40 Gb/s Modulator
Broadband Modulators for High Speed Telecom
Lightwave Logic, Inc. develops high activity, high stability electro-optic (EO) polymers for application in a broad spectrum of future industrial and government systems. One major system under development is the 40Gb/s telecom modulator. Today's telecom systems operate at 10Gb/s requiring the modulator to accurately turn the light signal on and off at more than 10 billion times per second.The next generation telecom network speed is expected to increase by the well - established industry "economic rule of thumb" wherein speed (capacity) increases by a factor of 4 (to 40Gb/s) while the cost increases no more than a factor of 2.5. The introduction of Lightwave's stable, high speed polymer (plastic) materials appear uniquely positioned to support both the speed and economic requisites to enable telecom network's upgrade to 40Gb/s. Despite the high demand for greater bandwidth, the migration from 10Gb/s to 40Gb/s has not yet been implemented on a large scale due to excessive cost at 40Gb/s.
According to JDS Uniphase, the current state of 40Gb/s vs. 10Gb/s is at a similar market inflection point as when 10Gb/s was introduced vs. 2.5Gb/s. Support exists for a new generation of IP backbone routers and switches needed to relieve high capacity network bottlenecks, but excessive costs make the migration unattractive. Current short-term solutions may include the adoption of parallel implementations until pricing adjusts.
40Gb/s Modu-what?
Information on the Net travels at 10 billion bits of data per second (or 10Gb/s). That speed will increase to 40Gb/s. A modulator is a "LIGHT VALVE" that controls the speed of data. Third Order will make the new 40Gb/s valves work.
