Electro-optic comb-driven massive data transmission on monolithically integrated lithium niobate photonic circuits

Yikun Chen; Chuang Xu; Ke Zhang; Xiong Wu; Kangping Zhong; Xiangzhi Xie; Hanke Feng; Yifan Wu; Chao Lu; Alan Pak Tao Lau; Cheng Wang

arXiv · 2610.34821

Electro-optic comb-driven massive data transmission on monolithically integrated lithium niobate photonic circuits

Yikun Chen·Chuang Xu·Ke Zhang·Xiong Wu·Kangping Zhong·Xiangzhi Xie·Hanke Feng·Yifan Wu·Chao Lu·Alan Pak Tao Lau·Cheng Wang

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Driven by large AI models, the demand for datacenter interconnects is outstripping traditional scaling laws. This necessitates a transition toward dense multiplexing techniques, such as wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), for datacenter environments, transferring long-haul spectral efficiency to short-reach, high-bandwidth applications. Integrated optical frequency combs offer compact, low-cost light sources for future datacenter WDM interconnects. However, existing Kerr comb and mode-locked laser implementations suffer from drawbacks in power efficiency, spectral flatness and phase noise. Their fixed, device-specific channel spacings often conflict with standard WDM grids, and co-integration with high-speed modulators remains challenging. Here, we overcome these limitations by demonstrating high-capacity data transmission using flat-top electro-optic combs on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), a platform featuring flat spectra, tunable wavelengths and comb spacing, alongside native compatibility with (de-)multiplexers and high-speed modulators. Using 46 wavelength channels from two lasers and a 50-GHz on-chip electro-optic comb, we realize 16.56 Tb/s coherent transmission over a 98.84-km deployed fiber link between two universities and two datacenters in Hong Kong, verifying its suitability for inter-datacenter connections. To highlight grid reconfigurability, we reconfigure the comb to 100-GHz spacing via an on-chip demultiplexer and demonstrate 10-channel, 80-GBaud coherent transmission at 6.4 Tb/s. We further report a proof-of-concept monolithic WDM transmitter integrating the comb and high-speed modulator, achieving 19-channel, 45-GBaud IM/DD transmission at 1.71 Tb/s. Our work validates TFLN electro-optic combs as flexible, compact and scalable WDM engines for both coherent and IM/DD datacenter links to satisfy rapidly rising bandwidth requirements.

Explore related subjects

physics.optics

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Yikun Chen, Chuang Xu, Ke Zhang, Xiong Wu, Kangping Zhong, Xiangzhi Xie, Hanke Feng, Yifan Wu, Chao Lu, Alan Pak Tao Lau, Cheng Wang. 2026-10-26. Electro-optic comb-driven massive data transmission on monolithically integrated lithium niobate photonic circuits. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.34821

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Interaction-Induced Topological Transport of Extended Doublons

Topological boundary states are a defining feature of topological systems, providing robust transport protected against perturbations. While such states are commonly engineered in non-interacting systems, how to realize interaction-induced topological states composed of only few particles has remained experimentally unexplored thus far. In this work, we realize such states using a driven photonic lattice as a linear analogue platform. We observe the formation of spatially extended bound states of two interacting particles, in which the particles remain correlated while occupying different lattice sites. At discrete values of the local interaction, these bound states support robust transport governed by a topological phase arising from drive-induced correlated hopping. Our results establish an experimentally accessible route to interaction-driven topology beyond single-particle physics and provide a versatile framework for exploring correlated few-particle phenomena across different physical platforms.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Recovering topological information of light by topological learning

The evolution of modern-day communication networks towards enhanced capacity and robustness is driving interest in topological light wave as a next-generation information carrier. However, harnessing its potential is hindered by the lack of an effective topological reader, particularly when strong disorder renders conventional readout intractable. Here we address this by introducing TOPO$^{2}$, an artificial intelligence framework that leverages on topological learning to recover topological information from light. We demonstrate it on highly distorted optical fields with embedded Skyrmion topologies, showing that we can extract the topological numbers in a single shot with just a conventional camera. We showcase its capability in a TOPO$^{2}$-based communication scheme, sending and recovering information encoded in a topological alphabet, confirming that it outperforms conventional approaches. Our connection of topological photonics with topological AI as a powerful paradigm for robust high-capacity information encoding and processing opens a new path towards topological information optics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Video-rate quantitative phase and polarimetric imaging (QP2I) for label-free imaging of contracting muscle cells

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) has become a standard approach for label-free microscopy of transparent specimens, mapping the optical path length. However, the isotropic phase is blind to the molecular order underlying optical anisotropy. Implementations that also add quantitative contrast to birefringence rely on multi-frame illumination or polarization-state scanning, or on dedicated interferometric hardware and thus trade away acquisition speed or the simplicity of a standard microscope. We present Quantitative Phase and Polarimetric Imaging (QPPI), a computational imaging framework that converts a standard differential interference contrast (DIC) microscope with a polarization camera into a single-shot, video-rate, dual-contrast imaging system. We developed a new globally regularized phase reconstruction that eliminates artifacts of prior DIC-to-QPI approaches, providing quantitative phase information, and used per-pixel Stokes-based reconstruction to obtain quantitative anisotropic retardance. We validate the approach across simulations, static reference targets, fixed muscle tissue and living dynamically moving cells. QPPI enables all-optical and label-free studies of contractile dynamics in live cardiomyocytes. It provides both structural and functional readouts at sufficient frame rates to resolve fast cardiomyocyte contractions. Conventional fluorescent labels bleach over time, perturb physiology, and preclude long-term monitoring. Instead, QPPI enables long-term, label-free interrogation of dynamic cellular processes at quantitative contrast and provides structural readouts similar to those provided by established fluorescent labels, such as frame-by-frame sarcomere length. It also offers previously inaccessible measurements, like quantitative analysis of retardance changes during muscle contraction, which provides a direct optical signature of muscle photoelasticity.

physics.optics↗