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Traditional vs AAYUNA Approach for Passive Alignment with Multiple Insertions

Traditional Approach

Traditional Approach Diagram
PIC Mode Fiber Mode
  • Lens arrays needed for passive alignment
  • Multi-axis robotic insertion required
  • Alignment complexity increases with fiber count
  • Higher CapEx, lower UPH

AAYUNA Approach

AAYUNA Approach Diagram
PIC Mode Fiber Mode
  • Precision V-groove attachment for fibers
  • Micron-precision passive alignment
  • Scales effectively with high-fiber count
  • IC ecosystem compatible, higher UPH, lower cost
More Details

Benefits of Our Approach over the Traditional ones

Traditional Approach
AAYUNA Approach
Metric Traditional Collimated (Expanded) Beam Approach Our Approach
Performance ~1.5-1.8 dB additional loss – perfect fiber mode on the PIC to fiber coupling – Accounting for all the components + assembly tolerances <0.8 dB additional loss – perfect fiber mode on the PIC to fiber coupling – Accounting for all the components + assembly tolerances
Cost 1x 0.3x
System Impact 3 Interfaces – Laser to PIC + Optical I/O - ~3dB total penalty Half the number of Lasers (cost/power) or twice the BW
Components FAU + 2 Lens Arrays (Beam expanders) Collimating + Focusing FAU + Si V-Grooves Bridge
Assembly Very high precision alignment of Lens Arrays on both FAU & WGs on the PIC – CapEx + OpEx (UPH) Simple – Si V-Grooves Bridge self aligns to the Fibers in the FAU & WGs on the PIC
Scalability – No. of Fibers Assembly complexity increases with the number of Fibers in the FAU Scales easily with the number Fibers in the FAU
Scalability – No. of Units Due to Equipment cost & Low UPH (due to # of Degrees of Freedom needed for very precise alignment) increases CapEx & OpEx to scale Due to self alignment of the Lithography defined precise component with standard way of making FAUs, easily scales