ECOC 2026 showcases new optical communications launches

ECOC 2026, the European Conference on Optical Communications, has been taking place this week in Málaga, Spain. Researchers from both industry and academia and professionals came together to discuss and explore advances in optical communications. The conference program covered all aspects in the field of optical communications and networks, including emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and Quantum Technologies. optics.org has here gathered together a selection of notable launch announcements:

Avicena, a developer of microLED-based optical interconnects, demonstrated a connectorized microLED optical interconnect. The LightBundle™ eKit implementation combines Avicena’s high-density, laser-free microLED transceiver technology with an inline detachable optical interface, providing a practical path to assembling, testing, servicing, and upgrading optical connectivity in next-generation AI systems.

The announcement builds on Avicena’s recent shipment of the world’s first 1 Tbps microLED optical interconnect evaluation kits. Those systems incorporate as many as 335 independent microLED data channels operating at up to 3 Gbps per channel coupled through Avicena’s multicore fiber technology to integrated photodetector arrays. The connector uses an industry standard MPO form factor combined with a ferrule optimized for multicore fiber bundles.

“Introducing the world’s first connectorized microLED optical interconnect marks an important step in moving microLED connectivity from breakthrough technology to a deployable platform for AI infrastructure,” said Marco Chisari, CEO of Avicena. “Following the shipment of our 1 Tbps LightBundle evaluation kits, we are now demonstrating how the same fundamental architecture can be implemented with the modularity and serviceability required by system manufacturers.”

Lumentum showed a new eight-wavelength DWDM laser module in an External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable format. The module incorporates an optical interface designed to meet the applicable requirements of the Optical Compute Interconnect MSA. It is intended for external laser source applications in co-packaged optics and near-packaged optics architectures.

The ELSFP module provides eight simultaneous DWDM wavelengths across two four-channel bands centered near 1311 nm and 1331 nm. The design targets wavelength accuracy of ±0.2 nm and demonstrates up to 24 dBm (~250 mW) of optical output power per wavelength at the fiber. All eight channels operate simultaneously from a single, pluggable module with approximately 12 W of power consumption. The module utilizes Lumentum’s Ultra High Power (UHP) laser platform, already in production, in an eight-channel configuration with performance aligned to applicable OCI MSA requirements.

 “CPO and NPO are becoming defining architectures for AI scale-up, and external laser sources are a critical building block of that shift,” commented Sri Venkat, Senior VP and General Manager of Components. “This demonstration shows our progress toward a standards-based DWDM ELSFP module, positioning Lumentum to serve customers as the CPO/NPO market scales.”

Die-to-die optical interconnect showcase

Lumentum also took part in a joint demonstration together with Qualcomm Technologies and Corning of a high-density die-to-die optical interconnect showcase for AI scale-up architectures. The board-level demonstration combined a D2D interface IP subsystem from Qualcomm with Lumentum’s VCSEL-based optical interconnect platform and Corning’s multimode fiber connectivity.

The demonstration showcased a massively-parallel optical D2D architecture designed for future co-packaged- and near-packaged optics implementations supporting emerging D2D interfaces such as UCIe. By extending high-density D2D connectivity over optical links spanning tens of meters—while maintaining low latency and power consumption—the architecture enables highly scalable bandwidth density as AI systems drive interconnect requirements beyond the practical limits of today’s electrical connectivity. “This demonstration shows how Lumentum’s 1060 nm VCSEL platform can bring high-density optical connectivity closer to AI compute,” commented Matt Sysak, CTO at Lumentum. By combining advanced VCSEL packaging with Qualcomm Technologies’ D2D interface technology and Corning’s fiber connectivity, we are showing a practical path toward compact, energy-efficient optical D2D links for next-generation AI scale-up architectures.”

Coherent announced new optical technologies and gave live demonstrations designed to help customers scale AI infrastructure. It showcased innovations spanning AI datacenter connectivity, co-packaged and near-packaged optics, next-generation pluggable transceivers, optical transport, specialty fibers, optical circuit switching, advanced materials, and thermal management addressing rising power density.

The firm also presented PhotonLink™, a new integrated optics platform that combines Coherent’s optical technologies and integration capabilities to support CPO, NPO and emerging chip to chip connectivity. The platform combines components and complete optical assemblies with manufacturing at scale.  “Scaling AI infrastructure requires more than bandwidth – it requires solving power, integration and thermal challenges together,” said Dr. Sanjai Parthasarathi, CMO at Coherent. “At ECOC, we demonstrate how our expertise across materials, components and optical systems is helping customers address those challenges – from connections near compute to links between datacenters.”

Solinide Photonics featured its new turnkey optical frequency comb generator LumiCOMB at ECOC 2026. Designed for RF labs, researchers and developers, the LumiCOMB single-source comb generator replaces a rack of lasers with one highly-energy-efficient plug-and-play instrument suited to AI datacenters. Solinide Photonics staff demonstrated LumiCOMB, which is said to “provide a compact tool for AI datacenters, telecommunications, semiconductors, and consumer electronics. Photonics and systems R&D teams requiring a highly stable multi-wavelength source eliminating the need to build one in-house. The company stated, “LumiCOMB is a turnkey optical frequency comb generator built on our silicon nitride photonic platform. From a single switch-on, it produces a broadband, phase-coherent comb, a set of evenly spaced laser lines from one source.”