Lightmatter has announced a bidirectional Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical link utilizing 16 wavelengths on a single standard single-mode fiber. Powered by its Passage interconnect and Guide laser technologies, the solution is designed to increase fiber bandwidth density and spectral utilization for high-performance data center interconnects.
Unlike commercial bidirectional solutions, which have typically been limited to two wavelengths per fiber, Lightmatter reports achieving 16 wavelengths on a standard single-mode fiber—a milestone previously requiring multiple or specialized fibers. The company says it overcame challenges related to managing wavelength-dependent propagation, power budget constraints, optical nonlinearity, and mitigation of crosstalk and backscattering.
Lightmatter’s platform includes a proprietary closed-loop digital stabilization system designed to actively compensate for thermal drift, maintaining low-error transmission across wide temperature ranges. The Passage 3D co-packaged optics platform is also described as polarization-insensitive, supporting performance even as fibers are handled or exposed to mechanical stress. This eliminates the need for more expensive polarization-maintaining fibers and enables use of standard single-mode fiber.
Applications for the Passage technology are centered on the foundational optical interconnect requirements of AI data centers, supporting the development of larger, more capable AI models with increased performance and efficiency. These features also target high-performance computing workloads which demand scalable photonic connectivity.
“Data centers are the new unit of compute in the AI era, with the next 1000X performance gain coming largely from ultra-fast photonic interconnects,” said Nicholas Harris, founder and CEO of Lightmatter. “Our 16-lambda bidirectional link is an architectural leap forward. Hyperscalers can achieve significantly higher bandwidth density with standard single-mode fiber, reducing both capital expenditure and operational complexity, while enabling higher ‘radix’—more connections per XPU or switch.”
For further details, Lightmatter provides additional information about its Passage technology at its website.
Source: Lightmatter
