Alignment-free photonic interconnects

Abstract: Next generation optoelectronic systems will require the efficient transfer of optical signals between many discrete photonic components integrated onto a single substrate. While modern assembly processes can easily integrate thousands of electrical components onto a single board, photonic assembly is far more challenging due to the wavelength-scale alignment tolerances required. Here we address this problem by introducing an alignment-free photonic coupler robust to x, y, z displacement and angular misalignment. This alignment-free coupler engineers a translationally-invariant evanescent interaction between waveguides by intersecting them at an angle, which enables a lateral and angular alignment tolerance fundamentally larger than non-evanescent approaches such as edge coupling. We show that our approach can function as a universal photonic connector interfacing photonic integrated circuits and microchiplets across different platforms. As a potential use case, we describe a new type of self-aligning photonic circuit board enabled by our approach that greatly simplifies assembly of complex optoelectronic systems.