Keysight, Nokia Bell Labs realise record 260GBd transmission in coherent optical comms

Keysight Technologies and Nokia Bell Labs successfully tested a 260GBd optical signal transmission over 100km of single-mode fibre at the recent ECOC exhibition in Basel, Switzerland, exceeding the previous record of 220GBd. 

The companies and their research partners came together with the mutual goal of improving network performance and efficiency, in light of Artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and internet of things (IoT) applications driving demand for more bandwidth. The demonstration consisted of Keysight's 260 GSa/s arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) (M8199B), which delivers more than 75GHz bandwidth and a thin-film lithium niobate I/Q modulator with 110GHz bandwidth. This enables R&D of transmission systems operated with symbol rates up to 260GBd and achieving net bitrates greater than 2Tb/s in coherent optical communications.

Dr. Joachim Peerlings, Vice President of Network and Data Center Solutions at Keysight comments: “Keysight is honoured to work with Nokia Bell Labs on achieving 260GBd. The continued proliferation of AI requires new levels of server and network performance that must scale computing resources within reasonable energy bounds. Higher data rates and new modulation formats will be among the enabling technologies for the industry.”

Adds Haïk Mardoyan, Senior Research Scientist at Nokia Bell Labs: “We achieved this outstanding record of maximum symbol rate of 260GBd by leveraging enabling technologies and the expertise of several partners. This result is a first milestone to scale long haul data transport systems beyond 2Tb/s per wavelength. Improving the energy efficiency of transponders is a permanent challenge for the industry.”