Daily Image
11-05-2016
A novel fibre-chip coupling technique at the Hannover Messe
| Submitter: | Peter Maat |
| Description: | In the past years, the company MA3 Solutions at Son (Eindhoven, NL) has developed a unique and novel technique for connecting a large number of optical fibers to a Silicon Photonics integrated circuit. To investigating and demonstrate this fibre-chip coupling technique, a 4-channel switched (optical fibre based) delay line demonstrator has been developed in a collaboration between ASTRON, MA3 and Ghent University. In this collaboration, MA3 has realised a fibre-chip coupler with more than 40 single-mode optical fibers for establishing optical connections to 4 rows of optical switches on a Silicon Photonics chip. The latter was designed and fabricated by the Photonics Research Group at Ghent (Belgium) within the framework of the ACTPHAST project (www.actphast.eu). All system construction related aspects like fibre splicing, wirebonding, design and fabrication of control electronics and fabrication of a mechanical support structure were handled by ASTRON. Currently, the fabrication and initial characterisation of two demonstrator systems are finalised. For showing the potential of the novel fibre-chip connection technology to a greater audience, the demonstrator was displayed in the ACTPHAST booth at the Hannover Messe. In the coming time the possible use of the MA3 technology in radio astronomy systems like the SKA/MFAA will be investigated in a DOME Users Platform study. |
| Copyright: | MA3 Solutions, ASTRON and Ghent University |
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