NeoPhotonics Corporation and Inphi Corporation have started shipping a new High Dynamic Range-Integrated Coherent Receiver (HD-ICR) in production volume to their customers. The HD-ICR couples the high dynamic range, low noise, and high input current handling capabilities of the Inphi IN3250TA TIA with the high sensitivity of the NeoPhotonics photodiodes and is designed to deliver the performance necessary for next generation 100G ' colourless' coherent transmission systems.
NeoPhotonics designs and manufactures optoelectronic modules and subsystems based on photonic integrated circuits, or PICs. These are intended for bandwidth intensive high speed communications networks. Inphi is a leading provider of high-speed, mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for the communications and computing markets, today announced
Colourless operation of 100G coherent networks is more efficient because add and drop ports are not limited to pre-determined wavelength channels, and any wavelength channel can enter or exit at any port. However, colorless operation places additional requirements on receiver performance, with up to 100 times more optical power falling on the receiver than in the single channel if the remaining channels are not filtered out optically. For this case, NeoPhotonics has integrated a PIC variable optical attenuator that is designed to set the incoming optical power at the optimum point to avoid saturating the detector, while the high dynamic range and low noise of the Inphi IN3250TA enables the desired signal to be reproduced with high fidelity.
For the case where a single wavelength enters the receiver, the high sensitivity of the HD-ICR may eliminate the need for anoptical pre-amplifier in front of the receiver -- reducing cost and simplifying operation.