Reducing the power consumption of optical interconnects by employing oDAC-based transmitters

The growing data traffic in datacenters necessitates advanced photonic interconnects. Generating multilevel optical signals with single-wavelength, single I/O transmitters faces challenges like bandwidth limitations and high power consumption. Optical digital-to-analog converters (oDACs) offer a promising solution by relaxing the electronic DAC requirements and replacing higher-order PAM DACs with low-order PAM2/4 drivers. This approach reduces complexity and power consumption of ultra-high-speed electronics drivers while improving optical constellation integrity. The presentation will highlight power consumption improvements achieved by oDACs compared to conventional IQ-modulation architectures, analyze energy efficiency gains, and explore the potential for scaling this technology in future photonic interconnect designs. These advancements aim to address the increasing demand for high-performance, energy-efficient, and cost-effective next-generation photonic interconnects in datacenter environments.