Polymer waveguide-based multilayer optical connector

D. Jubin; R. Dangel; N. Meier; F. Horst; T. Lamprecht; J. Weiss; R. Beyeler; B. J. Offrein; M. Halter; R. Stieger; F. Betschon

doi:10.1117/12.841904

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23 February 2010 Polymer waveguide-based multilayer optical connector

D. Jubin, R. Dangel, N. Meier, F. Horst, T. Lamprecht, J. Weiss, R. Beyeler, B. J. Offrein, M. Halter, R. Stieger, F. Betschon

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Proceedings Volume 7607, Optoelectronic Interconnects and Component Integration IX; 76070K (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.841904
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2010, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

For the realization of a polymer waveguide based optical backplane link for computing applications, we developed a method to passively align multiple layers of polymer waveguide flex sheets in a single MT compatible ferrule. The minimal feature forming the backplane is a 192 channel link. This link is equipped with four MT connector at each end, and is performing a shuffling of the channels. We describe the passive alignment used to realize the connectors. The achieved accuracy demonstrated in a 48 channels connector consisting of 4 polymer sheets carrying 12 waveguides each, is shown to be better than ±5μm. The connection losses between a 48 channel MT fiber connector and the realized polymer waveguide connector were found to be about 2dB. Compared to fiber connectors, the presented concept using polymer waveguides has several advantages. The most relevant are that only few assembly steps are needed, it is based on a totally passive alignment scheme and it can easily be executed by standard pick and place tools.

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D. Jubin, R. Dangel, N. Meier, F. Horst, T. Lamprecht, J. Weiss, R. Beyeler, B. J. Offrein, M. Halter, R. Stieger, and F. Betschon "Polymer waveguide-based multilayer optical connector", Proc. SPIE 7607, Optoelectronic Interconnects and Component Integration IX, 76070K (23 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.841904

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