| A prototype of the new Free-space optical interconnection (FSOI) system, dubbed FAST-Net (Freespace Accelerator for the Switching Terabit Networks), was constructed and its optical performance measured. Results for the optical transmission efficiency pointed to the need to simplify optical elements and to better understand performance of the optics. A full theoretical analysis using eikonals and mock ray tracing was done in order to determine the ultimate limits of the optical performance and sensitivity to the variations of the system parameters.; To minimize light loss through an optical channel of the FAST-Net system an approach of substituting aspherical surfaces for spherical ones was analyzed. Optical parameters of the FAST-Net system were determined to imply replacement efficiency of around 2, meaning that roughly half of the spherical surfaces could be discarded by using aspherical surfaces for the FAST-Net optics.; Finally, a new framework for the analysis of tradeoffs between lens complexity and opto-chip real estate utilization was laid out. Two types of systems were analyzed: with and without microlenses. It was shown that use of microlenses can substantially lower the lens complexity without performance penalty, and that it is also possible to trade lens complexity for the data throughput (i.e., number of VCSELs x individual link rate) of the system. |
