MULTI-WAVELENGTH HOLO-FIBER OPTICAL BUS

A NOVEL HIGH SPEED (>100) GHZ OPTICAL DATA BUS APPROACH IS PROPOSED WHICH INTEGRATES VOLUME HOLOGRAPHIC DEVICES FOR WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM) AND DEMULTIPLEXING WITH AN OPTICAL FIBER. THESE NEW HOLO-FIBER DEVICES WILL RESULT FROM THE MERGING OF THE TWO CORE TECHNOLOGIES OF PHYSICAL OPTICS CORPORATION (POC), BRAGG VOLUME HOLOGRAPH AND FIBER OPTIC COUPLING. WDM'S ALLOW AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF INFORMATION CHANNELS. CURRENT DEVICES DO NOT MEET THE CHANNEL-SPACING REQUIREMENTS OF FIBER OPTIC BUSES IN MULTIPROCESSOR COMPUTERS. POC WILL DEMONSTRATE HOLOGRAPHIC WAVELENGTH SELECTIVE COUPLERS THAT HAVE LOW LOSS, VERY HIGH SIGNAL-TO-CROSSTALK RATIOS FOR CHANNEL SPACING WELL UNDER 10NM. THEY ARE SMALL, LOW COST AND DO NOT INTERRUPT THE FIBER. FOUR HOLO-FIBER COUPLERS WILL BE FABRICATED (SOURCE-TO-FIBER, FIBER-TO-DETECTOR, FIBER-TO-FIBER, AND FIBER-TO-WAVEGUIDE) AND TESTED FOR LOSSES AND CROSSTALK. HOLO-FIBER FABRICATION INVOLVES DEPOSITION OF DICHROMATED GELATIN (DCG) FILMS ONTO A FIBER POLISHED ALONG THE CORE AT THE COUPLING NODES. A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THIS DESIGN IS THE GUIDED WAVE INTERACTION OF THE LIGHT WITH THE HOLOGRAM. THIS GREATLY ENHANCES SELECTIVITY.