title: Tolerancing of polarization losses in free-space optical interconnects.
abstract: A study of polarization losses in free-space optical interconnects is presented. A generic method is used for the prediction of optical power losses originating from fabrication errors in the polarization characteristics of components or light sources in free-space optical systems. The impact of polarization errors is evaluated on an individual level by a sensitivity analysis and on a system level by a Monte-Carlo analysis. The method is demonstrated by application to an optical interconnect example and validated by comparison with experimental results. The simultaneous interaction of multiple tolerance parameters (commonly known as "tolerance stackup") is shown to have a significant impact on polarization losses.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lacroix
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ayliffe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kirk