We successfully fabricated plastic ferrules and split alignment sleeves for single-mode fiber-optic connectors by the injection molding process. Liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) was used as the molding material for the ferrule. We introduced an eccentricity control mechanism into the ferrule mold and realized an eccentricity of less than 1 µm. As the molding material for the sleeve, thermosetting epoxy resin was used. Suitable mechanical properties were realized by employing appropriate dimensional design and the molding process. The optical characteristics of a system combining these plastic components are compatible with single-mode SC-type connectors and are also stable under hot and humid conditions.

The static fatigue parameters of plastic sleeves are determined by dynamic fatigue and destructive tests. The failure probability and lifetime of the plastic sleeve are estimated by using these parameters. No failure is expected for 20 years if the plastic sleeve is used in a normal atmosphere (23, 60%RH) and hot water (50).

A method to improve the reflection efficiency of holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) is proposed and its effectiveness is confirmed. Controlling the alignment of liquid crystal (LC) in tiny droplets of HPDLC can increase the refractive-index difference between the LC droplet layer and the polymer layer, causing the peak reflectance and reflective spectral width to expand. We observed experimentally that 96% of the light components excluding the scattering loss can be diffracted in a transmission HPDLC device by ordering the LC. In a reflection HPDLC, we found that reflection could be improved by ordering through an applied shear force. Our findings should lead to an improvement in the quality of reflective display devices.

We demonstrate a very simple and compact optical transceiver diode module using a passive alignment on a silicon bench with a V-groove. The excess loss caused by the passive alignment of an optical transceiver diode and a flat-end optical fiber is only 0. 6 dB. A high coupling efficiency of -4. 3 dB is obtained. This results in a high responsivity with a wavelength- and polarization-independence of 0. 5 dB over a 70 nm wavelength range and in good laser performance.

This paper proposes a parallel word alignment procedure for m Binary with 1 Complement Insertion (mBlC) or Differential m Binary with l Mark Insertion (DmBlM) line code. In the proposed procedure for mBlC line code, the word alignment circuit searches (m+1) bit pairs in parallel for complementary relationships. A Signal Flow Graph Model for the parallel word alignment procedure is also proposed, and its performance attributes are numerically analyzed. The attributes are compared with those of the conventional bit-by-bit procedure, and it is shown that the proposed procedure displays superior performance in terms of False-Alignment Probability and Maximum Average Aligning Time. The proposed procedure is suitable for high speed optical data links, because it can be easily implemented using a parallel signal processor operating at a clock rate equal to 1/(m+1) times the mBlC line rate.

At present, the widespread use of optoelectronic components is restricted by their high cost. Up to 90% of the cost of a semiconductor laser is in the packaging, with the fibre-chip alignment the major part. In this paper, an approach to low cost packaging is described, which uses an integrated mode size transformer to match the laser output to the fibre mode. This improves the alignment tolerance of the laser-fibre coupling by more than a factor of three, allowing simple passive alignment approaches to be used. It requires only minor modification to the processing of a standard buried heterostructure laser, and allows the coupling efficiency to be optimised without compromising the performance of the laser. The design of a silicon submount for passive laser-fibre alignment is described and coupling losses as low as 1.2 dB to standard cleaved single mode fibre are reported. The technology that has been developed is generic and its successful application to other optoelectronic devices such as fibre grating lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers and laser arrays is described.

Laser module fabricated with silicon platform technology is very attractive for low-cost modules. The technology enables passive optical alignment of an LD to an optical fiber. Our marker design for passive alignment allows positioning accuracy within 1 µm of LD. However, coupling efficiency is a key issue because that by conventional butt coupling scheme is low with about 10 dB coupling loss. We investigated optical coupling characteristics in various types of coupling scheme: conventional flat end fibers, cone fibers, integrated GRIN rod lenses on the platform and the coupling with new-type LDs integrated with spot size transformer. Improvement of coupling efficiency with 3 dB and 7.5 dB compared to flat-end fiber is achieved by using the cone fiber and the GRIN rod lens, respectively, although 1-dB coupling tolerances for alignment deteriorated with these schemes. We obtained high efficient coupling with 3.5 dB coupling loss and wide alignment tolerance of 2.3 µm simultaneously with a new-type LD integrated with spot size transformer owing to its expanded spot size characteristics.

