Partnership Develops Polymer Slot Modulators for Data Centers

JOEL WILLIAMS, NEWS EDITOR
joel.williams@photonics.com

Optical communications technology company Lightwave Logic has launched a collaboration with Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF) to develop polymer slot modulators utilizing AMF's silicon photonics platform. The agreement comes amid an ongoing collaboration over the past year in which the companies have teamed to develop electro-optic polymer slot modulators using AMF's standard manufacturing process flow on 200-mm wafers.

As part of the optical transmit engine inside a pluggable optical transceiver, optical modulators use fiber optic cables to modulate laser light used for data transmission. Conventional optical modulators are semiconductor-based, and comprised of lithium niobate, indium phosphide, and silicon. Polymer slot modulators have been shown to achieve voltage below 1 V and data rates of 200 Gbps pulse amplitude modulation level 4 (PAM4). The performance is suitable for use with 800 Gbps and 1.6 Tbps pluggable transceivers for optical connectivity for large generative AI computing clusters.

“Electro-optic polymers offer a way to turbo-boost silicon photonics, as the performance of silicon photonics has hit a wall,” said Michael Lebby, CEO of Lightwave Logic. The companies now plan to further develop the modulators to ensure accessibility for product companies on a manufacturing scale.