VCSEL-Based PAM-4 Links up to 62 Gbit/s Over OM3, OM4, and WB-MMF: Performance Comparison at 850 nm and 1050 nm

Abstract

We present an analysis of pulse-amplitude modulation 4 (PAM) based multimode fiber (MMF) links using VCSELs at 850 and 1050 nm across a wide range of fiber profiles with effective modal bandwidth spanning from 2 to 10 GHz·km. We demonstrate speeds >51.56 Gbit/s over a set of standard OM3 and OM4 fibers with bit error rate (BER) 50 Gbit/s using PAM-4. We perform VCSEL characterization and through a comparison with our analytic link model, identify various link penalties including those due to the relative intensity noise and mode partition noise of the VCSEL.