A low-power 1-Gb/s CMOS laser driver for a zero-bias modulated optical transmitter

摘要

We demonstrate the feasibility of using a CMOS laser driver for a low-power digital optical transmitter that is capable of at least 1-Gb/s operation. The transmitter employs low threshold lasers and zero-bias modulation. The circuit driver uses a strategy for low power consumption such that a majority of the total transmitter power is consumed by the laser instead of the electronics. The driver can function over a wide temperature range (77 K-300 K) for a variety of laser diodes.