Acacia Communications Announces Industry's First Single-Chip Silicon Photonics 100G Coherent Transceiver

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 11, 2014) - Acacia Communications, the leader in delivering intelligent transceivers for ultra-high speed fiber optic transmission to the telecommunications and data communications industry, today at OFC 2014 announced the first complete 100G coherent transceiver in a single Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) package.

The single-chip PIC provides breakthrough integration of all the critical optical elements required in Acacia's industry-first 100G coherent CFP module, which the company just announced is now shipping in samples.

Acacia's highly integrated duplex Silicon Photonics single-chip PIC is low cost, low power, ultra-compact and can be manufactured in high volume. Coupled with Acacia's internally developed low-power coherent ASIC, the company can deliver a 100G Coherent CFP product at half the cost and one-third the power and size of long haul 100G solutions.

"Silicon Photonics is typically considered for short-reach interconnects," said Acacia's Director of Photonic Integration, Dr. Chris Doerr. "But Silicon Photonics is very well suited for coherent transceivers, because it is ideal for manipulating optical polarizations, which is critical in coherent technology. Co-packaged with linear drivers and trans-impedance amplifiers Acacia's PIC consumes ~ 4 Watts of power. Our groundbreaking optical integration reduces cost by minimizing assembly touch points, mechanical adjustments, test apparatus and amount of material required."

"This level of optical integration into a single monolithic Silicon Photonic PIC is crucial in reducing cost and size of components required in Metro and Data Center applications," said Daryl Inniss, Ovum's Components Research vice president and practice leader. "Acacia has continued to drive innovative coherent solutions to enable 100G in long haul and service provider networks. The PIC really makes 100G possible in Metro applications that are under constant pressure to reduce costs and size."

"The PIC is optimized for high yield and low cost," said Acacia Co-Founder and Director of Module Engineering Mehrdad Givehchi. "It is tested electrically and optically on the wafer before dicing. Doing so enables very high volumes and much higher packaging yields than components manufactured with legacy material, while leveraging mature CMOS processes without needing temperature controls or hermetic packaging. Performance is comparable to that of discrete components for Metro reaches, and with demonstrated consistency of performance over wavelength and temperatures, proves that our 100G PIC is ready for commercialization and high volume production in coherent applications."

Acacia Execs Presenting at OFC 2014

Acacia executives will share more information about the company's technology, products market and insights during OFC 2014. These include:

• PIC vs. Silicon Photonics: Hype or Reality: Dr. Chris Doerr, Acacia's Director of Photonic Integration, will discuss metro silicon phonics as part of the Market Watch Panel 5 on Thursday March 13, at 1 PM.
• Engineering Silicon Photonic Solutions for Metro WDM: Acacia's Dr. Torben Nielsen, Senior Product Manager, will present this Invited Paper on Thursday, March 13, at 1 PM.
• Silicon Photonics, What is it Good for: Acacia's Dr. Chris Doerr, Director of Photonic Integration, OSA Executive Forum, Monday, March 10, at 2 PM.
• Single-Chip Silicon Photonics 100-Gb/s Coherent Transceiver: Dr. Chris Doerr, Acacia's Director of Photonic Integration will present a post-deadline paper.

About Acacia Communications:

Acacia Communications Inc. provides advanced solutions to the optical transport and network infrastructure equipment market for coherent 100G, 200G, 400G and beyond transceivers. Working in close collaboration with customers and suppliers, Acacia designs, manufactures and sells leading-edge optical transponder technology that enables customers to reduce overall costs while increasing performance and reducing time to market. Acacia is headquartered in Maynard, Massachusetts, USA and has an office in Hazlet, New Jersey. For more information about Acacia, visit www.acacia-inc.com