Self-Alignment of Optical Devices With Fiber for Low-Cost Optical Interconnect Modules

• Published in: IEEE photonics technology letters Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 193 - 195
• Main Authors: Suzuki, A., Wakazono, Y., Nagao, D., Ishikawa, T., Hino, T., Hashimoto, Y., Masuda, H., Suzuki, S., Tamura, M., Suzuki, T., Kikuchi, K., Nakagawa, H., Okada, Y., Aoyagi, M., Mikawa, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2008; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Devices; Fiber lasers; Fibers; High speed; Liquid adhesive; Liquids; Optical coupling; Optical data processing; Optical devices; Optical fiber devices; Optical fibers; Optical interconnections; Pulse modulation; self-alignment; Surface emitting lasers; Surface tension; Vertical cavity surface emission lasers; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)
• ISSN: 1041-1135; 1941-0174
• DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2007.913243

We propose a novel self-alignment process of optical devices with optical fiber. A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) was automatically coupled with a multimode fiber (MMF) through the surface tension of a liquid adhesive within 1.5 s. Misalignment between the center of the VCSEL and the fiber was measured to be 15 mum, which is acceptable for coupling the VCSEL with the MMF. High-speed pulse modulation of the self-aligned VCSEL up to 5 Gb/s, as well as at 1 Gb/s, was demonstrated. The average optical output power was as high as -5.9 dBm at 1 Gb/s.