VCSEL-Based Interconnects for Current and Future Data Centers

Author

Tatum, Jim A. ; Gazula, Deepa ; Graham, Luke A. ; Guenter, James K. ; Johnson, Ralph H. ; King, Jonathan ; Kocot, Chris ; Landry, Gary D. ; Lyubomirsky, Ilya ; MacInnes, Andrew N. ; Shaw, Edward M. ; Balemarthy, Kasyapa ; Shubochkin, Roman ; Vaidya, Durge

Author_Institution

Finisar Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Volume

33

Issue

4

fYear

2015

fDate

Feb.15, 15 2015

Firstpage

727

Lastpage

732

Abstract

The vast majority of optical links within the data center are based on vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) operating at 850 nm over multimode optical fiber. Deployable links have evolved in speed from 1 Gb/s in 1996 to 28 Gb/s in 2014. Serial data links at 40 and 56 Gb/s are now under development and place even more demand on the VCSEL and photodiodes. In this paper, we present the characteristics of VCSELs and photodiodes used in current generation 28 Gb/s links and present several methods to extend link distances using more advanced data encoding schemes. Finally, we will present results on wavelength division multiplexing on multimode optical fiber that demonstrate 40 Gb/s Ethernet connections up to 300 m on duplex OM3 optical fiber, and present results on fiber optimized for modal bandwidth in the 850 to 980 nm range.

Keywords

computer centres; laser cavity resonators; local area networks; optical fibre communication; optical interconnections; optical links; photodiodes; surface emitting lasers; Ethernet connections; VCSEL-based interconnects; bit rate 28 Gbit/s; data centers; data encoding schemes; duplex OM3 optical fiber; link distances; multimode optical fiber; optical links; photodiodes; vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; wavelength 850 nm; wavelength division multiplexing; Bandwidth; Optical fiber devices; Optical fibers; Optical receivers; Optical transmitters; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; Data Center; Data center; Fiber Optics; Interconnects; VCSEL; fiber optics; interconnects; vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2014.2370633

Filename

6955704