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Optical Communications: Principles and Standards

Fiber types, PAM4/coherent optics, IEEE 802.3 PHYs, and pluggable form factors

7 min read

PAM4Coherent802.3QSFP-DDOSFP

Overview

Optical modules enable E/O and O/E conversion for high-bandwidth, long-reach links. PAM4 increases bits per symbol through multilevel encoding, while coherent optics improve spectral efficiency and distance via phase/amplitude information. IEEE 802.3 defines 100G/200G/400G/800G Ethernet PHYs; common pluggables include QSFP-DD and OSFP.

Key Topics

  • SMF/MMF, optical power and link budget
  • PAM4, FEC, and eye-quality analysis
  • QSFP-DD and OSFP electrical/mechanical interfaces and interoperability

References

  • IEEE 802.3bs/802.3df overviews and standards documents