Digital Twin-Enabled Design and Optimization of Next-Generation Optical Data Center Interconnects

Abstract

The escalating demands of artificial intelligence workloads, hyperscale cloud services, and latency-sensitive applications are pushing conventional data center interconnect architectures toward fundamental physical and operational limits. Next-generation optical interconnects, encompassing silicon photonics, co-packaged optics, wavelength-switched fabrics, and hollow-core fiber transmission, promise transformative gains in bandwidth density, energy efficiency, and latency. However, the design space for these systems is extraordinarily complex, spanning device physics, thermal management, network topology, control plane synthesis, and long-term operational sustainability. This paper argues that digital twin technologies offer a coherent methodological framework for navigating this complexity. A digital twin of an optical data center interconnect is conceptualized here not merely as a simulation tool but as a continuously synchronized, data-driven virtual representation that informs design, deployment, optimization, and governance across the system lifecycle. The paper examines the architectural layers of such a twin, the structural trade-offs it helps illuminate, and the socio-technical challenges of validation, data governance, and equitable resource allocation. Particular attention is given to the role of digital twins in enabling predictive maintenance, dynamic reconfiguration, and sustainability-aware operation. The analysis concludes that digital twin-enabled design represents a necessary evolution in the engineering of optical interconnects, but that its benefits depend on robust calibration, transparent model governance, and institutional commitment to long-term data stewardship.