Deciding what the optical link must do and proving on paper that it can: the application (data centre interconnect, co-packaged optics beside a switch or accelerator, on-board or pluggable optics, or optical sensing), the reach, data rate, lane count, wavelength plan and modulation format, and the link budget that adds up laser power, coupling losses, waveguide and component losses, receiver sensitivity and the margin left for ageing and temperature, and the published optical interface standards and multi-source agreements the product must conform to, such as IEEE 802.3 optical PHYs or Optical Internetworking Forum implementation agreements.
This stage with its neighbours. Each row is a discipline active here, shaded by how mature its work is by the end of each stage.
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