Plastic optics boosted to 25 gigabits per second and VI Systems targets 100 gigabits per second

EETimes – A new vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology from VI Systems aims to extend the reach of cheap plastic fiber optics, with scientists at Georgia Institute of Technology reporting successful operation at 25 Gbits per second.

VI Systems (Berlin) reports that it has achieved 40 Gbit/s in the lab and is aiming for 100 Gbit/s performance.

The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, USA demonstrated an error-free data transmission over 100 meters of 80 μm-diameter core plastic optical fiber (POF) at record 25 Gbit/s. The coupling tolerances to reach error-free transmission (defined as a bit error ratio <10-12) were as high as ~35 µm. This is another important milestone proving the applicability of advanced VCSELs for low cost high-speed optical data transmission over 100 meter distances. Optical data transmission of up to 40 Gbit/s has been realized with high speed photodetectors and transimpendance amplifiers from VI Systems. The V40-850C chip is available in a 250 x 250 µm single die size or as 1×4-channel or 1×12-channel chip array. The target applications are proprietary optical links and active optical cables at 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s, Fibre Channel at 14 Gbit/s and 28 Gbit/s, and Infiniband FDR (14 Gbit/s) and EDR (26 Gbit/s) applications. Product samples are available now.

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