Fiber optic systems are used to reliably send large amounts of data over both short and long haul routes and often employ parallel communications modules comprising a 1×N array of optoelectronic devices (OEs), either photoemitters, such LEDs or laser diodes, or photodetectors such as PIN photodiodes, integrated detector/preamplifiers (IDPs), or avalanche photo-diodes (APDs).
There are two conventional types of parallel optical module. The most common type employs a single optical subassembly (OSA) that incorporates multiple OEs (photoemitters or photodetectors) that are matched in number to the number of fibers in the connector. This approach has the disadvantage that if a single channel in the OSA is found to be defective during assembly or testing, the entire OSA must be discarded, reducing yield. This approach has the further disadvantage that similar products that use different numbers of channels, including single channel products, must each use a different OSA.
A second type of conventional parallel optical module is built out of a plurality of single channel OSAs, each of which has its own fiber pigtail or connector. The individual fibers are individually routed within the module to a parallel optical connector assembly where they are terminated in a manner than allows for ready connection to an external fiber optic ribbon. This approach has the disadvantage that the individual handling of the fibers is time consuming and expensive and sometimes requires that the optical fibers have additional length that undesirably increases the length and width of this second type of parallel optical module.