optical modules

Visit: www.inphi.com

Visit: www.neophotonics.com