Self aligning optical interconnect with multiple opto-electronic devices per fiber channel

Abstract

A method for alignment in software and supporting circuitry of the optical transmitters and receivers to their respective optical channels at each connection of a multi-channel optical link to an optical planar array, permits non-critical physical alignment of the connector to the optical array. The steps include: employing a connector and optical array configuration at each connection in which there are several optical devices within the illumination area of each channel at the connector/array interface, employing supporting circuitry and software that has control of all optical devices associated with the optical link, enabling all receivers, turning on the transmitters sequentially, recording which of the receivers is responding, comparing matching receiver sets for each transmitter to identify associated transmitter sets and channels.