GigOptix announces successful integration of DFB laser with silicon based 100Gbps Mach-Zehnder modulator in small form integrated factor

OFC/NFOEC 2012, SAN JOSE, USA: GigOptix Inc. announced that its 100Gbps Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) based on Thin Film Polymer on Silicon (TFPS) has been successfully integrated with a 1550nm Distributed Feed Back (DFB) laser in a small form factor Transmit Optical Sub-Assembly (TOSA).

The device was implemented as part of POLYSYS, a European Union (EU) funded research and development program that includes the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), a leading research center for communication systems, digital media and services. GigOptix is currently showing its 100Gbps products with a life demonstration of its 40Gbps DQPSK MZM based upon TFPS technology at Booth #1233 at the OFC/NFOEC Conference in Los Angeles, CA.

POLYSYS is an EU funded consortium of leading optical component suppliers and European research institutions developing photonic and electrical components to enable 400Gbps chip-to-chip and rack-to-rack datacenter solutions. The goal of the program is to realize a monolithically integrated laser and modulator TOSA solution that will utilize GigOptix’s TFPS electro-optical polymer technology to integrate four lanes of 100Gbps On-Off-Keying (OOK) lanes to implement the 400Gbps link. The 100G TOSA is a first stage of this project.

GigOptix’s TFPS is a high performance optical technology that can be monolithically integrated with silicon CMOS devices to enable high speed optical communication devices. TFPS technology is fully compatible with CMOS backend processes and it is used to realize modulator structures and optical waveguides for optical signal routing. It enables ultralow power consumption and easiness of being integrated in small form factor modules.

Eric Miller, GM of GigOptix Bothell, said: "GigOptix’s TFPS is a highly flexible and scalable optical technology. It is capable not only of realizing high performance 40Gbps DPSK MZMs for long haul optical links, such as our LX8401 solution, but also 100G and 400G datacenter devices as has been demonstrated by the POLYSYS consortium. We are very excited about this latest development and look forward to bringing integrated CMOS/TFPS optical devices to market in the near future.”