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Keysight and Coherent demonstrate 200G/lane Multimode VCSEL Technology at OFC 2025
The 200G per lane vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology provides higher data transfer rates and addresses industry demand for higher bandwidth in data centers.
www.keysight.com
Keysight Technologies and Coherent. collaborated on a 200G multimode technology demonstration that will be showcased for the first time at OFC, in San Francisco, California. The 200G per lane vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology provides higher data transfer rates and addresses industry demand for higher bandwidth in data centers. It will enable the industry to deliver AI/ML services while reducing power consumption and capital expense of short-reach data interconnects.
AI/ML deployment is driving extreme growth in the amount of data transfer in data centers. The cost of optical interconnects is an ever-growing portion of the Capex of the data center, while the power consumption of the optical interconnects is an ever-growing portion of Opex. 200G multimode VCSELs revolutionize data transfer and network efficiency, offering the following benefits compared to single-mode transmission:
- Increased Bandwidth: 200 Gbps/lane doubles the data throughput of the current highest speed multimode interconnects.
- Power Efficiency: Significantly lower power-per-bit relative to single-mode alternatives driving down electrical power operational expense and helping large-scale data centers minimize their environmental impact.
- Cost Efficiency: Multimode VCSELs are less costly to manufacture than single-mode technologies, providing lower capital outlay for short-reach data links.
- Compatible Network Architecture: AI pods and clusters require many high-speed, short-reach interconnects to share data amongst GPUs, aligning well with the strength of 200G multimode VCSELs.
The 200G multimode demonstration consists of Keysight’s new wideband multimode sampling oscilloscope technology, Keysight’s M8199B 256 GSa/s Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) and Coherent’s 200G multimode VCSEL. The M8199B AWG drives a 106.25 GBaud PAM4 electrical signal into the Coherent VCSEL, and the PAM4 optical signal output from the VCSEL is measured on wideband multimode scope displaying the eye diagram. The demo showcases the feasibility and capability of Coherent’s new VCSEL technology as well as Keysight’s ability to characterize and validate this technology.
