SBIR-STTR Award

An innovative novel idea (patent pending) is proposed for building a demountable optical fiber array connector in which a large number (as many as >10,000) of optical fibers may be connectorized at a relatively very low cost and in a small package (10,000 fibers within 2 inch square). The alignment accuracy will be very good, in the range of one micron. This Phase I proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of this novel fiber connection concept. (This proposal is accompanied by a sister proposal for developing opto-electronic package comprising a large array of fiber pigtailed vertical cavity surface emitting laser diodes.) The low-cost and compact array connector (and optoelectronic packaging) would contribute to expand the applications of advanced optoelectronics and fiber optics for commercial and military applications. Low-cost fiber-to-fiber connection; Low-cost laser diode fiber-pigtailed packaging for a single chip or a large array; Phased array antenna using optoelectronics; Intra-computer communications for parallel optical computing and optical Signal processing; low-cost interconnect component for information super highways.

Keywords:
Optoelectronic Interconnection Low-Cost Optoelectronic Packaging Low-Cost Fiber Optic Packaging

The main objective is to develop a novel connector that can satisfy all the conceivable needs for the world's commercial and U.S. military fiber optic applications, for single-mode and multimode fibers. The cost would be about one-tenth of that of conventional connectors. Two sizes of connectors will be developed: one for 1 to 64 fibers (sectional size about 1cmx1cm), and the other 65 to 512 fibers (about 2cmx2cm). The technical feasibility was proven in Phase I. A demonstration was performed at Loral Defense System Company, the prime contractor for the Optical Backplane Interconnect System (OBIS) program. Phase II will develop basic connectors for the general (commercial) applications, and connectors for military avionics applications such as OBIS and fiber optic link for advanced fighters and missile to be submit to Loral for their mil-spec tests.

Keywords:
Optoelectronic Interconnection Low-Cost Optoelectronic Packaging Low-Cost Fiber Optic Packaging