Two-Dimensional Alignment-Free Optical Interconnect Using Micro Optical Bench Scheme

In this paper, we have proposed and demonstrated a novel packaging method involving a vertical cavity-surface emitting laser (VCSEL) array. The concept is based on micro optical bench (MOB) placing a laser sub-mount and two-dimensional optical fiber array to match the reference plane of MOB to provide an alignment free optical interconnect. No degradation of I-V and I-L characteristics of the packaged VCSELs was found after use of the proposed packaging process. The coupling loss was about 0.9 dB for λ = 1.55 μm and the loss deviation among channels was less than 0.5 dB in a 2 x 4 ch coupling module between planar microlens and multi-mode fibers.