Fully integrated monolithic, multi-channel InP-based coherent receiver PICs and transceiver modules with extended C-band tunability are described. These PICs operate at 33 and 44 Gbaud per channel under dual polarization (DP) 16-QAM modulation. Fourteen-channel monolithic InP receiver PICs show integration and data rate scaling capability to operate at 44 Gbaud under DP 16-QAM modulation for combined 4.9 Tb/s total capacity. Six channel simultaneous operation of a commercial transceiver module at 33 Gbaud is demonstrated for a variety of modulation formats including DP 16-QAM for >1.2Tbit/s aggregate data capacity.

A dual-polarization QPSK transmitter is demonstrated with a record 40 tunable distributed feedback lasers, 80 nested Mach-Zehnder-modulators, and other elements totaling over 1700 functions monolithically integrated on a single InP-based chip that is capable of delivering 2.25 Tb/s.

We demonstrate a single-chip, monolithically integrated, dual-polarization QPSK transmitter which combines over 1700 functions and is capable of delivering 2.25 Tb/s of bandwidth.

We report on the development of monolithically integrated multi-wavelength coherent transmitter and receiver PICs employing polarization multiplexing and advanced phase-shift keying modulation to provide an aggregate bandwidth greater than 1Tbps on a single chip.

The status and progress of InP photonic integration is reviewed. Infinera has previously reported on the manufacturing of 100 Gb/s InP-based large-scale photonic integrated circuits. These PICs, based on amplitude modulation and with more than 50 discrete functions per chip, have now reached a high level of manufacturing maturity, and have furthermore redefined reliability standards for InP components, having achieved more than 900 million field hours without a single failure as of this writing. In this paper, we will describe manufacturing status for the 3rd generation of Infinera’s LS-PICs, which feature 500 Gb/s capacity using phase modulation on the transmitter chip, and coherent detection on the receiver chip, and which now form the heart of Infinera’s 500G DTN-X transport system, released in mid-2012. These new PICs have an order-of-magnitude increase in chip complexity, and a commensurate increase in fabrication complexity from III-V epitaxy through wafer fab, die fab, and test. The architecture and performance of Infinera’s PICs will be described, along with relevant yield and production metrics that demonstrate this platform is at once manufacturable and scalable.

We will present state of the art performance of monolithically integrated 500 Gb/sec and 1 Tb/s coherent transmitter and receiver PICs with integrated multi-channel tunable laser arrays optimized for coherent transmission.

In this talk, we describe the monolithic integration of 10 InP-based phase-modulated transmitter channels employing polarization multiplexing and quadrature phase-shift keying coherent modulation format to provide an aggregate 500Gb/s bandwidth on a single chip.

In this work, a 10-wavelength, polarization-multiplexed, monolithically integrated InP coherent QPSK transmitter PIC is demonstrated to operate at 112 Gb/sec per wavelength and total chip superchannel bandwidth of 1.12 Tb/s. This demonstration suggests that increasing data capacity to multi-Tb/s per chip is possible and likely in the future.

In this talk, we report on a pair of monolithically integrated multi-wavelength transmitter and receiver PICs employing polarization multiplexing and quadrature phase-shift keying modulation to provide an aggregate bandwidth greater than 1Tbps on a single chip.

Data are presented on the thermal behavior of a high performance 1 μm wide stripe quantum-well (QW) transistor laser in continuous-wave single-mode operation up to 40 °C, multimode to 55 °C. The electrical and optical outputs of the TL are found to be complementary across temperature, directly correlated with the spontaneous and stimulated radiative recombination process. The QW transistor laser operates on two states, lower and upper, at two characteristic temperatures, T0 (ITH=I0 exp(T/T0)). On the lower state transition, T00=40 K, and on the upper state, T01=70 K, the difference in performance and speed (bandwidth) connected directly to the different recombination lifetimes on each state and the confining barrier heights of the lower |0⟩ and upper state |1⟩.

A 10-wavelength, polarization-multiplexed, monolithically integrated InP transmitter PIC is demonstrated for the first time to operate at 112 Gb/s per wavelength with a coherent receiver PIC.

We show experimentally and analytically that fast spontaneous recombination lifetime, τB,spon, leads to resonance-free frequency response in semiconductor lasers, and as a consequence higher speed operation. Faster τB,spon is obtained by a reverse-bias collector field pinning and tilting a dynamic (removable) charge population in a thin base (τt∼ps), allowing only “fast” recombination. We show resonance-free optical response on a prototype transistor laser (TL) with τB,spon∼29 ps. Based on the TL, a resonance-free tilted-charge diode laser, is demonstrated with a 10.3 Gb/s “clean open-eye” signal achieved with a −3 dB bandwidth device of only 5.6 GHz.

