POLYMER-BASED OPTICAL DATA BUS FOR HIGH-SPEED DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS

RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING A POLYMER-BASED OPTICAL DATA BUS FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERCONNECTIONS FOR USE IN DATA PROCESSING AND PHYSICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS. THE CONCEPT PROVIDES AN OPTICAL DATA BUS (ODB) COMPATIBLE WITH WIDELY USED MODULE INTERCONNECTION STANDARDS (E.G., CAMAC, FASTBUS, VMEBUS) WHILE IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SPEED AND PARALLELITY. RESEARCHERS ARE USING A HIGH-SPEED POLYMER-BASED ODB FOR CHIP-TO-CHIP, INTRAMODULE, AND MODULE-TO-MODULE INTERCONNECTION. THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL TUNABILITY OF THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF THE POLYMER MICROSTRUCTURE PROVIDES THE CAPABILITY TO MAKE A MICROSTRUCTURED CHANNEL WAVEGUIDE ON ANY SUBSTRATE OF INTEREST. THIS CHARACTERISTIC PROVIDES AN EASY MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING OPTICAL BACKPLANES AND PRINTED ODB BOARDS FOR SYSTEM-WIDE COMMUNICATION. THE HOST MATERIAL CAN BE USED TO INTRODUCE NONLINEAR OPTICAL MOIETY IN A GUEST/HOST POLYMER SYSTEM FOR THE HIGHLY PARALLEL PROCESSING NEEDED FOR FASTBUS INTERCONNECTIONS. THE POLYMER ODB IS IMMUNE TO EMI AND NUCLEAR RADIATION. AS A RESULT, RADIATION HARDNESS IS EXPECTED. A BOARD-TO-BOARD ODB SYSTEM THROUGH A BACKPLANE IS DEMONSTRATED. IT HAS SPEED AND COMMUNICATION DISTANCES BEYOND ANY CONVENTIONAL ELECTRONIC SYSTEM-WIDE INTERCONNECTIONS.