This paper describes packaging techniques based on a novel passive alignment technique as key techniques for module assembly. A laser diode (LD) is passively positioned by detecting a pair of alignment marks located on the LD and Si substrate. A single-mode fiber is self aligned on a Si V groove. A simple receptacle structure for the module output port is also newly designed. This structure is more suitable for the automatic assembly line as well as the module mounting process on circuit board. In this paper, an advanced module applications such as a hybrid integrated wave guide module and a surface mountable (SMT) LD module is introduced.

This paper describes the technological issues in achieving a low-cost hybrid WDM module for access network systems. The problems which should be resolved in developing a low-cost module are clarified from the viewpoint of the module assembly in mass production. A design concept for a low-cost module suitable for mass production is indicated, which simplifies the alignment between a laser diode and a waveguide, and reduces the number of the components such as lenses and mirrors. The low-cost module is achieved by employing a flip-chip bonding method with passive alignment using a spot-size converter integrated laser diode (SS-LD) and p-i-n waveguide photodiodes (WGPDs) on a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) platform. We confirm that the SS-LD and the WGPD provide high coupling efficiency with a large tolerance for passive alignment. To achieve a high-sensitivity receiver, the module is designed to employ an asymmetric PLC Y-splitter that prefers a PD responsivity to an LD output power because of the high-coupling efficiency of the LD, and to employ a bare preamplifier mounting to reduce the parasitic capacitance into a preamplifier. We also demonstrate the dynamic performance for a 50-Mb/s burst signal, such as a high sensitivity, an instantaneous AGC response, and a small APC deviation of the transceiver.

To realize a low-cost WDM transceiver module based on a PLC-platform, simple, assembly techniques have been successfully developed. The formation of index marks with an accuracy of below 0.1 µm has made it possible to mount Opto-electronic devices on the silicon terrace of the PLC-platform by a passive alignment. A newly developed trench formation technique for inserting a 1.3/1.5 µm WDM dielectric filter enabled us not only to ensure a stable WDM function but also to prevent excess loss associated with the dielectric filter scheme. It is found that these two technologies are practically useful to achieve high-performance WDM transceiver module.

In this paper, we consider the protein structure alignment problem, which is a very important problem in molecular biology. Since an outline of protein structure is represented by a sequence of points in three-dimensional space, this problem is defined as the following geometric pattern matching problem: given two point sequences P and Q in three-dimensions and a real number δ > 0, find a maximum-cardinality set of point pairs such that the distance between each pair is at most δ under the condition that any translation and rotation can be applied to P. Since it is very difficult to solve this problem exactly, we consider algorithms that solve it approximately. We propose three algorithms: BASICALIGN, RANDALIGN and FRAGALIGN whose worst case time complexities are O(n8), O((n7/k3) polylog(n)) and O(n4) respectively, where n denotes the size of larger input structure and k denotes the minimum size of the alignment to be obtained. All of these have the following common framework: a series of initial superpositions are computed; for each of such superpositions, a rough alignment is first computed using a dynamic programming technique, and then it is refined through an iterative improvement procedure which also uses dynamic programming; the best alignment among them is selected as an output. The difference among three algorithms lies in the methods of finding initial superpositions. BASICALIGN, RANDALIGN and FRAGALIGN use exhaustive search, random sampling technique and fragment-based search, respectively. We prove guaranteed approximation ratios (in the sense of distances between point pairs) for theoretical versions of BASICALIGN and RANDALIGN. Practical versions of RANDALIGN and FRAGALIGN were implemented and compared with a previous algorithm using real protein structure data. The experimental results show that FRAGALIGN is best among them and it outputs good alignments quickly.

In this work is first presented that a PDLC film with a ferroelectric alignment layer realizes a bistable switching in similar to the surface-stabilised ferroelectric liquid crystal display devices. Such a bistability is found to critically depend on the squareness parameter of the ferroelectric layer as well as such material properties of the dispersed nematics as the elastic and the dielectric constants. It is also found that there exists an appropriate elastic constant to improve the optical transmittance. The dependence of the distribution of the radii of the nematic droplets on the electro-optic bistability is also investigated in detail by means of the numerical computations assuming a fractal distribution. The fundamental electro-optic properties of the presently, proposed PDLC cells imply the advantage beyond the conventional PDLC without any ferroelectric alignment layer.

