An optical backplane connection system with pluggable active board interfaces

To present work and characterisation results from a project to develop a pluggable optical connector for board to board interconnect.

An optical backplane connection system is described, which allows for repeatable docking and undocking of an active optical interface housed on a daughtercard to waveguides fabricated on an optical backplane.

The optical backplane connection system described has demonstrated its successful implementation with respect to optical data transfer across multimode polymer waveguides. Measurement results presented show that such a system is a viable approach toward the application of pluggable optical backplane interconnects.

The direct connection to the exposed waveguide interface results in considerable optical loss and scattering. Future designs will have to address this. Additional work should also be undertaken to develop a means of connector engagement that is autonomous and requires no user intervention.

Prior research into the problem of coupling to an optical backplane has been concerned with interfaces that deflect optical signals by 90° into and out of the waveguides. Here, an alternative approach is proposed that launches light directly into the waveguide ends.