Crosstalk reduction in free space optical interconnects systems using microlenses with Gaussian transmittance

Abstract

A novel method to reduce the diffraction crosstalk for micro-lens based free space optical interconnects is presented. Instead of using microlenses with uniform transmittance apertures, the use of microlenses with non-uniform transmittance apertures is proposed. It is shown that the diffraction crosstalk which exists in the free space interconnects systems that use microlenses with uniform transmittance apertures can be substantially reduced by using microlenses with Gaussian transmittance. The optical field at the detectors array using both the uniform and Gaussian apertures have been derived and used to calculate the crosstalk. Numerical results have been introduced to show the improvement of the signal-to-crosstalk ratio when using the Gaussian transmittance for the microlens.