Ruggedized high-power and high-speed transceivers for aircraft datalinks are becoming increasingly essential with the growing need for real-time data processing in combat scenarios. Current datalinks leverage low-cost vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), but this technology cannot meet the high data rate and high optical power requirements necessary for future missions. To solve this challenge, Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) will develop a new ruggedized transceiver technology based on the co-integration of commercially-available high-power distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with high-speed and chirp-free photonic modulators to achieve datalinks capable of operating at 400 Gbps under the extreme environments of aircraft deployment. Our high-speed transceiver units will provide robust operation in extreme temperature and vibrational environments without compromise to its data-rate capacity or signal integrity.
Benefit: The proposed transceiver technology will significantly improve the ability of military aircraft to communicate data at high speeds while maintaining signal integrity. Commercial demand for high-speed data transmission will only increase with time and technological advances. Beyond military aircraft, this technology has applications where large quantities of data must be transmitted quickly in extreme environments like space, underwater, or in extremely hot or cold terrestrial environments.
Keywords: flip-chip bonding, flip-chip bonding, thermal shock resistance, thin film lithium niobate, distributed feedback laser, High-speed communications, Mach-Zehnder modulator, ruggedized transceiver
