Low-Loss Multimode Glass Waveguides With Beam-Expanded Fiber Connectors Enabling On-Board Optical Links

摘要

Ion-exchange glass waveguides are a very promising technology with a balanced trade-off between optical loss, integration density, and fabrication costs. Graded-index multimode waveguides show low propagation loss of only 0.035 dB/cm at wavelength of 1310 nm in glass, compatible with large scale manufacturing. For fiber cable connectivity, expanded beam connectors were used to terminate the waveguides by passive pick-and-place assembly, resulting in a coupling loss of similar to 1 dB per interface. Design and fabrication of glass waveguides are studied, and 2-m-long spiral waveguides along with 12 x 12 optical shuffle waveguide layouts made on a 9 '' x 12 '' area glass sheet are demonstrated experimentally.