Glossary

In the case of transceiver development, it is the process of assembling the different parts of the transceiver (electronics, PIC, power supply) into the same package.

In contrast to full integration / system-on-chip, an approach where only a few optical components are integrated on the same chip, while others are discrete and separate (such as the laser)

An optical component that does not require additional electrical energy to operate. Couplers, splitters, waveguides are an example of this.

A telecommunications technology that brings fiber-optic cabling and signals to the home or business.

A sensor of light that converts light signals into electrical signals.

The smallest unit of a beam of light. It does not have mass and travels at the speed of light.

An optical circuit in which the components are integrated on a chip.

The technological field that aims to integrate optical components on a single semiconductor chip, in a similar way to how electronics integrates electrical components on a chip.

The lowest layer in the OSI model of networks. It is the layer closest to the physical connection between devices and that interfaces with the transmission medium

A component that can operate with different optical material platforms and architectures (such as silicon or indium phosphide).

A smaller transceiver that can be easily "plugged" into another device such as a switch or router.

A ratio that describes how efficiently a data center uses energy. It is the ratio of total energy used by a data center facility to the energy delivered to computing equipment. An ideal PUE is 1.0 (energy deliver is perfectly efficient).

A transmission method in coherent communication systems that sends some signal combinations more often and others less often to optimize the signal quality at the receiver or to maintain the same qualtiy using less transmission energy.

A modulation technique that uses four distinct pulse amplitudes to encode data, allowing for more data to be transmitted in the same amount of time.

A semiconductor chip factory that manufactures devices for other companies without designing them. Two big examples are GlobalFoundries and TSMC in Taiwan.