Imec researchers at IDLab, Ghent University and Nokia Bell Labs work to debut key building block for the deployment of 100G PON networks
Side view of the burst-mode transimpedance amplifier (TIA) chip
(22-09-2022) Presenting world’s first upstream 100 Gbit/s PAM-4 linear burst-mode transimpedance amplifier (TIA) chip for the roll-out of next-generation flexible PONs
At the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2022, researchers from IDLab and Nokia Bell Labs presented the first upstream linear burst-mode transimpedance amplifier (TIA) chip that accommodates 50 Gbit/s NRZ and 100 Gbit/s PAM-4 modulation. The chip enables optical line terminals (OLTs) to cope with upstream packets’ varying signal strength and quality degradation; effects that are compounded by the very high speeds at which next-generation passive optical networks (PONs) operate. This novel TIA chip will be critical to making next-gen flexible PON deployments (and 100G PON networks in particular) technically and economically viable.