We have studied liquid crystal (LC) alignment on UV-irradiated poly(vinyl cinnamate)(PVCi)films by using the texture observations and the anchoring energy measurements. Irradiation of the PVCi films with linearly-polarized UV light creates the optical anisotropy in the films, and the anisotropy can well align LCs perpendicular to the UV polarization. We discuss the LC alignment mechanisms and point out the important contribution from non-dimerized side chains of PVCi molecules. The anchoring energies on photo-processed PVCi films are shown to be smaller than those on conventional rubbed polyimide films. We propose a new method to generate pretilt angle on the photo-processed PVCi films, and successful results of pretilt angle generation are demonstrated. This method is applied to fabricate TN- and super-multidomain TN-LCDs, and the good electro-optical performance of the LCDs is confirmed.

A 33-cm-Diagonal High-Resolution(1280 1024RGB, which stands for red, green, and blue) TFT-LCD with low, uniform parasitic capacitance between gate electrodes and source/drain electrodes has been developed using Fully Self-Aligned a-Si TFTs. The fabricated TFT-LCD shows no visible seams between block shot exposure regions, even in the display of gray images. In this paper, we describe(1) our full self-alignment technology for the TFTs, including the fabrication process and the technology for reducing OFF current in the TFTs under illumination, (2) SPICE simulation for estimating pixel voltage shift in the fabricated TFT-LCD, and (3) performance results for the fabricated TFT-LCD.

Precise direct mounting of laser diode (LD) and photodiode (PD) chips on silica planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) has been investigated for application to transceiver modules. To achieve submicron optical alignment, self-aligned index marks on the PLCs and LDs were directly detected by transmission infrared light. The repeatability of the positioning was measured to be within 0.125 µm. The output power of the resultant module was 0.2 mW at 80 mA. A waveguide-type PD was also mounted in the same way, and module sensitivity of 0.25 A/W was demonstrated.

We proposed a new marker design for passive alignment of a laser to a fiber on a silicon waferboard. Our fiducial marker is simple form and easy to fabricate. With a unique marker design, high accurate positioning of the laser chip is easily achieved using a conventional flip-chip bonder. We have successfully fabricated laser modules with uniform coupling, within 1 dB for a flat end single-mode fiber and within 2 dB for a hemispherical end fiber. This assembly method offers the potential for low-cost optical module packaging.

We have developed the Epi-Base SATURN process as a silicon bipolar process technology which can be applied to optical transmission LSIs. This process technology, to which low temperature selective epitaxial growth technology is applied, is based on the SATURN process. By performing selective epitaxial growth for base formation in 2 steps, transistors with a 40GHz maximum cut-off frequency have been fabricated. In circuit simulation based on SPICE parameters of transistors, the target performance required for 2.4 Gbit/s optical interface LSIs has been achieved.

Recent high-speed bipolar technologies based on SICOS (Sidewall Base Contact Structure) transistors are reviewed. Bipolar device structures that include polysilicon are key technologies for improving circuit characteristics. As the characteristics of the upward operated SICOS transistors are close to those of downward transistors, they can easily be applied in memory cells which have near-perfect soft-error-immunity. Newly developed process technologies for making shallow base and emitter junctions to improve circuit performance are also reviewed. Finally, complementary bipolar technology for low-power and high-speed circuits using pnp transistors, and a quasi-drift base transistor structure suitable for below 0.1 µm emitters are discussed.

High speed GaAs ICs (Integrated Circutis) using FETs (Field Effect Transistors) are reported. As the fabricating techniques, ion implantation processes for both 0.5 µm and 0.2 µm gate FETs using W/Al refractory metal and 0.2 µm recessed gate process with MBE grown epitaxial wafers are shown. These fabrication processes are selected depending on the circuit speed and the integration level. The outline of the circuit design and the examples of ICs, which are developed for 10 Gb/s optical communication systems, are also shown with the obtained characteristics.

This paper proposes a universal structure for STM-N(N=1, 2, 3, ) multiplex line terminals that only utilizes N chips CMOS LSIs for Section OverHead (SOH) processing. The uniquely configured LSIs are applicable to any STM-N line terminal equipment. Reasonable frame alignment performance attributes, such as the maximum average reframe time, false in-frame time, out-of-frame detection time, and misframe time, are calculated for the configuration. A prototype SOH processing LSI built on 0.8m BiCMOS technology successfully realizes the functions needed for multiplex section termination. The STM-64 frame is also demonstrated using the proposed circuit configuration and prototype LSIs.