Coherent Introduces 100G PAM4 VCSEL and Photodiode Arrays for 800G Transceivers and Active Optical Cables

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Coherent Corp. (NYSE: COHR), a leader in datacom transceiver components, today announced the introduction of its 100G PAM4 vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and photodiode (PD) arrays for 800G short-reach datacom pluggable transceivers and active optical cables (AOCs.)

Cloud and AI service providers are ramping up deployments of short-reach 800G transceivers and AOCs for their megascale datacenter buildouts. Coherent introduced eight-element VCSEL arrays, where each VCSEL can be modulated at 100 Gbps using a four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4) format. The eight-element arrays enable 800 Gbps transmission in short-reach transceivers and AOCs. The VCSEL arrays can be paired with Coherent’s new 100 Gbps PAM4 high-speed PD arrays.

“These high-speed datacom VCSELs represent the state of the art in the technology. They are among the few commercially available and, to our knowledge, the only ones to be manufactured on a vertically integrated 6-inch gallium arsenide technology platform,” said Dr. Karlheinz Gulden, Senior Vice President, Laser Components and Subsystems Business Unit. “The VCSEL and PD array pairs benefit from the decades of proven reliability going back to the 1990s, when VCSELs were first commercially introduced for datacom links. This latest breakthrough in VCSEL speed is another great opportunity for our customers to partner with the pioneers, enable short-reach transceivers and AOCs operating at 100 Gbps per lane, and serve the rapidly growing market demand.”

The VCSEL arrays are available at 850 nm, 880 nm, 910 nm, and 940 nm, enabling various applications, including bidirectional operation on one fiber to minimize cabling costs in datacenters. The VCSEL and PD arrays enable lower energy consumption per bit, a growing requirement for the future sustainability of datacenters. 

Coherent offers a broad range of optoelectronics for datacom transceivers in addition to high-speed VCSELs and PDs, including continuous wave (CW) lasers, directly modulated lasers (DMLs), electroabsorption-modulated lasers (EMLs), and power monitors. Coherent offers a full complement of driver and clock data recovery (CDR) integrated circuits. Coherent also offers a broad portfolio of WDM, LAN-WDM, and CWDM subassemblies.

Coherent will exhibit at OFC 2023 in San Diego, March 7-9, booth #3815, showcasing its new products and technology for next-generation optical communications networks and sensing.