TFLN MZMs and Next-Gen DACs: Enabling Beyond 400 Gbps IMDD O-Band and C-Band Transmission

As internet traffic demand continues to increase, high-speed electro-optic modulators and high-bandwidth RF components are needed to stretch intensity modulation direct detection (IMDD) systems to their limits. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate the transmission performance using the next generation of digital-to-analog converters (DAC) and high-bandwidth thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) modulators. In the C-band, we transmit 172 Gbaud PAM6 and 180 Gbaud PAM8 over 120 m of SSMF under the 6.7% overhead hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) and the 20% overhead soft-decision (SD)-FEC thresholds, which respectively correspond to net 400 and 450 Gbps. We also demonstrate the first transmission of net 400 Gbps over 10 km in the O-band (1310 nm) using 172 Gbaud probabilistically shaped (PS)-PAM8 under the 20% SD-FEC BER threshold. Our results indicate that the TFLN platform has the potential to support even higher data rates with the development of high-bandwidth RF components.