Photolithography-free polymer optical waveguide arrays for optical backplane bus

In this paper, an innovative 3-to-3 bi-directional optical bus architecture based on multimode polymer waveguides with embedded 45° micro-mirrors was successfully demonstrated. With a lithography-free imprinting process by high quality electroplated metallic mold, the device can be precisely replicated with a low fabrication cost. Superior to any point-to-point optical waveguide, the implemented optical bus structure is capable of broadcasting and receiving high speed data at 10 Gbit/sec among multiple points as a high performance optical backplane.