Abstract

Combining the parallelism and connectivity of optics with electronics in smart pixel systems requires the development of robust and reliable optical systems. This is an important issue as the solutions to many applications must be implemented in harsh or variable environments. In addition, the combination of electronic boards that are relatively placement insensitive with optical systems that demand accurate positioning to obtain high performance, requires methods by which these demands can be fulfilled. Most bulk optical imaging systems utilizing custom and off-the-shelf optics and optomechanics can provide some solutions to optical interconnections in laboratory experiments and subsystem demonstrations. However, there are optical and size limitations to classical imaging techniques that can be overcome with the use of hybrid bulk and micro optic imaging. Use of large arrays of microlenses is an effective method of interconnecting large dilute arrays of smart pixels. The micro channel technique for 4-f imaging of focal spot arrays and device planes establishes a single optical path for each channel in the array. This type of one-to-one imaging may be usefully implemented in various imaging systems. In particular, relaying optical data from chips mounted on electronic boards. In addition to simple one to one imaging, arrays of focal spots originating from different sources must be combined together. For example, signal inputs incident a smart pixel array must be combined with the clock array that is used to read the state of the devices. We have investigated and developed passive and active alignment techniques applied to the construction of these hybrid optical components and have fabricated hybrid micro-channel beam combining units that have been integrated into a smart pixel transmitter array subsystem demonstration [1].

© 1997 Optical Society of America