Silicon photonic circuits and packaging for next generation optical transceivers

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Driven by cloud based applications and services, there are substantial worldwide research and commercialization efforts that are being directed toward improving the capacity of intra- and inter-data center networks. Intra-data center networks operate in the O-band (1260-1360 nm) over distances ranging from 0.5 m to 20 km, and inter-data center networks operate in the C-band (1530-1565 nm) over distances ranging from 20 km to 160 km. While these two systems share similar constraints in terms of power consumption, footprint, and cost of the employed optical transceivers, they are distinct because of the differing operating wavelengths (e.g., the dispersive properties of fibers in the C-band). Enabled by original silicon photonic circuit designs and innovative packaging, the proposed research will address key challenges in data center networks, namely increasing the capacity whilst decreasing the power consumption, size, and cost of optical transceivers deployed in these **networks. The research will be executed via a three-way collaboration between McGill University, Lumentum (Ottawa, CA), and the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC; Leuven, BE). The proposed research involves design, analysis, simulation, and experimentation, and intersects the fields of optoelectronics, optics, electronics, and packaging. It will be performed by three Ph.D. students, one PDF, and two summer students who will receive training that is highly valuable **to Canadian Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector employers.**