High-Data-Rate, Short-Range Optical Links for Advanced Scientific Computing

Optical data links operating at rates in excess of 100Gbps are needed to support the transfer of massive amounts of data over advanced scientific computing networks. Scientific instruments and supercomputing facilities are expected to generate petabytes of data per day. These systems are in the process of being scaled to support extreme-scale computational science applications. High-speed optical components will play a critical role in this scale-up. Increasing the speed and channel count for such optical links is critical. High-speed optical components are also needed for commercial optical networks such as in server farms and mega data centers needed to support the ever-continuing rapid growth of the internet. Current commercial industrial standards are attempting to address this need. Bi-directional optical modules operating at 100 Gbps are just now being introduced and the industry is now beginning standards discussions for optical modules operating at 400 Gbps. However, the needs for advanced scientific computing outstrip these current industry targets, requiring even higher bandwidths. In this proposal Vega Wave Systems will design, fabricate and test a 672 Gbps. bi- directional optical data link operating at 850nm. The explosion of mobile device services and content, cloud-based services, and big-data are driving the ever-growing demand for network services. For higher network speeds optical interconnects offer the most power-efficient communication. Vega Wave Systems will address this demand by designing and fabricating 670Gbps optical modules using a 48-channel fiber array. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The devices developed in this program will enable improved high-data-rate communications for 100 Gigabit per second and higher speed optical links.