MassTech Collaborative has helped to make the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a beacon for advanced manufacturing. In partnership with the AIM Photonics manufacturing institute, MassTech has launched five Laboratories for Education and Application Prototypes (LEAPs) within academic institutions and/or companies spread across Massachusetts, to develop a skilled workforce in integrated photonics. Hands-on and in-person workshops, bootcamps and laboratory courses are offered at these LEAPs to learners from academia, industry, and the government. The MA LEAP network stands as an excellent self-sustaining model for hands-on STEM education and workforce training for the rest of the country.
Optical coupling between fibers and on-chip waveguides is a critical step in photonic testing and packaging. We demonstrated broadband surface-normal fiber-to-chip optical coupling based on free-form micro-optical reflector arrays integrated with foundry-processed SiN photonics. The couplers yield a low fiber-to-waveguide coupling loss of 0.5 dB at 1550 nm wavelength, and an exceptionally broad 1-dB bandwidth encompassing O to L bands (1260 nm to 1640 nm), only limited by the wavelength range of our testing setup. In-plane 1-dB alignment tolerances up to ± 2.4 µm and an out-of-plane 1-dB alignment tolerance up to 20 µm were obtained at 1550 nm. We further show that the Optical Free-Form Couplers for High-density Integrated Photonics (OFFCHIP) platform is universally applicable for chip-to-chip, waveguide to free space, and waveguide to surface-normal device coupling, qualifying it as a universal high-performance optical coupling interface for diverse use scenarios.
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