Lightwave Logic reveals 50GHz Polymer-Based Modulators
Newly developed Mach-Zehnder modulators open the door for 400Gbps modulation in fibre optic communications
Lightwave Logic, a development stage company making next generation photonic devices for high-speed communications, has revealed that its newly developed polymer-based ridge waveguide Mach-Zehnder modulators will deliver bandwidth performance levels that will enable 50Gbps modulation in fibre-optic communications.
This will allow users to use arrays of 4 x 50Gbps polymer modulators using PAM-4 encoding to access 400Gbps data rate systems.
Speaking at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) this week, CEO Michael Lebby commented: "Our engineering team has again surpassed themselves with polymer designs that have now achieved the goals we set out for ourselves earlier this year: to demonstrate polymer modulators that would enable 50Gbps optical signaling in fibre communications."
He added: "This development is significant in that for the first time; Lightwave Logic is now in a position to compete aggressively in the 400Gbps data centre and high-performance computing markets. Even more, a 50Gbps capable modulator would allow Lightwave to push performance towards 100Gbps to enable data rates of 800Gbps (where only network architects are considering today).
"The company's Polymer PIC (P2IC) platform vastly improves over existing network architectures by providing a low cost, low power scalable alternative that can compete both in price and performance. Today's announcement is a testament to our world-class engineering team that is increasing our developmental momentum every day."
Lebby also noted that "This is a great initial result for Lightwave Logic that lays the groundwork for the necessary engineering work required to optimise the device. We expect a steady stream of improvements to our polymer platform over the next year aided by several key additions that we have made to our engineering teams as well as investments to upgrade our test and characterisation equipment. We are currently planning to further strengthen our capability as a company to capitalise on the myriad of opportunities in the field of fibre optic communications."
