Optical coupling device

Traditional high-speed computer systems are often built using a backplane assembly. Several daughter boards are interconnected through a backplane, which routes signals between the connectors for the daughter boards. Traditional backplane technology's bases on electrical signal conductors. Due to steadily increasing processor speed signal transmission via electrical conductors has become a bottleneck in high-speed computing since electrical transmission rates are limited to about 2.5 GHz max. A solution is seen in the optical signal transmission, which achieves much higher transmission rates in the THz range. This invention discloses the fabrication of surface relief structures (120) for optical coupling of guided waves by replication, for example by U.V. moulding, on top of waveguides (110). Due to the replication on the surface of the waveguide, the waveguide's core layer can be left intact; no opening of the waveguide's core layer, as required for mirror or prism couplers, is required.