Optical interconnects play a key role in the implementation of high-speed short-reach communication links within high-performance electronic systems. Multimode polymer waveguides in particular are strong candidates for use in passive optical backplan
es as they can be cost-effectively integrated onto standard PCBs. Various optical backplanes using this technology and featuring a large number of multimode polymer waveguide components have been recently demonstrated. The optimisation of the loss performance of these complex waveguide layouts becomes particularly important at high data rates (>=25 Gb/s) due to the associated stringent power budget requirements. Moreover, launch conditions have to be carefully considered in such systems due to the highly-multimoded nature of this waveguide technology. In this paper therefore, we present thorough loss and bandwidth studies on siloxane-based multimode waveguides and waveguide components (i.e. bends and crossings) that enable the implementation of passive optical backplanes. The performance of these components is experimentally investigated under different launch conditions for different waveguide profiles that can be readily achieved through fabrication. Useful design rules on the use of waveguide bends and crossings are derived for each waveguide type. It is shown that the choice of waveguide parameters depends on the particular waveguide layout, assumed launch conditions and desired link bandwidth. As an application of these studies, the obtained results are employed to optimise the loss performance of a 10-card shuffle router and enable >=40 Gb/s data transmission.
Optical interconnects have attracted significant research interest for use in short-reach board-level optical communication links in supercomputers and data centres. Multimode polymer waveguides in particular constitute an attractive technology for o
n-board optical interconnects as they provide high bandwidth, offer relaxed alignment tolerances, and can be cost-effectively integrated onto standard printed circuit boards (PCBs). However, the continuing improvements in bandwidth performance of optical sources make it important to investigate approaches to develop high bandwidth polymer waveguides. In this paper, we present dispersion studies on a graded-index (GI) waveguide in siloxane materials designed to deliver high bandwidth over a range of launch conditions. Bandwidth-length products of >70 GHzxm and ~65 GHzxm are observed using a 50/125 um multimode fibre (MMF) launch for input offsets of +/- 10 um without and with the use of a mode mixer respectively; and enhanced values of >100 GHzxm are found under a 10x microscope objective launch for input offsets of ~18 x 20 um^2. The large range of offsets is within the -1 dB alignment tolerances. A theoretical model is developed using the measured refractive index profile of the waveguide, and general agreement is found with experimental bandwidth measurements. The reported results clearly demonstrate the potential of this technology for use in high-speed board-level optical links, and indicate that data transmission of 100 Gb/s over a multimode polymer waveguide is feasible with appropriate refractive index engineering.
This paper reports the observation of ultra-superluminal pulse propagation in GaAs/AlGaAs multiple contact heterostuctures in a superradiant emission regime, and shows definitively that it is a different class of emission from conventional spontaneou
s or stimulated emission. It is shown that coherent population gratings induced in the semiconductor medium under strong electrical pumping have great impact in causing a decrease of the group refractive index in the range of 5-40%. This decrease is much greater than that which would be observed due to conventional carrier depletion or chirp mechanisms. The decrease in refractive index in turn causes faster-than-c propagation of femtosecond pulses. The measurement also shows unequivocally the exist of coherent amplification of electromagnetic pulses in semiconductors at room temperature, the coherence being strongly enhanced by interactions of the light with coherent transient gratings locked to carrier gratings. This pulse generation technique can be anticipated to have great potential in applications where highly coherent femtosecond optical pulses must be generated on demand
