What is an external laser source (ELS)?A laser module that is separate from, and provides optical power to, silicon photonics chips in co-packaged optics modules.
An external laser source (ELS) is a separate (disaggregated) pluggable module housing continuous wave lasers that provide optical power over fiber to silicon photonics chips integrated into co-packaged optics (CPO) modules. Rather than integrating lasers directly into the CPO module, using an ELS avoids temperature-related performance issues and simplifies maintenance. A typical ELS for CPO provides eight channels at 100 mW fiber-coupled power per channel, supporting 800 Gbps data rates.
Ayar Labs’ SuperNova™ remote light source is an example of an external laser source.
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