DustPhotonics launches industry-first merchant 1.6T silicon photonics engine
The company says that the engine, which incorporates its patented low-loss laser coupling (L3C) technology, offers numerous benefits to transceiver suppliers
DustPhotonics, a developer of silicon photonics technology and solutions for hyperscale datacentre and AI applications, has announced the launch of what it says is the industry's first merchant silicon photonics engine for 1.6T DR8 applications, targeting AI and hyperscale datacentres. The company says the engine supports 8 channels, each independently capable of operating at up to 224G/channel. Additionally, a second variant is available supporting four channels for 800G DR4 applications.
Both versions of the engine integrate on-board lasers mounted onto a transmit PIC, incorporating DustPhotonics’ patented L3C (low-loss laser coupling) technology. The company says the engine offers numerous benefits to transceiver suppliers, including a simplified transceiver design with low power dissipation, low optical loss, lower overall cost, and enhanced supply chain scalability.
According to DustPhotonics, the devices will support a multitude of AI and hyperscale datacentre applications. The standard product is suitable for reaches of up to 2 km. A lower-cost version, tailored for short-reach applications up to 100 m, is also available that will use a single laser instead of 2 lasers for 1.6T operation. The company adds that the products are highly suitable for LRO (Linear Receive Optics) and LPO (Linear Pluggable Optics) transceiver applications and can be employed in immersion cooling applications.
The products are currently available for sampling and will be released to production by the end of this year.
“We are extremely satisfied with the performance of our 224G/channel devices, where we have successfully demonstrated error-free links,” said Yoel Chetrit, CFO at DustPhotonics. “We believe 2025 will be an exciting year for DustPhotonics as we ramp up the 200G/lane products alongside the existing portfolio of Carmel 400G and 800G products.”
“We are seeing increased adoption of silicon photonics and have recently sharply increased our forecast for 1.6T modules in 2025,” said Vladimir Kozlov, CEO of LightCounting. “With their 1.6T engine announcement, DustPhotonics is very well positioned to meet both of these significant industry trends.”
DustPhotonics plans to showcase this engine during the upcoming ECOC trade show in Frankfurt, Germany from 23-25 September 2024. Additionally, the company invites attendees at ECOC to join Ronnen Lovinger, CEO of DustPhotonics, for a presentation entitled 'Silicon Photonics operating at 1.6T in an Immersion Cooling Environment' during the Market Focus session on 25 September 2024.
