Design of reconfigurable GRIN planar optical interconnects

Abstract

Design of all-optics reconfigurable GRIN (Gradient-Index) planar structure for crossover and parallel interconnects will be presented. Design represents a unique combination of GRIN materials, simple geometry optics and waveguide technology for both parallel and distributed processing and communication networks. The optical analysis is based onaxis and off-axis multiple imaging property of GRIN components. The analysis includes the study of the Point Spread Function (PSF) for describing the performance of the GRIN planar structure and the evaluation of the Space Bandwidth Product (SBP) for estimating the number of channels which can be handled. The dependence of the number of channels on the wavelength of the light and the aperture of the planar interconnect is shown. The results are given for five working wavelengths of Laser Diode (LD) and for four transverse aperture of reconfigurable optical interconnect.