Chip-agnostic optical packaging of photonic integrated circuits using refractive micro-optics

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Electrical Engineering

Background:

• Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) require efficient coupling to optical fibers.
• Current packaging methods face challenges with alignment tolerances and miniaturization.
• Pluggable optical interfaces are desired for modularity and ease of use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To derive governing equations for micro-optic refractive components.
• To enable beam expansion and collimation between PICs and fibers.
• To develop chip-agnostic fiber coupler designs.

Main Methods:

• Derivation of governing equations for micro-optic refractive components.
• Multi-axial tolerance analysis based on expanded beam mode-field diameter.
• Design and simulation of micro-optic beam expanders and collimators.

Main Results:

• Successfully derived equations for designing micro-optic refractive components.
• Demonstrated the ability to expand and collimate beams between PICs and fibers.
• Validated a scheme for creating chip-agnostic fiber coupler designs through tolerance analysis.

Conclusions:

• The derived equations facilitate the design of micro-optic components for PIC-to-fiber interfacing.
• The proposed method significantly relaxes alignment tolerances in photonic packaging.
• This approach enables the development of versatile, chip-agnostic fiber couplers, advancing pluggable optical interface technology.