DSP-Enabled 100 Gb/s PAM-4 VCSEL MMF Links

Short reach optical interconnects must support higher data rates to manage the increasing needs of end users and the commensurate increase in storage and computation within and between data centers. VCSEL-based MMF links provide a power efficient solution which is achieved in part by maximizing the data rate per laser source. We design an archetype system to explore the challenges and benefits of signal processing with currently available technology. By careful use of signal processing at both the transmitter and receiver, we experimentally demonstrate 107 Gb/s PAM-4 transmission over 105 m of wideband MMF using 850 and 940 nm VCSELs and thus show a path to 400 Gb/s and eventually 1 Tb/s multimode fiber links.