Chip-agnostic optical packaging of photonic integrated circuits using refractive micro-optics

We present the derivation of governing equations for the design of micro-optic refractive components to expand and collimate a beam between a photonic integrated circuit and a fiber. These can be used to relax the alignment tolerances in photonic packaging and allow for the design of pluggable optical interfaces. We perform a multi-axial analysis of tolerances based on the expanded beam mode-field diameter. Critically, we show how this scheme can create chip-agnostic fiber coupler designs.