SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL CLOCK DISTRIBUTION FOR OPTOELECTRONIC INTERCONNECTIONS

Optoelectronic communication with high data rates requires a clock dis tribution without a time skew. We propose an approach for a optical cl ock distribution to boards, with a time skew well below 10 ps, using e llipsoidal mirrors placed at positions determined by a set of ellipses . For this purpose a fan-out element is necessary, which generates a s et of fan-out beams with defined angles and equal (or well-defined) in tensities. Because of their high flexibility in design, diffractive op tical elements are well suited as fan-out elements.