Single Chip 8x8 Optical Interconnect Using Micromachined Free-Space Micro-Optical Bench Technology - Massively Parallel Processing Using Optical Interconnections, 1996., Proceedings of the Third Inte

A three-dimensional multi-stage optical interconnection network is proposed for mussively purullel processors. The interconnection network employs beamsteering vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers FCSEL) as space-division switching elements, and micromachined micro-Fresnel lenses as free-space optical elements. The entire switching network is integrated on a Si chip using the free-space micro-optical bench technology (FSMOB). All the optics in the switching network has been prealigned during the design process. The laser arrays and detector arrays are monolithically fabricated on the same smart pixel plane. Two smart pixel planes are mounted face-to-face and optically connected by the Fresnel lens arrays between them. The number ofswitching stages can be increased by vertically cascading switching arrays, forming a threedimensional interconnect network. This conjigwation greatly reduces the physical dimensions of the system, and can be readily scaled up to large switching networks. We have successfully implemented an 8x8 banyan network by cascading two folded cavity.