A 10Gb/s burst-mode laser diode driver for burst-by-burst power saving

A burst-mode laser diode driver circuit (BLDD) for 10Gb/s-class passive optical network (10G-EPON) systems reduces power consumption by 94% while the laser diode (LD) is in the off state. The off-state optical launch power is kept at less than -45dBm while meeting the transistor breakdown condition. The BLDD recovers to the active state within 16ns, which is 46x faster than that of a previously reported burst-mode transmitter, and the fast recovery makes efficient burst-by-burst power saving possible.