First CW-WDM MSA-compliant laser test source to foster a new wave of Optical I/O and enable the CW-WDM ecosystem
Quantifi Photonics, a pioneer in high-density test equipment for next-gen optical interconnects, announced the new Laser 1300 Series, a compact and scalable CW-WDM MSA-compliant laser test source designed to enable the CW-WDM ecosystem and accelerate the adoption of multi-wavelength technology across emerging applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-density optics.
The new Laser 1300 Series integrates Ayar Labs’ ground-breaking SuperNova™ laser technology and provides customers with a multi-port, multi-wavelength light source within a standardized PXIe module, offering synchronized triggering, a small footprint, simple integration, and Quantifi Photonics’ easy-to-use CohesionUI™ software interface. The first model to be announced, the Laser-1301, features eight channels, with eight CW-WDM MSA-compatible wavelengths.
The Laser-1301 can be paired with the company’s existing PXIe-based products to build out a complete CW-WDM8 test solution. This includes the Laser-1226 and Laser-1227 (modules with individually controllable wavelengths at the MSA grid), Passive-1024 (CW-WDM8 multiplexer), Passive-1025 (CW-WDM8 demultiplexer), and the OSA-1001 (an optical spectrum analyzer that covers the CW-WDM range).
Designed to meet CW-WDM MSA specifications, the Laser 1300 Series allows customers to characterize photonic integrated circuits for AI, HPC and high-density optics applications while also providing a scalable, reproducible light source for mass production testing. The innovative Laser 1300 Series complies with the CW-WDM MSA specifications that standardizes multi-wavelength optical sources.
“We are excited to partner with Ayar Labs and admire their trail-blazing technology that will unlock the potential of AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems,” says Kees Propstra, Vice President Marketing and General Manager Quantifi Photonics USA. “It’s well known that the external light source is a critical component of the co-packaged optics ecosystem. By combining the SuperNova™ CW-WDM-compliant light source with our proven PXIe-based optical test platform, we can offer a CW-WDM capable test platform to serve the growing demand in the market and enable the testing and validation of PIC-based optical interconnects and accelerate adoption across the industry.”
Ayar Labs’ SuperNova light source, introduced in 2021 and developed along with its TeraPHY™ optical I/O chiplet, provides chip-to-chip connectivity at a fraction of the power of traditional electrical connections while dramatically improving performance, latency and reach.
“Optical I/O promises to solve the performance per watt challenges of next-generation AI and HPC applications, breaking copper’s impending power and performance wall,” says Matt Sysak, Vice President of Laser Engineering at Ayar Labs. “Test and measurement is an important consideration as the industry ecosystem accelerates development of these next-generation systems, and we’re eager to work with Quantifi Photonics to demonstrate the robustness of our solutions.”
Chris Cole, Chair of the CW-WDM MSA says, “This is a great example of what the CW-WDM MSA wanted to accomplish by publishing the first specification; the development of commercial laser sources for high wavelength count applications. We are now ready to start considering our next step, which is the development and publication of link specifications.”
Quantifi Photonics will display the Laser 1300 Series at booth 4511 at OFC 2023 and will also be demonstrating a range of PXIe-based lasers, OSAs, power meters, polarization controllers and BERTs designed to enable efficient, high-volume testing of silicon photonics, Co-Packaged Optics and next-gen pluggable optics.
About Ayar Labs
Ayar Labs is using light to disrupt traditional compute power and performance curves, enabling the next design breakthroughs for trillions of AI connections, disaggregated data centers, 6G, phased array sensory systems and more. Ayar Labs’ patented approach uses silicon photonics techniques to replace traditional electrical-based I/O with high speed, highly efficient optical interconnect chiplets and multi-wavelength lasers. The company was founded in 2015 and is funded by a number of domestic and international venture capital as well as strategic investors such as GlobalFoundries, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Intel Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures and NVIDIA.
For more information, visit www.ayarlabs.com.
About the CW-WDM MSA
The CW-WDM MSA (Continuous-Wave Wavelength Division Multiplexing Multi-Source Agreement) was formed to standardize WDM CW sources in the O-band for emerging advanced integrated optics applications that are expected to move to 8, 16, and 32 wavelengths. Such higher wavelength counts are needed for emerging applications such as AI, HPC and high-density optics, and enable a leap in performance, efficiency, cost, and bandwidth scaling compared with previous technology generations.
Promoter Members of the CW-WDM MSA are Arista Networks, Ayar Labs, Coherent, imec, Intel Corporation, Lumentum, MACOM, Quintessent, Sivers Photonics, and Sumitomo Electric.
For a list of Observer Members and more information about the CW-WDM MSA, please visit https://cw-wdm.org.
