VCSEL-based optical transceiver with a 90°-bent graded-index core polymer waveguide coupler for 25.78-Gb/s transmission

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a low-loss assembly of optical elements [vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)/photodiode (PD)] and a 90°-bent graded-index (GI) core polymer optical waveguide for compact high-speed optical transceivers. The air gap between the 90°-bent GI-core waveguide and VCSEL/PD chips are filled with a high-index resin, and we demonstrate a reduction not only of the Fresnel reflection loss but also of the coupling loss due to the lower divergence angle of VCSEL and fiber output beams. In this paper, the core size and NA of the 90°-bent GI-core in the polymer waveguide are redesigned to match the specific launch conditions realized with the gap filled with resins, resulting in theoretical estimates of insertion losses as low as 0.82 dB and 1.38 dB for the waveguides on the transmitter and receiver sides, respectively. Such low insertion losses are obtained not by step-index core but GI core waveguides. After redesigning the structure, 90°-bent GI-core polymer waveguides with a bending radius of 1 mm are experimentally fabricated using the Mosquito method, and we experimentally demonstrate that the insertion loss of the waveguide can be reduced by about 4 dB when the 100-µm air gap is filled with an optical adhesive (na = 1.51). In addition, an error-free 25.78-Gb/s data transmission is successfully demonstrated over a 100-m MMF link using the fabricated VCSEL based transceivers with 90°-bent GI core polymer optical waveguides.