Fan-out routing and optical splitting techniques for compact optical interconnects using single-mode polymer waveguides

Abstract

Polymer waveguide (WG) S-bends are necessary for fan-out routing techniques and optical splitting in high-density optical interconnects. Designing and manufacturing of optimal S-bends are critical for minimizing optical link loss while maintaining overall size and layout constraints. Complete structural loss analysis is demonstrated theoretically and shown experimentally utilizing both radial and transitional loss in single-mode (SM) polymer WG radial arc, cosine, and raised-sine S-bend profiles. SM polymer WG straights were first fabricated to measure standard propagation loss. SM WG S-bends were fabricated incorporating straight lead-in and lead-out sections to incorporate transitional loss present in workable designs. S-bend designs were measured at different dimensions and matched to theoretical losses. Compact cosine and radial arc S-bends exhibited the lowest structure loss for low and high NA WGs, respectively. High-speed performance of SM WG straights and S-bends was measured at 10 Gbit/s demonstrating low error rate. Optical splitters designed with S-bends and tapers were also evaluated and fabricated. Trade-off between optimal loss and minimal device size is discussed.