Polyimide Waveguide WDM Devices and Its Packaging with Multi- Applications

Long haul fiber communications require optical amplifiers to reduce the number of optical repeaters. Dispersion at erbium-doped fiber amplifier wavelengths, however, limits the aggregate data rate for long haul communications. Physical Optics Corporation proposes a low insertion loss and low cost approach for waveguide WDMs. It uses polyimide as a waveguide medium, and a new photonic bandgap grating structure to enhance waveguide grating reflectivity. The many advantages of the proposed concept include: a new WDM component, based on a mature waveguide WDM geometry; low material and fabrication costs; low insertion losses; small wavelength channel separation (- 1 nm, satisfying network demands); more than 20 channels (potential for more than 78 channels); compact device structure, and; ease of packaging with laser and detector arrays. The goal of Phase I is to demonstrate the feasibility of a low cost polyimide waveguide WDM. Phase II will produce an optimized device along with the development of multi-wavelength transmitters and receivers for network applications. Hybrid packaging with developed multi-wavelength laser arrays and photodector arrays will lead to multi-wavelength transmitters and receivers. Commercial applications include fiber optic WDM devices, multi-wavelength communication, computing and signal processing, spectral identification for fiber chemical sensors, optical power combiners, and integrated spectrometers.