OpenLight Showcases III-V Silicon Photonics Breakthroughs at OFC 2026

0
236

OpenLight will present several new technology advancements at Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) 2026, scheduled for March 15–19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. At booth #2449, the company plans to showcase its newest high-speed photonic integrated circuits (PICs), which feature built-in lasers, electro-absorption modulators, and optical amplifiers. These technologies support next-generation optical architectures aimed at delivering the performance, efficiency, and scalability required for AI systems, cloud platforms, and hyperscale data centers.

During OFC 2026, OpenLight will also highlight live industry demonstrations, introduce new product partnerships, and host expert talks from its engineering and leadership teams—underscoring that its silicon photonics technology is ready for large-scale production.

Live Demonstrations: Advancing AI‑Scale Optical Interconnects

400GPerLane IIIVonSilicon EA Modulator for 3.2T and Beyond

Building on the technology first demonstrated at OFC 2025, OpenLight will showcase leading edge enhanced 400G‑per‑lane EA modulator featuring flip‑chip co‑packaging with a MACOM driver, delivering optical modulation amplitude (OMA) of 3 dBm and extinction ratio greater than 3.5 dB. This year’s demonstration highlights significant improvements in integration maturity and manufacturability, enabling differential drive and advances in bandwidth performance—made possible through OpenLight’s production‑ready heterogeneous III‑V‑on‑silicon photonics platform. These advancements further strengthen the scalability of OpenLight’s PDK devices for next-generation 3.2T and beyond high-density, low-power optical transceivers supporting AI, ML, and cloud data center deployments.

1.6T DR8 Fully Integrated Transceiver PIC and Evaluation Board 

OpenLight will also demonstrate a 1.6T DR8 evaluation board incorporating its beta 1.6T DFB-based PIC including heterogeneous integrated lasers, modulators, amplifiers and photo detectors operating with a Marvell Ara 3 nm 1.6T digital signal processor (DSP). The PIC integrates OpenLight’s 1310 nm distributed‑feedback (DFB) lasers and InP‑based 224G electro‑absorption modulators (EAMs) and now delivers improved power efficiency, consuming approximately 2.0 W, down from 2.7 W reported at initial sample availability. This demonstration showcases a complete high‑speed optical link representative of emerging AI‑cluster and data center requirements, featuring full flip-chip co-packaging of the DSP, transmitter PIC, and receiver with no external laser alignment.

Additional In-booth Partner Technology Showcases

OpenLight will further highlight collaborations with technology and ecosystem partners, including:

· Oriole Networks, demonstrating a scalable, all passive backend network technology for AI workloads, built on silicon photonics nanosecond optical circuit switching, with predictable and low tail latency.

  • GDS Factory, showcasing an all‑in‑one, schematic‑driven design solution for the OpenLight platform that combines advanced PH18DA device modeling with programmatic layout, verification, and seamless post‑layout simulation for confident complex circuit design.
  • Spark Photonics, presenting its design and layout services using the OpenLight Process Design Kit (PDK) with the Luceda Photonics software suite.

Market Watch and Technical Program Participation

OpenLight experts will participate in several technical sessions and panel discussions throughout the week:

Market Watch Panel — Market Status and Enabling Technologies of 1.6Tbps and Beyond

Dr. Adam Carter, CEO, will join industry leaders from Broadcom, Ciena, Marvell, Inpho, and Source Photonics for a panel on the market trends, applications, and technologies accelerating adoption of 1.6 Tbps pluggable modules.

Location: Expo Theater 1

Date: March 17

Time: 12:30-2:00 PM 

SC347: Reliability and Qualification of Fiber‑Optic Components

Presenter: Robert Herrick

Location: West Lobby Registration

Date: March 16

Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

M3G: High-Speed Optical Modulators for Intra-Data Center Links: Unlocking 400 Gb/s and Beyond per Lane

Panelist: Beichen Wang

Location: Room 502A

Date: March 16

Time: 2:00-4:00 PM

W1E | D1: Advanced Prototyping, Packaging and Integration, Next‑Generation Fiber Links

Presider: Dr. Molly Piels

Location: Room 501ABC 

Date: March 18

Time: 8:00-9:30 PM

Visit OpenLight at OFC 2026

To learn more about OpenLight’s technology or schedule a meeting at OFC 2026, please contact us or come by booth #2449 during the exhibition.