NeoPhotonics expands suite of PIC-based products for coherent transmission

NeoPhotonics Corp. (NYSE: NPTN) has added an integrated coherent transmitter (ICT) to its suite of next-generation small form factor photonic integrated circuit (PIC) -based optical components for 100G coherent transmission.

These products use photonic integration to reduce the size and power requirements of 100G coherent optics to enable higher port densities on line cards and smaller size in transponders. NeoPhotonics’ ICT is designed to reduce the size of the transmitter optics for a 100G coherent transport link by a factor of four compared to current approaches.

The device combines a narrow-linewidth tunable laser with a dual-polarization QPSK (DP-QPSK) modulator in a single compact package. The modulator section consists of four indium-phosphide-based Mach-Zehnder modulators, including integrated phase and balance control along with VOA functionality and monitor photodiodes. The ICT also provides a second optical output port that can be used as the local oscillator for the coherent receiver, thereby reducing the number of lasers required in a coherent line card or transponder. NeoPhotonics expects to begin sampling the ICT to key customers in the middle of the year.

In addition to the ICT, NeoPhotonics offers both narrow-linewidth tunable lasers (NLW-TL) and intradyne coherent receivers (ICR) in standard form factors and has now added small form factor versions of each of these components to its portfolio. NeoPhotonics says these new products build upon the company’s field-proven PIC technology and take advantage of its established, reliable, and high-volume manufacturing capability.

The narrow-linewidth, micro-integrable tunable laser assembly (micro-ITLA) is designed to fully support the OIF implementation agreement (OIF-microITLA-01.0). The micro-ITLA offers the high optical output power and the narrow linewidths required for next-generation coherent network architectures, while lowering the electrical power consumption and reducing the laser footprint on a line card by more than a factor of three, the company claims. The micro-ITLA supports off-grid tuning and incorporates a VOA function. NeoPhotonics is currently sampling multiple customers with the micro-ITLA and expects the device to reach general availability in the second half of 2014.

NeoPhotonics is also currently sampling to multiple customers its Type 2 small form factor intradyne coherent receiver (Type 2 ICR), which is less than half of the size of currently shipping ICRs. Built on the same PIC integration platform as NeoPhotonics’ standard Type 1 ICR, the Type 2 ICR is designed to fully support OIF Implementation Agreement OIF-DPC-RX-01.2 and incorporates an integrated VOA on the signal path, a monitor photodiode, and automatic gain control. The RF pins are on 1-mm pitch and follow a GSSG format. This versatile device is well-suited for both single incoming channel and multiple incoming channel applications, the company asserts. NeoPhotonics expects the Type 2 ICR to enter general availability in the second half of 2014 as well.

These small form factor products are also designed to scale to 200G and 400G applications using higher order modulation schemes.

“We are excited to expand our portfolio of PIC-based products for 100G transport and beyond with the addition of the ICT, micro-ITLA and Type 2 ICR, which taken together allow us to provide our customers with all of the optical elements necessary for next-generation systems” said Tim Jenks, chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “Photonic integration, such as NeoPhotonics possesses, is the key to providing customers with the high performance, small size and lower electrical power consumption that are necessary to achieve the line card densities that are now required.”

NeoPhotonics will exhibit its suite of standard and small form factor PIC-based components for 100G coherent line-side applications, along with its 100G client-side CFP and CFP2 transceivers and its next generation transceivers for access networks, in Booth 1815 at the OFC exhibition in San Francisco, CA, on March 11-13.

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