Abstract

Square arrays of InGaAs/InP MQW modulators are attractive devices for high speed switching of optical signals, especially where operation in transmission simplifies the system design. For example, simple 4×4 arrays have been used in demonstrations of i) parallel optical interconnect with the modulators driven by standard high speed CMOS to provide a capacity of 100 MBit/s x 16-channels¹ and ii) an opto-electronic implementation of neural network operating at 50MBit/s². The electrical addressing of individual devices in such arrays becomes more dificult as the number of elements increases, with packaging of such large arrays for use in transmissive mode posing further problems. For some applications, as in the neural network demonstrator shown in Fig 1, individual modulators need not be addressed, and more extensive systems can be built and packaged by linking individual modulators during the fabrication scheme, to provide line-addressed arrays. Furthermore, by applying the technique of double-sided epitaxy³, to the modulator-detector pair, and linking rows of devices in orthogonal directions on the two faces of the substrate material, a considerable miniaturisation of the experimental design may be achieved.

© 1991 Optical Society of America