Cost-effective and high-density integration of monitoring photodetector arrays onto polymeric guided-wave components

Abstract

We report on a hybrid coupling concept which allows high-density integration of top illuminated photodetector arrays with polymeric guided-wave based optical network components by means of a micromachined submount with an integrated mirror. The etching of a complementary alignment structure into the polymeric layer stack allows passive assembly with a 1.0 dB alignment tolerance range of about 40 /spl mu/m. A prototype 8-channel detector module integrated with a straight single mode polymeric waveguide array exhibited a coupling efficiency of about -7.7 dB and an average crosstalk value of -21.3 dB between adjacent channels at 1300 nm.