Neuro-augmented 112Gbaud CMOS plasmonic transceiver platform for Intra- and Inter-DCI applications
[January 2020 – December 2022]
PCRL participated in the NEBULA Project. NEBULA aimed to provide the foundations for a common future-proof transceiver technology platform with ultra-high bandwidth capabilities, offered by a CMOS-compatible toolkit and tailored to meet performance, cost, and energy metrics in both inter-DCI coherent and intra-DCI ASIC co-packaged optics.
NEBULA invested in the established bandwidth- and energy-saving credentials of plasmonic modulator solutions, combined with the functional digital processing portfolio of neuromorphic optical reservoir computing engines, to shape the next major disruption in transceiver evolution. These technologies were tailored into System-in-Package prototype assemblies designed to meet the demanding requirements of both inter- and intra-DCI segments.
NEBULA targeted the demonstration of:
i) a fully functional 8-channel 112Gbaud 16QAM C-band transceiver prototype, offering an aggregate capacity of 3.2Tbps while consuming only 2.65W per single 400Gbps wavelength—achieving an energy efficiency of just 6.625pJ/bit and delivering energy savings of 93% compared to current 200Gbps, 19W-consuming pluggable optics, and
ii) a fully functional sub-Volt 8-channel 112Gbaud PAM4 O-band transmitter co-packaged with a data-generating ASIC from Mellanox, offering a 1.6Tbps aggregate capacity with up to 37% energy savings compared to the estimated power requirements of equivalent Si-photonic-based co-packaged solutions.
