To provide more flexibility in inter-board communication in blade chassis, we developed a Free Space Optical Interconnect (FSOI) system for short range high speed data transfer. We designed robust and low footprint components compliant with both a use in milaero environment and an operation up to 5 and 10 Gbps. The 5Gpbs configuration demonstrated large tolerance to misalignment between emitter and receiver modules: +1.5/-1 mm along optical axis, lateral tolerance of +/-1 mm and angular tolerances of +/-1.5°. Reliable performances have been demonstrated over a temperature range from -30°C to 80°C and constraint environment as thermal and damp heat cycles and vibrations. Increase the data rate of the FSO device one step beyond up to 10 Gbps requires dealing with mode partitioning troubles generated by the use of VCSEL lasers. We designed and evaluated an improved opto-mechanical combination to overcome this drawback. The resulting device shows error free 10 Gbps data transfer while keeping large tolerance to Tx/Rx misalignments.
We report on a technology for multi-level microstructures manufacturing. Results are presented in the field
of multilevel diffractive optical elements (DOEs) fabrication. The DOEs presented as examples are Fresnel
lenses and Fourier computer generated holograms, calculated by means of a conventional Iterative Fourier
Transform Algorithm. The DOEs have a typical pixel dimension of 5x5 μm2 and are up to 512 by 512 pixels in
size.
The fabrication technique is based on polymer laser ablation through a chrome-on-quartz half-tone mask
with a demagnifying high NA lens. In our case, the mask is imaged onto the polymer with a 5x, 0.13 NA
reduction lens. The experimental results are presented and discussed.
Very short range (VSR) high bit rate optical fiber communications are an emerging market dedicated to local area networks, digital displays or board to board interconnects within real time calculators. In this technology, a very fast way to exchange data with high noise immunity and low-cost is needed. Optical multimode graded index fibers are used here because they have electrical noise immunity and are easier to handle than monomode fibers. 850 nm VCSEL are used in VSR communications because of their low cost, direct on-wafer tests, and the possibility of manufacturing VCSEL arrays very easily compared to classical optical transceivers using edge-emitting laser diodes.
Although much research has been carried out in temperature modeling on VCSEL emitters, few studies have been devoted to characterizations over a very broad range of temperatures. Nowadays, VCSEL VSR communications tend to be used in severe environments such as space, avionics and military equipments. Therefore, a simple way to characterize VCSEL emitters over a broad range of temperature is required. In this paper, we propose a complete characterization of the emitter part of 2.5 Gb/s opto-electrical transceiver modules operating from -40°C to +120°C using 850 nm VCSELs. Our method uses simple and semi-automatic measurements of a given set of chosen device parameters in order to make fast and efficient simulations.
D-Lightsys considers free space optical links for intermediate communication distances ranging from a few centimeters to one or two meters. In this paper, we present the initial simulations and the first experimental characterizations of a VCSEL-based point-to-point free space interconnect on distances ranging from 16cm to 40cm targeting bit rates up to 2.5Gbps.
Planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) made from photo-patternable sol-gel materials are attracting considerable R&D interest. This is due to the advantages they offer for applications in optical telecommunications and their compatibility with existing silicon technology process equipment. In particular, the ability to produce devices compatible with silica optical fibres using a straightforward, environmentally friendly, photolithographic process is very attractive. The approach is now well-established in the literature and typically involves the incorporation of an acrylate moiety in the sol-gel precursor mixture, thereby providing a photo-polymerisability function. In this work, we report on the fabrication of passive optical components and devices designed for datacomms applications using visible diode lasers or the 1st telecom window. Silica-based sol-gel waveguides have been integrated in an opto-electronic multichip module (OE-MCM) demonstrator for optical interconnect applications. We have fabricated an 8-channel transmitter module for parallel optical interconnects (POI) based on 2 sub-modules: (a) an optical interface sub-assembly based on photo-patterned sol-gel optical waveguides, and (b) an optoelectronic component sub-module comprising an array of VCSELs. We describe here the fabrication, characterization and performance of the optical components and a POI Transmitter chip.
A novel method is presented to manufacture multilevel diffractive optical elements (DOEs) in polymer by single- step KrF excimer laser ablation using a halftone mask. The DOEs have a typical pixel dimension of 5 micrometers and are up to 512 by 512 pixels in size. The DOEs presented are Fresnel lenses and Fourier computer generated holograms, calculated by means of a conventional iterative Fourier transform algorithm. The halftone mask is built up as an array of 5 micrometers -square pixels, each containing a rectangular or L- shaped window on an opaque background. The mask is imaged onto the polymer with a 5x, 0.13 NA reduction lens. The pixels are not resolved by the lens, so they behave simply as attenuators, allowing spatial variation of the ablation rate via the window size. The advantages of halftone mask technology over other methods, such as pixel-by-pixel ablation and multi-mask overlay, are that it is very fast regardless of DOE size, and that no high-precision motion stages and alignment are required. The challenges are that the halftone mask is specific to the etch curve of the polymer used, that precise calibration of each grey-level is required, and that the halftone mask must be calculated specifically for the imaging lens used. This paper describes the design procedures for multilevel DOEs and halftone masks, the calibration of the various levels, and some preliminary DOE test results.
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