title: Optical interconnection for a polymeric PLC device using simple positional alignment.
abstract: This study proposes a simple cost-effective method of optical interconnection between a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) device chip and an optical fiber. It was conducted to minimize and overcome the coupling loss caused by lateral offset which is due to the process tolerance and the dimensional limitation existing between PLC device chips and fiber array blocks with groove structures. A PLC device chip and a fiber array block were simultaneously fabricated in a series of polymer replication processes using the original master. The dimensions (i.e., width and thickness) of the under-clad of the PLC device chip were identical to those of the fiber array block. The PLC device chip and optical fiber were aligned by simple positional control for the vertical direction of the PLC device chip under a particular condition. The insertion loss of the proposed 1 x 2 multimode optical splitter device interconnection was 4.0 dB at 850 nm and the coupling loss was below 0.1 dB compared with single-fiber based active alignment.
authors.affiliation: College of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Pusan National University, Miryang, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin Hwa
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Po Jin
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Cheon Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: El-Hang
authors.initials: el-H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang-Seok
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myung Yung
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055096:Optical Devices; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers