Aayuna Inc.

Alan Leonhartsberger

Kalpendu Shastri

Soham Pathak

Bipin Dama

Rao Yelamarty

Anujit Shastri

Rutvij Dave

Passive alignment and connection between a fiber array and a plurality of optical waveguides terminating along an edge of a photonic IC (PIC) is provided by a controlled mating between alignment V-grooves formed in a fiber array support substrate and extra-array alignment ridges formed beyond the extent of a waveguide array integrated within the PIC. The height and width of the alignment ridges are formed to engage with the alignment V-grooves upon mating of the fiber array substrate with the PIC, providing passive alignment while maintaining a physical gap spacing g between the components (ensuring the integrity of the passive alignment).

Passively-aligned fiber array to waveguide configuration

Passive alignment and connection between a fiber array and a plurality of optical waveguides terminating along an edge of a photonic IC is provided by a controlled mating between V-grooves formed in a fiber support substrate and alignment ridges formed to surround waveguide terminations along an edge of a photonic IC. The V-grooves of the fiber support substrate are spaced to define the same pitch as the waveguides on the photonic IC, with the height and width of the alignment ridges formed to engage with the V-grooves upon mating of the fiber support substrate with the photonic IC. The individual fibers are positioned within associated V-grooves such that their endfaces are retracted from a proximal end portion of the support structure. It is this proximal end portion that mates with the alignment ridges on the photonic IC.

A high density interconnect arrangement takes the form of a backplane-pluggable card, with electrical connections formed along a single (pluggable) edge and all remaining connections provided via optical fibers. An exemplary interconnect arrangement also includes on-board optical sources and silicon photonic-based circuitry for providing optical transceiver functionality. Passively aligned fiber arrays are utilized to provide I/O connections to external elements, as well as between laser sources and on-board silicon photonics.

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Kempton, PA, United States of America

Alan Leonhartsberger