High bandwidth connector

An electrical connector comprising:

• a plurality of columns, each column comprising a plurality of conductive elements;
• a plurality of insulative regions, each insulative region being associated with a respective column;
• lossy material disposed in a plurality of lossy regions, the plurality of lossy regions being adjacent to respective conductive elements in respective columns of the plurality of columns,
• wherein for each of the plurality of columns:
• the respective insulative region is symmetrically disposed on a first side of the column and a second side of the column about a longitudinal axis;
• and
• a first lossy region is disposed on the first side of the column and a second lossy region is disposed on the second side of the column, the second lossy region having a symmetrical structure about the longitudinal axis with respect to the first lossy region.

An electrical connector, comprising:

• an insulative support;
• a plurality of columns of conductive elements, each of the plurality of columns comprising a plurality of conductive elements coupled to the insulative support;
• lossy material held by the insulative support adjacent to and separated from a portion of the plurality of conductive elements of respective columns of the plurality of columns of conductive elements,
• wherein for each of the plurality of columns:
• the portion of the plurality of conductive elements comprises at least a first conductive element, a second conductive element and a third conductive element, and
• the lossy material is separated from the first conductive element by a first distance, the lossy material is separated from the second conductive element by a second distance greater than the first distance, and the lossy material is separated from the third conductive element by a third distance greater than the second distance.

An electrical connector, comprising:

• a plurality of columns, each column comprising a plurality of conductive elements;
• and
• lossy material disposed adjacent the conductive elements of each of the plurality of columns,
• wherein the plurality of columns and the lossy material are configured such that conductive elements provide differential signal conducting paths having a nominal impedance, with signal paths formed from adjacent conductive elements in the same column having an impedance no less than 80% of the nominal impedance and signal paths formed from adjacent conductive elements in adjacent columns having an impedance no greater than 120% of the nominal impedance;
• wherein the plurality of columns are aligned in parallel such that the plurality of conductive elements in the plurality of columns are disposed in a plurality of rows, with the conductive elements in the same column being aligned edge-to-edge and the conductive elements in the same row being aligned broadside-to-broadside;
• and
• the plurality of conductive elements in the plurality of columns are disposed and configured to provide a nominal spacing between conductive elements, with the edge-to-edge spacing of the conductive elements within each of the plurality of columns being no less than 80% of the nominal spacing and the broadside-to-broadside spacing of the conductive elements within each of the plurality of rows being no greater than 120% of the nominal spacing.