Ultra compact optical subassembly using integrated laser diode and silicon microlens for low-cost optical component

We have succeeded in developing an ultra compact optical subassembly (OSA) that consists of a pre-aligned Si microlens and a laser diode (LD) integrated on a Si V-groove substrate with a footprint less than 1 mm by 1 mm. This OSA is small enough to be mounted on a TO-CAN package such as TO38, making the resulting optical component ultra compact in size and reducing the packaging process cost. A coupling efficiency better than -2.6 dB between the OSA and a single-mode fiber (SMF) has been experimentally confirmed. The experimental results show the OSA´s applicability to metro networks, making the OSA a promising candidate for low-cost and high-performance optical components.