Amplifier Boosts Optical Signals

March 14, 2013

A broadband driver amplifier is suitable for use in Mach Zender modulators at rates to 400 Gb/s.

Model OA3MMQM is a broadband 32-Gbaud, lithium-niobate optical modulator driver amplifier. It is suitable for use in Mach Zender interferometer optical modulators and for 400-GB optical long-haul-transponder applications. It can drive 400 GB of data on an existing International Telecommunications Union (ITU) long haul wavelength-division-multiplex (WDM) fiber channel, implemented with 4 channels of 32 Giga-symbol/s data encoded as DP-16QAM modulation schemes. The driver amplifier draws 300 mA from a +5-VDC supply. It provides 20-dB gain with low 7.4-W power dissipation, flat group delay, and 11-ps rise/fall time. The driver amplifier suffers less than 0.6 ps RMS jitter.

Centellax, Inc., 3843 Brickway Blvd. No. 100, Santa Rosa, CA 95403; (707) 568-5900, e-mail: [email protected], www.centellax.com.

About the Author

Jack Browne | Technical Contributor

Jack Browne, Technical Contributor, has worked in technical publishing for over 30 years. He managed the content and production of three technical journals while at the American Institute of Physics, including Medical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. He has been a Publisher and Editor for Penton Media, started the firm’s Wireless Symposium & Exhibition trade show in 1993, and currently serves as Technical Contributor for that company's Microwaves & RF magazine. Browne, who holds a BS in Mathematics from City College of New York and BA degrees in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, is a member of the IEEE.