Integrated optical transceivers: from advances to deployment

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing is imposing increasingly stringent demands on the bandwidth density, latency, and energy efficiency of data movement. In a recent review, Peng Yan and colleagues provide a systematic overview of integrated optical transceivers, covering their architectural evolution, key transmitter and receiver technologies, integration approaches, and emerging applications. By relating device and circuit technologies to transceiver architectures and target applications, the review offers an integrated perspective on optical interfaces spanning pluggable modules, co-packaged optics, and optical input/output. Future progress will increasingly rely on cross-layer co-design, scalable manufacturing, thermal management, testing, and interface standardization.