title: Analysis of optical channel cross talk for free-space optical interconnects in the presence of higher-order transverse modes.
abstract: We analyze the effect of cross-talk noise on the performance of free-space optical interconnects (FSOIs). In addition to diffraction-caused cross talk, we consider the effect of stray-light cross-talk noise, an issue that, to the best of our knowledge, was not addressed previously. Simulations were performed on a microlens-based FSOI system using the modal composition and beam profiles experimentally extracted from a commercial vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. We demonstrate that this cross-talk noise introduces significant degradation to interconnect performance, particularly for multitransverse-mode laser sources. A simple behavioral model is also developed that accurately approximates the cross talk noise for a range of optical sources and interconnect configurations.
authors.affiliation: School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia QLD 4072, Brisbane, Australia. ftsai@itee.uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Feng-Chuan F
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Novak S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Petrović
authors.forename: Aleksandar D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Rakić