Integrated information technology for the optical simulation and the function/production oriented design of spatial optomechatronic assemblies (FOR 1660)
Third Party Funds Group - Sub project
Acronym: FOR 1660
Start date : 01.11.2014
End date : 31.12.2017
Website: http://www.optaver.de/startseite/startseite.html
Overall project details
Overall project
FOR 1660: Optische Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik für baugruppenintegrierte Bussysteme
Overall project speaker:
Project details
Short description
Short description
The „Agenda Photonics 2020“, an initiative supported by the BMBF and led by the industry,
compiles that the leading markets in the photonics industry in the fields of manufacturing,
healthcare, communications, lighting and energy, must be sustainably promoted in order to keep
Germany as a business location competitive for international competition in the future. Similarly,
the increasing spreading of photonic networks in industrial and infrastructural sectors leads to the
demand for new developments in the optical assembly and interconnection technology. Thus,
opportunities to develop further applications for passive and active optical functionalized system
components are opened up.
The potential of precise space-resolved strain measurements or the capacity to transmit very large
amounts of data are two examples of the beneficial use of optical systems. Apart from the general
advantages of the optical signal line, like as far as possible immunity to electromagnetic radiation,
being non-sparking for the use in potentially explosive areas or the low weight compared to copper
cables, modern technologies make use of the possibilities to integrate optical waveguides into
structural components. Questions regarding the integration of optical waveguides into fiberglass
composite components or into printed circuit boards are, among others, the subject of current
research.
However, questions regarding the signal transfer at nods in photonic networks are still unsolved.
There are possibilities of optical-electrical and electrical-optical signal conversion. Though an
exclusively passive coupling of optical signals is currently subject to restrictions. This and other
challenges of the optical assembly and interconnection technology are picked up by the dislocated
research group.
The goal of the dislocated research group is to research methods and technologies for the design,
construction and manufacturing of three-dimensional optically functionalized mechatronic
components (3D-opto MID). This includes:
1. development of a technical printing process for coating surfaces with lateral structural
resolutions of less than 1 μm for the subsequent application of optical waveguides
2. technology for manufacturing optical waveguides on 3D-formed surfaces in order to
implement the guidance of optical signals on a structural component
3. passive concept of coupling for a subsequent division of the optical signals along the optical
path of the optical fibers during field mounting
4. concept of coupling for the direct connection of optoelectronic converter components to the
optical fibers during the manufacturing process in order to promote the monolithic
integration of optical system components
5. process for the production of 3D wave-guiding structures for the integration of highly
compressed diode arrays at a microscopic level and their coupling to optical waveguides at
the macroscopic level
6. computer-aided methods for the design and simulation of 3D-opto MIDs.
Scientific Abstract
So far, there is no software for the design as well as for the affiliated optical simulation of spatially structured, optomechatronic assemblies. Within the research group Optaver, this deficit should be eliminated by regarding the production processes of the other subprojects and their design rules for the above mentioned assemblies.The applicant Prof. Franke enhances the program MIDCAD which supports the layout process for spatial electronic assemblies, so called 3-D molded interconnect devices (3D-MID). The first step is to check and, if necessary, to increase the accuracy of the face representation in MIDCAD. In particular, the closure of smallest gaps within the size of waveguides is a requirement for the representation of optomechatronic assemblies. The characteristic designs of the other subprojects will be modeled in MIDCAD. Special attention will be paid to the analysis and description of signal paths und the parameters of production processes. Thus the MID product model can be extended with an optical partial model containing characteristic values of materials, optical variables of signal transmission, efficiency of coupling, process parameters and standard design elements. Within the scope of the research group, bidirectional data transfers to the subprojects 1 to 5 will be established.The applicant Prof. Lindlein has developed over many years the ray optical simulation tool RAYTRACE which allows the simulation of quite arbitrary three-dimensionally structured optical systems. Since most projects of Optaver will fabricate and use highly multimode wave guides ray optics based simulation methods are valid. Hereby, also the temporal behavior of the propagation of a signal has to be treated. Therefore, the dispersion due to the different spatial modes has to be taken into account. Additionally, an approach based on non-sequential ray tracing is necessary since the order of the surfaces of the optical system, which are hit by a ray, depends itself on the spatial mode. During the project it is also planned to identify repeating subsystems in typical 3DMIDs. Then, design strategies can be integrated into MIDCAD without performing a concrete numerical ray optical simulation since the results of such a simulation were determined before and stored in a data base.A further, import goal of this subproject is the data exchange between the software tools MIDCAD and RAYTRACE. This exchange should contain analytical description of faces, calculations of damping, signal run times and impulse answers. The transfer will be manually executed at the beginning, but later on the exchange of files respectively even the integration of the source codes is planned.
