Short distance eight-channel parallel optical link for data communications

The design, setup, and characterization of an eight-channel parallel optical interconnection for data communications with low power consumption and high channel density are presented. The link is electrically compatible with ECL (emitter coupled logic) integrated circuits. It consists of arrays of laser diodes, planar waveguides, photodiodes, and amplifiers. The total data throughput is 5 Gb/s (625 Mb/s per channel); the width is 1 mm (125-μm pitch); and the total power consumption is less than 1 W. The signal delay (latency) from the electrical input at the emitter to the electrical output of the receiver is given by the propagation time through the optical waveguide plus a value of less than 1.5 ns, which is due to the delay in the optoelectronic and electric components (mostly the receiver amplifier). Special components were designed and fabricated: laser diodes, photodiodes, amplifiers, and planar optical waveguides, each as an array with eight channels