Wormhole backplane ultrahigh density optical routing system

Abstract

Apparatus and methods employing wormhole structures supporting ultra-high density optical routing systems. Microstructures comprising wormhole tunnels are formed in optical looms with wormhole openings arranged in patterns, such as a high-density XY grid. Optical fibers are inserted into respective wormhole tunnels, and sleeves are used to precisely align fiber ends. A rack loom comprising a wormhole backplane is fabricated in a similar manner, with wormhole openings arrayed in the same patterns. The sleeves comprise plug-receptacle sleeve pairs, where when an optical loom (or connector bar of the optical loom) face urged toward the front face of the rack loom, the plug and receptacle sleeves are mated, resulting in precise alignment of the optical fiber ends in the pairs of sleeves. Palpebral structures may also be fabricated to provide a self-cleaning function with optional lubrication. The solutions provide more than an order of magnitude improvement over current fiber connector densities, while substantially reducing costs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.