Siemens develops 100Gbit/s fiber-optic receiver
Siemens researchers have designed an integrated single-chip fiber-optic receiver which could enable cheap 100Gbit/s Ethernet.
In tests over a 480km loop of fiber, the chip converted optical signals to error-free electronic data at 107Gbit/s. It will cut costs by replacing several optical receiving modules with just one, said Siemens project coordinator Dr Rainer Derksen.
Today, the signal on a fiber must be optically split into several slower signals, and each of these converted by a photodiode. Current technology also limits the capacity of each data channel on a fiber to around 40Gbit/s, according to Siemens.
The new chip, which uses silicon-germanium semiconductor technology developed by Infineon, needs only one photodiode and no optical splitters. In addition, Derksen and his team have designed the chip so no separate clock signal is needed - it derives the clock from the main signal.
