Silicon photonics WDM interconnects based on resonant ring modulators and semiconductor mode locked laser

18 channels are sequentially measured, whereas the best recorded eye diagrams feature signal quality factors (Q-factors) above 7. While optical re-amplification was necessary to maintain the link budgets and therefore system measurements were performed with an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), preliminary characterization done with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) indicates compatibility with the latter pending the integration of an additional optical filter to select a subset of carriers and prevent SOA saturation. A systematic analysis of the relative intensity noise (RIN) of isolated comb lines and of signal Q-factors indicates that the link is primarily limited by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from the EDFA rather than laser RIN. Measured RIN for single comb components is below -120 dBc/Hz in the range from 7 MHz to 4 GHz and drops to the shot noise level at higher frequencies.