Publication # 254

Diwakar Agarwal, Gordon A. Keeler, Christof Debaes, Bianca E. Nelson, Noah C. Helman, and David A. B. Miller, "Latency Reduction in Optical Interconnects Using Short Optical Pulses," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 9, 410-418 (2003)

We present a new method of latency reduction in optical interconnects: using very low duty cycle return-to-zero encoding (i.e., subpicosecond pulses). An analytical comparison of three different receiver architectures, including transimpedance, integrating, and totem-pole diode pair, is presented. For all three receivers, we demonstrated that using short pulses instead of nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) shortens the circuit delay. We also experimentally demonstrate a ~65% reduction in latency of a transimpedance receiver by using short optical pulses. Finally, we show that the latency of optical interconnects can be comparable to or even less than electrical interconnects for global on-chip communication.

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