COCOPOP · Coherent Comb for Co-Packaged Optics

The volume of data produced, managed and consumed continues to grow exponentially driven by emerging technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Demand for compute power to support these services is growing at 10X every 18 months and datacenter operators are struggling to keep up. Significant challenges have emerged in datacentre networks around bandwidth, signal integrity, power and face-plate density.The migration of the optical interconnect to the board (Co-Packaged Optics, CPO) and to the chip (Optical I/O, OIO) has been proposed as a potential solution, however only a few years into this new paradigm, two of the available dimensions for system scaling (fiber, and wavelength count) are already heavily utilised, posing scaling challenges in the near term. Todays CPO/OIO systems use intensity modulation/direct detection, but given these pressures, a transition to coherent is inevitable. COCOPOP will deliver the first coherent-capable external laser source (ELS) which benefits todays systems, and also future-proofs them by enabling full exploitation of the third scaling dimension-bit rate/wavelength-through coherent communication. In doing so, Pilot Photonics will capture for Europe a key position in this strategically important market segment, forecasted to grow to $2.2bn by 2032.Building upon developments in EIC PICOMB, the chip-scale frequency comb that will be matured and commercialised through COCOPOP brings many benefits over commercial state of the art DFB arrays, such as unmatched linewidth, relative intensity noise, output power, and wavelength stability derived from the synchronisation and locking of independent lasers with a low linewidth, frequency-locked optical frequency comb (OFC).PILOT has a proven track record in commercially exploiting the outcomes of advanced R&D programmes in the area of chip-scale OFC technology and we intend for the COCOPOP ELS to be on the market within two years of COCOPOP project end.