Enhanced pluggable out-of-plane coupling components for printed circuit board-level optical interconnections

Erps, Jürgen Van; Heyvaert, Stefaan; Giel, Bart Van; Hendrickx, Nina; Daele, Peter Van; Thienpont, Hugo

doi:10.1117/12.779265

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The experimentally measured detector alignment tolerances were in excellent agreement with optical simulations (Van Erps et al, 2010a). The coupling efficiency can be strongly increased by integrating cylindrical micro-lenses in the coupler and by introducing a curvature in the micro-mirror to ensure total internal reflection at the micro-mirror as well as beam collimation at the same time (Van Erps et al, 2008d). The optimal design (i.e.…”

Section: Coupling Structures For Printed Circuit Board-level Optical supporting

confidence: 71%

“…The histogram of the connector losses over the whole array is shown in the right-hand side of Figure 10. To populate these fiber connectors, we developed an in-situ interferometric setup which allows the monitoring of the fiber tip position during the insertion process (Van Erps et al, 2010). This ensures an accurate fiber tip position, coinciding with the fiber connector's front facet and across the fiber array in cases where post-insertion polishing is not possible.…”

Section: High-precision Fiber Connector Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Deep Proton Writing: A Rapid Prototyping Tool for Polymer Micro-Optical and Micro-Mechanical Components

Erps¹,

Vervaeke²,

Ottevaere³

et al. 2011

Rapid Prototyping Technology - Principles and Functional Requirements

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Section: Coupling Structures For Printed Circuit Board-level Optical supporting

confidence: 71%

Section: High-precision Fiber Connector Componentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Proton Writing: A Rapid Prototyping Tool for Polymer Micro-Optical and Micro-Mechanical Components

Erps¹,

Vervaeke²,

Ottevaere³

et al. 2011

Rapid Prototyping Technology - Principles and Functional Requirements

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“…The reason for this relatively small improvement compared to our previous results on curved mirror out-of-plane couplers 16 is the relatively small distance the light has to travel between the output facet of the board-embedded waveguide and the entrance facet of the MMF detector in this configuration. Nevertheless, because the curved micro-mirror collimates (in 1 direction) the beam emitted by the board-embedded waveguides, this leads to a slightly more relaxed longitudinal misalignment tolerance.…”

Section: Extension Towards Inserts With a Curved Micro-mirrorcontrasting

confidence: 56%

“…16 Indeed, the curvature can be chosen such that the micro-mirror incorporates some beam collimation functionality. This is especially important in view of the large divergence of the PCB-integrated multimode waveguides (NA 0.3).…”

Section: Extension Towards Inserts With a Curved Micro-mirrormentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of embedded micro-mirror inserts for out-of-plane coupling in PCB-level optical interconnections

et al. 2010

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Optical interconnections have gained interest over the last years, and several approaches have been presented for the integration of optics to the printed circuit board (PCB)-level. The use of a polymer optical waveguide layer appears to be the prevailing solution to route optical signals on the PCB. The most difficult issue is the efficient out-of-plane coupling of light between surface-normal optoelectronic devices (lasers and photodetectors) and PCB-integrated waveguides. The most common approach consists of using 45• reflecting micro-mirrors. The micro-mirror performance significantly affects the total insertion loss of the optical interconnect system, and hence has a crucial role on the system's bit error rate (BER) characteristics. Several technologies have been proposed for the fabrication of 45• reflector micro-mirrors directly into waveguides. Alternatively, it is possible to make use of discrete coupling components which have to be inserted into cavities formed in the PCB-integrated waveguides. In this paper, we present a hybrid approach where we try to combine the advantages of integrated and discrete coupling mirrors, i.e. low coupling loss and maintenance of the planararity of the top surface of the optical layer, allowing the lamination of additional layers or the mounting of optoelectronic devices.The micro-mirror inserts are designed through non-sequential ray tracing simulations, including a tolerance analysis, and subsequently prototyped with Deep Proton Writing (DPW). The DPW prototypes are compatible with mass fabrication at low cost in a wide variety of high-tech plastics. The DPW micro-mirror insert is metallized and inserted in a laser ablated cavity in the optical layer and in a next step covered with cladding material. Surface roughness measurements confirm the excellent quality of the mirror facet. An average mirror loss of 0.35-dB was measured in a receiver scheme, which is the most stringent configuration. Finally, the configuration is robust, since the mirror is embedded and thus protected from environmental contamination, like dust or moisture adsorption, which makes them interesting candidates for out-of-plane coupling in high-end boards.

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“…The advantage of discrete coupling components is that they are very versatile since they can be extended towards multilayer structures and can incorporate enhancements to increase the coupling efficiency, such as: integrating cylindrical micro-lenses or using a curved micro-mirror rather than a standard 45° mirror [9].…”

Section: Discrete Coupling Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling structures for out-of-plane coupling in optical PCBs

et al. 2008

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Coupling structures are critical building blocks that have a big influence on the performance of board-level optical interconnections. 45° micro-mirrors deflect the light beam over 90° and are used for out-of-plane coupling in single layer structures and out-of-plane and inter-plane coupling in multilayer structures. Two different approaches are being presented: a micro-mirror that is directly integrated with the multimode waveguides and a discrete coupling element that can be plugged into a cavity in the optical layer. The advantage of the integrated micro-mirror is the high achievable alignment accuracy. The discrete couplers on the other hand have the advantage that they can be characterized and measured prior to the insertion into the optical layer. Both mirror configurations are discussed and the performance is evaluated at wavelength 850nm.

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Enhanced pluggable out-of-plane coupling components for printed circuit board-level optical interconnections

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

Deep Proton Writing: A Rapid Prototyping Tool for Polymer Micro-Optical and Micro-Mechanical Components

Deep Proton Writing: A Rapid Prototyping Tool for Polymer Micro-Optical and Micro-Mechanical Components

Design and fabrication of embedded micro-mirror inserts for out-of-plane coupling in PCB-level optical interconnections

Coupling structures for out-of-plane coupling in optical PCBs

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