Design, implementation, and characterization of an optical power supply spot-array generator for a four-stage free-space optical backplane

The design and implementation of a robust, scalable, and modular optical power supply spot-array generator for a modulator-based free-space optical backplane demonstrator is presented. Four arrays of 8 x 4 spots with 6.47-mu m radii (at 1/e(2) points) pitched at 125 mu m in the vertical direction and 250 mu m in the horizontal were required to provide the light for the optical interconnect. Tight system tolerances demanded careful optical design, robust, optomechanics, and effective alignment techniques. Issues such as spot-array generation, polarization, power efficiency, and power uniformity are discussed. Characterization results are presented. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.