Keysight and Nokia Bell Labs successfully tested 260GBd of optical signal transmission over 100 km of single-mode fiber at the recent ECOC exhibition in Basel, Switzerland, beating the previous record of 220GBd.
The common goal of the two companies and their research partners is to improve network performance and efficiency. The demonstration included Keysight's 260 GSa/s Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) (M8199B), which provides bandwidth in excess of 75 GHz and a thin-film lithium niobate I/Q modulator with a 110 GHz bandwidth. This enables transmission system development to operate at symbol rates of up to 260GBd and achieve net bit rates greater than 2Tb/s in coherent optical communications.
The continued proliferation of artificial intelligence requires higher levels of server and network performance that must scale computing resources within a reasonable energy range," said Keysight and Vice President of Data Center Solutions. Higher data rates and new modulation formats will be among the enabling technologies for the industry."
Nokia Bell Labs senior research scientist added, "By leveraging supporting technologies and the expertise of multiple partners, we achieved an outstanding record of 260GBd maximum symbol rate. This result is the first milestone in extending long-haul data transmission systems to more than 2Tb/s per wavelength. Improving the energy efficiency of transponders is a permanent challenge for the industry."
