1060 nm Single and multimode VCSELs for up to 50 Gb/s modulation

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) and multimode fiber (MMF) links are currently dominating the short-reach optical interconnects in datacenters and high-performance computing systems
¹
. At the standard wavelength of 850 nm, reach requirements in large-scale datacenters, which exceed 1 km, cannot be met due to the high MMF attenuation and chromatic dispersion. Moving to a longer wavelength, such as 1060 nm to which the wavelength of GaAs-based VCSELs can be extended without comprising reliability
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and where attenuation and chromatic dispersion are much reduced in comparison with 850 nm
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, allows for significant reach extension
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. Here we present the design and performance of recently developed 1060 nm single and multimode VCSELs and results from preliminary transmission experiments using a 1060 nm optimized MMF.