A unique combination of pillar and microlens is demonstrated to enable easy coupling between VCSEL layers and a multi-layer/channel optical printed wiring board. A number of uniform pillars having a microlens on the top were fabricated on a substrate using UV-curable resin by masktransfer self-written waveguide and dipping methods. Ray-trace analysis indicated that the focusing characteristics could be controlled by adjusting the pillar height and the microlens radius of curvature. Tolerance coupling efficiency between pillar height and microlens radius of curvature is acceptable. Light propagation measurements showed that uniform power was obtained from all top microlenses of the 3 × 4 pillar array on a slide glass. Studies of the reproducibility of microlens-on-pillar fabrication using the dipping method show a positive outcome. As a result, optical coupling efficiency is expected to be improved in optical interconnect applications.
Recently, the importance of the optical fiber is increasing particularly in sensing application. Thus, this paper proposes optical sensing by exposed core fiber technology using Self-Written Waveguide (SWW) method. SWW method is fabrication of an optical channel waveguide using a UV-curable resin. As a UV light irradiated, A SWW with length of 800 micrometers is aligned between two fibers from the end of the multi-mode optical fiber. A several testing materials with different refractive index are being tested on the SWW. The output optical power is decreasing as the refractive indexes of testing materials are increasing. From these results, this makes the SWW technology is a reliable exposed core technology for sensing application.
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