We describe the design and implementation of a free-space optical interconnect for multi-processor and backplane applications. The system is designed to interconnect 4 nodes in a unidirectional ring, with a total of 256data channels propagating from node to node. Each node contains an array 5 12 GaAs electro-absorption modulators and 512 photodetectors, hybridly attached to a silicon integrated circuit. Light is relayed between nodes with a rigid micro-optical system. System results are presented.

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Board to board free-space optical interconnects can deliver high bandwidth with no physical contact but suffer from poor tolerances to misalignment. In order to obtain high misalignment tolerances, we propose the use of an active alignment scheme in conjunction with an optimized optical design. The active alignment scheme uses a redundant set of optical links and the active selection ofthe best link. The optical design maximizes the alignment tolerances between the two boards.