title: Design, implementation, and characterization of a folded spot-array generator for a modulator-based free-space optical interconnect.
abstract: A folded structured light generator is presented. This spot generator is to be used in a modulator-based free-space optical interconnect. Three cascaded diffractive optical elements produce 4 x 8 clusters on an 800 microm x 1600 microm pitch, in which each cluster is a 4 x 4 array of 13.1-microm-radius spots on a 90-microm pitch. The folded configuration is more compact than an existing linear spot-array generator and replaces 14 optical surfaces with eight surfaces. Details of the optical design, sensitivity analysis, alignment techniques, assembly, and test results are presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 2A7, Canada. fredd@photonics.ece.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thomas-Dupuis
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Châteauneuf
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kirk