High-speed photodiodes and laser power converters for the applications of green optical interconnect

Global network data traffic continues to grow, driven primarily by mobile data and Internet video. By taking a look at the network equipment energy consumed breakdown, data center network equipment is expected to become the major power consumer [1]. Recently, the development of optical interconnect (OI) techniques [1-5], which could allow the replacement of the bulky and power-hungry active/passive microwave components with more energy-saving and high-speed optoelectronic devices, has become an attractive choice to further reduce the carbon footprint of data centers and realize the idea of the “Green-Internet” [6,7]. In future supercomputers, the estimated total power consumption and bandwidth for an OI system could be as high as 8 MW and 400 PB/s, respectively [5]. This trend thus greatly drives the development of highspeed light sources and receivers with a further reduction in power consumption.