At OFC 2014 in San Francisco, Acacia Communications introduced a complete 100G coherent transceiver in a single Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) package — integrating all the critical optical elements required in Acacia’s industry-first 100G coherent CFP module, which the company just announced is now shipping in samples.
Acacia’s highly integrated duplex Silicon Photonics single-chip PIC is low cost, low power, ultra-compact and can be manufactured in high volume. Coupled with Acacia’s internally developed low-power coherent ASIC, the company can deliver a 100G Coherent CFP product at half the cost and one-third the power and size of long haul 100G solutions.
“Silicon Photonics is typically considered for short-reach interconnects,” said Acacia’s Director of Photonic Integration, Dr. Chris Doerr. “But Silicon Photonics is very well suited for coherent transceivers, because it is ideal for manipulating optical polarizations, which is critical in coherent technology. Co-packaged with linear drivers and trans-impedance amplifiers Acacia’s PIC consumes ~ 4 Watts of power. Our groundbreaking optical integration reduces cost by minimizing assembly touch points, mechanical adjustments, test apparatus and amount of material required”.
