Direct MT(TM)-compatible connectorisation of VCSEL and LED-arrays to plastic optical fiber ribbon for low cost parallel datalinks

For the realisation of MT compatible direct connectorised modules, a PMMA-based interconnection scheme, using index-alignment is developed. Plastic pieces are accurately positioned with respect to the chips and then fixed with epoxy, following an index-alignment strategy. Alignment accuracies in the range of 5 to 10 μm have been achieved, which is sufficient to have good coupling efficiencies in view of the relaxed alignment tolerances when coupling to large core POF (120/125 μm). The chips are assembled in commercially available packages, which are then mounted on PCB boards. First coupling measurements on fully assembled modules, using a red (670 nm) 1×8 VCSEL-array and a 1×8 RC-LED (Resonant Cavity LED, 980 nm), are successfully carried out