Panel IV: Advanced Integrated Photonics

March 8, 10:15am-12:15pm

Moderator:

Ted Schmidt has 14 years of experience in the fiberoptic communications industry, spanning network architecture, DWDM system R&D, and high speed (40G and 100G) DWDM transceiver R&D. Dr. Schmidt is currently Director of Optical Systems Technology at Juniper Networks, responsible for development of optical technologies for use in Juniper’s switching and routing products. Prior to joining Juniper in 2010, Dr. Schmidt lead optical systems R&D at Opnext Subsystems (formerly StrataLight Communications) for 9 years, delivering the core technologies used in all generations of StrataLight’s 40G and 100G products. His interests include high speed optical communications technologies, including advanced modulation formats and the photonics technologies required to achieve commercial viability. Dr. Schmidt holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Oklahoma State University, awarded for his research on the linear and nonlinear optical properties of wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. Dr. Schmidt has authored over 50 technical articles and two book chapters on his research interests and is a frequent speaker at technical conferences. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a member of the Optical Society of America and American Physical Society.

Panel Description:

This panel will explore how integrated photonics can enable high density optical communications links spanning applications in supercomputing, data centers, inter-office, and core transport networks. Emphasis will be placed on the role of integrated photonics technologies in meeting the density (size and power) requirements of tomorrow’s networks.

Speakers:

Optical Integration for Data Center Networks
Mitchell Fields, Director, Advanced Technology Solutions Group, Fiber Optics Products, Avago Technologies, USA
Photonic integration of components for core transport networks has demonstrated clear advantages in cost/performance and hence has enjoyed broad adoption and deployment.  However, there is minimal photonic integration found in the commercially available and broadly deployed optical components used in high-bandwidth short-reach networks such as data center networks, networks interconnecting high-performance computers, and the interconnect fabric of scalable multichassis routers/switches; the predominant enabling components are VCSEL-based parallel optics.  This presentation explores the applications and metrics associated with components for data center networks as well as suggestions where “integration” can have benefits.   
 
Dr. Mitchell Fields is Director, Advanced Technology Solutions Group, Fiber Optics Products, at Avago Technologies.  In this role, Mitch works with customers to identify and develop Avago interconnect solutions that enable customers to differentiate their end products.  Since joining Avago in 2005, he has also held positions in Strategic Marketing and Applications Engineering.  Prior to joining Avago, he worked as an optical engineer and architect at Sycamore Networks (2000 – 2005) and as a staff scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (1997 – 2000).  Mitchell has degrees in mathematics and economics from SUNY Binghamton and a Ph.D. in physics from Yale University.
 

Photonic Integration in Long Haul Transport Networks
Antti Kankkunen, VP, Product Planning, Infinera Corporation, USA
The rapid growth of Internet is challenging core transport network architectures. It is increasingly difficult to control network cost, space requirements and power consumption while continuing to rapidly augment network capacity. It will be critical to cost effectively support bandwidths beyond 100Gbps in long-haul optical networks in the near term and it is clear that the most sensible path towards this end is via a multi-carrier approach for N x 100 Gb/s transmission. However implementing it using conventional discrete components leads to complex designs affecting operational reliability. Photonic integration resolves this simplifying operations while reducing cost, space and power. This presentation provides an update on commercially deployed long haul solutions based on photonic integration along with a discussion on future architectures.

Antti Kankkunen is VP, Product Planning at Infinera Corporation and since 2008 has been responsible for leading the long term product roadmap development at Infinera. Antti has more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry and has worked in both small startup companies and large established equipment providers. He has held senior executive positions with responsibilities covering product planning, product strategy, technology strategy, business development, product marketing, product development and sales. He spent 12 years at Tellabs and among other things held the roles of director of Tellabs 8100 product line and CTO of Tellabs International. Antti graduated from Helsinki University of Technology in 1991 with M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering.

Less is More: Enabling New Applications through Photonic Integration in InP and GaAs and Advanced Packaging Technologies
Yves LeMaitre, Chief Commercial Officer, Oclaro, USA
Network operators face the continuous challenge of having to increase bandwidth and network utilization while at the same time reducing costs, aligning expenses with revenue, and minimizing space and power usage. Addressing these challenges requires significant innovation at the module and component level. This talk will discuss how innovation in laser design and packaging is enabling a variety of new applications for 100G networks and what will be required moving forward.

Mr. Yves LeMaitre has served as Oclaro's Chief Commercial Officer since July 2011. He previously served as EVP, Strategy and Corporate Development from February 2011 to July 2011, EVP and General Manager of our Advanced Photonic Solutions division from April 2009 to January 2011 and prior to that served as our Vice President of Telecommunication Sales and Corporate Marketing since February 2008. Prior to joining Oclaro,  Mr. LeMaitre was serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Avanex. Mr. LeMaitre was also President and Chief Executive Officer of Lightconnect. In addition, he worked for Alcatel and its joint venture with Sprint International in a variety of general management, senior marketing and engineering positions in the US, France, the Netherlands and Italy. Mr. LeMaitre earned a master's degree in mathematics and computer science from Nantes University in France. He also holds an engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications (ENST) in Paris..

Optical Integration – Enabling Next Generation Networks
Atul Srivastava, Chief Technology Officer, NTT Electronics America, USA
Lower cost per bit is a key requirement for the deployment of next generation 100G and higher data rate optical transport and CDC ROADM routing equipment.  Hybrid PLC-LN modulator technology is attractive for the current 100G PM-QPSK transmission systems and for the future selectable modulation format systems ranging from QPSK to 64-QAM. Likewise, fully integrated receivers consisting of photodiode and TIA arrays and PLC-based dual polarization optical hybrid devices are expected to shrink significantly in size and reduce cost in the future. Moreover, integrated multi-port switches for the CDC ROADM with flexible add/drop capability and integrated optical amplifier arrays will be critical for the dynamic network deployment. This talk will focus on the novel integrated devices enabling the next generation optical networks. It will cover the hybrid components for 100G and higher data rate ROADM networks.

Dr. Atul Srivastava joined NTT Electronics America as Chief Technology Officer in 2011. He has over 30 years of experience in the optical communications R&D starting from AT&T Bell Laboratories and later served as the director of optical amplifier research department. He worked at Bookham (now Oclaro) as the VP of Product Technology after the acquisition of the optical amplifier startup Onetta. He is credited with over 100 publications, and over 12 United States patents.   He is editor of a book on “Optically Amplified WDM Networks”. He was co-chair of the Technical Program Committee of Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) 2009 and general co-chair of OFC 2011. He is a chair of the SPIE’s Photonics West 2012 Technical Program Committee. Dr. Srivastava currently serves as US Technical Advisor for standards activity of International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) SC86C – Fiber Optic Systems and Active Devices, and convener of the Optical Amplifiers and Modules working group. He has been honored with several awards including Bell Laboratories President's Gold Award, and the Trophee du Telephone in Paris. He was elected Fellow of Optical Society of America in 2003. He received the 1905 Award of the IEC in 2009.