The traditional 100G optical module uses 4x25G optical channels, and the 4 optical channels realize 100G transmission through wavelength division multiplexing or channel parallel mode. This is using PSM4 technology. Each channel requires a separate transmitting and receiving device, which puts high demands on the power consumption, space layout and cost of the optical module.
The 100G single-wavelength optical module uses DSP to convert 4 channels of 25G electrical signals into single-wavelength 100G PAM4 optical signals to achieve data transmission. The number of light transmitting and receiving units is reduced from 4 to 1, effectively reducing the optical complexity inside the optical module. Due to the reduction in the number of components, the cost is greatly reduced (the cost of optical components accounts for about 60% of the cost of the entire optical module).
