6 April 2023
Sivers Photonics OFC 2023 Roundup
As the leading international optical communications and networking event, we were excited to return to OFC in 2023. The event, held from 7th-9th March in San Diego, CA, USA, hosted over 11,000 participants and over 500 exhibiting companies.
Our booth was bigger and better than last year, with a larger space to showcase our capabilities! Our 8-wavelength DFB laser array was the focus, demonstrated again with partner Ayar Labs’ SuperNova™. We also showed our most recent work with imec, on the hybrid integration of InP DFB Lasers on silicon photonics. If that didn’t keep us busy enough, we attended many of the industry and networking events and talks at the conference.
Read more about our action-packed week…
Booth and Demonstration
When the exhibition opened on Tuesday, there was excitement in the air, as the team looked forward to reconnecting with existing customers, whilst exploring opportunities with our potential customer base as we expand within the market.
Following a successful demo at ECOC 2022, we took our joint demo with Ayar Labs stateside – again showcasing our 8-wavelength Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser array powering the Ayar Labs SuperNova™ remote light source. This will be a key element in enabling next generation applications including Optical I/O, HPC and AI. The live demonstration showed two SuperNova™ modules, each with 64 total wavelengths, running without active cooling.
The demonstration proved popular with exhibitors! Read more about Sivers’ 8λ O-band CW DFB Laser Chipset and the Ayar Labs SuperNova™.
imec
We teamed up with our longstanding partner, imec, helping them to create new video footage and a flyer used on both of our booths! These brought to life the story of our success so far.
Together with Imec and ASMPT Ltd, Sivers has succeeded in developing flip-chip bonded Indium Phosphide (InP) lasers on silicon photonic integrated circuits (ICs), at wafer scale. The flip-chip bonding is extremely high, with an alignment precision below 500 nm, and is enabling next-gen datacom, telecom & sensing applications. Watch Video.
CW-WDM MSA
Since the launch of the CW-WDM MSA in 2020, Sivers and many others are not only adopting the standard, but now supplying core technology. It was great to meet with other members and discuss the significant progress thus far. We were naturally proud to promote these collaborations on our booth!
In conjunction with OFC, watch Join Chris Cole and Matt Sysak in this fireside chat as they discuss the state of the CW-WDM MSA. Watch Video.
Industry Events
Despite being busy on the booth, our team found the time to attend talks at the conference and some of the industry networking events.
We attended the ITF Photonics event, powered by imec, with top representatives from imec and the industry sharing interesting insights on the rapidly evolving R&D and innovations, key trends and application potential of photonics. The talk “Micro Transfer Printing for Silicon Photonics”, by Gunther Roelken of imec, included some of the recent results from our collaboration with them.
Some of our leadership team attended the Optica Executive Forum, which took place at the Hilton Bayfront on Monday, March 6th.
Executives took to the stage from ATT Labs, American Towers, Infinera, KDDI Corporation, Acacia Communications (now Cisco) and Ayar Labs. Attendee discussions centred around critical technology advancements and business opportunities that will shape the optical communications industry in 2023 and the future.
Conclusion
We had a highly productive and enjoyable week at OFC 2023! From the exhibition, conference, and networking events, the event was bigger and better than ever, and the energy around the whole event was palpable!
In an industry built on collaboration and relying on a solid ecosystem, face-to-face interaction with our customers and peers yet again proved to be invaluable.
We look forward seeing you in San Diego for OFC 2024!
William McLaughlin
Managing Director
Sivers Photonics