Free-Running 1550 nm VCSEL for 10.7 Gb/s Transmission in 99.7 km PON

We present a cooler-less, free-running 1550 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) directly modulated at 10.7 Gb/s. We also report on error-free transmission through 40 km of standard single-mode optical fiber, achieved without the use of dispersion-mitigation or mid-span amplification. Inverse-dispersion fiber was utilized to realize a dispersion-matched 99.7 km optical access uplink supporting error-free transmission with 27 dB loss margin. These results indicate the feasibility of implementing cooler-less long-wavelength VCSEL devices in long-reach optical access networks.