Optical interconnects

An optical interconnect comprising:

• a plurality of lasers, each laser configured to emit a corresponding optical signal, the optical signals of the lasers being emitted parallel to each other;
• a plurality of lasers drivers, each laser driver electronically coupled to one of the plurality of lasers such that each laser driver induces a corresponding laser to emit the corresponding optical signal in response to an electrical signal received by the laser driver;
• a plurality of separate electronic devices, each separate electronic device connected to one of the laser drivers, the electronic devices supplying the electrical signal to the laser drivers;
• a focusing element positioned to receive the plurality of parallel optical signals and direct them to a diffraction optical element to output a single optical signal;
• and
• a photo detector that converts the single optical signal into a single electrical signal that is output on a signal line.

An optical interconnect system comprising:

• an electronic device;
• a stack of electronic devices;
• a fan-out interconnect interposed between the electronic device and the stack, the fan-out interconnect comprising:
• a single laser configured to output an optical signal;
• a diffractive optical element positioned to receive the optical signal and configured to split the optical signal into a plurality of approximately identical optical signals;
• and
• a photodetector array, wherein each photodetector of the photo detector array converts one of the plurality of approximately identical optical signals into an electrical signal that is output on a separate signal line of one of the electronic devices in the stack;
• and
• a fan-in interconnect comprising:
• a plurality of lasers, each laser configured to emit a corresponding optical signal;
• a plurality of laser drivers, each laser driver electronically coupled to one of the plurality of lasers such that each laser driver induces a corresponding laser to emit the corresponding optical signal in response to an electrical signal received by the laser driver from one of the electronic devices in the stack;
• a single focusing element positioned to receive the plurality of optical signals and output a single optical signal;
• and
• a photo detector that converts the single optical signal into a single electrical signal that is output on a signal line.