Abstract

A four-channel slim optical interconnect is proposed and realized, featuring relaxed structural tolerance along with passive alignment. A compact micro-optic beam coupler in plastic, in which a prism and lens are integrated with a plastic optical fiber (POF) guide in a single body, is commonly incorporated in the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx). A pair of finely controlled reference holes is created in a printed circuit board (PCB), onto which a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and photodetector (PD) are mounted. The optical coupling for VCSEL-to-POF and POF-to-PD was meticulously performed via the pick-and-place scheme in a cost effective manner, through the mediation of the beam coupler in conjunction with the reference holes. For the manufactured slim interconnect, the effective thicknesses of the Tx and Rx modules were only 1.43 mm. The achieved 3-dB alignment tolerances were 28 and 46 μm for the VCSEL and PD, respectively. The proposed optical interconnect was finally demonstrated to deliver high speed video data at 5.4 Gb/s with high fidelity.

© 2015 IEEE

Ribbon plastic optical fiber linked optical transmitter and receiver modules featuring a high alignment tolerance

Hak-Soon Lee, Jun-Young Park, Sang-Mo Cha, Sang-Shin Lee, Gyo-Sun Hwang, and Yung-Sung Son
Opt. Express 19(5) 4301-4309 (2011)

Alignment and fabrication tolerances of planar gratings for board-to-board optical interconnects

Kasra Rastani and William M. Hubbard
Appl. Opt. 31(23) 4863-4870 (1992)

Highly efficient active optical interconnect incorporating a partially chlorinated ribbon POF in conjunction with a visible VCSEL

Hak-Soon Lee, Sang-Shin Lee, Bong-Seok Kim, and Yung-Sung Son
Opt. Express 22(10) 11778-11787 (2014)

CWDM based HDMI interconnect incorporating passively aligned POF linked optical subassembly modules

Hak-Soon Lee, Sang-Shin Lee, and Yung-Sung Son
Opt. Express 19(16) 15380-15387 (2011)

Chip- and board-level optical interconnections using rigid flexible optical electrical printed circuit boards

S. H. Hwang, W.-J. Lee, J. W. Lim, K. Y. Jung, K. S. Cha, and B. S. Rho
Opt. Express 16(11) 8077-8083 (2008)