A compact optical active connector: an optical interconnect module with an electrical connector interface

This paper describes a compact optical active connector that has both optical and electrical interfaces for an asynchronous-transfer-mode (ATM) switching system and high-speed computer network systems. This connector with an O/E or E/O conversion module can replace the conventional electrical-cable six-pin connector for an ordinary printed circuit board that has only an electrical interface. Our connector consists of a specially developed duplex MU-type submodule with photonic devices, an electrical connector, and integrated circuits (ICs). It can be used for 620-Mbps data transmission and has lower electromagnetic radiation noise than conventional connectors. Using optical active connectors to replace electrical-cable connectors will facilitate the introduction of high-throughput, large-capacity ATM switching systems, and next-generation local area network systems.