Polarization- and Temperature-Insensitive 8x400GHz O-Band Cascaded AWG for Large Radix Data Center and AI/ML Networks

Journal of Lightwave Technology 2026

View at publisher
Authors: Robert Palmer, H.F. Bulthuis, Cleitus Antony, Jakub Zvěřina, Gunter Beelen, Jad Sarkis, Abubakar Bhatti, Giuseppe Talli, Maxim Kuschnerov
DOI: 10.1109/jlt.2026.3660127
Cited by: 1
References: 40

Abstract

We demonstrate a PLC-based O-Band 8-channel cascaded AWG design. The manufactured prototypes achieve 400 GHz channel spacing while simultaneously reaching a 1 dB bandwidth of 300 GHz and a crosstalk below -40 dB. The measured fiber-to-fiber loss is as low as 2.7 dB and the PDL is below 0.2 dB. We determine a low thermal drift of -1.8 GHz/Kelvin. The combination of low IL, high bandwidth, low crosstalk, and low thermal drift make the device particularly attractive for WDM-based data center and AI networks architectures that benefit from a large network switch radix.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Optical Network Technologies Photonic and Optical Devices Advanced Photonic Communication Systems

Publication details

Journal / source
Journal of Lightwave Technology
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Volume
44
Issue
8
Pages
3071–3079
Publication date
2 February 2026
Language
EN