SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIER INTERCONNECTS

A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM IN IMPLEMENTING OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS IS THE INHERENT ATTENUATION CAUSED BY THE SPLITTING AND COMBINING OF OPTICAL SIGNALS. ACTIVE INTERCONNECTS USING SEMICONDUCTOR OPTICAL AMPLIFIERS (SOAS) SHOW GREATPROMISE FOR OVERCOMING THOSE INHERENT LOSSES, AND FOR IMPROVING INTERCONNECT SPEEDS FROM MEMORY, PROCESSORS AND DISPLAYS IN DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING APPLICATIONS. HOWEVER, THESE DEVICES ARE CURRENTLY LIMITED BY INADEQUATE TECHNIQUES FOR INTERFACING THE DEVICES TO OPTICAL FIBER. OPTIVISION PROPOSES A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH FOR INTERFACING ACTIVE OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS WITH SOAS, BASED ON (1) APPLICATION-DRIVEN INTERFACE PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS, (2) A THEORETICAL ANALYUSIS OF OPTICAL MODE MATCHING AND ALIGNMENT TOLERANCES, (3) SOA DEVICE MODELLING, TEST, EVALUATION, AND DESIGN, AND (4) PACKAGING DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION. THE APPROACH STRESSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FLEXIBLE PACKAGE DESIGN WHICH CAN BE APPLIED TO A WIDE VARIETY OF PROTOTYPE DEVICES AND CAN BE IMPLEMENTED AT THE PHOTONICS LABORATORY WITH RELATIVELY LOW CAPITAL COSTS. OPTIVISION'S PREVIOUS ROLE IN MODELING, TEST, AND EVALUATION OF SOA INTERCONNECT DEVICES AT THE PHOTONICS LABORATORY, AND ITS ABILITY TO WORK WITH A NUMBER OF DEVICE MANUFACTURERS AND PACKAGING VENDORS ENABLES US TO EVOLVE AN ECLECTIC SOLUTION WHICH IS NOT CONSTRAINED BY ANY ONE PROPRIETARY DEVICE DESIGN OR PACKAGING TECHNIQUE.