Low cutoff G.657-compatible fiber for data center interconnects operating in the 1064 and 1310 nm windows
Paper in proceeding, 2020

Optical interconnects in data centers have traditionally used 850 nm GaAs-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) in combination with multimode fiber, having a reach up to 100 m in length. Longer links typically use standard single-mode fiber in conjunction with either InP-based edge-emitting lasers or silicon photonic transmitters operating in the 1310 nm or 1550 nm window. Single-mode GaAs-based VCSELs operating at 1064 nm offer another path for achieving longer system reach. Potential advantages of these VCSELs include better power efficiency, modulation speeds reaching 50 Gbps and large-scale fabrication volumes. The longer wavelength is also beneficial due to the lower attenuation and chromatic dispersion of optical fibers at that wavelength. However, one practical issue for single-mode transmission is that the G.657 standard for single-mode fiber requires that the 22-meter cable cutoff wavelength be less than 1260 nm, and these fibers are typically few-moded at 1064 nm. The large differences between the group velocities of the LP01 and LP11 modes can lead to degradation of the system performance due to multi-path interference if the higher order modes are present. To resolve this quandary, we have designed and validated the performance of a new optical fiber which is single-moded at wavelengths less than 1064 nm, but also has G.657-compliant mode field diameter and dispersion characteristics that enable it to be used in the 1310 nm window.

optical interconnects

single-mode fiber

1064 nm

VCSEL

optical fiber

1310 nm

multimode

Author

S. Bickham

Corning Research and Development Corporation

Pushkar Tandon

Corning Research and Development Corporation

Snigdharaj K. Mishra

Corning Optical Fiber and Cable

Ming-Jun Li

Corning Research and Development Corporation

Ewa Simpanen

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Photonics

Tamas Lengyel

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Photonics

Johan Gustavsson

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Photonics

Anders Larsson

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Photonics

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

0277786X (ISSN) 1996756X (eISSN)

Vol. 11286 112860C

Photonics West 2020
San Francisco, CA, USA,

Multi-Tbps Optical Interconnects (MuTOI)

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) (SE13-0014), 2014-03-01 -- 2019-06-30.

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Subject Categories

Computer and Information Science

Communication Systems

Nano Technology

Infrastructure

Nanofabrication Laboratory

DOI

10.1117/12.2547869

More information

Latest update

4/27/2020