Densely-aligned multi-channel polymer optical waveguide with graded-index cores for simple implementation on printed circuit

For board-level optical interconnections, we newly develop a waveguide with graded-index (GI) “rectangular cores.” We demonstrate that near-parabolic index profiles formed in the rectangular cores exhibit superior properties compared to conventional waveguides with step refractive index (SI) cores, and almost equivalent to GI waveguide with circular cores. In this research, we focus on the great advantage of the new waveguides in implementing or embedding on printed circuit broads (PCBs) with low-cost.