Prototype Highly Integrated 848 Transponder Aggregator Based on Si Photonics for Multi-Degree Colorless, Directionless, Contentionless Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer

Hitoshi TAKESHITA
Tomoyuki HINO
Kiyo ISHII
Junya KURUMIDA
Shu NAMIKI
Shigeru NAKAMURA
Shigeki TAKAHASHI
Akio TAJIMA

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E96-C    No.7    pp.966-973
Publication Date: 2013/07/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1353
DOI: 10.1587/transele.E96.C.966
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Recent Advances in Integrated Photonic Devices)
Category: 
Keyword: 
multi-degree,  CDC-ROADM,  transponder aggregator,  Si photonics,  

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Summary: 
Research and development of a multi-degree colorless, directionless and contentionless reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (CDC-ROADM) has recently been attracting a lot of attention. A large-scale transponder aggregator (TPA) is indispensable for providing high-capacity flexible connections to optical networks. In this paper, we report our study of the requirements for the TPA, which is a key technology for achieving flexible optical networks. To meet the requirements, we have developed an 848 TPA prototype based on Si photonics technology. This prototype was made with a few 88 Si optical switches and designed to be used with a commercial ROADM system. The 88 Si optical switches are made by integrating 152 Mach Zehnder (MZ) Thermo Optoelectronic (TO) 22 optical switch elements. A double gate structure is introduced to achieve the high extinction ratio (ER) required for optical communication. To the best of our knowledge, this is the world's first Si-TPA that can be used with a commercial ROADM system. By evaluating the basic optical characteristics utilizing real-time 100 Gbps digital coherent detection as one of today's practical technologies and a 4.4 THz spectral bandwidth 20 Tbps super-channel with digital coherent detection, as a promising future technology, we have confirmed that our prototype Si-TPA has the potential for practical use and future extensibility.