1st Edition

Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods

Edited By Robert A. Boudreau, Sharon M. Boudreau Copyright 2005
    416 Pages
    by CRC Press

    416 Pages
    by CRC Press

    The most expensive phase in the manufacture of micro-optical components and fiber optics is also one of the most performance-critical: optical alignment of the components. The increasing degree of miniaturization makes this an especially challenging task. Active alignment methods result in higher costs and awkward processes, and for some applications, they simply are not possible. Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods introduces the passive alignment methods that are currently available and illustrates them with many examples, references, and critiques.

    The first book dedicated to passive alignment, it begins with an overview of the current activities, requirements, and general results of passive optical alignments, followed by three sections of in-depth analysis. The first of these discusses mechanical passive alignment, highlighting silicon waferboard, solder, and "Jitney" technologies as well as application of mechanical alignment to 3D free-space interconnects. The next section describes the various visual alignment techniques applied to Planar Lightwave Circuits (PLCs) and low-cost plastic and surface mount packaging. The final section details various utilities that aid passive alignment and their resulting tradeoffs and demonstrates Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate the potential of a given method.

    Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods provides the tools necessary to meet the challenge of precision and low-cost alignment for applications that require micron or sub-micron tolerance.

    Preface. Overview. Overview of Passive Optical Alignment. Mechanical Passive Alignment. Passive Alignment in Connectors and Splices. Mechanical Passive Alignment. Silicon Waferboard Passive Alignment. Solder Technology for Optoelectronic Packaging. Plastic-Based Passive Alignment: The Jitney Parallel Optical Interconnect. Mechanical Methods for Free Space Passive Alignment. Visual Passive Alignment. Solder Bump and Visual Passive Alignment Technologies for Optical Modules. Passive Alginment for Surface Mount Packaging and a Low-Cost Plastic-Packaged Optical Module as an Application of the Passive Optical Alignment Method. Utilities for Passive Alignment. Large Spot Devices, Mode Transformers, and Optics. Monte Carlo Analysis of Passive Alignment Methods.

    Biography

    Robert A. Boudreau, Sharon M. Boudreau