Data Center Datacom Based on Multi-Core Fiber and Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Arrays

High-speed optical interconnects have been attracting much attention in data centers and edge computing networks for saving power consumption by reducing electrical link lengths.A VCSEL is a key component in hyperscale data centers and supercomputer networks because of fascinating properties that provide high-speed operations, low-power consumption, a small footprint, wafer-scale testing, low-cost packaging, and ease of fabrication into arrays.In particular, a VCSEL solution gives us high-speed and low-power consumption, which satisfy requirements.We started the NICT project toward high-speed and low-power consumption, co-packaged optics transceivers based on VCSEL arrays and multi-core fibers (MCFs) for delivering the advantages of power consumption and capacity density per module.In this paper, we present our recent activity on high-speed transverse-coupled-cavity (TCC) VCSEL arrays for co-packaged optics.We developed a single-mode, 1060-nm metal-aperture VCSELs array, which offers a high density I/O platform with a multi-core fiber.