124.8-Gbit/s Net Data Rate Capacity for IM/DD Optical Intra-Data Center Interconnections By Utilizing Probabilistically Shaped PAM-8 and Digital Linear Feed-Forward Equalizers

We experimentally demonstrate 50-Gbaud probabilistically shaped PAM-8 signal transmissions based on Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based intra-data center interconnects. Considering the 7% hard-decision forward error correction overhead, after transmissions over a 1-km single-mode fiber, we achieve a net data rate of 124.8-Gbit/s enabled by probabilistic shaping and linear digital equalization.