Xiang Zhou

Dr. Xiang Zhou is a System and DSP Tech Lead in Google's Datacenter (DC) Optics group, a position he's held since 2013. In this role, He spearheads the development of critical optical technologies and solutions for multiple generations of DC cluster and machine learning (ML) interconnection networks, ranging from the industry’s first 400G OSFP optical transceivers to the upcoming 1.6T OSFP technologies. His extensive contributions cover both component and system-level innovation. He enabled PAM4-based 400G and beyond BiDi optics by inventing advanced in-band optical interference mitigation technology and introducing uncooled EML with High modulation ER. Furthermore, he was a key architect and inventor of Google's reconfigurable supercomputer network architecture—powered by the innovative use of optical circuit switches— and pioneered the original concept and standard development of the industry's first pluggable coherent optics (400G ZR). He currently leads the development of future-scalable, DC-optimized coherent optical technologies to drastically scale datacenter and ML networking bandwidth. Before joining Google in 2013, Dr. Zhou spent over a decade (2001–2013) at AT&T Labs-Research, pioneering spectrally-efficient long-haul optical transmission and networking technologies. His research during this period produced over 100 IEEE Journal/OFC/ECOC publications and included multiple record-breaking achievements in the field. Dr. Zhou holds more than 70 US patents with a dozen more pending. Dr. Zhou is an Optica Fellow and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Lightwave Technology and Optics Express.