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Coherent, a pioneer in optical communications components and subsystems, has showcased its next-generation transceivers and laser technology for 800G and 1.6T datacom transmission at ECOC 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 2-4, located at stand #406. Such advances were critical to sustaining the accelerating growth of the cloud driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

800G-FR4 Optical Transceiver

The 800G transceiver comes in an OSFP form factor with four CWDM wavelengths, each operated at 200G PAM4, and has an 8x100G PAM4 electrical interface. The demonstration ran over 3 km of single-mode fiber. These transceivers are for use in 25T and 50T Ethernet switches with 100G electrical lanes. They represent a natural evolution from transceivers with 100G optical lanes because they are more power-efficient and cost-effective. This technology is expected to form the core of the second generation of 800G transceivers and the first generation of 1.6T transceivers. Initial applications are anticipated in AI/ML applications and hyperscale datacenters.

800G-DR8 Linear Pluggable Optical (LPO) Transceiver

The linear pluggable optical (LPO) transceiver module features eight channels of 100G PAM4 transmitters and receivers in an OSFP form factor. The 800G-DR8 LPO transceiver is vertically integrated with optical components all from Coherent. This LPO technology is expected to form the core of the first generation of LPO transceivers, offering low power consumption and low latency optimized for AI/ML applications. Coherent works with optical industrial leaders and customers to provide interoperable LPO transceivers for the next generation of AI/ML applications.

200G PAM4 Mach-Zehnder Modulated Laser with Semtech Differential Driver

The live demonstration also revealed a distributed feedback laser (DFB) and Mach-Zehnder modulator combined monolithically in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) that transmits a 200G PAM4 signal over a 6 km fiber. The differential drive of the DFB-MZ laser achieves superior signal integrity, particularly in higher-density multichannel designs, enabling 1.6T transceivers with up to 10 km reach. The DFB-MZ features a channel-specific chirp control that provides excellent dispersion management. The DFB-MZ supports wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), including local area network (LWDM) and coarse (CWDM) wavelength plans. A cooled DFB-MZ supports LWDM for reaching up to 10 km. An uncooled DFB-MZ supports CWDM for shorter reaches.

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