Tutorial 1

Optical Interconnects for Data Center Applications

Shalabh Gupta
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Abstract: High-speed interconnects are constantly evolving to support ever growing demands for higher throughputs under tighter energy efficiency, form factor/density, and latency constraints. The demand for optical data center interconnects, which satisfy such requirements, is extremely high, as these interconnects are being deployed in huge numbers due to the rapidly growing footprint of data centers applications.
In this tutorial, we would be presenting a brief overview on the system level considerations and approaches used for high-speed optical interconnects, especially the ones that are influenced by the data center requirements. System level architectures being pursued to overcome various limitations will be reviewed. Next, considerations at the level of photonic and electronic integrated circuits (EICs and PICs) will be discussed. Finally, some innovations at the level of EICs and PICs, along with future directions, will be presented.

Biography: Shalabh Gupta received B. Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 2001, and M.S. and PhD degrees from UCLA in 2004 and 2009, respectively, all in Electrical Engineering. At UCLA, he worked on the development of high-resolution high-speed analog-to-digital converters using optical techniques. He spent a few years in industry to work in the area of high-speed and RF integrated circuits. He also interned at NEC Labs (Princeton, NJ) to learn and contribute in the area of high speed coherent optical links. Since 2009, he has been with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, where he is currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering. His current research interests include electronic and photonic integrated circuits and systems for wired, wireless and optical communications, and more specifically high-speed data center interconnects.
Shalabh Gupta and his team were the first ones to propose and experimentally demonstrate Analog Signal Processing techniques for coherent optical links. They were also the first ones to demonstrate practical PMC-SH (Polarization Multiplexed Carrier based Self Homodyne) links. These techniques are currently being pursued actively by the community for next generation data center interconnects.