This will be an in person event at PSU

We'll be in PSU so plan accordingly for parking and finding the room. 

Dinner will be provided 

Agenda:

6:30 Eat/Socializing 

7:00 Start of Business meeting 

8:30 End of Business meeting

IEEE SSCS Oregon Chapter May Meeting and Seminar

Join us for a talk from local Intel Labs Researchers, Dr. Susnata Mondal and Dr. Sashank Krishnamurthy, on Friday, May 23rd, 2025. The seminar will be held from 8:30am to 10:00am (PST) via a Hybrid format. Please register for the meeting link and information.

Topic:

Energy-Efficient Co-Packaged VCSEL-based High-Speed Optical Links

Abstract:

Co-packaged optics integrate optical engines with compute (XPU) or switch chips, drastically reducing electrical losses and boosting link efficiency. At Intel Labs, we developed two generations of co-packaged VCSEL(vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser)-based optical transceivers for next-generation data center and HPC applications. In the first generation, a 4-channel optical engine—including VCSEL driver ICs, VCSELs, photodetectors, TIAs, and fiber termination—was co-packaged with electrical transceiver ICs (mimicking XPU) to deliver up to 64-Gb/s TX and 50-Gb/s RX per-channel NRZ data rates, with outstanding energy efficiencies of 1.3 pJ/b and 1.5 pJ/b. These industry-leading results were enabled by several circuit innovations: a novel complex-zero CTLE for VCSEL equalization, low-power electrical TX, resonant clock distribution, Cherry-Hooper-based RX FFE, and a low-noise dual-clock-phase latch. The second-generation direct-drive transceiver advances to PAM-4 signaling, reaching 108 Gb/s at a record-low 0.9  pJ/b, thanks to a high-linearity coupled-inductor complex-zero CTLE for the VCSEL equalization and a high-linearity low-gain shunt-feedback TIA with active complex-zero CTLE for RX equalization.

Speaker Biographies:

Susnata Mondal received the B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Electronics Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, India, in 2015, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in 2020. Since 2020, he has been a Research Scientist with Intel Labs, Hillsboro, USA, where he works on electrical/optical transceivers. His current research interests include millimeter-wave circuit, algorithm and system design for multi-antenna wireless, and RF/mixed-signal design for high-speed wireline/optical links. He was a recipient of the IEEE SSCS Predoctoral Achievement Award in 2019 and the A.G. Milnes Best Ph.D. Thesis Award from Carnegie Mellon University in 2021. He was selected as the SSCS Rising-Star in ISSCC 2020.

Sashank Krishnamurthy received the B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from the IIT Madras, Chennai, India, in 2015, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, CA, in 2020. Since 2021, he has been a Research Scientist with Intel Labs, Hillsboro, OR, USA, where he works on ultra high-speed integrated electrical/optical transceivers. He has also been a Visiting Lecturer with the University of California at Berkeley. His current research interests include analog, mixed-signal, high-speed digital, RF, and millimeter-wave circuit techniques.

Join the IEEE Photonics Society Chapter for an engaging technical talk on the latest advancements in photonic integration. This session will explore cutting-edge research in manipulating complex light fields using both 2D silicon-based and 3D fs-laser inscribed photonic integrated circuits.

The speaker will present recent developments in multi-dimensional light field control—covering amplitude, frequency, time, polarization, and spatial structure—and their applications in optical communications, sensing, metrology, quantum computing, imaging, and more. The talk will conclude with insights into future directions and emerging opportunities in the field.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the transformative potential of 2D/3D photonic integrated devices across a wide range of technologies.