Dual-prism coupler for board-level free-space optical interconnects: design and simulations

Rohit Nair; Keith W. Goossen; Michael W. Haney

doi:10.1117/1.OE.51.4.045401

6 April 2012 Dual-prism coupler for board-level free-space optical interconnects: design and simulations

Rohit Nair, Keith W. Goossen, Michael W. Haney

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 51, Issue 4, 045401 (April 2012). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.51.4.045401

Abstract

An optical design for coupling light from off-chip lasers to on-chip surface-normal modulators is proposed in order to implement chip-to-chip free-space optical interconnects. The method uses a dual-prism module constructed from prisms made of two different glasses. The various alignment tolerances of the proposed system were investigated. For the off-chip lasers, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) are proposed. The rationale behind using on-chip modulators rather than VCSELs is to avoid VCSEL thermal loads on the chip, and because of higher reliability of modulators than VCSELs. Particularly above 10 Gbit/sec (Gbit/sec⁡), an empirical model shows rapid decrease of VCSEL median time to failure vs. data rate. Thus the proposed interconnect scheme which utilizes continuous wave VCSELs that are externally modulated by on-chip multiple quantum well modulators is applicable for chip-to-chip optical interconnects at 20Gbit/sec⁡ and higher line data rates.

Citation Download Citation

Rohit Nair, Keith W. Goossen, and Michael W. Haney "Dual-prism coupler for board-level free-space optical interconnects: design and simulations," Optical Engineering 51(4), 045401 (6 April 2012). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.51.4.045401

Published: 6 April 2012

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available