What is an optical module? What is the structure of the optical module?
With the continuous development of the optical communication industry and the continuous improvement of network users' requirements for network service quality, the optical fiber communication system has become closer to everyone's life.
Higher bandwidth and port density and lower energy consumption have become the constant pursuit of optical fiber communication systems. In the entire system, the optical module plays a very important role. Here is a brief introduction to the optical module.
First, what is an optical module? The optical module is called the optical transceiver module, which is the core device in optical communication and can complete the optical-electrical/electrical-optical conversion process of optical signals.
What is the structure of the optical module? The optical module is a collective name for various module categories. Although it looks small, its composition structure is not simple, including optical receiving module, optical sending module, optical transceiver module, and optical forwarding module.
The optical modules that we usually call today generally refer to integrated optical transceiver modules, such as QSFP8 optical modules. I will introduce you in detail in the following articles about the classification of optical modules.
The optical module works at the physical layer, which is the lowest layer in the OSI model. Its role is very simple to say, it is to achieve photoelectric conversion. Turn optical signals into electrical signals and electrical signals into optical signals.
Although it seems simple, the technical content of the implementation process is not low.
An optical module usually consists of a light-emitting device (TOSA, including a laser), a light-receiving device (ROSA, including a photodetector), a functional circuit, and an optical (electrical) interface.
At the transmitting end, the driver chip processes the original electrical signal and then drives the semiconductor laser (LD) or light-emitting diode (LED) to emit a modulated optical signal.
At the receiving end, after the optical signal comes in, it is converted into an electrical signal by the light detection diode, and the electrical signal is output after passing through the preamplifier.
The above are some brief introductions about optical modules. The following will introduce the package types of optical modules.
