All-optical GaAs switching and modulation for space applications

In response to the need for radiation hardened optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) and systems, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) in cooperation with the University of New Mexico proposed to design, develop, and fabricate special OEIC units based on an open modular Light Distributing Interconnective Active (LIDIA) architecture. This design will alleviate most problems associated with electrical interconnects, and will be optimized from the perspective of system survivability, radiation hardening, high I/O bandwidth, built-in testing (BIT), packaging density, electrical power budget, thermal (heat) management, and electrical isolation. The proposed concept will include GaAs waveguides, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL--developed by the University of New Mexico), electro-optical modulators and all optical switches. The proposed optical interconnect concept will be applied for chip-to-chip data communications as well as for board-to-board data transmission in a 3D packaging configuration.