A 3-DIMENSIONAL (3-D) SUBSTRATE-GUIDED-WAVE TO FREE-SPACE MULTISTAGE OPTOELECTRONIC INTERCONNECTION USING WAVELENGTH-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING AND SPACE-DIVISION DEMULTIPLEXING

An integrated 3-D guided-free-space four-stage optoelectronic fan-out (6 x 6, 2 x 6, 6 x 6, and 2 x 6) interconnect using wavelength divisio n multiplexing (WDM) is proposed and then demonstrated together with 4 0 (2 x 4 x 5) 3-D optoelectronic fan-outs using space division demulti plexing (SDDM), This channel separation is one order of magnitude smal ler than that using wavelength-selective detecting techniques in WDM. A signal to noise ratio of 57 dB is experimentally determined, with tw o channel 40 (2 x 4 x 5) fan-outs having a channel separation of 600 m u m in SDDM. The interconnection scheme presented herein allows each p ixel in a transmitting plane to communicate simultaneously and reconfi gurably with many pixels in the subsequent planes in a truly 3-D featu re. This system can utilize vertical cavity surface emitting laser dio des, photo detecting planes, and planar compact guided-free-space fan- out interconnects, allowing compact multistage integration, By using 2 -D spatially separated or multiplexed hologram arrays on a thin light guiding plate, the interconnection capability is greatly enhanced as c ompared to other techniques. This novel optoelectronic interconnect te chnology may have widespread applications in microelectronic systems a nd fiber-optic communication networks.