A 56.32 Gb/s 16-QAM Link over Dielectric Fiber using a D-band Channel Bonding Transceiver

This paper presents the design and experimental demonstration of a high data-rate D-band plastic fiber link. The link incorporates a 45-nm CMOS channel bonding transceiver mounted on a low-cost printed circuit board comprising a right-angle transition which couples the mm-wave signal into a PTFE flexible dielectric fiber. The transmitter up-converts two 60 GHz signals to adjacent sub-bands covering a band from 139 to 157 GHz. A signal aggregating 8 sub-channels, each of 2.16 GHz, is transmitted through fibers of different lengths. The receiver is implemented using a commercial D-band down-converter. A data rate of 56.32 Gb/s is achieved at 2 m using 1.76 Gbauds, 16-QAM signals on each channel.