Tag Archives: optical

Free-Space Optical Interconnection Device

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Summary:

Ohio State researchers have developed a new optical interconnection device that may be useful in routing information for communications systems. Currently, fiber optic systems use electronic switches, requiring downconversion, switching, and upconversion that causes the opto-electronic-optical (OEO) bottleneck.. This invention will process signals at a much greater speed while facilitating easy operation and requiring less space than electronic alternatives. Further, this invention avoids highly complex optical MEMS alignment and continuous feedback typical of other optical switches, making this optical approach far cheaper, smaller, and easier to implement.

Potential Applications:

  • Optical routing and switching
  • Optical interconnections
  • Replacement of electronic switches in fiber-optic backbones

Advantages:

  • Compact design
  • Simple to setup and operate
  • Simple, inexpensive hardware

Instantaneous Monitoring of the Quality of Optical Telecommunications Links

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Summary:

Ohio State researchers have developed a novel method of signal quality monitoring that can reliably assess the quality of a digital signal in as little as 100 picoseconds, thousands of times faster than traditional bit-error rate (BER) or eye diagram testing. The technique compares bit shapes in an all-optical system to detect the combined effects of attenuation, dispersion, noise, and timing jitter. The hardware is simple, compact, and far less expensive than traditional QoS systems. This system allows users of optical links to quickly and accurately assess their data quality. Using this information, more intelligent networks can be designed and implemented.

Potential Applications:

  • Optical performance monitoring
  • Optical routing and switching
  • Digital communication systems (electronic or optical)

Advantages:

  • Compact, simple, inexpensive hardware
  • Orders of magnitude faster than traditional electronic bit error rate measurement
  • Instantaneous monitoring of optical link quality

Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detector Operating at Room Temperature

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Summary:

Existing CO sensors are usually of either the electrochemical or optical variety. Inexpensive optical sensors, usually battery powered, are limited in their precision and lack displays to determine exact levels of CO concentration. Electrochemical devices offer higher precision and offer a display for CO concentration, but must operate at elevated temperatures and thus must be plugged in to a wall outlet. Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed an electrochemical CO sensor that operates and senses CO at room temperature, thus eliminating the need for a heating device. Therefore, energy demands are far lower when plugged in to a wall outlet, and a battery-powered electrochemical CO sensor can be achieved. This sensor can monitor CO in the ppm range and can be readily fabricated by screen printing techniques with deposition on polymer substrates. Sensors are miniaturizable.

Potential Applications:

  • Home, office, and industrial CO monitoring for occupant safety and fire detection
  • CO sensors can be incorporated into mobile devices, such as cell phones

Advantages:

  • Increased safety and sensor longevity as no heating device is needed
  • For the first time, battery-powered electrochemical CO sensors are possible
  • A portable, battery-powered CO sensor with a display becomes possible
  • Great reduction in energy consumption
  • Low-cost and easy to manufacture

Cantilever Couplers for Intra-Chip Coupling to Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits

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Summary:

As electronics continue to get smaller and faster, standard copper connections between devices will prove to be inadequate for transmitting such high-bandwidth data. A more efficient and high-bandwidth solution is to use photonics, where data is transmitted via light in fiber-optic cables rather than via electrons on a copper wire. Photonic components are expensive, however, and in order to reach mass manufacturing status photonics must somehow be integrated into circuits based on silicon. This is difficult as coupling light directly to silicon integrated circuits has required dicing or cleaving the circuit in some way. Researchers at The Ohio State University have invented a way to efficiently couple light from an optical fiber to silicon photonic integrated circuits at any location on the surface of the circuit without the need to dice or cleave the circuit. This is achieved using on-chip cantilever couplers that can be fabricated using standard CMOS processes used in the semiconductor integrated circuit industry. This technique is an important step towards the widespread realization of optoelectronic devices based on silicon.

Potential Applications:

  • Optical interconnects
  • Low-cost telecommunications
  • Optical Sensors
  • Could revolutionize computing by allowing nearly limitless bandwidth

Advantages:

  • Couples light to silicon photonic ICs without the need to dice or cleave the circuit
  • Efficient and low-loss coupling method
  • Can couple light at any location on the surface of the circuit
  • Cost effective and mass producible as the invention is silicon-based