10 Gb/s data transmission with TO-packaged multimode GaAs VCSELs over 1 m long polymer waveguides for optical backplane applications

Abstract

TO-packaged GaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are being investigated for high-bit-rate data transmission over 103 cm of a 250×200 μm 2 core size polymer-based optical waveguide to be employed in optical backplanes. The bit-error rates for 5 and 10 Gb/s transmission over the waveguides incorporating 45° deflection mirrors are better than 10 −12. For the first time, the measured bandwidth-length-product for a polymer-based optical backplane exceeds 10 GHz× m .