Abstract
We present a novel array waveguide evanescent coupler (AWEC) for card-to-backplane or other appropriate optical interconnect applications. Three approaches to realize the AWEC ribbons were experimentally demonstrated. These results show that the new coupler facilitates easy coupling between card and backplane waveguides. It eliminates the problems of 90° out of plane turn using 45° etched waveguide mirror and local waveguide termination. The implementation of the coupler ribbon and coupler hardware at low cost will be significant for high-speed optical data bus in advanced computing systems.
