At the European Conference on Optical Communications and Exposition (ECOC 2016) in Dusseldorf, Germany (19-21 September), NeoPhotonics Corp of San Jose, CA, USA (a vertically integrated designer and manufacturer of hybrid photonic integrated optoelectronic modules and subsystems for high-speed communications networks) announced that it is sampling a Class 40 high-bandwidth micro-intradyne coherent receiver (HB Micro-ICR) capable of supporting 64 Gbaud symbol rates (double the bandwidth of standard 32 Gbaud ICRs). The HB Micro-ICR supports higher-order modulation up to 64 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) which, when coupled with NeoPhotonics ultra-narrow linewidth, external-cavity micro-ITLA (integrated tunable laser assembly), can achieve 600Gbps over data-center interconnect distances of 80km.
Similarly, using dual-polarization QPSK (quadrature phase-shift keying) modulation, the HB Micro-ICR extends the reach to 2000km at 200Gbps (double the data rate of standard coherent transmission). NeoPhotonics says that, by using its coherent components, system designers can increase the bandwidth by up to a factor of six and dynamically change the reach and modulation format while keeping the number of components unchanged, enabling software-defined networks (SDN) and greatly reducing the cost per bit.
NeoPhotonics' HB Micro-ICR is designed to support the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) Implementation Agreement for Micro-Intradyne Coherent Receivers (#OIF-DPC-MRX-01.0). The HB Micro-ICR form factor is designed to fit into both CFP2-ACO (analog coherent optics) and CFP-DCO (digital coherent optics) pluggable modules. Both the HB Micro-ICR and the ultra-narrow-linewidth laser also exhibit the low electrical power required for use in pluggable modules. NeoPhotonics also offers a 45 Gbaud (Class 30) micro-coherent receiver which, when used with the firm's ultra-narrow-linewidth tunable laser in a DP-32QAM configuration, achieves 400Gbps in data-center interconnect applications.
"Our new HB Micro-ICR enables coherent system designers to greatly reduce the cost per bit by getting much higher data rates out of the same number of optical components while at the same time flexibly changing the reach and data rate under software control in SDN," says chairman & CEO Tim Jenks. The new product is made possible by the firm's hybrid photonic integration technology and, along with its line of multi-cast switches, helps to enable customers to achieve a completely flexible high-speed network that can dynamically adjust to changing needs, he adds.
In stand 562 at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2016) in Düsseldorf, Germany (19-21 September), NeoPhotonics is exhibiting its suite of standard, small-form-factor and high-bandwidth photonic integrated circuit (PIC)-based components for 100-600G coherent line-side applications, along with its 100G and 400G client-side and data-center CFP2, CFP8 and QSFP28 transceivers and components, as well as its multi-cast switches for 'contentionless' ROADMs.
