Abstract
A fan-in/out polymer optical waveguide with 25-μm cores and 40-μm interchannel pitch is fabricated for a multimode multicore fiber using a microdispenser. We design a fan-in/out structure to which the Mosquito method is applicable since the Mosquito method is capable of drawing a circular graded-index core three-dimensionally. Then, we experimentally fabricate a 10-cm long fan-in/out polymer waveguide with seven cores, which is expected to connect a multicore fiber and a fiber ribbon. A minimum insertion loss of 5.26 dB at 850-nm wavelength for a 10-cm long fan-in/out waveguide is experimentally observed. Causes of variation in the insertion loss and interchannel pitch are discussed.
Highlights
Over the last couple of years, the traffic of telecom and datacom networks has increased explosively by employing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems
The fan-in/out polymer waveguide currently reported is structured for a pitch conversion only in the horizontal direction
We developed the Mosquito method as a photomask-free fabrication technique for circular graded-index (GI) core polymer optical waveguides applicable to on-board optical interconnects [9]
Summary
Over the last couple of years, the traffic of telecom and datacom networks has increased explosively by employing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems. We propose a fan-in/out polymer optical waveguide capable horizontally converting the pitch of parallel cores and rearranging the vertical core alignment. We design a fan-in/out waveguide in which 7 cores are hexagonally stacked at one end in order to connect it to a multicore fiber, while the 7 cores are horizontally aligned at the other end for the connection with a fiber ribbon or parallel laser/detector modules. We developed the Mosquito method as a photomask-free fabrication technique for circular graded-index (GI) core polymer optical waveguides applicable to on-board optical interconnects [9]. Most of the fan-in/out devices already reported are for single-mode multicore fibers, in this paper, we feature a multimode multicore fiber with 25-μm core diameter and 40-μm pitch because of the ease of fabrication [10]
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