Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods

Book excerpt: The most expensive phase in the manufacture of micro-optical components and fiber optics is also one of the most performance-critical: optical alignment of the components. The increasing degree of miniaturization makes this an especially challenging task. Active alignment methods result in higher costs and awkward processes, and for some applications, they simply are not possible. Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods introduces the passive alignment methods that are currently available and illustrates them with many examples, references, and critiques. The first book dedicated to passive alignment, it begins with an overview of the current activities, requirements, and general results of passive optical alignments, followed by three sections of in-depth analysis. The first of these discusses mechanical passive alignment, highlighting silicon waferboard, solder, and "Jitney" technologies as well as application of mechanical alignment to 3D free-space interconnects. The next section describes the various visual alignment techniques applied to Planar Lightwave Circuits (PLCs) and low-cost plastic and surface mount packaging. The final section details various utilities that aid passive alignment and their resulting tradeoffs and demonstrates Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate the potential of a given method. Passive Micro-Optical Alignment Methods provides the tools necessary to meet the challenge of precision and low-cost alignment for applications that require micron or sub-micron tolerance.