Photochemically processed glass-ceramic optical interconnects

The use of a photochemically processed glass-ceramic material, Fotoform, as a substrate for making optical-fiber-array interconnects for computer applications is discussed. The material is shown to be patternable with accuracies that approach that of single-crystal silicon. Results indicate that Fotoform has several advantages over silicon in that it is less brittle, can easily accommodate fibers, and can be assembled using ultraviolet-curable epoxies. Results for producing single-component arrays of from 6 to 32 multimode fibers are presented