Polyguide technology for passive optical interconnects

DuPont has developed an optical interconnect technology consisting of polymer materials and fabrication and assembly processes. This technology, referred to as Polyguide, provides the user with the capability to mass produce channel optical waveguides that perform splitting, point to point interconnection, wavelength discrimination and other optical functions. These materials and processes make packaging practical. This has been demonstrated with optical printed wiring boards, connectorized multilayer ceramic modules and discrete pigtailed components. Critical interfacing requirements have also been met. These include the passively aligned attachment of single mode optical fiber arrays and the fabrication of low loss mirrors for coupling to laser diodes, LEDs, and photodectors. As part of the ARPA funded POLO project DuPont is advancing the fabrication and assembly processes to allow low cost deployment of optical interconnects. A description of current Polyguide technology and performance specifications will be presented. Demonstrations of packaging will be reviewed. This polymer system addresses most of the tasks required for the practical utilization of optical waveguides. Polyguide technology can enable optical connectivity and transmission in many new products.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.