Large interconnects in photorefractives: grating erasure problem and a proposed solution.

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Materials Science
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• Grating erasure in photorefractive materials limits holographic optical interconnect density.
• Existing architectures using spatially and angularly multiplexed beams in bismuth silicon oxide (BSO) crystals are analyzed.
• The time-exposure technique, used to compensate for grating erasure, has drawbacks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the problem of grating erasure in photorefractive-based holographic optical interconnects.
• To evaluate an architecture using spatially multiplexed beams and angularly multiplexed input beams for recording gratings in a BSO crystal.
• To propose a novel architecture that minimizes grating erasure during recording and reading.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of grating erasure in a BSO crystal for an 8x8 detector array interconnect.
• Evaluation of drawbacks associated with the time-exposure technique.
• Proposal of a novel architecture segregating holograms and read beams.

Main Results:

• Grating erasure poses a significant challenge to the density of photorefractive holographic optical interconnects.
• The analyzed architecture, while attempting to mitigate cross erasure, still faces limitations.
• The proposed architecture demonstrates a method to minimize erasure by segregating recording and reading beams.

Conclusions:

• Grating erasure is a critical factor limiting the performance and density of photorefractive holographic optical interconnects.
• A novel architecture effectively minimizes grating erasure by separating holographic elements and read beams.
• This approach offers a pathway to enhance the density and reliability of future optical interconnect systems.