Array of photorefractive waveguides for massively parallel optical interconnections in lithium niobate

An array of photorefractive (PR) waveguides is proposed for massively parallel optical interconnections. The array of PR waveguides can be fabricated in a lithium niobate crystal by illumination of an interference fringe pattern formed by plane waves. We numerically calculate the maximum density of the PR waveguides when the coupling between the PR waveguides is negligible. Experiments for the fabrication and guiding tests of the array of two-dimensional PR waveguides are demonstrated.