SWDM Strategies to Extend Performance of VCSELs over MMF
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SWDM Strategies to Extend Performance of VCSELs over MMF
- Author:
C. Kocot, S. M. R. Motaghiannezam, A. Tatarczak, S. Hallstein, I. Lyubomirsky, D. Askarov, H. Daghighian, S. Nelson, J. A. Tatum
Multimode fiber (MMF) optical modules based on vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) technology provide a low cost and power efficient solution for 100 Gbps data center networks based on parallel multimode fiber. The IEEE recently standardized these systems as 100GBASE-SR4 (100GbE), providing a maximum reach of 100m on OM4 fiber. It would be desirable to extend the reach to 300m OM4, while also saving on fiber plant costs by reducing or eliminating the need for parallel fiber. In addition, 300m OM3 reach is attractive for data center networks. Higher transmission rates and longer reach can be achieved for data center networks by leveraging of electronic or/and optical technologies such as four-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4) and electronic equalizers as well as short wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) and novel wideband MMFs. However, powerful DSP based modulation and equalization techniques suffer from high power consumption.
