Abstract

The complexity and size of interconnection-rich telephone switching systems require the extension of data buses over a large complement of frames. Physical designers have chosen bit serial transport over fiber to overcome the length limitations of coaxial cable from attenuation, to reduce cable volume, to provide isolation and avoid ground loops, to reduce RFI and EMI interference and coupling between channels, and to be able to make and break live connections without damaging the transmitter or receiver electronics. It has been shown that for certain interconnection applications there exists an optimum degree of parallelism (based on cost), depending on the data rate and the number of the channels.¹ Prototype one-dimensional optical data links (1D-ODL’s) using linear 1 × n device arrays have been demonstrated in a number of laboratories and take advantage of the current infrastructure of fiber ribbon, splices, and connectors. Extending this concept to a second dimension by creating a two-dimensional optical data link (2D-ODL) using n×m device arrays may yield further economies of scale. We have constructed several prototype 2D-ODL’s (Table 1 ) using direct modulation of 2D arrays of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL’s)² as shown in Fig. 1, and symmetric self-electro-optic effect device (S-SEED) modulators³ with Si P-I-N/bipolar OEIC receivers.⁴ The benefits and drawbacks of each technology will be briefly discussed.

© 1993 Optical Society of America