IN-SITU MEASUREMENT OF MISALIGNMENT ERRORS IN FREE-SPACE OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS

A nonobtrusive technique for measuring misalignment errors in multista ge free-space optical interconnects is proposed. The technique makes u se of dedicated microoptics to relay higher order dedicated alignment beams generated by an optical power supply onto alignment detectors lo cated on the periphery of a smart pixel chip. An implementation of thi s technique for measuring lateral (x-y) misalignment error in a multis tage optical backplane demonstrator is then presented. Performance par ameters are analyzed and future directions such as photonic extensions to electronic boundary scan standards are suggested.