Guided-Wave Planar Optical Interconnects Using Highly Multiplexed Polymer Waveguide Holograms

An intraplanar interconnection scheme using substrate guided modes in conjunction with a highly multiplexed waveguide volume hologram is proposed. Acoustooptically addressed 1-to-50 passive and 1-to-2-to-100 reconfigurable interconnections with a fan-out diffraction efficiency of 55% at 514-nm wavelength are demonstrated. A coordinate transformation converts the 3-D diffraction problem into a 2-D one, which significantly simplifies the theoretical calculation. Intraplane massive fan-out optical interconnection using substrate guided mode provides both collinear and coplanar fan-out capability for data and clock signals. Colinearity of signal distribution allows the 2-D input signal array to be processed. The concept can be implemented to any substrate of interest, as long as the transparency of the substrate holds. The laminated waveguide device containing a highly multiplexed dichromated gelatin (DCG) hologram has been evaluated. It demonstrates an outstanding survivability in harsh environments. The most attractive applications are discussed.