Keysight Technologies and Coherent Corp. are showcasing a 200G per lane multimode VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) technology demonstration at this week’s OFC 2025 in San Francisco. Designed for high-speed, short-reach interconnects in AI/ML data center deployments, the new multimode optical solution doubles the throughput of current multimode links while reducing power consumption and capital costs compared to single-mode optics.
The live demo features Coherent’s 200G multimode VCSEL driven by Keysight’s M8199B 256 GSa/s Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG), which generates a 106.25 GBaud PAM4 signal. Keysight also provides its new wideband multimode sampling oscilloscope to visualize the PAM4 eye diagram, demonstrating the capability of the VCSEL and Keysight’s test equipment to validate next-generation short-reach interconnects. Together, the companies are presenting a scalable and efficient solution for connecting GPU clusters in AI architectures.
200G multimode VCSEL technology offers key advantages over single-mode designs, including lower power-per-bit, reduced manufacturing cost, and compatibility with the dense, short-reach layouts common in AI pods. Keysight and Coherent are also continuing their collaboration on future 200G platforms, including silicon photonics and electro-absorption modulated laser (EML) solutions aimed at accelerating high-performance data center networking.
Key Points:
• Keysight and Coherent are showcasing 200G multimode VCSEL technology at OFC 2025.
• The demo highlights short-reach, high-throughput optical links for AI/ML data center infrastructure.
• Setup includes Coherent’s VCSEL, Keysight’s M8199B AWG, and a multimode sampling oscilloscope.
• 200G multimode offers lower power and cost vs. single-mode optics for short-reach connections.
• Companies plan to extend the collaboration to future 200G photonic technologies.
“We rely on Keysight products, such as the M8199B Arbitrary Waveform Generator, to validate our latest transceiver designs,” says Lee Xu, EVP and GM of Coherent’s Datacom Business Unit. “We look forward to continuing our collaboration as we push the boundaries of optical communications with products based on 200G VCSEL, silicon photonics, and EML.”