Data are presented on the transistor laser light-output (L I-V ) as a function of base current and the collector-to-emitter voltage (V CE ) revealing sensitive fine structure that can, with suitable bias, be exploited for signal switching and mixing. The output light intensity versus current-voltage characteristics (L I-V ) and the fine structure in the L I-V characteristics are related to the change in laser operation from the ground state to the first excited state of the quantum well incorporated in the transistor base, laser mode changes, or shift from spontaneous to stimulated emission (or the reverse). The region of stimulated recombination and its boundary are or particular interest. The concept of the voltage-driven switching of a transistor laser employing the Franz-Keldysh photon-assisted process to shift the operation from stimulated (high coherent optical field) to spontaneous (lower incoherent field) is demonstrated

A quantum well (QW) transistor laser with the capability of high current density, a collector current ensuring minimal operational change (beyond laser threshold) in base QW carrier population, a favorable long narrow emitter laser geometry, and built-in base-collector Franz-Keldysh absorption (with IE+IB+IC=0), is measured for chirp-related behavior. A relatively low transistor laser linewidth enhancement factor αe∼0.7 is obtained despite the resolution limitations of the measurement apparatus.

Data are presented on the transistor laser with collector bias and photon-assisted tunneling causing, under the constraints IE+IB+IC=0 (α=ΔIC∕ΔIE) and α→1, breakdown and negative resistance effects in the IC-VCE characteristics. Collector bias, aided by photon-assisted tunneling (Franz—Keldysh absorption), supplies holes to the n-p-n transistor base by tunneling escape of electrons (ΔIB=0), “feeding” quantum-well recombination radiation (generation and regeneration, ΔIE=ΔIC=ΔIhv) and yielding the negative resistance/switching condition α→1 (α=ΔIC∕ΔIE, ΔIC=ΔIE, ΔIB=0, IE+IB+IC=0), and, as a consequence, corners, negative resistance, switching, vertical collector current (ΔVCE≈0), spectral change, and mode hopping effects in the IC-VCE characteristics.

A quantum well (160Å) transistor laser with a 400μm cavity length that achieves the large 3dB modulation bandwidth of 13.5GHz is described. The fast base recombination (transport determined, τBL<10ps) permits improvement of the carrier-photon damping ratio (>1∕2), resulting in a resonant peak magnitude of unity and consequently a resonance frequency of ∼0GHz (no peak) in the small-signal response. Quantum well band filling and bandwidth saturation are observed on the ground state (λ=1000nm), and increase with operation on the first excited state (λ=980nm).

Data are presented on a quantum-well (QW)-based InGaP∕GaAs∕InGaAs (QW) heterojunction bipolar transistor laser modified with external (increased) mirror reflection yielding lower threshold current (IB=23→19mA) and higher collector breakdown voltage (⩾2.5V). Increased breakdown at lower currents is observed on the collector I-V characteristics, at constant base current IB, as a slope change, a corner, and a narrow-line to broadband spectral shift from stimulated (high coherent optical field) to spontaneous (lower incoherent field) operation, a consequence of quenching or reducing photon-assisted tunneling (Franz-Keldysh effect) under the constraint IE+IB+IC=0 as α→1(α≡ΔIC∕ΔIE).

Data are presented showing significant structure in the collector I-V characteristics of a transistor laser, a decrease (“compression”) in the common-emitter gain (β≡ΔIC∕ΔIB), that can be mapped in some detail and related to quantum well (QW) carrier recombination. The change in gain (β) and laser wavelength corresponding to stimulated recombination (stimulated emission) on QW transitions, which is compared with operation in spontaneous recombination (cavity Q spoiled), is used with conventional transistor charge analysis to reveal the dynamic properties of the transistor laser.

A single-emitter multiple-input transistor laser has been realized and demonstrated in signal mixing, yielding in the stimulated-recombination region near laser threshold frequency conversion with simultaneously an electrical and optical output signal. In the unique nonlinear region of compression of the transistor I-V characteristics (β≡ΔIC∕ΔIB, βspon>βstim), input signals f1=2GHz and f2=2.1GHz are converted into mf1±nf2 ranging from 0.1to8.4GHz. Stimulated emission (enhanced recombination) changes the transistor into a special form of nonlinear element, a special form of electronic processor or “switch.”