45-cm long compression-molded polymer-based optical bus

Abstract

We report the formation of an optical bus using compression-molding technique. The linear dimension of such a waveguide is well beyond that of a microlithographically defined waveguide. Theoretical calculation based on the effective index method was used to determine the optimal dimension of the molding tool design for single- and multimode waveguides. A molded photolime gel-based polymer optical bus with a linear dimension of 45 cm was fabricated and then tested at 0.6328-μm wavelength. Waveguide propagation loss from 0.5 to 2 dB/cm was determined using the two prism method. As a result of this long interconnection distance, board-to-board optical interconnects through backplane can be realized using the technology.