Highly efficient active optical interconnect incorporating a partially chlorinated ribbon POF in conjunction with a visible VCSEL.

A low-loss 4-ch active optical interconnect (AOI) enabling passive alignment was proposed and built resorting to a transmitter (Tx) incorporating a red 680-nm VCSEL, which is linked to a receiver (Rx) module via a partially chlorinated ribbon POF. The POF was observed to exhibit an extremely low loss of ~0.24 dB/m at λ = 680 nm, in comparison to ~1.29 dB/m at λ = 850 nm, and a large numerical aperture of ~0.42. Both the Tx and Rx, which taps into a beam router based on collimated beam optics involving a pair of spherical lenses, were meant to be substantially alignment tolerant and compact. The achieved tolerance for the constructed modules was beyond 40 µm in terms of the positioning of VCSEL and photodetector. The proposed AOI was completed by linking the Tx with the Rx via a 3-m long ribbon POF, incurring a transmission loss of as small as 3.2 dB. The AOI was practically assessed in terms of a high-speed data transmission over a wide range of temperatures and then exploited to convey full HD video signals.

CWDM based HDMI interconnect incorporating passively aligned POF linked optical subassembly modules.

A four-channel transmitter OSA (TOSA) and a receiver optical sub-assembly (ROSA) module were presented. They take advantage of a coarse WDM (CWDM) scheme, employing two types of VCSELs at 780 and 850 nm, where no wavelength filters are involved in the TOSA. The ROSA and TOSA were constructed through a fully passive alignment process using components produced by virtue of a cost effective plastic injection molding technique. In order to build a high quality optical HDMI interconnect, four channel optical links between these modules ware established via two graded-index plastic optical fibers (GI-POFs). The HDMI interconnect was thoroughly evaluated in terms of the alignment tolerance, the light beam propagation, and the data transmission capability. For the ROSA, the measured tolerance, as affected by the photodiode alignment, was ~45 µm and over 200 µm for the transverse and longitudinal directions, respectively. For the TOSA, the tolerance, which is mostly dependent upon the VCSEL alignment, was ~20 µm and more than 200 µm for the transverse and longitudinal directions, respectively. The beam profiles for the TOSA and ROSA were monitored to confirm their feasibility from the optical coupling perspective. A digital signal at 2.5 Gb/s was efficiently transmitted through the HDMI interconnect with a bit error ratio of below 10-16. A 1080p HDMI signal from a Blu-ray player was delivered through the interconnect to an LCD monitor and successfully displayed a high quality video.

Ribbon plastic optical fiber linked optical transmitter and receiver modules featuring a high alignment tolerance.

Ribbon plastic optical fiber (POF) linked four-channel optical transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) modules have been proposed and realized featuring an excellent alignment tolerance. The two modules share a common configuration involving an optical sub-assembly (OSA) with vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs)/photodetectors (PDs), and their driver ICs, which are integrated onto a single printed circuit board (PCB) substrate. The OSA includes an alignment structure, a beam router and a fiber guide, which were produced by using plastic injection molding. We have accomplished a fully passive alignment between the VCSELs/PDs and the ribbon POF by taking advantage of the alignment structure that serves as a reference during the alignment of the constituent parts of the OSA. The electrical link, which largely determines the operation speed, has been remarkably shortened, due to a direct wire-bonding between the VCSELs/PDs and the driver circuits. The light sources and the detectors can be individually positioned, thereby overcoming the pitch limitations of the ribbon POF, which is made up of perfluorinated graded-index (GI) POF with a 62.5 µm core diameter. The overall alignment tolerance was first assessed by observing the optical coupling efficiency in terms of VCSEL/PD misalignment. The horizontal and vertical 3-dB alignment tolerances were about 20 µm and 150 µm for the Tx and 50 µm and over 200 µm for the Rx, respectively. The VCSEL-to-POF coupling loss for the Tx and the POF-to-PD loss for the Rx were 3.25 dB and 1.35 dB at a wavelength of 850 nm, respectively. Subsequently, a high-speed signal at 3.2 Gb/s was satisfactorily delivered via the Tx and Rx modules over a temperature range of -30 to 70°C with no significant errors; the channel crosstalk was below -30 dB. Finally, the performance of the prepared modules was verified by transmitting a 1080p HDMI video supplied by a Bluelay player to an LCD TV.