Skew-free optical interconnections using fiber image-guides for petabit-per-second computer networks

摘要

Parallel interconnections using VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser)-based fiber image-guides (FIGs) have been proposed. The FIGs consist of many individual optical fibers. A core in each optical fiber is small, and modal distortions may be small All optical fibers in an array fabricate in the same condition. Characteristics for each optical fiber are almost uniform, and skews in FIGs are expected to be small. The interconnections using FIGs have merits for both free-space optics and optical fiber communications. They may achieve highly dense and large channel communications, and easy alignments. Optical interconnections with FIGs and large-core fibers are proposed. Experiments and discussions show the optical interconnections have very small skews and distortions. The interconnections have also merits for costs and weights. Module concepts and applications to petabit-per-second optical networks for Peta-FLOPS (Floating Operations Per Second) computing are described.