The protocol data rate governing data storage devices will increase to over 12 Gb/s by 2013 thereby imposing unmanageable cost and performance burdens on future digital data storage systems. The resulting performance bottleneck can be substantially reduced by conveying high-speed data optically instead of electronically. A novel active pluggable 82.5 Gb/s aggregate bit rate optical connector technology, the design and fabrication of a compact electro-optical printed circuit board to meet exacting specifications, and a method for low cost, high precision, passive optical assembly are presented. A demonstration platform was constructed to assess the viability of embedded electro-optical midplane technology in such systems including the first ever demonstration of a pluggable active optical waveguide printed circuit board connector. High-speed optical data transfer at 10.3125 Gb/s was demonstrated through a complex polymer waveguide interconnect layer embedded into a 262 mm 240 mm 4.3 mm electro-optical midplane. Bit error rates of less than and optical losses as low as 6 dB were demonstrated through nine multimode polymer waveguides with an aggregate data bandwidth of 92.8125 Gb/s.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the research in a project aimed at developing manufacturing techniques for integrated optical and electronic interconnect printed circuit boards (OPCB) including the motivation for this research, the progress, the achievements and the interactions between the partners. Design/methodology/approach -Several polymer waveguide fabrication methods were developed including direct laser write, laser ablation and inkjet printing. Polymer formulations were developed to suit the fabrication methods. Computer-aided design (CAD) tools were developed and waveguide layout design rules were established. The CAD tools were used to lay out a complex backplane interconnect pattern to meet practical demanding specifications for use in a system demonstrator. Findings -Novel polymer formulations for polyacrylate enable faster writing times for laser direct write fabrication. Control of the fabrication parameters enables inkjet printing of polysiloxane waveguides. Several different laser systems can be used to form waveguide structures by ablation. Establishment of waveguide layout design rules from experimental measurements and modelling enables successful first time layout of complex interconnection patterns.Research limitations/implications -The complexity and length of the waveguides in a complex backplane interconnect, beyond that achieved in this paper, is limited by the bend loss and by the propagation loss partially caused by waveguide sidewall roughness, so further research in these areas would be beneficial to give a wider range of applicability. Originality/value -The paper gives an overview of advances in polymer formulation, fabrication methods and CAD tools, for manufacturing of complex hybrid-integrated OPCBs.

Abstract-An autostereoscopic 3D display based on direct-view RGB laser projection via a transparent display screen is presented. Dynamic exit pupils are formed at the target eye locations with the help of a pupil tracker.

This paper investigates the end facet roughness of multimode polymer channel waveguides fabricated on FR4 printed circuit boards, PCBs, when cut at right angles to their optical axis by milling routers for optical butt-coupling connectors and compares it with that resulting from dicing saws and polishing and proposes a novel end facet treatment. RMS surface roughness of waveguide end facets, measured by AFMs, are compared for a range of rotation speeds and translation speeds of a milling router. It was found that one-flute routers gave significantly less rough surfaces than two or three-flute routers. The best results were achieved for a one-flute router when the milling bit was inserted from the PCB side of the board with a rotation speed of 15,000 rpm and a translation speed of 0.25 m/min which minimized the waveguide core end facet RMS roughness to 183 ± 13 nm and gave input optical coupling loss of 1.7 dB ± 0.5 B and output optical coupling loss of 2.0 dB ± 0.7 dB. The lowest RMS roughness was obtained at chip loads of 16 µm/revolution. High rotation speeds should be avoided as smearing of the end facet occurs possibly due to polymer heating and softening. For the first time to our knowledge, channel waveguide optical insertion loss is shown to be linearly proportional to the ratio of the waveguide core end facet RMS roughness to its autocorrelation length. A new fabrication technique for cut waveguide end facet treatment is proposed and demonstrated which reduces the insertion loss by 2.60 dB ± 1.3 dB which is more than that achieved by the closest available index matching fluid which gave 2.23 dB ± 1.2 dB. The new fabrication method gives a more robust end facet for use in commercial products.