Background, Definitions, and Principles
Optical Interconnects - Definitions and principles

Copper interconnects, which are predominantly used in local area networks, are already limited by their resistance and capacitance, which restrict their performance to a few gigabits per second over a few meters. The installation precautions (impedance matching, shielding, etc.) inherent to high frequencies are also becoming increasingly costly.

Optical solutions, now widely used in data centers (operators’ computing centers, or those of internet and multimedia service providers) for communication between devices, are being considered to alleviate information bottlenecks within computers and computing systems themselves. They have already proven their performance in terms of transmission distance, attenuation, and bandwidth in long-distance telecommunications applications,...