(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – Simultaneously increasing reliability and reducing space, and power consumption per bit, Infinera (www.infinera.com) has developed photonic integrated circuits capable of delivering 400 gigabit per second optical capacity in a single pair of chips using complex modulation formats, delivering up to 80 percent power savings compared to conventional wavelength optics based on discrete optical components.
According to the company’s monday announcement, Infinera’s 400 Gb/s transmit PIC, currently working in Infinera’s labs, marks a new and important landmark in Infinera’s PIC road map, integrating more than 300 optical functions and reducing the number of optical component packages from around 70 to just one.
Infinera’s 400G PIC will operate over Infinera’s ILS2 line system with 25 Gigahertz channel spacing, delivering double the spectral density of competitor systems which operate on 50 GHz spacing. 400G PIC represents a fourfold increase in “bits per chip” over Infinera’s current 100 Gb/s PIC, and forty-fold compared to chips in today’s competitor systems while consuming 80 percent less power per Gb/s.
The new PIC integrates ten lasers to deliver ten optical channels, each operating at 40 Gb/s. Data is encoded using polarization-multiplexed differential quadrature phase-shift keying (or PM-DQPSK) modulation, which enables optical performance equivalent to 10 Gb/s systems on today’s fiber plant. The PM-DQPSK modulation format delivers benefits in terms of lower power consumption, greater spectral efficiency, improved optical reach compared to other complex modulation techniques, and greater resistance to impairments like dispersion.
With bandwidth demand continuing to grow at roughly 50 percent per year, higher capacity fiber-optics help service providers deliver increased fiber capacity and spectral efficiency.
“Complex modulation is an important tool in the drive for ever-greater fiber capacity,” Infinera chief marketing and strategy officer Dave Welch said in a statement. “But complex modulation with conventional technologies comes at the price of more complex optical structures. Because Infinera is able to integrate these structures monolithically, with over three hundred individual optical functions on a single chip, the benefits of photonic integration are becoming more powerful than ever before.”
Infinera first introduced its road map for the progress of photonic integration one year ago, setting its goals at increasing PIC speed to 400 Gb/s in 2009 and a doubling the bandwidth capacity every three years.
Infinera Doubles Undersea Network Bandwidth
Infinera also announced today the results of a 4,000 km (or 2485 mile) long undersea network trial, showing that its new PIC-based DTN system has doubled the bandwidth transmitted data over the third-party undersea network using Infinera DTN’s 25 GHz channel spacing.
“The ability of the Infinera DTN to transmit data undersea for 4,000 kilometers, and over a foreign amplifier chain is a path-breaking demonstration, which holds out the opportunity of a new, innovative, and cost-effective way to increase capacity on subsea networks,” Infinera “Fellow” Steve Grubb said in a statement.
Grubb will discuss the demonstration on Tuesday at an Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition session entitled “More Wavelengths, Higher Bit Rates, More Spectrum…The Path to Harnessing Maximum Fiber Capacity at the Lowest Cost.” The OFC conference begins Monday, March 23rd and runs through Thursday March 26th at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego.
Submarine optical networks include chains of undersea optical amplifiers, with submarine line terminating equipment at the ends of the amplifier chain ashore. In this demonstration, Infinera DTNs replaced the pre-existing SLTE systems and transmitted Dense Wave-Division Multiplexing (or DWDM) optical signals across the pre-existing undersea amplifier chain.
Also at the OFC conference, Infinera will also be awarding the first Infinera Outstanding Student Recognition Prize for outstanding optical communications research in the area of optoelectronic devices and photonics integration. Infinera said it has launched this annual prize to support research and innovation in the optical communications industry and to continue the industry’s outstanding record of performance improvement.
Infinera DTN Selected for Gulf Coast Regional Network
Infinera’s own network was awarded a contract Monday with Alabama-based fiber-optic carrier Southern Light (www.southernlightfiber.com), which selected an Infinera Digital Optical Network for its regional network in the Gulf Coast states, where its customers demand high network reliability.
The Infinera DTN is a digital remotely configurable optical add/drop mux (or ROADM) for long-haul and metro core networks, combining high-capacity DWDM transport, integrated digital bandwidth management, and GMPLS-powered service intelligence in a single platform, currently offering 100 Gbps of capacity.
