Chip-Scale Photonics for Wide Temperature and High-Speed Optical Interconnects

This program will create 40 Gbps VCSEL-based micro-transceiver (uTRX) components that operate reliably over the standard military temperature range of -55°C to 125°C in Army environments. uTRXs are low-cost, compact components that can be assembled into the PCB in close proximity to high-performance ASICs using conventional solder-reflow"pick-and-place"assembly. The small PCB footprint and solderability is necessary to achieve high-density and flexible placement of optical components near the data source/sink. By reducing the routing lengths of high-speed copper wiring, we can achieve low-power, EMI-immune links within high-performance military computing and sensor systems.