title: Photonic wire bonding: a novel concept for chip-scale interconnects.
abstract: Photonic integration requires a versatile packaging technology that enables low-loss interconnects between photonic chips in three-dimensional configurations. In this paper we introduce the concept of photonic wire bonding, where polymer waveguides with three-dimensional freeform geometries are used to bridge the gap between nanophotonic circuits located on different chips. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we demonstrate the fabrication of single-mode photonic wire bonds (PWB) by direct-write two-photon lithography. First-generation prototypes allow for efficient broadband coupling with average insertion losses of only 1.6 dB in the C-band and can carry wavelength-division multiplexing signals with multi-Tbit/s data rates. Photonic wire bonding is well suited for automated mass production, and we expect the technology to enable optical multi-chip systems with enhanced performance and flexibility.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstr. 5, 76131 Karlsruhe Germany.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lindenmann
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Balthasar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hillerkuss
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmogrow
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leuthold
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Freude
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koos